MILITARY

Autograph Signature of Captain Rambahadur Limbu, 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy in 1965, during the Indonesian–Malaysian Confrontation. With newspaper article on Limbu.

Author: 
Captain Rambahadur Limbu (b.1939),10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles, Nepalese recipient of the British Army's Victoria Cross [Indonesian–Malaysian Confrontation]
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£56.00

On one side of an 11 x 17.5 piece of light-blue paper. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with two fold lines (not affecting signature). The signature is written in pencil, and reads 'Rambahadur Limbu V.C.' Beneath the signature, in blue ink, is the signature of 'Ranjit Rai', and beneath this, in a different blue ink, an indecipherable signature. With newspaper cutting, dated 28 September 1966, of article titled 'After the glory - it's back to the jungle'. The article carries two photographs of Limbu.

Copy of printed War Office model 'RULES OF THE ---- VOLUNTEER CORPS.' [i.e. Volunteer Force] With details of the committee members under Viscount Ranelagh responsible for 'drafting model Rules and Regulations for the government of Volunteer Corps'.

Author: 
[The Rifle Volunteer Corps; The Volunteer Force, 1859-1908; The War Office, Whitehall; Sidney Herbert (1810-1861), 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, Secretary of State for War, 1859-1861; Viscount Ranelagh]
Publication details: 
'WAR OFFICE, 10th August, 1859.' ['V General No. 469'.]
£120.00

5pp., folio. In very good condition on lightly-aged paper. Copies of this document were sent by the War Office to the officers commanding the various corps, the Secretary of State considering that it would 'assist [them] in preparing Regulations for the government of the Corps under [their] Command'. For a full account of the subject see Hugh Cunningham's 'The Volunteer Force: A Social and Political History, 1859-1908' (1975). The cover page has in its top left-hand corner: 'V | General No. | 469', and carries a table of contents.

Four printed War Office documents relating to the formation of the Volunteer Force [called 'Rifle Volunteer Corps' and 'Volunteer Corps'], comprising a draft of the 'Rules', two printed circulars from Sidney Herbert and one from his secretary.

Author: 
[The Rifle Volunteer Corps; The Volunteer Force, 1859-1908; The War Office, Whitehall; Sidney Herbert (1810-1861), 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, Secretary of State for War, 1859-1861; Viscount Ranelagh]
Publication details: 
All four documents from the War Office [Whitehall, London]. The three circulars dated 8 September, 14 October and 20 December 1859; the 'Rules' dated 10 August 1859.
£280.00

The four items in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. For a full account of the subject see Hugh Cunningham's 'The Volunteer Force: A Social and Political History, 1859-1908' (1975). Item One: 'RULES OF THE ---- VOLUNTEER CORPS.' 5pp., folio (paginated to 6). The cover page has in its top left-hand corner: 'V | General No. | 469', and carries a table of contents.

Engraved lithographic decorative play bill for a performance of Bulwer-Lytton's 'Lady Lyons', and 'Box and Cox', at the Station Theatre, Poona, India, by 'The Gentlemen Amateurs of H. M. 86th. Royal Regiment'.

Author: 
[The Gentlemen Amateurs of H. M. 86th. Royal Regiment, the Station Theatre, Poona [Pune]; Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873), 1st Baron Lytton [Lord Lytton], author]
Publication details: 
Station Theatre, Poona [Pune], India. 30 June 1851.
£150.00

Printed in black on one side of a piece of thick laid paper, 30.5 x 19.5 cm. Aged, and separated into two parts by a neat tear along a vertical fold line 13 cm from bottom (repaired on reverse), and with slight wear at the head. An attractive and characteristically Victorian design, entirely drawn onto the stone (i.e. none of the text set in type). The design displays a quirky and charming amateur energy, with the text within a decorative border incorporating what appears to be 'IOD POONA' at the foot. Headed by the words 'STATION THEATRE .

Seven manuscript First World War documents from the papers of Brigadier-General Herbert Cecil Potter, King's (Liverpool) Regiment, including copies of documents by Lieut.-General Sir T. L. N. Morland, Lt.-Col. R. H. Collins, Brig.-Gen. G. V. Horden.

