Social history

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. T. Gell') to 'Dear Walter'.

Author: 
George T. Gell [I.O.G.T.; IOGT International; Independent Order of Good Templars; International Order of Good Templars; temperance movement; abstinence; prohibition; Sydney, Australia]
Publication details: 
25 February 1889; 15 Little's Lane, Nicholson Street, Balmain, E. Sydney, Australia [on I.O.G.T. letterhead].
£28.00

8vo: 4 pp. Bifolium. 66 lines. Text clear and complete, on aged, spotted and worn paper. Letterhead with printed mottos in decorative borders: 'Total Abstinence is the only certain Preventive of, or Remedy for Intemperance.' and 'INDIVIDUAL ABSTINENCE. | STATE PROHIBITION.' In conclusion Gell apologises for 'what you no doubt will stigmatize as an absurd letter', and to the modern reader this item is certainly unintentionally-amusing. Since his correspondent 'went up', 'one of my Tasmanian friends along with Mrs.

Autograph Signature ('Beatrice Webb').

Author: 
Beatrice Webb (1858-1943) [Martha Beatrice Potter Webb], wife of Sydney Webb [The Fabian Society; Socialism]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

Good, bold signature on slip of laid paper (presumably cut from letter) roughly 3.5 x 11.5 cm. In good condition. Simply reads 'Beatrice Webb'.

Printed Covering Letter, signed by steward 'A Bazzoni', intended to enclose a ticket to the Society's Anniversary Dinner.

Author: 
Aged Poor Society, London [Augusto Bazzoni; Roman Catholic; philanthropy; charity]
Publication details: 
London, December, 1831.'
£45.00

4to: 1 p. Printed on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of paper watermarked 'R BARNARD | 1828'. Fifteen lines of text. Text clear and complete on aged, creased paper with chipping to extremities, and the two leaves of the bifolium nearly detached. Docketed in contemporary hands '819' at the head of the printed page, and 'No. 72' on the reverse of the second leaf 'No. 72'.

Five printed items relating to the Co-operative Holidays Association, including the first three issues in a series of 'Co-Operative Holidays Association General Notes'.

Author: 
Co-operative Holidays Association, Manchester [the co-operative movement]
Publication details: 
General Notes': October and December 1918, and February 1919. ['Published at the Offices of The Co-operative Holidays Association, College House, Brusnwick Street, Manchester. Printed by The Edgeley Press Ltd., Stockport.' Other items 1918 and 1920.
£220.00

Items One to Three: three 'Co-operative Holidays Association General Notes' pamphlets, all 4pp, on unbound 8vo bifoliums. Text clear and complete, on aged and worn paper, with a 3 cm closed tear to both leaves of the second number. Each issue ends with a long list of 'Rambling Clubs and Secretaries'. Headings of notes include 'One Shilling Literature Subscription', 'Sir William Mather', 'Canadian Guests', 'Personalia'. Also a report of the annual general meeting.

Engraving ('Benjamin Green sculpt.') in red and black, with explanatory letterpress, titled 'A View Of The Library Founded In 1429 By RICHARD WHITTINGTON.'

Author: 
Benjamin Green ('Pott') [Thoams Pennant; Richard ('Dick') Whittington; London topography; Christ's Hospital; libraries]
Publication details: 
London Pubd. Jany. 1 1793 by N Smith Gt. Mays Buildings St. Martins Lane.'
£56.00

Printed on one side of a piece of thick wove paper, 21 x 17.5 cm. At the head of the page is the engraving, enclosed in an oval 12.5 cm high and 15 cm wide. A clear impression of a scarce print, on grubby, spotted paper. Within the border is engraved in red 'Part of Christs Hospital taken from the Stewards Office 1765.' According to the six lines of copperplate text at the foot of the page 'It was 129 feet long and 31 feet in breadth, [...] It was furnished with Books at the expence of £556 . 10s of which £400 were given by the founder, and the remainder by Dr.

The True Principal of Population; Trade, Profits, Wages, Employment, and the Land Laws.

