SOCIETY

[VICTORIAN CLUBS AND SOCIETIES] List of the members of the club of "Nobody's Friends".

Author: 
[VICTORIAN CLUBS AND SOCIETIES] The club of 'Nobody's Friends'
Nobody
Publication details: 
[s. l. et a.] 'As existing on 1st January, 1878.'
£120.00
Nobody

See 'The club of 'Nobody's Friends' 1800-2000: a memoir on its two-hundredth anniversary' by Geoffrey Rowell (2000). Four-page bifolium. Good, on grubby, discoloured paper, with some creasing and wear at foot. Gives details of the election between 1820 and 1877 of fifty-nine Actual Members, and of eighteen Honorary Members. Includes the Rev. Charles Burney, the artist George Richmond and the publisher John Murray.

Autograph Letter Signed [to 'Mr Procter, Islington'].

Author: 
David Bogue (1750-1825), British nonconformist minister, whose academy at Gosport was 'the seed from which the London Missionary Society grew'
Publication details: 
Gosport 6th April 1825'.
£125.00

Three pages, 12mo. Good, on aged paper, but with the verso of the second leaf of the bifolium covered by previous brown-paper mount. 'Mr Cecil' has passed on Procter's letter. 'The object of your Society is highly commendable, & I wish it much success.' He is 'promoting the same end, by giving what [he] can spare, to Ministers in the neighbourhood'. Praises 'Gentlemen in London' for their 'liberality in assisting poor Ministers at a distance'. '[I]n the country we have as many in our neighbourhood as we are able to relieve'.

Four Autograph Letters Signed (two in full and two as 'L. H.') to the biblical scholar and Quaker theologian Herbert George Wood (1879-1963), first Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham.

Author: 
Lawrence Hyde (b.1894, fl. 1954), English journalist and spiritual philospher [Herbert George Wood; Quaker; Society of Friends; Selly Oak College; Fircroft; Woodbrooke]
Publication details: 
Between 1930 and 1931; all four on letterhead Rosedean Cottage, Shipley, Sussex.
£120.00

All items very good, on lightly aged paper. Four closely written and interesting communications on his writings and philosophy. LETTER ONE (16 June 1930, 2 pages, 12mo): On the question of 'that misunderstanding regarding our last visit', the rest of the month is 'booked up', but 'perhaps the postponement - I hope it is no more than that! - of our coming may not be a bad thing'. Since their last meeting he has been 'passing through a phase of extensive internal adjustment, the physical aspect of which has taken the form of very bad health'.

Handbill headed 'Souvenir. Street Library Book Fund.', consisting of a monologue entitled 'Lord Beaconsfield speaks before the curtain'.

Author: 
Laurence Housman [The Street Library, The Crispin Hall; Somerset; English libraries]
Publication details: 
Crispin Hall, July 8th, 1931.'
£56.00

One one side of a piece of laid paper, 26.5 x 21 cms. Aged and creased, with chipping to extremities and staining on reverse from repair to one of two closed tears. Thirty-six lines, with facsimile of Housman's signature at foot. An appeal for 'money for the Library - your Library'. Somewhat poignant, considering the present neglected state of the British library service. '[...] The question is - do you want to give money to your Library? [...] But, for my own part, I ask - why, why Libraries? What are they for? What there do you read?

Autograph Letter Signed to Joseph Procter.

Author: 
John Clayton, junior (1780-1865), Minister of Poultry Chapel, London
Publication details: 
29 December 1826; Devonshire Square.
£50.00

Four pages, 12mo. Very good, with strip of brown paper adhering at the head. Text clear and entire. A long letter, casting light on the effects on the English middle classes of the financial crisis of 1825. Clayton begins by thanking Procter for the 'card case'. He 'will gladly do any thing that may fall within [his] power, to assist the Associate Fund', but does not think that he can 'do much'. 'The times are such, that Cases of

Autograph Note Signed ('T Redwood') to unnamed recipient.

Author: 
Theophilus Redwood (1806-1892), Welsh analytical chemist, Professor of Pharmacy at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Theophilus Redwood
Publication details: 
19 Montague Street, Russell Square [London]; 26 March 1889.
£36.00
Theophilus Redwood

One page, 12mo. Blind stamped monogram at head. Text clear and entire, but on heavily damp-stained paper. Reads 'The enclosed is to be inserted in the Journal of the Chemical Society among the Proceedings.'

Mortgage Indenture (No. 13992), printed, manuscript, typewritten, and signed, between Smith, his wife Millicent Smith and the Burnley Building Society.

