SIR

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. N. Talfourd.') to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854), English writer, judge and politician
Publication details: 
19 May 1834; 2 Elm Court, Temple.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper, with traces of a paper stub neatly adhering to the blank bottom right-hand corner of the verso. Apologising for his 'long neglect of the subject of your last notice - the Mill Hill Medal. The truth is I am scarcely able to find strength and spirits for the work I have to do, and so am constantly involved in difficulties as to time like those to which extravagant people fall into as to money'. He hopes 'to be able to enjoy the pleasures of our anniversary dinner', although he does not feel he deserves them.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Olinthus Gilbert Gregory (1774–1841), English mathematician
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

Good firm signature on slip of paper roughly 2.5 x 10 cm. Laid down on slightly larger rectangle of grey paper cut down from leaf of autograph album. A little ruckled, otherwise very good.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Stansfeld') to Henry Fawcett.

Author: 
Sir James Stansfeld (1820-1898), English politician [Henry Fawcett (1833-1884), English economist and politician]
Publication details: 
Friday [no date] on House of Commons Library letterhead.
£28.00

12mo, 2 pp. On foxed and aged paper. He has not seen Fawcett that night, despite 'looking out' for him. He would like to talk with him before the following Monday, and if Fawcett writes, he can visit him 'at any time'. 'I can easily drive over, if you will give me your new address.'

Autograph Letter Signed to Henry Fawcett.

Author: 
[G.O. TREVELYAN] Sir George Otto Trevelyan (1838-1928), Liberal politician and author [Henry Fawcett (1833-1884), English economist and politician]
Publication details: 
9 October 1882; on letterhead of the Chief Secretary's Office, Dublin Castle.
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. The 'appointment of examiners' is entirely a matter for 'the Commissioners of Intermediate Education'. However Trevelyan will be glad 'to send the papers on to the proper quarter, and will do so accordingly'. He is 'much obliged' to Fawcett for his 'kind expressions about my proceedings here. It is a very queer post, and I always feel as if on the brink of an appalling escape.' He has been 'much struck' with the success of Fawcett's policy at Trinity College, Dublin. The Trevelyans 'spent some days in Salisbury in 1879.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E Knatchbull') to the Mayor of Canterbury.

Author: 
Sir Edward Knatchbull (1781-1849) of Mersham Hatch, Kent, 9th Baronet, English ultra-Tory politician [the Mayor of Canterbury]
Publication details: 
17 September 1841; Mersham Hatch.
£66.00

4to, 3 pp. Very good, on aged paper. Small punch hole through top left-hand corner of both leaves of the bifolium (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). Knatchbull claims that it has been 'intimated' to him 'that the Removal of the Troops from Canterbury in consequence of the Election for the County, which is to take place on Monday next, will cause much Inconvenience, especially to the Trade of the City'. He does not think that the Secretary of State 'would like to interfere, unless in Concurrence with the desire & opinion of the Authorities of the City of Canterbury'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W: Manning') to Sir Richard Downes Jackson (1777-1845).

Author: 
William Manning (1763-1835), Governor of the Bank of England, 1812-14; Deputy-Governor, 1810-12; Director, 1792-1831; West Indian merchant; father of Cardinal Henry Edward Manning [slavery]
Publication details: 
29 January 1835; Upper Gower Street.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p, 6 lines. Good. Inviting him 'to partake a family dinner on Monday next at 6 o'Clock'. He hopes his son Charles will dine there, '& Catherine proposes to come in the Evening'. Written on the verge of Manning's death.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. N. B.') to 'My Dear N. M.'

Author: 
H. N. Brailsford [Henry Noel Brailsford] (1873-1958), English radical journalist and author [Independent Labour Party; Sir Muirhead Bone; Archibald Hamilton Charteris]
Publication details: 
Friday'; date and place not stated [circa 1919?].
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good. A long, interesting gossipy letter. He is a 'poor weak devil' whose 'confounded laziness' has prevented him from writing. He has 'been to Thomlinson', and all copies of 'No. 14' are sold out, 'so there's a feather in your cap, my man'. Mention of 'Charteris', 'Ball & Boyd Scott'. 'I'm damned if I know where my lecture notes are - I've just hunted all over my room. I think they must be in Newcastle, or is it not possible that I lent them to you?' Discusses his 'articles in the Record'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George Frampton') to 'Rogers'.