Author: 
T. R.' [population; land reform; Sir Robert Arthur Arnold; Manchester radical politics; economics]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1880 and 1885]. Manchester: Abel Heywood and Son, 56 & 58, Oldham Street.
£200.00

12mo, 15 pp. Stitched as issued. Text clear and complete on aged, worn and foxed paper. Can be dated from references in text, and from quotation on title from 'Arthur Arnold, M.P.' (Arnold's career in the House of Commons ending in 1885). Carries a few contemporary marks in light pencil, and a column in shorthand on the blank reverse of the last leaf. Excessively scarce: no copy in the British Library, on COPAC or on WorldCat.

Printed programme of the 'Arrangements for the Ceremony of the Presentation of the Freedom of the City of London to The Right Hon. Lord Milner of St. James' and Cape Town, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.'

Author: 
Alfred Milner (1854-1925), 1st Viscount Milner [Lord Milner] [The Corporation of the City of London; freedom of the city; Guildhall]
Publication details: 
Tuesday, 23rd July, 1901.'
£45.00

4tp bifolium: 3 pp. Text clear and complete on aged and lightly-creased paper. The first page is headed by the crest of the City of London. Gives the timetable for the ceremony, and the routes to be followed by the holders of 'three distinct Cards [white, pink and blue] assigning seats in different localities'. 'The Prime Warden and Wardens of the Fishmongers' Company will present Lord Milner with the Freedom.

A Catalogue of New & Popular Works, And of Books for Children, Suitable for Presents, Sunday School Libraries, and Prizes.

Author: 
E. P. Dutton & Co., publishers, New York [book catalogue; children's books; juvenile]
Publication details: 
[October 1881] New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 713, Broadway. Griffith & Farran, St. Paul's Churchyard, London.
£30.00

12mo. 32 pages. Unbound. On browned high-acidity paper. Loss to margins of first and last leaves, but text clear and complete, save for the dating in bottom left-hand corner of the title: <...> 8. 81. Cancelling all previous Editions of this Catalogue.' Line in blue pen around the words 'for Children' in the title, and pencil markings (by a child) to p.30. Circular engraving beneath title captioned 'Goldsmith introduced to Newbery by Dr.

Autograph Letter Signed to John William Stuart, on the occasion of his brother Benjamin Whitworth's death.

Author: 
Robert Whitworth, philanthropist [Benjamin Whitworth (1816-1893), Liberal M.P. for Drogheda, Manchester cotton merchant; Whitby Lifeboat; temperance; Sunday observance]
Publication details: 
2 October 1893. 14 Brown Street, Manchester.
£95.00

8vo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Sixty-eight lines of text. Complete and legible, but damaged: grubby and creased, with short closed tears and small hole at gutter. Interesting and informative letter. Stuart's message of condolence on Benjamin Whitworth's death is one of many which 'have been very acceptable more especially to his widow who has been laid aside so long with bad health, his daughters have been quite worn out'. Describes how his brother's health 'began to break down after a slight attack of paralysis some two or three years ago when at John Brown & Co Ld.

Printed poster, headed 'Salt-Hill Society, (Instituted 1783) For the Protection of Persons and Property from Felons & Thieves, Within the Hundreds of Burnham and Stoke, In the County of Buckingham.', giving the 'Rules and Articles of this Society'.

Author: 
Edmund J. Craske, Treasurer, Salt-Hill Society, Burnham and Stoke, Buckingham [R. Ingalton Drake, printer, Eton; provincial printing]
Publication details: 
At a General Meeting, held at the ROYAL HOTEL, Slough, on Tuesday, the 13th day of April, and (by adjournment) on Tuesday, the 20th day of April, 1897'. ['R. INGALTON DRAKE, PRINTER, ETON.']
£120.00

Printed on one side of a piece of paper roughly 680 x 430 mm. Good, on aged paper with a little spotting and one short closed tear. Text complete and entirely legible. Heading printed in a variety of types and point sizes, with the Rules and Articles, dated 'Slough, April 20th, 1897. and 'Signed on behalf of the General Body of Subscribers, EDMUND J. CRASKE.', in double-column beneath. Final list of subscribers, in four columns, beginning with 'ABORN, Edwin, Eton' and ending with 'WOLLASTON, H. U., East Burnham'.