Author: 
William Russell Smith, Oldham 'Book Manufacturer and Auctioneer'
Publication details: 
9 October 1922. Printed by 'George Anderson (Burnley) Limited.'
£35.00

Eight pages, quarto. Unbound and stitched on six leaves. Good, with recto of first leaf and verso of last somewhat more aged. With company and tax stamps. 'Mortgage, [a leasehold plot of land and messuage Numbered 26 in Barker Street Oldham in the County of Lancaster to secure £450 and interest.' Typewritten acknowledgment of payment, 25 February 1929, signed by company secretary W. Harvey and director J. Brown.

Four handbills relating to the election of the Society's council and officers for 1870, and a copy of 'Report of the Auditors of the Accounts of the Zoological Society of London, Appointed January 21, 1869.'

Author: 
Zoological Society of London [Philip Lutley Sclater; Edward Greenaway; Edward Johnstone; James Tennant; Alexander Nowell Sherson; H. E. Dresser; Robert Low; F. Du Cane Godman]
Publication details: 
Report dated from '11 Hanover Square, February 26, 1869'; handbills all dated 1869.
£86.00

All items are good, on lightly aged paper. The 'Report of the Auditors of the Accounts' is seven pages, octavo, stitched and unbound. It consists of five full-page tables: 'Receipts', 'Payments', 'Comparison of Receipts in 1867 and 1868', 'Comparison of Payments in 1867 and 1868' and one showing 'The Assets and Liabilities of the Society on the 31st of December 1868'. Comment by the seven auditors (all named) on final page, remarking on 'the unexampled state of prosperity of the Zoological Society at the close of the previous year'. The four handbills are each on one side of a 12mo leaf.

Twelve Typed Letters and one Autograph Letter relating to the printing of the 'Society of Arts Journal', addressed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood and George Kenneth Menzies, Secretaries, Royal Society of Arts, together with one printed circular.

Author: 
[PRINTING: FIRST WORLD WAR]William Archibald Clowes (1866-1937), Chairman, William Clowes & Sons Ltd, English printers
Publication details: 
10 August 1915 to 23 November 1917.
£500.00

Clowes is an eminent firm of English printers, founded in London in 1803, and still thriving in Suffolk. The twelve typed letters are each one page, quarto, on the firm's Duke Street letterhead. The autograph letter is one page, 12mo, with mourning border. The collection in good condition overall, with a few items aged and lightly creased. Most items docketed and bearing the Society's stamp. All items except the circular signed by 'W A Clowes', who (he informs Wood in his first letter) has taken over from his cousin, Captain W. C.

Engraving by Bolton from an illustration by Prior, of 'the Booksellers' Provident Retreat at Abbots Langley, Herts'.

Author: 
The Booksellers' Provident Institution [Thomas Bolton, wood engraver; William Henry Prior (c.1812-82), illustrator]
Publication details: 
[1848].
£250.00

Landscape. Dimensions of paper roughly nine inches by thirteen and a half. Trimmed. Clear image on aged and foxed paper. Captioned 'This ENGRAVING of the BOOKSELLERS' PROVIDENT RETREAT at Abbots Langley, Herts, erected upon ground presented by JOHN DICKINSON, ESQ.

Five Typed Notes Signed (all 'Fabian G Trollope') to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Fabian George Trollope (1872-1960) of Trollope & Sons, 'Artists in Decoration since A.D. 1778. Branch of Trollope & Colls Ltd.' [London Architecture]
Publication details: 
20 March 1923, 4 November and 14 December 1927, and two of 18 June 1931; letter 1 on letterhead of Trollope & Colls, Ltd., letters 2 to 5 on letterhead of Trollope & Sons'.
£45.00

All items one page, quarto, and all very good. Two docketed and one bearing the Society's stamp. Letter 1: He will be pleased to attend a committee meeting. Letter 2: He has 'a long-standing engagement' and will be unable to attend 'the Architectural Decoration Committee'. Along with Godfrey Giles he has 'had a long discussion' with Mr. Grigsby 'with reference to the conditions of the Lewis Berger Scholarship'. Letter 3: He knows 'Professor Richardson very well, and this is just the information which I am requiring. I will send my man on to see the secretary as you suggest'.

A Letter to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone upon a Land Scheme for Ireland.

