KENT

Four pages, 12mo, Hanbury asks some questions about a 'catalogue' [presumably of plants found in Kent] Shepherd has sent him. "With these few exceptions your capital list is perfectly plain & straightforward". He has questions about Trollius europoeus, Wrotham Waters, Hypericum Montanum ('a mistake here'), Geranium sylvaticum ('Are you quite clear about this? Watson's Topog. Bot. does not give it as Kentish at all'). He corrects him on a geranium he has shown him ('rare or rarer'), believes a mistake has been made placing Lathymus palustris in Ryash Woods ('northern plant').

12mo, 164 pp. In vellum notebook, with brass clasp and marbled endpapers. Text clear and complete, in several hands. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Binding grubby, endpapers split. Index on first four pages, with each of the subsequent pages devoted to a single account. Each entry dated, with name and address of client (often the executors of the deceased), and itemised description of work done, date of payment, and other information. Includes renovations of tombs in a number of churchyards. The second is representative: 'Mrs. Wootton | Rosedene, Chislet | 1921. c.p. 360 | Oct. 8.

8vo, 52 + ii pp. In original blue printed wraps. Text clear and complete. Worn and aged, with recent cloth spine. Scarce: no copy of this edition on COPAC, and only three other copies of nineteenth-century editions, those of 1854, 1855 and 1879, the unique copies of all three being at the British Library. By the 1879 edition the organisation was renamed the Society of Christian Israelites, and based at Ashton-under-Lyme.

8vo, 249 pp. In original black leather blind-tooled binding, marbled endpapers. The text clear and complete, apart from a few leaves at the front and end which have faded through damp damage, and one leaf becoming detached and worn at extremities. The damp has also detached the book from the binding, the glue of which has dissolved. The only clue of the location of the brewery is the reference to 'Ramsgate', below. The volume consists almost exclusively of pages of closely-written dated calculations, with pages giving number of barrels of 'Stocks pumped up' and 'left for next brew[in]g'.

Folio, 205 pp + 24 half-pages. In vellum account book, marbled endpapers, with label of Partridge & Cozens, London. Internally sound, clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Binding worn and aged, with tear and head of spine. Titled in manuscript on spine: 'Day Book. May 1st. 1858. W. & P.'A nineteenth-century British surgeon's daybook is an unusual and rare survival.

This item can be roughly dated from the fact that the firm of 'Letts Son & Co. Limited' only traded in this style between 1870 and 1885, the public company going into liquidation in the latter year. There is an indication (see below) that Wilson hailed from Kent, and the present volume provides a valuable first-hand record into the state of the moth population in England at the end of the Victorian period. 12mo, 158 pp. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, in worn brown leather quarter binding, marbled endpapers. Letts label on front cover reads 'J.

4to, 1 p. Twenty-six lines. Text clear and complete. On grey paper. Small spike hole. Aged and lightly-creased. Describes the 'forbodings' which have been realised following 'the heavy rains and floods of the previous Autumn'. 'From 2000 to 3000 Pockets have already come to Market, and these are making, in samples of Sussex £8 to £9, the Cut, and in Kents £8. 8/. to £10. 10/. to £12;- mouldy and blighted, much lower. | Nothing choice in East or Mid Kents has, as yet, made its appearance, [...]'.

Folio, 1 p. Thirty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper, with spike-hole at head, with 'ack[nowledge]d 3/10/16' in manuscript. Giving instructions regarding the means by which 'all consignments conveyed by Passenger or Goods Trains over controlled Companies' Lines on behalf of the Admiralty or War Office, [...] be invoiced without charges'. 'The above instructions will also apply to Traffic with Irish Ports when conveyed by Controlled Companies' Steamboats.'

4to, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Lunn and Kirwan-Taylor were closely associated with the Ski Club of Great Britain, both compiling reports for it in 1951.

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Addressed, with fragments of red wax seal, on reverse of second leaf. On aged, worn and grubby paper, with extensive damage to second leaf, from which a panel amounting to around a sixth of its area is lacking, with a further two holes repaired with archival tape. The fifty-one lines of text of the first leaf clear and complete; loss to twenty of the twenty-seven lines of the text on the second leaf.

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Giving his 'testimony in contradiction of the Statement made in the document which you read to me in reference to the late Miss Marshall of Axminster being kept by you as her professional adviser with little money at her disposal'. States that 'The general impression in the Town was directly opposed to this statement and that impression was sufficiently sustained by the success attendant upon applications to Miss Marshall for and to benevolent purposes'. Gives examples showing 'she was never in want of money'.

Dimensions 25 x 20 cm: [ii] + 87 pp, all on rectos. Bound in stained yellow wraps, with black tape spine. Well-thumbed, but in fair condition internally, tight, clear and complete. The names of the eight actors are added in pencil in the list of characters. In the first six cases only the christian names are given ('Dracula' is given as 'Alan'), but 'Professor Abraham van Helsing' is played by Andrew Turner, and 'Lucy Westenra' by Jannina Tredwell (who featured in a 1974 revival of the musical 'Hair').

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.

The collection in a contemporary green leather quarter-binding, with grey paper boards and title in gilt on spine. Good, in heavily worn binding splitting at rear hinge. The letters are expertly mounted on leaves in the volume. 'Excerpta Cantiana': folio: 23 pp of letterpress, with illustrations and with three full-page engravings by J. S. Agar and one fold-out pedigree. PRESENTATION COPY from Streatfeild to the antiquary and historian Charles James Palmer of Great Yarmouth.

