Manuscripts

On one side of a piece of vellum, dimensions 25 x 35 cm. Neatly folded to make eight rectangles. Red wax under paper in top left-hand corner, embossed with the royal seal. Above this is the King's signature, in what Rawlins ('Four Hundred Years of British Autographs', p.53, no.4) describes as 'un uncommon form'. Three blue 2s 6d stamps in left-hand margin. Small paper stamp on the reverse, which is docketed 'James Paterson Gent: | Lieutenant | In the Sixty Ninth Regiment of Foot commanded by Colonel Colvill.-' Text entirely legible on lightly discoloured vellum.

On one side of a piece of wove paper, 32 x 20 cm. Laid down on a leaf from an autograph album. In fair condition, aged and dusty with slight wear to extremities. The item is of added interest, dating as it does from the year of the Society's inception. The nine-line application is in the hand of the artist John Frederick Lewis (1804-1876), and is addressed to 'Dear Sir' - presumably the final signatory 'Henry Graves. Esq. [1806-1892, printseller] Sec. to the Artists and Amateurs Conversatzion. [sic]'.

One one side of a piece of vellum, dimensions 28.5 x 32.5 cm. Neatly folded to make eight rectangles. Red wax seal beneath paper square in top left-hand corner, embossed with the Admiralty anchor. Two blue 2s 6d stamps in left-hand margin. Small paper stamp on reverse. Text entirely legible on discoloured vellum. Four small burn holes in vellum, affecting two words of text. The body of the document is printed over fifteen lines, with the specific information added in manuscript. Headed 'By the Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland &c.

All but three of the silhouettes are laid down on 23 pages of an album of 32 leaves (leaf dimensions 31 x 25 cm) bound in worn brown buckram, with attractive metallic cobweb endpapers. In very good condition. The three silhouettes not in the album are laid down on a loose piece of blue paper (22 x 27 cm) and consist of three full length portraits of infant girls. One of these is the largest silhouette in the collection at 14.5 x 7 cm. The smallest, less than a centimeter high by half a centimeter wide, is of a golfer taking a swing. A delightful collection, including portraits of 'J.

4to volume (leaf dimensions 23 x 18.5 cm). Written out in Gatty's neat close hand over 96 full pages of a brown cloth notebook with decorative enadpapers. With 30 extra 4to pages of notes, and three loose family 8vo leaves of family trees. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding with split hinges. With title page and names underlined in red throughout.

12mo: 4 pp. Bifolium. Sixty-three lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Headed 'Duke of Devonshire'. A couple of minor corrections. Begins 'I must now ask permission to offer to your R H in behalf of Univty expression of our hearty thanks to you for having done us honor of unveiling statue of your illustrious Father.

Landscape, with leaf dimensions 19 x 10.5 cm. The diary covers 48 pages at one end of the notebook, with the diagrams and specifications over 32 pp at the other end. In original sturdy brown leather binding, with brass clasp, empty wallet at front and pouch for pencil. Marbled endpapers. In good condition. Text clear and complete on lightly-aged paper. Binding worn and with split hinges. In pencil on fore-edge: 'J. RYAN.

2 pp, on first leaf of bifolium of thick cream paper, dimensions roughly 40.5 x 26.5 cm. Ruled with red lines. Docketed on reverse of second leaf. Text clear and complete. In good condition, though grubby. Leverhulme ('the Settlor') is 'desirous of assisting in the foundation of a Chair of Physical Chemistry in the University', and has ('with the approbation of the Council of the University') 'transferred Five Thousand "B" Twenty per centum Cumulative Preferred Ordinary Shares of One pound each fully paid in Lever Brothers Limited into the name of the University'.

Manuscript, 8 pages, 4to, chipped (with minor textual loss) and slightly stained, text clear. Convoy and anti-submarine activity. Usually one line description per day but there is a long description of action involved while on convoy duty, encounters with submarines, reinforcements, damaged ships, etc. Their first move was to leave Base on 27th June "in search of Submarine D.6. (overdue) and then carried on to Lamlash". [D.6.

Typescript, with manuscript corrections and additions, 230pp., 4to, cloth binding, signs of wear but mainly good. A series of humorous stories set in Mesopotamia during the First World War and based on the writer's experiences in that Theatre Amara, Baghdad, etc. (A letter enclosed in the book reveals that he was still serving in India in 1923.)