Author: 
Charles Baron Clarke (1832-1906), British botanist [William Ewart Gladstone]
Publication details: 
London: Macmillan and Co. 1881.
£56.00

Octavo: twenty pages. Unbound and stitched. Good, but with outer leaves a little grubby and creased. The word 'rack-rent' on page six has been underlined and three exclamation marks placed beside it in ink. As well as important botanical works, Clarke numbered political economy and education among his interests.

Twenty-eight Typed Letters Signed, seventeen Autograph Letters Signed, etc, to K. W. Luckhurst, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, and others.

Author: 
John Alexander Milne [Henry Stone & Son; the Medici Society; Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
1938-43; various letterheads, including 11, Old Cavendish St, W.1.; Greengates, Sunningdale, Berks; and 35 Grosvenor Square, W.1.
£200.00

British businessman (1872-1955), chairman of the Medici Society Ltd, chairman and managing director of Henry Stone & Son Ltd, printers. Very good. Mostly octavo, with a few quarto and 12mo. Some bearing the Society's stamp and others docketed. Occasional rust marks from paperclips. Mainly concerned with the day-to-day activities of the Royal Society of Arts, of which Milne was a prominent member, around the time of the Second World War. On 7 September 1939: 'I hardly anticipate that you are likely to have trouble in regard to occupation of the premises.

Portrait photograph by Walter Baker of Birmingham and copy of his book 'Practical Conjuring.'

Author: 
James Carl (J. A. Wakefield, 1875-1955), 'the Derby Conjuror, Member of the Magic Circle, London', 'Society Magician'
Publication details: 
The book published in Derby by E. J. Furniss, 15, Exeter Street, in 1911.
£100.00

The studio photograph, with printed label of 'Walter Baker, 159, Mosely Road, Birmingham. Highgate Studios.' on reverse, and the manuscript number '24704 | 98'. is a good clear head and shoulders portrait (dimensions roughly three and a half inches by two and a quarter wide), in very good condition. Although untitled, it seems to be Carl, as represented on the title-page of his book, without the moustache and a little younger. The book is twenty-eight pages, octavo, in original coloured printed boards. Numerous line drawings.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Durand') to Smith.

Author: 
A[uguste]. Durand [presumably the printer and bookseller rather than the composer] [Charles Roach Smith (1807-91), British archaeologist]
Publication details: 
Saturday 29 Octr. [no year, but between 1843 and 1873]; no place [Paris?].
£42.00

Two pages, 12mo. Good, on aged and creased paper. Engraving of ancient medallion as letterhead. He takes 'the opportunity of a friend going over' to send Smith 'a parcel which I have just received from Monsr De la Plane, Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of the <?> & the Bulletin of the Society, for the Royal [sic] Society of Antiquaries, the British Archaeological Association [founded 1843], the Numismatic Society, and Smith himself. He is also sending a letter for J[ohn]. Y[onge]. Ackerman (1806-73).

Typewritten 'List of chief and under gravers to the Mint', signed in autograph.

Author: 
Charles Anthony, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh [THE ROYAL MINT; NUMISMATICS]
Publication details: 
04/06/37
£67.00

Four pages, on four A4 leaves. Entirely legible, though dogeared and with some wear to extremities. Rust staining from paperclip. Complete from 1066 to 1937, beginning with the Cuneators and giving dates of Chief and Under Gravers together with Remarks on each individual. Dated and signed by Anthony.

Engraved portrait by Vertue captioned 'RICHARDUS GRAVES | de Michleton in Com[itatis] Gloucestriae Armiger | Obiit: 1731, A[nn]o. Aetat[is]: 51.'

Author: 
Richard Graves the elder ('the antiquary', 1677-1729), of Mickleton Manor, Gloucestershire [George Vertue]
Publication details: 
Extracted from Nash's 'History of Worcestershire' (London, 1781-2).
£55.00

On good-quality thick wove paper, roughly fifteen inches by eleven wide. Dimensions of plate roughly eleven inches by six and a half wide. Good, clean impression, with blank borders a tad grubby. Attractive portrait of a handsomely dressed Graves, a bookcase behind him, leaning between two tables, on one of which is a manuscript and on the other another manuscript, coins and books. Graves's dates are corrected in the Dictionary of National Biography.

The first five issues of 'The Saturday Magazine'.