Author: 
[Brigadier-General Herbert Cecil Potter (1875-1964), King's (Liverpool) Regiment; Gen. Sir T. L. N. Morland (1865-1925); Lt-Col. Hon. R. H. Collins (1873-1952); Brigadier-General G. V. Horden]
Publication details: 
Six of the seven dating from March and April 1918; the seventh from August 1918.
£350.00

The seven items are from the papers of Brig.-Gen. H. C. Potter, who served in the 3rd Division, whose conduct during the Spring Offensive of 1918 is the main subject. Of particular interest is Item Two, concerning a visit by King George V. The collection is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, Item Five having a few closed tears to one edge. ONE. Manuscript copy (or original) dispatch headed '1/North L. Fus. 4/Royal Fus. | 13/ Kings. R./S.H.B. | The following messages have been received from 3rd Division for communication to all ranks'.

Copy of Typed Letter from Major Antony Brett-James to Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks, recalling his wartime experiences with the 5th Indian Division Signals, while discussing 'what makes a good division'.

Author: 
Major Antony Brett-James (1920-84), 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, lecturer at Sandhurst [Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks (1895-1985), commander of XXX Corps in the Second World War]
Publication details: 
82 Barnet Way, Mill Hill, NW7 [London]. 28 January 1953.
£56.00

3pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed by Brett-James in pencil at the head of the first page to 'Lt Gen Sir Brian Horrocks' and with one manuscript correction. The letter begins: 'I do want to say how interesting and worthwhile I found the broadcast discussion last Sunday evening about the factors which make a good division. All that was said was true and most stimulating, but there are a few points which I should like to add.

Typed Letter Signed ('Alistair') from the historian of France Alistair Horne to the Sandhurst lecturer Antony Brett-James, regarding the trouble he has put him to over 'the Macmillan speech'.

Author: 
Sir Alistair Horne [Sir Alistair Allan Horne] (b.1925), British historian of modern France [Major Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), lecturer at Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 24 Lansdowne Road, London W11. 21 September 1979.
£40.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightl-aged paper. A short letter, in which he thanks Brett-James for writing to him 'about the Macmillan speech': 'I really feel badly at having put you obviously to so much trouble'. He suggests that Brett-James sends him 'the tape' and lets him 'have it transcribed here, by my secretary'.

Typed Letter Signed ('S. W. Roskill') from the naval historian Captain Stephen Wentworth Roskill to the Sandhurst lecturer Major Antony Brett-James, proposing two subjects for a lecture to the Napier Society.

Author: 
Captain Stephen Wentworth Roskill [Captain S. W. Roskill, Royal Navy] (1903-1982), British naval officer and historian [Major Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), lecturer at Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Blounce, South Warnsborough, Basingstoke, Hertfordshire. 12 January 1966.
£80.00

1p., 4to. He is honoured to be asked to talk to the Napier Society (a military history society at Sandhurst), but is 'right in the middle of the Cambridge term', as a Fellow of Churchill College, and so must 'propose a subject which I have already talked about.' He suggests two topics: 'Trade Defence in World War II' and 'Some Reasons for Official History', in the last of which he tries 'to answer criticisms of that form of history and describe the sources I had used and the way I had worked when writing The War at Sea 1939-45'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Ballantrae') from Lord Ballantrae [Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae] to Antony Brett-James of Sandhurst, on topics including his editing of 'The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes' and his wife's death.

Author: 
Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson (1911-1980), Baron Ballantrae [Lord Ballantrae], military historian and Governor-General of New Zealand [Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), lecturer at Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, Auchairne, Ballantrae, Ayrshire. 29 March 1980.
£120.00

1p., 4to. 30 typed lines, with the last two lines in autograph. In good condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Brett-James is addressed as 'Head of Department, War Studies & International Affairs, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst'.

Manuscript 'Report on the Road from Frimley to Yorktown [Surrey, England]' 'Ewart' [Sir John Spencer Ewart, while a Sandhurst cadet], with coloured manuscript map and four other field sketches by him; with sketches by 'Sterling' and 'Gordon'.

Author: 
Lieut-Gen. Sir John Spencer Ewart (1861-1930), KCB, Adjutant-General to the Forces in the British Army [Frimley, Surrey; Yorktown House; Aldershot; Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
Report on War Office 'Form 33'. Ewart's four additional sketches dated 1880 and 1881, the other material undated.
£280.00

The collection, deriving from the Ewart family papers, is in good condition, on aged paper, with fraying to the extremities of the report. Sir John Spencer Ewart, son of General Sir John Alexander Ewart, Colonel of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, entered Sandhurst in 1880, and left the following year, with the sword of honour, to join the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. (For more information about Ewart and his father, who also obtained 'special distinction' at Sandhurst, see their entries in the Oxford DNB.) ONE. Manuscript 'Report'.

