BLACK

Four pages, cr. 8vo, bifolium, not bound, minor blemishes inc. foxing, pencil lines forming large cross on pages 2-3. Full heading: The following LETTER was written by JOHN MAXWELL of Munches and Terraughty, when, in his 92nd year, at the request of Mr HERRIES of Spettes, for he information of Mr CURWEN, a Cumberland gentleman, who was making a Agricultural Tour through Galloway in the year 1811. As a factor, landed proprietor, and public character generally, Mr MAXWELL, who died in the year 1814, enjoyed peculiar opportunities for observation.

BLACK LITERATURE SLAVE AFRICAN

12mo, 2pp. On bifolium. Aged and grubby. Testimony to the popularity of the black and white minstrel genre, at an early date. The drawing, beside the letterhead, is approximately 3.5 x 5 cm, in black and red. On the soles of the banjo-player's shoes is 'S M | 1908', and beneath it the caption 'Lessons'. Gives dates and times of lessons to 'Rackham', 'Miss Tipper', 'Matthias', 'Clayson', 'Mauchel' and others.

Each of the three printed on both sides of a piece of paper, 21.5 x 14.5 cm, the last two printed in black and red. The condition of these scarce, ephemeral items, is poor. They are damp-stained, with the first two complete, but with numerous closed tears, and the third with fraying and loss to the margins, resulting in a little loss to the illustration, but with the whole text still legible. ITEM ONE (coded AI-049-3-44) [March 1944?]: Text on one side, headed 'The Way Of All Flesh', begins 'When pretty Joan Hopkins was still standing behind the ribbon counter of a 5 & 10 cts.

The three letters are addressed to the translator of Forel's book, the surgeon and free-thinker Percival Macleod Yearsley (1867-1951). Forel's letter: 4to, 1 p. Twenty lines. In French. Text clear and complete. On browned and chipped high-acidity paper. Laid down on the front pastedown. In the first paragraph he thanks the translator, Macleod Yearsley, for the book, which he praises in fulsome terms. He is sending a copy of his 'Question Sexuelle'.

4to, 2 pp. Thirty-nine lines of text. Clear and complete. Neatly and closely written. Begins by discussing two books recommended by Bower: Otto Hammann's 'World Policy of Germany' and a work by Sir Francis Younghusband. Hammann's book 'confirms what Sir Sidney Lee writes about the Kaiser's telegram'; he is pleased that Younghusband's, which he has not yet read, contradicts the story that 'Lord Ripon was prepared for such drastic measures'. He has been 'correcting the proofs of the 600-page history of South Africa which I undertook to write for Longmans Green five or six years ago'.

Broadside folio (printed on one side of a piece of paper 38 x 24.5 cm). Recently professionally archivally repaired and tipped in on a piece of cream card 41 x 28.5 cm. Text clear and complete. On creased, aged paper with staining at head and closed tears skilfully repaired with archival tape. Printed in double column, with the titles in a variety of types and point sizes.

One page, folio. Very good on lightly creased paper. Headed 'FIGHTING FUND' and listing the members of the 'PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE' (including Lampson as Honorary Secretary, and the Duke of Westminster and Earl of Malmesbury). Communication of twenty-seven lines, with decided proto-fascistic overtones.

Landscape 12mo (leaf dimensions 12 x 16 cm): 27 pp. Stitched with no jacket as issued. Covers a little grubby, but a good copy of a scarce item. Title page and twelve delightful full-page pochoir illustrations by Arnoux, all hand-coloured: 'En temps de Paix', 'Premier contact', 'Le sous-lieutenant', 'Les Indiens', 'Black-Watch', 'Le capitaine et l'infirmiere', 'Les Irlandais', 'Le Major', 'La Mascotte', 'Ship ahoy!!', 'Le bon Ecossais' and 'God save the King'.

Ten quarto pages (paginated 1 to 10) on three loose bifoliums. Stabbed as issued. Text clear and complete. On aged paper with chipping and short closed tears to edges.

4to, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged laid paper, with small area torn away from top corner (not affecting text). Docketed at head in an Edwardian hand: 'From Lieutt Genl. Sir William Knollys to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on the occasion of the Prince of Wales' marriage | Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales [Edward VII]'.

12mo, 1 p. Six lines of text. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Inviting Macmillan to join him and 'some of the lads' in a dinner at the Reform Club, 'on the occasion of Colin Hunter's being made an Associate'.

16mo bifolium (leaf dimensions 11 x 9 cm): 2 pp. 17 lines of text. Very good on lightly aged paper. Wonders whether Lockyer would like to spend his Easter holidays at Altnaharra, for a fortnight from 14 April. (The Altnaharra Hotel was used by anglers visiting the nearby lochs.) 'It is an expensive journey; but the sport is good - at least it has been good this last fortnight, but now we are sadly in want of rain. The weather is like June, only more so.' Forty salmon have been killed 'in these two weeks, averaging 11 lbs each'. Black's publisher was Alexander Macmillan.

Scottish aristocrat and soldier (1871-1942). One page, quarto. Very good. Docketed in ink. The delay in replying is 'due to my having been extremely busy changing houses.' '[I]t is not possible for me to accept your invitation to take the Chair at Professor Stebbing's lecture [...] as I explained to you I am afraid I am almost certain to have to be away from London on that day.' Signed 'Atholl'.

Seven scarce examples of English Second World War propaganda, six aimed at Germany and the last at France. Ephemeral and scarce. The seven are clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper with occasional minor rust spotting. Each consists of two pages printed on a leaf 21 x 13.5 cm, except for Five, the dimensions of which are 21 x 13 cm. Five (red and black) is the only item not printed simply in black and white. All seven in German, except Seven, which is in French. All translations in typescript and on A4 leaves.

