Latest additions

Author, Title, Summary Price
Lord Morpeth [George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle (1802-1864; styled Viscount Morpeth, 1825-1848)] [Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865), gardener and architect of Crystal Palace]

[Lord Morpeth to Sir Joseph Paxton, regarding ‘overflowings’ from the Duke of Devonshire’s garden.] Autograph Letter Signed to gardener and creator of Crystal Palace Sir Joseph Paxton, requesting cuttings on behalf of William Tighe Hamilton of Dublin

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr Paxton’ and signed ‘Morpeth’. Much of the letter comprises a twenty-three line quotation from a letter Morpeth has received ‘from a great friend of mine in...

£120.00
King Louis XVIII of France and Chateaubriand [François-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand]

[King Louis XVIII of France and Chateaubriand.] Secretarial Letter Signed by ‘Louis’, and with the signature of ‘Chateaubriand’, addressed to ‘Mon Cousin’ and expressing cordial sentiments, with reference to ‘le sacré collège’.

See image. A nice item, linking two important figures in French history. 1p, foolscap 8vo, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of unwatermarked gilt-edged wove paper. Aged and lightly creased, with short closed tears and wear at the head. The ten lines of neatly written text are neatly...

£450.00 Louis
King George III (1738-1820) of Great Britain and of Ireland, the mad monarch who lost America

[King George III.] Seven examples of the king's signature on a page, six of them cut from parchment documents, the last two made while insane, with the last on a fragment of a warrant.

See image. It is hard to see how this collection could be bettered, the range of signatures from sanity to madness being of particular interest. All seven examples laid down on a folio leaf extracted from an album. The leaf is in poor condition, creased and with closed tears, but the parchment...

£1,250.00 George III
Henry Williamson (1895-1977), English novelist best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'

[Henry Williamson, English author best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'.] 77 pages of typescript from ‘A Fox Under My Cloak’, the fifth novel in the sequence ‘A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight’, with extensive autograph emendations and deletions.

Asee image of[339]See Williamson’s entry by his daughter-in-law Anne Williamson in the Oxford DNB, together with her 1995 biography of him. The present tranche of material gives a marvellous insight into the working processes of a fine - perhaps even a great - English writer, in addition to...

£950.00 Williamson
General Sir Edward Stanton (1827-1907), British Army officer who served in the Crimean War, and diplomat who was British Ambassador to Bavaria [Col. Edward Alexander Stanton]

[General Sir Edward Stanton, British Army officer and Ambassador to Bavaria.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Cochrane’, regarding ‘the Nile map’ and his son’s ‘explorations of the Bahr-el-zara’.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly worn. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Cochrane’ and signed ‘Edwd. Stanton’. He thanks him for ‘sending me the Nile map, which is certainly more complete than any I had, though it does not give us much more information as to the rivers South of...

£70.00
Admiral Beatty [Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871-1936)], First Sea Lord, 1919-1927, commander of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916

[Admiral Beatty, First Sea Lord.] Autograph Signature (‘David Beatty | Rear-Admiral’) on part of document.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, in which ‘deep professional commitment and mental toughness’ are said to be qualities whose possession he demonstrated ‘heroically’. Beatty’s aggressive tactics at the Battle of Jutland are often contrasted with Jellicoe’s more cautious approach. After the...

£50.00 Beatty
[J. Passmore Edwards (1823-1911), publisher and philanthropist] William Stevens, biographer, editor of ‘The Biographical Magazine’

[J. Passmore Edwards, philanthropist, and ‘The Biographical Magazine’.] Autograph Letter Signed from ‘William Stevens. / Ed. of Biog. Mag.’ to ‘J M Lamb’, discussing his suggestion and the parlous state of the magazine.

An interesting item, casting light on Victorian London publishing of periodical literature. For Passmore Edwards, to whom London is indebted for innumerable public libraries (many now closed), see his entry in the Oxford DNB. ‘The Biographical Magazine’ was founded in 1852, and the first two...

£120.00
Sir Frank Stockdale [Sir Frank Arthur Stockdale] (1883-1949), distinguished agronomist and mycologist, Colonial Office Agricultural Advisor

[Sir Frank Stockdale: agriculture in Britain's African colonies, 1929-37.] Four official Autograph Journals by Colonial Office Agricultural Advisor Sir Frank Stockdale, describing in detail tours in Crown Colonies in East and West Africa and Cyprus.

Stockdale’s entry in the Oxford DNB provides an excellent commentary on the present four items: ‘An assumption that colonial economies should continue to be dominated by the export of cash crops, and a faith in Western scientific agriculture led in 1929 to the establishment of the colonial...

£1,000.00
James W. Lowther [ James William Lowther, 1st Viscount Ullswater (1855 – 1949), Conservative politician., sometime Speaker and Trustee British Museum.]

[James W. Lowther; British Museum; South Kensington; Natural History Museum] Substantial Autograph Letter Signed James W. Lowther to [Gaster?], about the Directorship of S.K. [?South Kensington Museums?; British Museum]~[Printed] All Souls College, Oxfor

AUTOGRASPH DIRECTOR BRITISH MUSEUM SOUTH KENSINGTON SCIENCE NATURAL HISTORY VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

£0.00
Gartrude Lieben, Hon. Sec. The Women Shoppers' League

[G. Lieben, Hon.Sec.; The Women Shoppers' League [U.K.]; Cinema; PTA] Autograph Letter Signed Gartrude Lieben (late of Sydenham C.S.S. to [Chetwynd] Palmer campaigning to prevent children seeing films intended only for adults.

One page, 4to, fold marks, good condition. I remember that once, when at a P.T.A. meeting we passed a resolution - I think it was about the need for stricter supervision to prevent children going to Cinemas shopwing films intended only for adults, to make this protest more effective you...

£220.00
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