Unpublished holograph poem (signed 'J. F. Hollings') by the Leicester poet and local historian James Francis Hollings, entitled 'Edgehill', regarding the English Civil War battle, 1642.

Author: 
James Francis Hollings (1806-1862), poet and local historian, President of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society [Leicestershire; English Civil War; Battle of Edgehill, 1642;]
Publication details: 
Without place place or place, on paper with watermarked date 1831. [Leicester, 1830s?]
£120.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. On wove paper watermarked 'R TASSELL | 1831'. 56 lines, arranged in seven eight-line stanzas. Presentable, despite wear and age, closed tears along crease lines, and traces of yellow-paper mount on blank reverse of second leaf. There is no sign that this item was ever published, which is surprising, as it is a superior effort, written with some conviction, the subject being one on which Hollings was regarded as an authority.

[Printed pamphlet.] The Training of the Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Spotter. By Major L. E. C. M. Perowne, R.E. (Revised Edition.)

Author: 
Major L. E. C. M. Perowne, R.E. [Major-General Lancelot Edgar Connop Mervyn Perowne (1902-1982), Royal Engineers, Commander, 17th Gurkha Division]
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated. [A revised reprint from The Royal Engineers Journal, September 1938.]
£120.00

24pp., 8vo, with one extra plate on art paper, and five full pages of diagrams in text. Stapled, in blue printed wraps. With two ownership inscriptions on the wraps, both of Royal Artillery personnel: the first of S. M. Dawes, and the second of '483 S/L Batt RA', i.e. Jack Lynden Batt (b.1922), of 155th Battery, 172nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. This offprint is excessively scare, with no copies listed on COPAC or WorldCat.

[Mimeographed pamphlet.] 500 Hours In The Blitz. [On reverse:] Wartime Doggerel for the Dog Tired.

Author: 
George E. O. Knight (b.1885) [The Blitz, 1940-1941; London; Thomas Edward Neil Driberg] (1905-1976), Baron Bradwell, journalist and Labour MP]
Publication details: 
London: "Earways", Flat 782, 67/9, Chancery Lane, W.C.2. 1941.
£120.00

12pp., 4to. On the rectos of 12 leaves, stitched with red thread into yellow wrappers with crude design of airplanes in action. From the papers of the Labour MP Tom Driberg, and with 'Mr Driberg' in pencil at head of front wrap. In a preface dated 21 August 1941 Knight refers to 'twelve fateful and ferocious months', and criticises 'a deplorable lack of vision and imagination everywhere.

[First World War printed Balkans concert party programme.] Lieut-Colonel P. W. Williams-Till and the Officers of the Durham Light Infantry Present their Christmas Pantomime Aladdin. ['Cast of incompetent comics, perpetrators of the frightfulness.']

Author: 
Lieut.-Col. P. W. Williams-Till and the Officers of the Durham Light Infantry
Publication details: 
'Proprietors The Dud Empires Ltd.' [Salonika and the Balkans, c.1916.]
£120.00

Printed on both sides of a piece of paper, roughly 25.5 x 37.5 cm, folded three times to make a packet of 6pp., 25.5 x 12.5 cm. The title advertises 'All the old favourites, and new book by Pte. E. G. S. Staples. New Lyrics and parodies by 2 Lt. C. M. Hale. Additional music by Pte G. M. Rutt. Produced by Pte E. G. S. Staples.' Also 'Full Beauty Chorus of Macedonian Houris from the EASTERN THEATRE (of War) by kind permission of the Balkan News.' Other spoof advertisements include: 'Soap! Soap! Soap!

Autograph Letter Signed, in English, from a French interpreter ('M. Daller'?), informing Brig.-General Herbert Cecil Potter of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) that he has been ordered to join 'the Yankee Army'. With two initialled notes by Potter.

Author: 
[Brigadier-General Herbert Cecil Potter (1875-1964), CB, CMG, DSO, of the King's Regiment (Liverpool)]
Publication details: 
No place. 25 September 1917.
£65.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter is written in pencil, and begins: 'Sir, | I am awfully sorry to say that I have just been ordered to report tomorrow to G. H. Q. where I shall very probably receive the order to go to the Yankee Army. | I am really very sorry to leave you without having even been able to present to you my respects and my thanks for the kindness you have always shown to me during the time I have been attached to this brigade which is now exactly a year ago.