Author: 
Sir George Frampton [Sir George James Frampton] (1860-1928), English sculptor and craftsman, associated with the Arts and Crafts movement
Publication details: 
March 1894; 32 Queen's Road, London NW.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper with two punch holes to the the outer edge of the first page. He apologises for troubling Rogers: 'I have not heard from yet.' Asks if Rogers would mind 'writing to ask him why he wont pay up.' Hopes Rogers is 'quite well by this time. | My panel is in the frame and finished. I want you to come and have a look at it one Sunday morn.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Sligo') to Brabazon.

Author: 
Howe Peter Browne, 2nd Marquis of Sligo (1788-1845) [Sir William Brabazon (d.1840), 2nd Bart]
Publication details: 
July 16 1833; Mansfield Street.
£50.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper. Docketed in a contemporary hand (Brabazon's), beside Sligo's signature, 'second letter'. Sligo writes that the 'affair' to which Brabazon's letter alludes 'was purely of an official & Parliamentary nature', and that he 'must beg leave to decline receiving any communications respecting it', excepting in his 'place in the H of Lords'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Hubert Smith Stanier.

Author: 
Gifford Lumley [Devonshire; W. Mate & Sons, Limited, printers and publishers of Bournemouth, Southampton and London]
Publication details: 
23 April 1906; 62 Commercial Rd, Bournemouth, on letterhead Mate & Sons letterhead.
£85.00

8vo, 2 pp. Good, though a little grubby on the reverse. Printed down the left hand margin of the recto is a long list headed 'Printers and Publishers of Illustrated Guides to'. Printed in large letters at the centre of the letterhead is 'Shropshire: Historical and Biographical', but there is no record of this title being published, or of any volume on Shropshire by Mates & Sons. From the context it appears that Lumley had a hand in Frederick John Snell's 'Devonshire, historical, descriptive, biographical', published by Mate & Sons in 1907.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Paulet') to Smith, former Gunnery Officer on H.M.S. Carysfort.

Author: 
Admiral Lord George Paulet, CB (1803-1879)
Publication details: 
4 July 1845; 3 Upper Eccleston Street, Belgrave Square, London.
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp, 40 lines. On slightly grubby and creased paper, with a couple of tiny closed tears. Paulet writes that he has been 'saying much in [Smith's] favor' to 'Sir W. Gage' [Admiral Sir William Hall Gage (1777-1864), a member of the Board of Admiralty]. Gage considers the certificate Paulet has given Smith 'of no use to you without your received from the Adm[ira]l. the appointment of Gunnery Officer and that you had better lose no time in applying to me for a certificate for the time that you were actually doing the duty of gunnery officer'. Paulet reckons this 'from the time of Mr.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all three 'Norman Lockyer') to 'Farquhar'.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), English scientist and astronomer, co-discoverer of helium gas [Norman Lockyer Observatory; Harrogate]
Publication details: 
9, 11 and 19 August 1900; first letter from 16 Penywern Road, London SW; second on letterhead of the Solar Physics Observatory, South Kensington, London; third on letterhead of Marine House, Whitley, R.S.O., Northumberland.
£85.00

The first and second letters are both 12mo, 2 pp; the third is 12mo, 1 p. The first and third are good, on lightly aged paper; the second has some smoke staining to top and bottom outside corners. All text clear and entire. The letters concern Farquhar's efforts, as a 'friendly service' on Lockyer's behalf, to get a room in Harrogate. References to the Majestic and Prince of Wales hotels, and to 'Oliver' (perhaps J. A. W. Oliver?).

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. R. Drummond | V Adml | Comr. in Chief') to Sir George Granville Randolph (1818-1907) ('Rear Admiral G. Randolph, C.B.').