12mo bifolium: 3 pp. Good, though lightly creased. Tipped in on the blank verso of the second leaf, to a green paper folder on which an eight-line biographical entry of Shand has been laid down. He has left the packet containing the letters which Mrs Smith 'values' so 'highly' at the Reform Club, not wishing, in case it has changed, to send them to Smith's 'address in the Blue Book'. As he cannot 'make a decent excuse' for the delay in returning them, he throws himself on Smith's mercy.

12mo, 2 pp. Fourteen lines of text. He has put her 'memorandum' with 'the others of a like kind', and does not doubt that he will 'be able to vote for your Orphan Boy -'. The Scotts are 'on the point of escaping to Folkestone', and hopes that Mrs Church is 'going to some place which [will] do you all much good'. Sends kind regards to Mrs Church '& the Dean'.

8vo: 211 pp. In original brown cloth binding, with title in gilt on front board. A good tight copy, on aged paper with occasional spotting, in worn binding with fraying at head and tail of spine. Four-page list of subscribers at rear. Fifteen chapters, with subjects including Wat Tyler, John Cade, Wingham College; the Oxenden and Palmer families, and the manor house of the Archbishops of Canterbury.

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.

4to, 3 pp. Very good, on aged paper. Small punch hole through top left-hand corner of both leaves of the bifolium (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). Knatchbull claims that it has been 'intimated' to him 'that the Removal of the Troops from Canterbury in consequence of the Election for the County, which is to take place on Monday next, will cause much Inconvenience, especially to the Trade of the City'. He does not think that the Secretary of State 'would like to interfere, unless in Concurrence with the desire & opinion of the Authorities of the City of Canterbury'.

All three items are good, though lightly aged, each with a thin strip from previous mounting adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium. Letter One (12mo, 1 p). Thanking Harrison 'for the copy of your Charge' ['Prospects of peace for the Church in the Prayer Book and its rules']. He would have written the day before 'but we went to the opening of the Memorial Church at Langton yesterday'. Letter Two (12mo, 2 pp): Thanks him for 'so kindly sending me your last Charge ['The memories of departed brethren, and the sacredness of their earthly resting places'].

12mo, 4 pp. Good, with spotting to second leaf of bifolium. Steggall and Orton's 'mutual friend (our very dear friend)' Mrs. Kent has written to tell Orton that Steggall 'will be happy to see my son on Saturday evening at 6'. Orton is grateful to Steggall for thinking 'of my anxiety to retain him with me after our long & to me at least terrible separation'. He is very grateful to Steggall, who is joined to Orton by a 'link of friendship which passes through to my two dear friends Mrs. Kent and Mrs. Atherstone'.

8vo: 1 p. 7 lines. Good, but with some foxing, and with a corner of the blank reverse tipped in onto a card mount on which the envelope is laid down. He thanks him 'for the catalogue containing the Moore item'. Would be 'very glad' if Hodgson 'could call here on Thursday next & join us in a meal at 7 o'clock [...] I suggest Thursday because then we shall not be alone, nor dull'. Hodgson was the author, in 1927, of 'Brief notes on the history of the hamlet of Penge with Anerley'.

Very good, c.9 x 16cms, neatly mounted on larger piece of card. Full length drawing of 'Squeak', holding a letter, with the envelope on the floor, and shouting to Payne's baby rabbit 'WILFRED! - WHERE ARE YOU? MR J. H. ROBERTS WANTS YOUR AUTOGRAPH!' Signed beneath the speech bubble 'A B Payne - | 26'. According to one authority 'Fans of 'the pets' included Prince Charles, Spike Milligan, Peter Cushing and Paddington Bear creator Michael Bond'.

Two pages, quarto. Very good. With traces of blue paper mount adhering to addressed verso of second leaf of bifolium. Dawson Turner having declined to buy a collection on the grounds that it is 'wholly out of his line of collecting', Russell now offers it to Thompson. They are 'not so interesting' as he anticipated when he 'bought them at an auction without looking at them till they were on the table'. Gives details of the purchase and describes the volumes, estimating their cost in binding.

4to: 1 p. Very good on the first leaf of a bifolium. A third quarto leaf carries the address, in Dampier's hand, with his franking signature 'free | T. Rochester.' Also the oval seal, c.3 cm high, a clear impression in red wax. 24 lines of text. Interesting letter. Dampier begins by thanking Adams for 'your Congratulations to me on my Promotion to the See of Rochester.

One page, 12mo. Good, on lightly aged paper with some traces of previous mount adhering to blank reverse. He sends 'a thousand thanks' (for her invitation), but will 'then be over the seas & far away. I wish you the very pleasantest afternoon.' Sends his regards to her husband.

On piece of paper roughly three and a half inches by three wide. Good, lightly aged with a little creasing to one corner. Pleasant armorial design within floral arrangement. Motto 'VIGILANS' on scroll above 'Sir Richard Burton' in copperplate at foot. Indentation of plate around edge.

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).

Two pages. On piece of paper roughly five inches by nine wide. Aged and with a few nicks, but good overall. Seven lines, beginning 'Debentur Carolo Duci St. Alban Magro Austrag Dni Rs [...]'. 'Letter Money' in margin. Various docketings cross-wise on reverse, including signature of 'Jno: Bidleson' ('John Bidleson Atto. Int. J Dawson') and sums totalling £343 2s 6d.

The word 'Proof' is engraved in the bottom right-hand corner. Dimensions of paper roughly ten inches by seven and a half. Good clean image on lightly aged paper. Head and shoulders portrait, in which a dolorous old biddy in cap stares vacantly at the viewer. Presumably a companion piece to an engraving in the National Portrait Gallery by Isaac W. Slater of a drawing by Scriven of Henrietta Maria Slater, published by Colnaghi in July 1830. This item is not present in the National Portrait Gallery online catalogue.