12mo: 7 pp (unpaginated) on two loose bifoliums. Good, on aged paper with a little rust spotting. In small type. Small illustration on front page of the cover of 'Le Courrier de l'Air Illustre'. Valuable scholarly article giving date, type and number for series of leaflets, grouped into territories ranging from Germany and France to the Channel Islands and Luxembourg. With both 'Foreword' and 'Introduction'.

Both letters, two pages, 8vo, stained and marked, but texts clear and complete. The Postcard is grubby (view of Marrakesh on front).

One page, in two 62-line columns. Octavo leaf with blank reverse. Good, on lightly aged paper with slight nicking and creasing to edges. Satirical account of 'simple soul' Michael James's dealings with his hypocritical neighbour Susan Elizabeth, who hands him a white feather when he refuses to enlist in the British Army during the Great War. On 'the Day' of the Easter Rising James fights and is wounded and 'thrown into the interment camp at Frongoch'. Susan Elizabeth then becomes 'a great Sinn Feiner.

12mo: 1 p. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. Good. Reads 'Sir | Mr. Gladstone having resigned the Rectorship of the Edinburgh University the Students have today elected Mr. Carlyle as his successor in opposition to Mr. D'Israeli [sic] -'.

8vo: 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged laid paper with slight chipping and glue stain at head (not affecting text). A formal letter written in English in the third person. He asks them to send 'another form [for him to write his entry in 'Who's Who'] to be filled up [...] The first one sent was mislaid on leaving London'. Deichman was the subject of a 'Spy' cartoon ('Vanity Fair', 14 May 1903: 'He wears curious hats'), in which he is shown driving a coach.

4to: 3 pp. Text clear and entire on creased, chipped airmail paper. A chatty, vivacious and entertaining letter, casting light on the state of mind of an English colonial wife. Thanks her for her 'kind remarks about my stories.

Harper (1863-1943) was a writer and charming 'pen-artist'. His 'The Hardy country: literary landmarks of the Wessex novels' was published by A. and C. Black in 1904 and reprinted in 1911 and 1925. Quarto scrapbook of approximately fifty leaves. Leather half-binding in poor condition, worn and with much loss to spine. Internally very good, with minor spotting and discoloration. The cuttings, from newspapers as diverse as the Weymouth Telegraph and the New York Post, are mostly laid down, with several on slips of the Author's Clippings Bureau.

All three items good, on lightly aged paper. The first two items were formerly attached to one another by a pin. ITEM ONE (one page, folio): Blond to Ali, 6 December 1967, on letterhead of Anthony Blond Ltd, Publishers. Characteristically punchy letter of clarification, headed 'WHO Really Is WHO', and beginning 'This is just to clarify the situation between us'. A list of eight points, the first of which reads 'You are wholly employed compiling this book at a salary of £1,500 per annum for one year.

The Memorandum is a four-page folio (leaf size roughly fourteen inches by nine and a half) bifolium. In very good condition, lightly creased and folded. It details Mrs Wright's royalties (as 'proprietor'), advance and percentages. The paperback rights agreement consists of four typewritten pages, on four leaves, each roughly thirteen inches by eight, stapled together at the head beneath green tape. Very good, though lightly creased and with some fraying to tape. It is signed by the Hamilton & Co. chairman Joseph and witnessed by his secretary E. M. Holloway.

Dimensions of paper roughly ten inches by seven and a half wide. Clear impression on aged paper. Shows a standing magician waving a wand with a skull behind him and a kneeling servant hiding behind the hem of his gown, reciting a spell from a book on a table in front of him. The two demons he has conjured up stand to his left, looking rather pleased with themselves. Snakes, smoking cauldron, pin cushion, hourglass, knife, etc. Extracted from Barclay's Dictionary, where it was used to illustrate the word 'conjurer'.

In very good condition, on a greetings card containing a reproduction of an illustration of a black cat by Barry Moser, from Godden's translation of Carmen Bernos de Gasztold's 'Prayers from the Ark'. The prayer, in Godden's hand (and probably one of her translations from the book) reads 'Lord, I am the Cat. It is not exactly that I hahve something to ask of you! No - I ask nothing of anyone - but, if you have by some chance, in some celestial barn. a little white mouse, or a saucer of milk. I know someone who would relish them.

First appearance of biography of the author (pp. xi-xxviii) by his son in law, dated 'Islington, | Feb. 21st, 1828.' 12mo. Pages: xxviii + 360 + four pages of publisher's advertisements. Frontispiece portrait engraving of author by E. Finden from painting by Livesy; three engravings by Finden from drawings by R. B. Harraden. Nineteenth-century leather binding; marbled endpapers. Tight copy, but dusty and with staining, particularly to binding and prelims. Scarce in this edition; no copy in British Library. Dedicated to William Wilberforce.

Sidgwick and Jackson/Leroi Jones, 4pp., fol., punch-holes sl. damaged, mainly good, marked "File copy", revisions in biro, additional clauses attached and initialled by Jones, document signed by Jones. Stapled to document: letter from Jones's agent, Ronald Hobbs, to Sidgwick and Jackson, clarifying the payment of advance payments on the book.

MacWilliam was the author of several books concerning the Black Watch, and a book-collector. On the front cover the label "H.D. MACWILL[IAM]" is laid down. 230pp., 4to, notebook, soft-covered, front detached, poor condition. In time-honoured fashion, the collector has extracted printed descriptions of books (and some manuscripts and letters) from their catalogues and laid them down (occasional manuscript descriptions), at times (but by no means consistently) naming the bookseller who originally catalogued them.

Scottish novelist (1841-98). Paper dimensions roughly four inches by one and a half. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of cream paper. Reads 'Yours veryy faithfully | William Black.'