Typed Note Signed ('A. C. Fox-Davies') to H. S. Vade Walpole.

Author: 
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1871-1928), English writer on heraldry, and Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation of King George V
Publication details: 
8 June 1899; on letterhead of Hastings House, Norfolk Street, Strand, London.
£35.00

4to: 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Regarding 'certain verses concerning this street', Walpole will 'find an explanation of the whole circumstance in this week's Notes & Queries'.

Five items relating to the appointment of Special Constables, 'in consequence of the unsettled state of the Metropolis', including a signed warrant appointing Cater a Special Constable, as 'a tumult or riot may be reasonably apprehended'.

Author: 
William Charles Cater, hatter, 56 Pall Mall, London [Parish of St James, Westminster; Riot Act; Chartism; Chartists; 1848]
Publication details: 
The five items produced between March and June 1848. One of them printed by T. Brettell, Rupert Street, Haymarket.
£350.00

A collection of items indicating the panic felt by the bourgeoisie around the time of the Great Chartism Meeting on Kennington Common, 10 April 1848. Items Two to Five are laid down on a piece of grey paper removed from a scrapbook. Item One: Printed warrant signed by two magistrates, appointing Cater a Special Constable, it appearing, 'upon the oath of a credible witness, that a tumult or riot may be reasonably apprehended'. On one side of a piece of laid paper roughly 320 x 210 mm. Watermarked 'W H FELLOWS 1847'.

Trade Catalogue giving numerous specimens of the firm's work. With pricelist.

Author: 
The City Rubber Stamp Co. ('Established 1878'), Snow Hill Buildings, Holborn Viaduct, London [Victorian Trade Catalogue]
Publication details: 
London: The City Rubber Stamp Co., Snow Hill Buildings, Holborn Viaduct, E.C. No date. [Circa 1890?]
£85.00

8vo (dimensions of leaf roughly 265 x 180 mm): twenty-four unpaginated pages on twelve leaves, with four pages in a bifolium inserted, and a price list printed on one side of a loose leaf. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Good, clean and tight, on lightly-aged paper with a little spotting to the outside pages.

Seven-page advertisement, written by Cobbett, and headed 'This Day is published, Cobbett's Annual Register, Vol. I. From January to June, 1802.'

Author: 
William Cobbett [Cox, Son, and Baylis, Great Queen Street]
Publication details: 
Dated 'Pall Mall. | October 11th, 1802. } W. COBBETT.' ['Printed by Cox, Son, and Baylis, Great Queen Street.']
£100.00

8vo: 8 pp. Unbound. Stabbed as issued. Very good, on rough-edged wove paper. The seven-page advertisement, signed in type by Cobbett, is succeeded by a page headed 'New Books, published by COBBETT and MORGAN'. (Eight titles are listed.) The advertisement is a personal address from Cobbett, the second paragraph casting valuable light on his motives and intentions: 'When I first undertook the Register, I was fully persuaded, that the plan, which, indeed, I had long thought of, was well calculated to ensure a wide circulation, and to produce an extensive as well as a lasting effect.

Folio sheet of statistics, by 'G. Hervey, General Inspector', headed 'Eastern District. Return shewing the Total Number of Vagrants relieved during Years ended 31st December mentioned below [i.e. 1902 to 1909].'

Author: 
G. Hervey, General Inspector [Edwardian poverty; vagrancy; workhouses; poor law]
Publication details: 
Dated at foot '6/10. [June 1910] D & S.' Covers the English counties ('County and Union') Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
£120.00

Printed on one side of a sheet roughly 395 x 250 mm. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Text clear and entire. At foot: '(16611-21.) Wt. 6705-99. 325. 6/10. D & S.' Fifty-two entries, beginning with 'Cambridgeshire, Wisbech', each with columns for the years 1902 to 1909 of 'Numbers of Casuals relieved in the Workhouse', and with a final column headed 'Two Nights' Detention System enforced or not.' Totals given for each county, and a final 'Total of the District'.