Author: 
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
Publication details: 
7 to 28 July 1832. 'LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, 445, (WEST) STRAND.' 'C. RICHARDS, Printer, 100, St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross.'
£165.00

The five issues are each eight pages long and octavo. All five issues unbound, and stabbed. All good, though lightly aged and with some wear to extremities. An improving publication, produced 'Under the direction of the Committee of General Literature and Education, appointed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Mark Batten') to J. Samson, Registrar, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Mark Wilfrid Batten (1905-1993), English sculptor and stone carver
Publication details: 
6 May 1960; on letterhead 'CHRISTIAN'S RIVER DALLINGTON HEATHFIELD SUSSEX'.
£28.00

One page, quarto. Very good, with staple holes in one corner. He thanks Samson for his letter 'about the enquiry from the Esso Petroleum Company concerning a sculptured commemorative tablet. I should be pleased to take part in any limited competition for this project and could carry out the work this year if I were commissioned to do so within the scheme of my existing commitments.' The context is explained by an accompanying photocopy of a carbon of a typed letter (one page, quarto) of 5 May 1960 from Samson to the sculptor Professor R. Y.

Certificate in favor of R. Battley | Elected a Fellow 9 Nov 1827', signed by Frost, Yarrell and William Newman

Author: 
Richard Battley (1770-1856), English chemist; William Yarrell (1784-1856), English zoologist; John Frost (1803-40), founder of the Medico-Botanical Society.
Publication details: 
London; 12 October 1827.
£85.00

One page, roughly eleven inches by eight. On aged paper, with fraying to extremites affecting one word of text. 'Richard Battley Esqre. of Fore Street Cripplegate a Gentleman very conversant in several branches of science particularly Vegetable Chemistry and Pharmacy being desirous of becoming a Fellow of the Medico Botanical Society of London | We whose names are hereunto subscribed do recommend him as highly deserving of that honor & likely to pr an useful and valuable member.' Signed 'J Frost', 'Wm. Yarrell' and 'Wm. Newman'.

Autograph Letter Signed by the Society's secretary W. E. Page to Messrs Coutts & Co, Bankers.

Author: 
THE LONDON FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY
Autograph Letter Signed by the Society's secretary
Publication details: 
2 October 1901, on printed letterhead of the Society, 191, High Street, Stoke Newington, N.
£35.00
Autograph Letter Signed by the Society's secretary

The society's letterhead has a circular engraving, 1 1/2 inches in diameter, of Jesus and a fallen woman, surrounded by the quotation ':JESUS SAID UNTO HER, NEITHER DO I CONDEMN THEE: GO, AND SIN NO MORE.' It describes the Society as 'Being "THE LONDON FEMALE PENITENTIARY," founded at Pentonville, 1807, and "THE GUARDIAN SOCIETY," founded 1812, for the RESCUE, RECLAMATION, and PROTECTION of BETRAYED and FALLEN WOMEN from all parts of the United Kingdom, and now united under one management." 1 page, 8vo. Grubby, with staple marks and a closed tear affecting two words of text.

Archive of correspondence with the Royal Society of Arts, consisting of twenty-one letters from Gray, one copy, and carbons of fifteen replies.

Author: 
Milner Connorton Gray, industrial artist and graphic designer (1899-1997) [The Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
1947-1962; London.
£280.00

The collection is in very good condition, with a few staple and pin holes. Gray's letters are signed 'Milner Gray' and occasionally 'Milner'. All but the first two, which are on Society of Industrial Artists letterheads, are on Design Research Unit letterheads. An early letter (5 April 1949), to Kenneth Luckhurst, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, apologises for and explains a 'difficulty' which has arisen 'over the fees we estimated for completing the necessary working drawings and supervising construction of the permanent display screens for the Society's headquarters'.

Typed Letter Signed to the editor of the Journal of the Rontgen Society.

Author: 
Sir Richard Arman Gregory, Professor of Astronomy, Queen's College, London (1864-1952)
Publication details: 
25 July 1918; on letterhead of the British Science Guild (British Scientific Products Exhibition, 1918).
£33.00

Signed 'R. A. Gregory'. One page, folio. Good, with one dogeared corner. Bearing the stamp of the Royal Society of Arts. Circular letter referring to an enclosure (not present) relating to an exhibition which 'will shew that by the combination of science and industry we have done nearly as much in four years of war as the Germans did in the preceding forty. More than 250 manufacturers are sending exhibits, and the Air Ministry will make a large display, as well as the Food Production Department.' Asks for 'a sympathetic editorial note or article'.

Paper entitled 'Refraction-equivalents of organic compounds'.