Printed First World War circular from the 'British Repatriation Committee Lucerne, Organisation for the Assistance and Return of British Subjects', with form filled in by 'Mr & Mrs R. Haward Ives', giving 'reasons for urgency'.

Author: 
British Repatriation Committee Lucerne, Organisation for the Assistance and Return of British Subjects [Richard Haward Ives, Assistant Secretary, Essex and Suffolk Equitable Fire Insurance Society]
Publication details: 
Circular dated 'Schweizerhof Hotel, Lucerne, 13th August 1914.'
£56.00

1p., 4to., with vertical perforation dividing the circular (upper part) from the form (lower part). Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper. The fourteen-line circular begins: 'It is appreciated that every British Subject wishes to return at once, but all will not be able to get in the first train. | The British Committee will have to select the order of going by the various degrees of urgency. [...] Persons in Government service, men going to mobilisation, and persons in distress, have special claims to priority.' The form, completed in pencil by 'Mr & Mrs R.

Material mainly relating to the Second World War and the Battle of Britain, from the papers of Flying Office Robert French Helm, Royal Air Force, including autograph material, photographs, tables.

Author: 
Flying Officer Robert French Helm (1913-1995), Royal Air Force [The Battle of Britain]
Publication details: 
The photographs date from the 1940s; the rest of the material circa 1960.
£400.00

Helm's promotion on 3 September 1940 to the rank of Flying Officer (41020) is recorded in the London Gazette, 15 October 1940. After the war he joined the International Civil Aviation Authority, working in Iran and Zambia, and was elected to the Membership of the Institute of Navigation, Royal Geological Society, in 1971. A total of 59pp., 8vo, of pencil notes and tables by Helm, relating to the RAF in the Second World War, with 6 original photographs.

Manuscript receipt, signed ('Arch Forbes') by the war correspondent Archibald Forbes, for £50 from the London publishers Henry S. King & Co., for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of his 'Soldiering and Scribbling'.

Author: 
Archibald Forbes (1838-1900), British war correspondent, born in Scotland [Henry S. King & Co., 65 Cornhill, London publishers]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 27 June 1872.
£56.00

1p., landscape 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper. Signed by Forbes over a purple one penny Inland Revenue stamp. Reads: '£50 : 0 : 0 | 27th. June 1872. | Received of Messrs: Henry S. King & Co. of 65 Cornhill London, the sum of Fifty Pounds in payment for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of "Soldiering and Scribbling" | [signed] Arch Forbes'. The book was published by the firm in the same year as the receipt.

[Printed pamphlet.] Information & News Sheet published by British Prisoners of War Funds (British Prisoners of War Books & Games Fund and Forget-Me-Not League Registered under the War Charities Act, 1940) No. 18 - Far East.

Author: 
[British Prisoners of War Funds (Miss Christine Knowles, 'Founder and Hon. Director'); Japanese Prisoners of War; the Far East]
Publication details: 
Carrington House, Hertford Street, London W1.
£180.00

11pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged and creased paper. 'Please return' in manuscript at head of first page. Newspaper cutting titled 'Prisoners in Japanese Hands' loosely inserted. Begins with a section of 'Parliamentary News concerning Prisoners of War in the Far East.'; then 'Report from U.S.A.'; and a final 'Extract from copy of broadcast by Major Gourlay from Thailand', with a couple of manuscript interpolations. Scarce: no copies on COPAC or WorldCat.

[Printed Leaflet P.2327B.] Communication with Prisoners of War and Civilians in Japan and Japanese-occupied Territories, and other Service personnel and Civilians believed to be in Japanese hands.

Author: 
[British prisoners of war in Japan and Japanese-occupied territories; the Far East]
Publication details: 
General Post Office, July 1942. 'H. & S. Ltd.' '7/42', i.e. July 1942.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Printed on both sides of a single leaf. Fair, on aged and creased paper. Giving a list of addresses to which letters and postcards 'may be sent post free to Service personnel and Civilians known or believed to be in Japanese hands'. '[...] To avoid delay in Japanese censorship, no one should write more than once a week'. With an example of the way in which to 'address you letter', if 'the internment camp address is known'. Scarce: no copy on COPAC or WorldCat, although the Imperial War Museum does have a similar Leaflet P.2280E (1943), relating to prisoners of war in Europe.

[Printed HMSO pamphlet.] A Handbook for the information of Relatives and Friends of Prisoners of War and Civilians in Japanese or Japanese-Occupied Territory. [With stamped printed slip from the War Office.]