Handbill cockney street ballad entitled 'IT'S MONEY WELL LAID OUT. Sung by ALEC HURLEY.'

Author: 
Alec Hurley [Alexander Hurley (1871-1913), music hall artiste, coster singer, and Marie Lloyd's second husband [George Le Brunn; Harry Castling; London street ballad; cockney; East End slang]
Publication details: 
Date, place and printer not stated. [circa 1898]
£120.00

On one side of a piece of light-brown laid paper, dimensions roughly 240 x 125 mm. Text clear and entire, on lightly creased paper with chipping, short closed tears and loss to extremities. Crudely printed. A thirty-two line poem, arranged in four four-line stanzas, each with a different chorus. An excessively scarce piece of music hall ephemera. No other copy of this particular item, possibly produced for distribution to Hurley's music hall audience, is present on COPAC or anywhere on the web.

Printed consolidated statement, with manuscript additions, by the clerks of the City of London Coal Market, of the exact quantities of coal imported and delivered, headed 'No. 39. Coal Market, Wednesday, March 31, 1830'.

Author: 
J. Butcher, B. Wood, J. Pearsall, Clerks of the City of London Coal Market [Charles Skipper, Printer & Stationer, St. Dunstan's Hill, London]
Publication details: 
[Dated in manuscript 'April 25 1830'.] 'Charles Skipper, Printer & Stationer, St. Dunstan's Hill.'
£85.00

On one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 275 x 230 mm. Printed and manuscript text clear and entirely legible on worn, creased and grubby paper with one small strip of paper repairing reverse. Crest of City of London at head. Two sets of four columns, side by side. The four columns are: 'Ships at Market', 'QUALITY', 'Ships sold' and 'PRICE'. The whole of the 'QUALITY' column in the first set is headed 'NEWCASTLE', containing 45 entries from 'Adair's' to 'Walls End Walker'.

The Betting-Book. By George Cruikshank. With Cuts.

Author: 
George Cruikshank [Victorian London; gambling; betting]
Publication details: 
London: W. & F. G. Cash, 5, Bishopsgate Street Without; [successors to Charles Gilpin.] And sold by W. Tweedie, 337, Strand; George Gallie, Glasgow; and all booksellers. 1852.
£350.00

8vo: 32 pp. Stitched. In original grey wraps. Text, four illustrations and map clear and entire. Printed on discoloured high-acidity paper. Lightly creased with a little wear to corners. Scarce. An attack on 'the Betting-offices that are springing up all over the town', with particular reference to those in the St Martin's Lane area. COPAC only lists four copies: at the British Library, Bodleian, Cambridge and Edinburgh; with two copies of the second edition: British Library and V & A National Art Library.

[Chapbook] The Art of Swimming rendered easy; with Directions to Learners. To which is prefixed, Advice to bathers, by Dr. B. Franklin.

Author: 
Benjamin Franklin [Scottish Chapbook]
Benjamin Franklin
Publication details: 
Glasgow: Printed for the Booksellers. 81. [sic] [1840-50?]
£350.00
Benjamin Franklin

Unbound, on six loose leaves folded to make bifoliums. Good, though grubby and with rough edges (particularly the head). Text clear and entire. 12mo, 24 pages. Cover features woodcut of eighteenth-century gentleman (Franklin?) leaning on stick. Sections on 'Swimming like a dog', 'To beat the water', 'To show both feet out of the water', 'To suspend yourself by the chin', etc. Scarce: Copac only lists copies at Glasgow and in the National Library of Scotland. Dated 1840-50 by the NLS 'from examination of text and style [of] Illustration on title page'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Walter Besant') to Mrs [Alice] Westlake.

Author: 
Sir Walter Besant (1836-1901), novelist and historian of London [Alice Westlake (nee Hare); Adam and Charles Black, publishers; The Survey of London; Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Frognal]
Publication details: 
13 February 1897; on Adam and Charles Black 'Survey of London' letterhead.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. Seventeen lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper. Attractive arts and crafts letterhead. Sending his 'mosts profound sympathy in the danger which threatens Chelsea'. He will sign 'the paper [...] with the greatest of pleasure', although he anticipates 'very little good as a possible result'. Suggests a time at which the paper can be sent to him.