Four 8vo diaries kept by F.C. Poyser, the first of which gives details of all the ships Poyser served on from 1905 to 1926, including names of captains, dates, voyages, distances, cargoes. During the First World War he served on six vessels OHMS. He gives the occasional diagram of convoys, lists the cargoes and their quantities (horses, mules, oats, flour, boats, lorries, ambulances, aeroplanes, etc.), gives destinations (Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, Ceylon).

3 pages, 8vo. On three leaves of paper, all creased, discoloured and worn, with a few tears and pin holes. Lively, humorous, and well-written account of the army career of a skiver. 'Behold me then the next time in the trenches a Lewis Gunner, my-self to be about to kill Bosches in neat little trenches of 47. As a matter of fact I did not kill one as I never fired the gun but we had one or two thrilling times. [...] January 1st. 1917 I became a member of the now famous Tank Corps.

Part two only (any other part missing). 101pp, 8vo, carbon copy, describing the day to day life of a soldier in India during the Ist WW, 24 March -7 Sept. 1915, duties, leisure activities, fellow-soldiers, rations, the market, inspections, letter-writing, "Telegram to say short rifles on the way", games, Boards, "Today [4 May] the final list was made out for men going to the Persian Gulf" (men from his company listed), parades, marches, [12 May] farewell to Persian party, replacements for Persian party, (little about "natives"), "boots from Cawnpore", trip to Dimond Harbour, and so on.

Around 100 loose, disordered leaves, mostly A4, with autograph notes or typescript on one side only. In good condition. Includes jumbled sections of a monograph (unpublished?) on Sir William Macewen. Also a few notes on Morell Mackenzie, and complete short articles containing reminiscences of teachers and medical acquaintances, including Charles Coley Choyce, Hamilton Bailey, Girling Ball, Cuthbert Wallace. With Asherson's card, noting his 'Change of Address from 24th December, 1945' to 21 Harley Street.

Two 8vo diaries, by Charles Letts, the first 'improved' and the second 'self-opening'. Both in heavily worn covers, lacking spines, but internally clean, on aged paper, and with the text entirely legible. Both diaries end with a brief set of accounts. The diaries are filled with details of the life of a young English lawyer in London during the Great War, including references to the many legal cases in which he was involved.

12mo, 15 pp. On watermarked laid paper. Very good, with slight wear to crease on first leaf damaging two words (both still legible). Otherwise text clear and complete. The item can be dated from a reference to 'a Dempsey-Tunney fight'. Although neatly written, the handwriting is so stylised that deciphering the text presents difficulties. Begins 'What a whirl since I wrote you on the boat before we landed in Rangoon [...] HOT. Yes! Right now it is 90 degrees in our room which has windows on three sides & there are two big fans going.

Two pages, folio, fold marks, some additions and corrections in author's hand, remnants of laying down process, text complete and clear. He says that the new edition responds to demand by an appreciative public perhaps families of people mentioned, city's development, anticipating an update of the history, hoping for "rapid demand". Signed " [?] Aspinall".

2 pp, on the first leaf of a bifolium of gilt-edged watermarked laid paper. Leaf dimensions 30 x 19 cm. Text clear and entire. On lightly aged, worn and creased paper. The king's signature is in the top left-hand corner of the first page, above the royal seal, which is embossed on a folded square of paper over red wax. The seal covers the downstroke from the 'g' of 'George' and the final stroke of the 'R' in the royal signature. The document carries three blind-stamped 2s 6d tax stamps in the left-hand margin of the first page.

2 pp, on the first leaf of a bifolium of gilt-edged watermarked laid paper. Leaf dimensions 30 x 19 cm. Text clear and entire. On lightly aged and worn paper. The king's signature is bold and clear, in the top left-hand corner of the first page. It is the version described by Rawlins ('Four Hundred Years of British Autographs', p.53) as 'an uncommon form'. Beneath the signature is the royal seal, which is embossed on a folded square of paper over red wax.The document carries three blind-stamped 2s 6d tax stamps in the left-hand margin of the first page.

2 pp, on the first leaf of a bifolium of gilt-edged watermarked laid paper. Leaf dimensions 30 x 19 cm. Text clear and entire. On lightly aged and worn paper. The king's signature is bold and clear, in the top left-hand corner of the first page, above the royal seal, which is embossed on a folded square of paper over red wax.The document carries three blind-stamped 2s 6d tax stamps in the left-hand margin of the first page.