Author: 
[British Prisoners of War in Japan or Japanese-Occupied Territory]
Publication details: 
Published for The War Office by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1944. [Printed slip dated May 1944, and stamped 9 June 1944.]
£150.00

16pp., 12mo. Stapled. In printed pink wraps, with map on inside back cover showing 'The Prisoner of War (Far East) Enquiry Centre' at Curzon St House in Mayfair. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper in worn wraps with creasing to one corner.

Nine manuscript documents relating to the death and estate of Major Anthony Coane, 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot, who died in Kandy, Ceylon [Sri Lanka], in 1819, including an inventory and account, and a covering letter from Lieut. Minter.

Author: 
Major Anthony Coane (d.1819), 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot [Kandy, Ceylon [Sri Lanka]]
Publication details: 
The nine items all from Kandy, Ceylon [Sri Lanka], and dating from October 1817 to January 1819.
£180.00

The nine items in this collection provide valuable information regarding the management of the estate of a Georgian colonial British army office. Coane's battalion had served in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land between 1812 and 1814, and had been in Ceylon (under Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Giels) since 1814 by the time Coane died on 5 January 1819, his demise much regretted by his superiors. The nine items are on aged and worn paper with chipping to extremities. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed from 'G[eorge]. Minter' to unnamed recipient. Kandy; 29 December 1818. 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John S. Pakington') from the British Conservative politician John Somerset Pakington, 1st Baron Hampton, to General Sir Robert Gardiner, Governor of Gibraltar, discussing his 'printed but unpublished Report' on the 'Rock'.

Author: 
John Somerset Pakington (1799-1880), 1st Baron Hampton [Lord Hampton] British Conservative politician [General Sir Robert Gardiner (1781-1864), Governor of Gibralar, 1848-1855]
Publication details: 
Eaton Square [London]. 1 March 1856.
£150.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium on mourning paper. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He writes to thank Gardiner for sending him 'a copy of your printed but unpublished Report to His Majesty's Government on the danger of governing Gibraltar as a Colony'. Gardiner's report 'forms an appropriate termination' to his 'administration of the affairs of the "Rock," & I shall read it with the interest and attention due to your long Experience in that Fortress'. He ends by sending his compliments to Lady Gardiner.

Contemporary coloured 'Sketch of the Situation of the TOWN of ST. JEAN D'ACRE, with the position of the FRENCH besieging ARMY under the command of General BONAPARTE and the BRITISH SQUADRON co-operating with GEZZAR AHMET PASHA in its Defence [...]'.

Author: 
[The Siege of Acre [Siege of St Jean D'Acre], 1799; Napoleon Bonaparte; Sir Sidney Smith (1764-1840)]
Publication details: 
On paper watermarked 'J WHATMAN | 1816'.
£450.00

A fine plan, so neatly and delicately drawn that it could easily pass for an engraving. The title concludes: '[...] its Defence under the Command of SIR SIDNEY SMITH. Kt. &ca. &ca. &ca. - on the 2nd: day of May 1799.' In landscape on one side of a piece of laid paper, 29 x 42cm, with the plan itself within a 19.5 x 32.5cm border. The drawing and the precise and detailed lettering are in ink, the whole coloured in grey, brown, pink and blue watercolour. On aged and lightly-creased paper, with a couple of small unobtrusive holes. On a scale of one and a half inches to half a mile.

Binder containing forty mimeographed typed documents from the Control Commission School (Air), Regent's Park, London, a top secret wartime organisation to prepare Allied officers for the occupation of Germany. With an autograph paper by a student.

Author: 
Air Vice-Marshall D. M. T. MacDonald (1909-1988), Officer Commanding, Control Commission School (Air), Regent's Park [F/o A. H. Reeve]
Publication details: 
[Control Commission School (Air), Viceroy Court, Prince Albert Road, Regent's Park, London.] February and March 1945.
£1,250.00

A significant collection of documents relating to the secret effort, at the end of the Second World War, to prepare officers of the British and allied armed forces for the coming occupation of Germany. Excessively scarce: the only other holdings appear to be in the British National Archives, and the Maurice M. Goodner papers (OAC), the latter relating to a later Parisian branch of the school.

Second World War Autograph Diary of Mrs Sheila Stopford of Saxham, Suffolk, wife of Captain James Coverley Stopford, RN, mixing descriptions of day-to-day rural life with informed comment on the course of the war.