A List of the Monumental Brasses remaining in England arranged according to Counties.

Author: 
Charles Robertson Manning.
Publication details: 
London, 1846
£100.00

Published anonymously (i.e I derive the author's name from BLC). Bound up with: "Report presented to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society at its second general meeting, May 13, 1842" (Cambridge, 1842) and T.E. Tomlins, ed. and translator, "Monastic and Social Life in the Twelfth Century, as exemplified in the Chronicles of Jocelin of Brakelond" (London, 1844). Blue boards, badly worn, slight hinge starin, foxing, annotated with considerable additional information in an unknown hand, with additional illustration inserted, some bound in. A scarce book, but unique copy with annotation.

Partly printed (the heading is official), Letter Signed by Le Vaillant de Bovent to "Messieurs les Membres du Comité formé dans le Sein de la Commission d'inquête du Canal Monsieur

Author: 
Le Vaillant de Bovent, "L'Ingénieur en chef de Ire classe au Corps royal des Ponts et Chaussées, Chargé du Service dans le Département du Douba".
Publication details: 
{Partly printed} Ponts et Chaussees / [5o?] Inspection. [ms.] Envoi des releves de passage sur le Pont a buscule de Basancon/ No. 1396, Besancon, le 21 avril 1829
£56.00

One page, 4to, secretarial hand but signed by Le Vaillant de Bovent. In response to a letter he is providing "les états mensuel de tous les passagers de voiture . . . qui ont été [constules?] par le prepose du pont a bascule de cette ville depuis le mois de . . . 1828 . . . "

Printed circular (in the form of a facsimile of a handwritten letter) invitation to the 'Ceremony of laying the Foundation Stone [of the 'New Library and Museum' at the Guildhall]'.

Author: 
William Sedgwick Saunders [Guildhall Library; Corporation of London; the City]
Publication details: 
17 October 1870; Guildhall.
£55.00

4to: 1 p. Facsimile of a handwritten letter. With small embossed circular letterhead, in red and gilt, with crest enclosed by the words 'Bibliotheca civitatis Londoniarum'. Somewhat grubby bifolium, but with text clear and entire, reading 'The Committee appointed by the Corporation of London to carry out the works in connexion with their new Library and Museum having fixed Thursday, the 27th. Instant for the ceremony of laying the Foundation Stone of the buildings, it will afford them much pleasure to be favored with your company on the occasion, at Guildhall at 2. o'clock. p.m.

Manuscript, in French, entitled 'Notice Sur l'Etablissement industriel fondé par M. Cornillac à Châtillon-sur-Seine (Côte-d'Or), Pour la fabrication des Livres de Piété.

Author: 
Charles Cornillac, French publisher of Châtillon-sur-Seine, Côte-d'Or (active between 1834-1872)
Publication details: 
Without date or place [but between 1847 and 1859].
£180.00

12mo: 4 pp. On the first leaves of each of two bifoliums, which are neatly attached the one within the other to make a four-leaf pamphlet the last two leaves of which are blank. Around 150 lines of closely- and neatly-written French text with a few corrections and additions. Presumably intended for publication. Divided into three parts. Begins 'Sauf les Forges, situes a Sainte-Colombe (2 Kilom.

The conference. Instructions given to Sir Robert Ladbroke, Knt. William Beckford, Esq; the Right Hon. Thomas Harley, Esq; and Barlow Trecothick, Esq; representatives of the City of London: by their constituents.

Author: 
The City of London [Alderman William Beckford; Sir Robert Ladbroke; Thomas Harley; Barlow Trecothick; Charles Clavey]
Publication details: 
(Signed) CHARLES CLAVEY, Chairman of the Common Hall. Guildhall, Feb. 10, 1769.'
£280.00

Printed on one side only of a piece of watermarked laid paper, dimensions 32.5 x 19.5 cm. Folded twice for insertion in the magazine. Good, apart from strip of approximately 0.5 x 5.5 cm loss along top fold, affecting one word of text, and neatly repaired with archival tape. At head of page clean impression of satirical engraving (roughly 8.5 x 13 cm), showing Beckford (father of the connoisseur), in Lord Mayor's robes, telling Harley to 'Receive Instructions & not Silver'. Harley, holding a jacket, tailor's iron and shears, replies 'Teach us our Lesson! Are we then School Boys?