2 pp, on the first leaf of a bifolium of gilt-edged watermarked laid paper. Leaf dimensions 30 x 19 cm. Text clear and entire. On lightly aged, worn and creased paper. Slight spotting to reverse of first leaf. Vertical closed tear to second leaf, which is blank apart from docketing on reverse: 'Charles Tonin, Chaplain to the British Factory at Algier, Leave of Absence.' The king's signature is bold and clear, in the top left-hand corner of the first page, above the royal seal, which is embossed on a folded square of paper over red wax.

Folio bifolium (leaf dimensions 34 x 21.5 cm): 4 pp. Unbound bifolium. Text clear and complete on lightly-aged and creased paper. One correction to text in red pencil. In small type. Begins: 'The special period for the approaching examination for promotion being the campaign under Sir John Moore leading to Corunna, I have lately occupied myself with examining the works of some of the different authorities and critics of this deeply interesting operation of war.

12mo (leaf dimensions roughly 18 x 11.5 cm): paginated by MacKinnell from 1 to 309. In contemporary half-binding with black leather spine and corners and marbled boards. Internally tight, sound and clean, in worn binding with some loss at head of spine. Closely written in a neat hand, and floridly inscribed on front free endpaper 'William Mac Kinnell | Dumfries | December 7th. | 1849'.

From the papers of Pinfang Hsia, whose death ('Bank of China aide') was recorded in the New York Times of 23 December 1970.In the 1961 'Diplomat's Annual' the Bank of China's head office was said to be in Peking, China, with the London office at 147 Leadenhall Street. The collection is in good overall condition, with all texts clear and complete on lightly-aged paper. The fourteen deeds are customary English legal documents of the period, all typewritten and filled in in manuscript, with the dimensions of each around 37 x 24 cm. Some are attached with green ribbon.

A quarto volume, bound in padded green leather stamped in gilt on the front cover with the words 'Visitors' Book'. Patterned endpapers. Tight, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Binding heavily worn, with outer corners of front cover dogeared and torn to show padding. Five leaves with one dogeared corner. Note (in Davies' hand?) on flyleaf: 'Visitors book. | General Sir F. J. Davies | General Officer Commanding-in-Chief | Scottish Command | 27 Drumsheugh Gardens | Edinburgh'. Each page with printed columns for the 'date' and 'name and address'.

Item One: Manuscript of requisitions by Farrant the purchaser's solicitors Ashurst, Morris, Crisp & Co of 17 Throgmorton Avenue, London E.C. Dated 31 July 1895. Titled 'Requisition Title [and Replies] | Trustees of Archer Burton Estate to R. E. Farrant | 3 [corrected to '2'] Park Square West'. Three pages and covering page, on one side each of four leaves each 41.5 x 34 cm. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged and grubby paper.

Paper: 4to, 6 pp. With addendum slip of a third of a page. Text clear and complete. On aged paper and lightly-creased paper. Closely written, with several deletions. This paper held some significance for Bouthors. The 'Bulletins de la Société des antiquaires de Picardie' (1864) quotes an address by him, in which he describes that society as 'la fille de l'association des Congrès scientifiques de France.

On a ruled leaf of laid paper detached from an account book. Dimensions 28.5 x 18.5 cm. Text clear and complete. On aged paper with chipping to extremities. One page, headed 'Xmas Toys 1879.' is filled with twenty-seven entries, beginning with '1 Gross 1/2 Flags 2 Gros 1/4 Candles [last word deleted] Flags' and ending with '1/2 Glass Toys. | 48 doz 1/2 Bird on Stand'. Other entries include 'Duck in Boats', 'Bird on Ball', 'Stag in Angle' and 'Glass Bird on Large Stand'. The reverse carries nine entries under the heading 'Moocrofts', the first being '504 6 Gross Shoe Plain 24/- 7..4..0'.

In an envelope with label and compliments slip of Hilda Neal, Copying Offices and Secretarial Training School, by whom the article had been typed up for the printers. On one side each of thirty-two A4 leaves (dimensions roughly 25 x 20 cm). The text is complete, although there are wormholes to the latter leaves, and damage and loss at the head of the last leaf.

Landscape sketchbook of eighteen leaves. Leaf dimensions roughly 17.5 x 13 cm. One leaf loose. A further leaf has been removed. Drawings on twenty-five pages and the rear pastedown. Bound in rough grey cloth with printed design on front board. Printed stationer's ticket (label) on front pastedown. Grubby, and with the inevitable pencil offsetting, but good and tight on good paper, lightly-aged but unaffected by damp or stain. Contains some charming images, showing the promise that would win Wright a scholarship to the Royal College of Art three years later.