Author: 
Mrs Katherine Sheila Stopford [née Macleod] (d.1986) of Saxham, Suffolk, wife of Captain James Coverley Stopford (1909-1985), RN, OBE [Geoffrey Keyes (1917-1941), VC]
Publication details: 
Mostly from Saxham, Suffolk. 24 December 1941 to 29 November 1942.
£400.00

219pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in worn red-cloth binding. Closely and neatly written in a ruled exercise book, with frank and detailed entries throughout providing much information relating to the day-to-day life of women of the rural middle-classes ('country families') in wartime England. A few items including newspaper cuttings loosely inserted. Like her husband, Mrs Stopford came from a military family (her father was Captain G.

[Printed programme.] Scottish National War Memorial. Opening Ceremony by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, 14th July 1927, and Visit of Their Majesties The King and Queen.

Author: 
[Opening Ceremony of the Scottish National War Memorial, 1927]
Publication details: 
Caldwell Brotthers Limited, by Appointment Stationers to H. M. The King, Edinburgh. [1927.]
£150.00

15pp., 8vo. Pamphlet. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with rusting staple, and strip from mount adhering to margin of title. A change in the order of ceremony has been marked in red ink, and the section on the Seaforth Highlanders has been indicated in blue ink. From the papers of Regiment's Colonel, Maj.-Gen. Sir C. J. Mackenzie, KCB. A scarce piece of Scottish military ephemera: the only copies on COPAC and WorldCat are at Oxford and the National Library of Scotland.

Contemporary manuscript copy of a letter from Captain John Bower, 84th Regiment, to his father Alexander Bower of Kincaldrum House, Kinnettles, describing how he saved the life of the future Sir James Carmichael-Smyth while shark fishing off the Cape

Author: 
Captain John Bower (d.1800), 84th Regiment of Foot, eldest son of Alexander Bower of Kincaldrum House, Kinnettles, near Dundee [Sir James Carmichael-Smyth (1779-1838)]
Publication details: 
Letter 'dated Cape Town May 10th 1797', on paper also with watermarked date '1797'.
£120.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged laid paper. Bower begins by stating that he is sending 'a Copy of a Letter which I have received from Dr Carm Smyth [James Carmichael Smyth (1742-1821) of the Middlesex Hospital]'. Smyth's son (the future Sir James Carmichael-Smyth) is 'a very fine handsome young man Lieut in the Engineers come out a Passanger [sic] in the same ship with us'. Bower and Smyth 'wisely went into the Boat which was lashed to the Stern Gallery to fish sharks which were following the ship - the Boat suddenly canted round in the slings, upon which poor Smyth went plump into the sea'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Olinthus Gregory') from the English mathematician Olinthus Gilbert Gregory to Knight Spencer, Secretary, Surrey Institution[, regarding a series of lectures by his friend John Mason Good]. With engraved portrait of Gregory.

Author: 
Olinthus Gregory [Olinthus Gilbert Gregory] (1774-1841), Mathematical Master, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich [Knight Spencer, Secretary, Surrey Insitution; John Mason Good (1764-1827), lecturer]
Publication details: 
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. 26 March [1812].
£90.00

1p., 4to. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight traces of mount on reverse of second leaf, which is addressed, with three postmarks and docketing by Spencer, to 'Knight Spencer Esq. | Surry [sic] Institution | Blackfriar's Road'. Gregory is pleased to learn 'that there is a probability of Mr. Jones being able to accommodate us with apparatus for our proposed Lectures, upon such terms as are likely to square pretty well with the funds of the Surry Institution'.

Manuscript of the United States Corps of Cadets anthem 'Benny Havens, Oh!', dated 'As sung by the U.S. Corps Cadets | 1864'. With explanatory introduction in manuscript, and with the '22nd. verse written at the beginning of the [American Civil] war'.

Author: 
Lieutenant Lucius O'Brien; Ripley Allen Arnold (1817-1853) [Corps of Cadets, United States Military Academy, West Point; Benny Havens (c.1787-1877)]
Publication details: 
[On West Point letterheads?] 1864.
£250.00

8pp., 12mo. On four bifoliums, placed inside one another to make a booklet. Each bifolium with embossed [West Point?] letterhead of a letter 'W' within a shield. A fair copy, with the title reading: 'Benny Havens, Oh! | as sung | by the | U.S. Corps Cadets - | 1864.' The twenty-two line introduction covers the whole of the second page.

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