Author: 
Vice Admiral the Hon. James Robert Drummond (1812-1895), Royal Navy, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean [Victorian; naval and maritime]
Publication details: 
H M S Lord Warden Malta | Feb 23rd. 1874'.
£85.00

12mo, 2 pp. On Drummond's embossed crested letterhead. Good: on lightly aged paper with corners a little dogeared and slight discoloration along one margin. Small glue stain from previous mounting at foot of reverse (not affecting text). Headed 'General Memo -'. Instructing Randolph 'to conduct all necessary evolutions relative to the exercise of guns, Sails, Boats - small arm | men landing, & Marines - on acting permission for the same from my Flag as he may find conducive to the instruction of the Ships of the Ships herein named of the squadron [five ships named at end of letter]'.

Wood engraving entitled 'GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, DUBLIN, 1853. | [...] DRAWN BY GILBERT, FROM DESIGNS BY J. MAHONY, ESQ.] [ENGRAVED BY H. LINTON AND G. PEARSON.'

Author: 
The Great Industrial Exhibition, Dublin, 1853 [William Dargan (1799-1867); Sir John Benson (1812-74), architect; Sir John Gilbert (1817-97), J. Mahony; Henry Linton, and George Pearson, engravers]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [circa 1853].
£250.00

Attractive image roughly eleven inches by ten wide, captioned 'VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, DUBLIN - OPENED MAY 12, 1853.' On piece of paper roughly fourteen and a half inches by eleven. Good on light-foxed aged paper with two neat vertical folds (perhaps indicating removal from a book). At foot of page list of twelve measurements of the 'PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS OF THE BUILDING', from 'Main Frontage' to 'Width of Outer Gallery'.

[Railway Reading.] Workmen's Earnings, Strikes, and Savings. By Samuel Smiles, author of 'Life of George Stephenson,' 'Self Help,' etc. Reprinted from the 'Quarterly Review.'

Author: 
Samuel Smiles [Victorian trades unions; strikes; industrial action]
Publication details: 
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1861. Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street, and Charing Cross.
£120.00

12mo, 168 pp. In original red printed wraps, yellow endpapers. Attractive bookseller's ticket of 'Hunt Books 1919 Southborough Kent England' on front pastedown. Internally sound, with a little light staining and some unobtrusive marking in margins. Wraps chipped and worn at corners and spine, with small ink stain on back. Front wrap headed 'RAILWAY READING.' Small neat ownership stamp of J. D. Bowen at head of title.

Autograph Letter Signed ('P Watts') to Archibald Hurd, 5 Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London N.W.

Author: 
Sir Philip Watts (1846-1926), English naval architect [Sir Archibald Hurd (1869-1959)]
Publication details: 
20 [corrected from 18] October 1909; on embossed Admiralty letterhead.
£100.00

4to, 2 pp, 25 lines. Good, on slightly discoloured and grubby paper. Watts takes issue with 'The statement of British Shipbuilding Programmes since 1889' which Hurd has forwarded. 'It was found more convenient to draw up the table again', and Watts is sending 'the result of the investigations which have been made' (table not present). He is in 'complete agreement' with the 'statements under the headings of Battleships, Armoured Cruisers and 1st. class Cruisers', but 'Under the headings of 2nd. and 3rd.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Osbert') to 'My dear James'.

Author: 
Osbert Sitwell [Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet] (1892-1969), English writer and aesthete
Publication details: 
Monday' [no date]; on illustrated letterhead of Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire (amended by Sitwell to 'Renishaw | N[ear]. Sheffield').
£120.00

12mo, 2 pp. Very good. Attractive letterhead with engraved illustration of 'Renishaw Hall | Derbyshire' (last word crossed out by Sitwell). Written in purple ink. Asks if there is 'anything to be made of a curtain-raiser, or short film, which wd. show Napoleon catching the cold, which lost him the Battle of Waterloo? . . It is an amusing idea.' He considers that it is 'sure to have been some very silly person who sneezed at him . . . Or is the idea nonsense!'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Leslie Rundle') to 'My dear General'.