Author: 
John Hall Gladstone
Publication details: 
Repritned from the Journal of the Chemical Society, July, 1884. Vol. XLV.'
£23.00

English physical chemist (1827-1902), fellow of the Royal Society and father-in-law of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. Nineteen pages, octavo (paginated 241-59). Unbound. Stitched. Good, though dogeared in one corner and on paper discoloured with age. In worn discoloured, grubby wraps. INSCRIBED at head of first page 'With J H Gladstone's kind regds.' Front wrap stamped 'SOTHERAN. SACKVILLE STREET. LONDON'.

Paper entitled 'Specific Refraction and Dispersion of Isomeric Bodies'.

Author: 
John Hall Gladstone
Publication details: 
Offprint 'From the PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE for January 1881.'
£23.00

English physical chemist (1827-1902), fellow of the Royal Society and father-in-law of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. Seven pages, octavo (paginated 54-60). INSCRIBED at head of first page 'With J H Gladstone's kind regds.' Unbound. Stitched. Creased and with foxing at head of leaves. In grubby, creased wraps, stamped 'SOTHERAN. SACKVILLE STREET. LONDON'.

Paper entitled 'The optical and chemical properties of caoutchouc'.

Author: 
John Hall Gladstone
Publication details: 
Reprinted from the Journal of the Chemical Society, July, 1888. Vol. LIII.'
£23.00

English physical chemist (1827-1902), fellow of the Royal Society and father-in-law of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. Ten pages, octavo (paginated 679-88). Unbound. Stitched. Good, though slightly dogeared and on paper discoloured with age. In worn, discoloured wraps, stamped 'SOTHERAN. SACKVILLE STREET. LONDON'. INSCRIBED on front wrap 'With the authors' kind regds.'

Paper entitled 'The Relation between the Refraction of the Elements and their Chemical Equivalents'.

Author: 
John Hall Gladstone
Publication details: 
Offprint 'From the PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, Vol. 60' [1896].
£23.00

English physical chemist (1827-1902), fellow of the Royal Society and father-in-law of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. Seven pages, octavo (paginated 140-146). Unbound. Stitched. In original grey printed wraps. With dogeared, worn corners (one missing) and on paper discoloured with age. Wraps worn and grubby and with slight loss at bottom. INSCRIBED on front wrap 'With J H Gladstone's kind regds'. Front wrap stamped 'SOTHERAN. SACKVILLE STREET. LONDON'.

Paper entitled 'The Relation between the Refraction of the Elements and their Chemical Equivalents.'

Author: 
John Hall Gladstone
Publication details: 
Offprint 'From the PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, Vol. 60' [1896].
£23.00

English physical chemist (1827-1902), fellow of the Royal Society and father-in-law of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. Seven pages, octavo (paginated 140-146). Unbound. Stitched. In original grey printed wraps. Good on paper discoloured with age and with slight foxing to top of leaves. Wraps worn and grubby and with slight loss and closed tear. INSCRIBED on front wrap 'With J H Gladstone's kind regds'. Front wrap stamped 'SOTHERAN. SACKVILLE STREET. LONDON'.

Twelve Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, [Secretary,] Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir William James Ashley
Publication details: 
5 August 1913 to 9 September 1916; mainly on '3, YATELEY ROAD, | EDGBASTON' and University of Birmingham letterheads.
£400.00

British economic historian (1860-1927), a disciple of Arnold Toynbee, and proponent of the historical method pioneered in Germany by such scholars as Roscher, Hildebrand and Knies. The manuscript items are all 12mo, the typed item quarto. All twelve docketed and bearing the Society's stamp, and signed 'W. T. Ashley'. The collection is in very good condition, though grubby in parts and with one or two creased corners. An interesting and characteristic correspondence. ITEM ONE (3 pages, 12mo, 5 August 1913): Declines proposal to act as examiner.

Six Autograph Letters Signed, to [G. E.] Mercer[, Deputy Secretary,] and [J.] Samson[, Assistant Secretary,] of the Royal Society of Arts. Together with manuscript syllabus of a course of lectures.

Author: 
Sir John Newenham Summerson
Publication details: 
1958 to 1965; the first four on letterhead of Sir John Soane's Museum, the last two on letterhead 1 Eton Villas, NW3.
£150.00

Architectural historian (1904-92) and curator of Sir John Soane's Museum, 1945-84. Seven leaves, all very good, though some lightly creased and all with staple holes in top left-hand corner. The first three letters to Mercer and the last three to Samson. Three letters docketed. ITEM ONE (two pages, 12mo, 7 August 1958): He is 'much attracted' by the Society's invitation 'to give three Cantor lectures on Country Houses', 'especially as I understand the text of the lectures would be published'. There is however 'one rather grave difficulty.

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