Letter Signed "Sidmouth" to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Viscount Sidmouth, statesman (DNB), here "Home Secretary".
Publication details: 
Whitehall, 8 Dec. 1817.
£120.00

Two pages, 4to, copperplate text by secretary, fold marks, marks of sellotape (half inch square at most) at edge, small chip bottom corner,m text cleqar and complete. Sidmouth, who has received a letter in favour of the condemned John Vartie, forger, informs his correspondent that "the Case of this unfortunate Person had the most full and deliberate consideration, at the time when the Report was made to the Prince Regent in Council.

Autograph Letter Signed "W. Hone" to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
William Hone, Radical bookseller and publisher (DNB).
Publication details: 
5 Bolt Court, 18 June 1840.
£150.00

One page, minor staining not affecting text, laid down on grey coarse paper. "Here is the Cape Shipping List [perhaps including slavers?]. It's business-like details of murders by wholesale tell the cold blooded tales of horror more effectually than eloquent language. They [leave?] & lead the mind to imagine the terrible scenes enacted with poetical power which minute detail fails to [word excised "affect"] produce. I admire this brevity - it is inoffensively offensive. / I am grateful to you, my dear Sir, for your care of my daughter - your help to the helpless.

Small archive of fourteen Typed Letters Signed and six Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Lawrence Chubb'), all addressed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Lawrence Wensley Chubb (1873-1948), pioneer Anglo-Australian environmental campaigner, first Secretary of the National Trust
Publication details: 
Between 4 June 1913 and 19 January 1917; three on letterhead of the Coal Smoke Abatement Society, the others on letterhead of the Commons & Footpaths Preservation Society.
£250.00

The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. The fourteen typed letters are all 4to, 1 p; the autograph letters are all 12mo, three of them of two pages and three of one page. Largely concerned with a lecture given by Chubb to the R.S.A. in 1916 on 'the Preservation of Footpaths & Rights of Way', for which Chubb requests '1,000 or 1,250 cards of admission'. The subject, Chubb comments (21 July 1915), 'seems in itself sufficiently important and interesting to warrant special treatment, and in lecturing I mostly keep footpaths & commons quite separate.

Autograph Letter Signed to John Childs of Bungay, Suffolk, printer, non-conformist, agitator, staunch nonconformist (DNB).

Author: 
J. Atkinson, [radical poet].
Publication details: 
London, 11 Jan. 1823.
£280.00

One page, folio, closely written, chipped with some loss of text, creases and small closed tears. Obviously close (he calls him "Jockie"), Atkinson touches on various radical matters and people in a relaxed, allusive and witty fashion. He initially discusses a poem he is putting togther which "Henry & David" wish to get printed under Childs auspices ("any idea or expression not harmonising with your taste & judgment tell me & I will amend it"). He will get the printer David Maurice (a friend; also see BBTI) to set it up.

[Headed "The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society] Four Typed Letters Signed, to Sir Henry Trueman Wood (2), S. Digby (1) and G. K. Menzies (1), of the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir John H. Harris [SLAVERY]
Publication details: 
3 and 6 March 1917, and 31 January and 25 March 1918; all four on letterhead of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society.
£85.00

Campaigner against slavery and colonial exploitation in Africa (1874-1940) and Liberal MP for North Hackney, 1923-24. All four items one page, quarto. All in good condition, though on somewhat discoloured paper. Two items docketed in pencil and two bearing the Society's stamp. ITEM ONE: He hopes to be present at Dr. Max Horn's lecture, and wants to know whether the Society is 'publishing the lecture by Mr. Wilson Fox on Imperial Resources'. He thinks he should join the Society, 'if not now soon after the war', and asks to be sent the conditions of membership.

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