Author: 
Leslie Rundle [Sir Henry Macleod Leslie Rundle] (1856-1934), British army officer
Publication details: 
31 July 1904; on letterhead of Government House, York.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good on lightly-aged paper. He has 'written to the necessary authorities' about his correspondent's son. 'Of course it will largely depend on which Slade [Lt-Gen. Frederick George Slade (b.1851), C.B.] says about him, as I do not know your son personally - though his record reads an exceptionally good one.' He is sorry to hear about his correspondent's brother's death: 'he was always very kind' to Rundle.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Rennell Rodd | priv: sec:') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
James Rennell Rodd (1858-1941), 1st Baron Rennell, English diplomat and classical scholar
Publication details: 
13 September 1888; on official letterhead from the British Embassy, Berlin.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp, 10 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with scrap of brown paper mount adhering in top right-hand corner on the reverse (not affecting text). Concerns a volume which 'has been duly forwarded to Count Seckendorff, Comptroller of the Household of Her Majesty the Emperess Frederick'. The Ambassador Sir Edward Malet has asked Rodd to express to the correspondent 'his personal thanks for the second copy you were good enough to forward to him'.

2 Autograph Letters Signed by Close (both 'C. F. Close') to Dawkins; and one Typed Letter Signed ('H. R. Douglas') from Douglas to Close.

Author: 
Sir Charles Close [Sir Charles Frederick Arden-Close] (1865-1952), surveyor and geographer; Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Percy Douglas (1876-1939) [Sir Wiliam Boyd Dawkins (1837-1929), geologist]
Publication details: 
Close's letters: 17 and 24 April 1926, both on letterhead of Coytbury, St. Giles's Hill, Winchester; Douglas's letter: 23 April 1926, on letterhead of the Hydrographic Department, Admiralty, Whitehall, London, S.W.1.
£100.00

All three letters good, on lightly aged paper. Close's first letter (12mo, 2 pp): He is pleased to hear 'that Professor O. T. Jones is convalescent and back at work'. Close will write to him to ask if he will take part in the 'Commission' on the 'Terrasses littorales'. Having none 'handy', he is writing to the Admiralty Hydrographer for a 'list of Admiralty Charts'. The Closes have 'settled to take a house in Jersey for the children's holidays', so there is 'little chance of our being at Oxford for the British Association meeting'.

Autograph Note in the third person to 'the Lord Mayor elect and the Sheriffs' of the City of London.

Author: 
George Tierney (1761-1830), Anglo-Irish Whig politician [Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832) of Kyllachy]
Publication details: 
Monday 9th. Inst. [no date]'.
£56.00

On piece of paper roughly 5.5 x 12 cm. Neatly laid down on a quarto leaf removed from an autograph album. Autograph and mount both damp-stained. Reads 'Mr Tierney presents his Compts to the Lord Mayor elect and the Sheriffs. will have the honor of waiting upon them Monday 9th Inst.' The leaf on which the autograph is mounted carries thirteen lines of biographical information in a nineteenth-century hand. Laid down on the reverse of the mount is an oval engraved portrait (not stated, but by William Ridley, published by Vernor & Hood, after John Opie), c.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George Stephen') to 'My dear Valentine'.

Author: 
Sir George Stephen (1794-1879), English abolitionist, lawyer and author
Publication details: 
22 August 1844; 17 Kings Arms Yard [London].
£85.00

Landscape 8vo (roughly 12 x 20 cm), 1 p, 8 lines. On creased and lightly aged paper. Text clear and entire. Stephen is afraid that Valentine's 'poor protegée will not [...] get much out of her claim!' Stephen cannot help her 'because litigation in a colony can only be conducted by a solicitor resident within it, and bad as we are reputed to be at home, they are far worse in the Colonies!' However he has 'written a strong professional letter for her that may perchance obtain an answer'.

Autograph Letter in the third person to 'Mr Twining'.

Author: 
Richard Westmacott (1799-1872), English sculptor
Publication details: 
31 January 1862; 1 Kensington Gate.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp, 18 lines. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. 'Mr. Westmacott presents his Compts and has to acknowledge Mr Twinings polite letter'. Its delivery has been delayed 'owing to its incorrect address', 'Mr W. having left Wilton <& Co.?>. (and quitted the practice of his profession) for some years'. As for 'Engravings and Photographs' of Westmacott's works, 'very few were made'. Most of these were 'ill done', although he does name one with which he was satisfied. Consequently Westmacott cannot 'assist Mr. Twining in his object'.

Autograph Draft of Letter to his publishers Messrs Petter & Galpin [George William Petter and Thomas Dixon Galpin, associates of John Cassell].

Author: 
George Cruikshank (1792-1878), English graphic artist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£85.00

12mo (18 x 11 cm): 1 p. 15 lines of text. On aged paper with one light stain at centre. Corner on reverse tipped in onto card mount. No signature. Introducing 'Miss Napier who has just returned from the Cape of Good Hope - She has one or two M.SS which she wishes to submit to your notice [...] you will kindly assist the lady in her literary efforts'. Miss Napier's address is given as '4 Beech View Villas, South Penge Park | Penge Surrey SE.' It is perhaps significant that Sir George Thomas Napier (1784-1855) was Governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 1837 to 1843.

Autograph Note Signed ('Charles Oman') to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman (1860-1946), British military historian and Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
1 April 1930; on embossed letterhead of the House of Commons Library.
£25.00

One page, 12mo. Good but with paperclip spotting at head (not affecting text). Three-line quotation clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. 'Broadmindedness, so called, is generally no more than the silly fear of being thought narrow-minded - | [signed] Charles Oman'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Geo: Macdonald') to unnamed male correspondent [the autograph collector Rev. E. J. A. Davies?]

Author: 
Sir George Macdonald (1862-1940), numismatist, classical scholar, archaeologist and civil servant
Publication details: 
13 March 1931; on embossed letterhead '17 LEARMOUTH GARDENS | EDINBURGH'.
£20.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, with a little light spotting at foot. 'Dear Sir, | I suppose it will suffice if I sign myself | Yours faithfully | Geo: Macdonald'. Docketed in pencil at foot.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Theodore Martin') [to an autograph dealer?].

Author: 
Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909), Scottish poet, biographer and translator.
Publication details: 
27 February 1888; on letterhead '31, Onslow Square, S. W.' [London].
£50.00

One page, 12mo. Good, though a little grubby at the right-hand margin, and with the name of the recipient neatly torn away at foot. 'Dear Sir | Neither Lady Martin nor myself feel any interest in any letters of ours, which may have come into your hands.'

Autograph Letter Signed to Rosa Tuckwell [nee Strong, b.1829/30], wife of William Tuckwell (1829-1919).

Author: 
Mary Campbell [AUTOGRAPHS; Sir Joshua Reynolds; Rev. William Tuckwell]
Publication details: 
No date [but between 1858 and 1878]; Wheatleigh.
£100.00

Four pages, 12mo. Very good on lightly aged paper. She apologises for only sending 'two words of Sir Joshua Reynolds' writing', and hopes she may some day 'succeed in getting a more valuable autograph'. It was given to her 'by a great niece' of the artist, 'and was cut out of a manuscript of some work on Engravings, which he had prepared for the press'. They are glad to hear of Tuckwell's 1878 'appointment to the living of Stockton': 'I trust many years of rest and happiness are in store for you in that quiet retreat'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Spencer Todd') to autograph collector S[eymour]. C. J. Freeman-Matthews of Cape Town.

Author: 
John Spencer Brydges Todd (1840-1921), Executive Commissioner, Paris, for the Universal Exhibition of 1878, and colonial officer
Publication details: 
18 August 1900; on crested letterhead '112, VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S.W.'
£30.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. 'Although I am surprised at your wishing to include mine in your collection of autographs, here it is. | I agree with Sir Alfred Milner that Work, Brains & Opportunity are necessary to success; and that the last is most necessary. But I think that Self-control should be added to His Excellency's list.' A printed biographical cutting is appended.

Autograph Letter Signed to Dawson Turner from his daughter Elizabeth ('E. Palgrave').

Author: 
Elizabeth Palgrave (nee Turner, 1799-1852), wife of Sir Francis Palgrave (1788-1861) [Dawson Turner]
Publication details: 
[Docketed by Turner 'Hampstead 21st June 1848.']
£80.00

One page, octavo. Good, on aged paper with some loss to extremities repaired with archival tape. Fifteen lines of text clear and complete. On learning of Dawson Turner's celebrated collection of autographs from her son, Elizabeth Palgrave's 'kind old neighbour' Lady Bentham asked her 'some questions which led to the enclosed note & the letters I send' (none present).

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