THE

warning: Creating default object from empty value in /home/richardf/public_html/dev/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc on line 33.

Signed Autograph Memorandum ('Ro Greenhow') from the historian Robert Greenhow, produced as part of his duties as librarian at the Department of State in Washington, concerning a correspondence between Madison and Monroe on 'natural improvements'.

Author: 
Robert Greenhow (1800-1854), translator and librarian at the Department of State in Washington, and author of works including 'The History of Oregon and California' (1844)
Publication details: 
24 June [no year].
£60.00

1p., 4to. Ten lines. Fair, on aged paper, with one unobtrusive closed tear. Greenhow describes the surviving correspondence concerning 'natural improvements' between Madison and Monroe, and speculates regarding a discrepancy.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. Aubrey Smith') from Hollywood actor and England cricket captain Sir Charles Aubrey Smith to 'Mr. Melrose' [literary agent?], discussing the offer to him of two plays by Miss Smith Dampier.

Author: 
Sir Charles Aubrey Smith (1863-1948), Hollywood actor and captain of the England cricket team [Eleanor Mary Smith Dampier]
Publication details: 
Haymarket Theatre, London; 22 March 1923.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He writes that he has brought Miss Smith Dampier's play 'A Great Gentleman' up to London with him, and that it will be at Melrose's office in the afternoon. 'I have read it - but I do not like it as well as The Queen's Minister, from my own point of view, I mean. | The writing, of course, is what one would expect after reading Miss Smith Dampier's former play - but I had got a long way into the story before it gripped me'. He names the only two scenes which he sees 'vividly'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('William Huggins') from the astronomer Sir William Huggins, President of the Royal Society, to 'Mr. Viney' [of printers Hazell, Watson & Viney?], regarding the printing [of Huggins' 'Atlas of representative Stella Spectra'].

Author: 
Sir William Huggins (1824=1910), astronomer, President, Royal Astronomical Society (1876-1878), British Association for the Advancement of Science (1891), and Royal Society (1900-1905) [J. E. Viney?]
Publication details: 
Upper Tulse Hill, S.W. [London]; [circa 1899?].
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The paper appears to have an 1890s watermark, and the correspondence may relate to the publication of Huggins's 'Atlas of representative Stellar Spectra', printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney for William Wesley & Son in 1899. Apparently impressed by the speed of Viney's response to his last letter, Huggins begins 'Your lightning is treble-greased.' He is returning the corrected proof, and sent 'a new copy with your name written on, by this morning's post as yr.

Autograph Letter Signed from the author and wit Sydney Smith to Colonel Bagot.

Author: 
Sydney Smith (1771-1845), author and wit
Publication details: 
[London]; 12 May 1842.
£75.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed on reverse, which carries traces of the wafer, to 'Colonel Bagot | Davies Street | Berkley [sic] Square | 34'. A short letter with a good, emphatic signature: 'My dear Sr. | I am very sorry you have so good a plea for absence - only remember on some future occasion that I shall not ask your Company as a favor but insist upon it as a right | ever yours | [signed] Sydney Smith | May. 12. 1842'. Perhaps concerning the same breakfast on 14 May 1842 to which Smith invited Georgiana Harcourt on 10 May 1842 (Letters, ed. N. C. Smith, vol.2, p.756).

Typed Letter Signed ('James Bryce') from the historian and Liberal politician James Bryce, Viscount Bryce, to E. Byrne Hackett of Yale University Press, discussing the American Booksellers Association banquet.

Author: 
James Bryce (1838-1922), Viscount Bryce, jurist, historian and Liberal politician [Edmond Byrne Hackett (1879-1953), Director of Yale University Press; American Booksellers Association]
Publication details: 
The British Embassy, Washington; 14 April 1911.
£90.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Bryce writes that he has not forgotten Hackett's 'invitation to the American Booksellers Association's banquet' in New York, but that it is unlikely that he will be able to attend 'seems to be extremely small, so that I must ask you not to announce me as being present.

Original albumen print of photograph by Maull & Polyblank of John Baldwin Buckstone, manager of the Haymarket Theatre. Signed by Buckstone.

Author: 
john Baldwin Buckstone (1802-1879), actor, playwright, and manager of the Haymarket Theatre [Maull & Polyblank, London Victorian photographers]
Publication details: 
'Photographed by MAULL & POLYBLANK, 55 Gracechuch Street, and 187a, Piccadilly, London.' Undated [published in January 1859].
£120.00

Albumen print, 14.5 x 19.5 cm, with arched top, laid down on original cream backing paper, 18.5 x 24.5 cm, with border to photograph and company details all printed in gold. A good photograph, showing Buckstone staring at the viewer, while seated in a plush chair at a writing table with tablecloth, his right hand holding a pen over a piece of writing paper. The print is in good condition, on slightly grubby backing. Buckstone has signed 'John Baldwin-Buckstone', in black ink at the foot of the mount.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jn B Buckstone') from the actor John Baldwin Buckstone [to the playwright Thomas John Dibdin] regarding a meeting 'of all the dramatic authors' to make arrangements following 'the new act' [Bulwer Lytton's copyright reforms.

Author: 
John Baldwin Buckstone (1802-1879), actor, playwright, and manager of the Haymarket Theatre [Thomas John Dibdin (1771-1841), playwright and actor]
Publication details: 
29 Walcot Place, Kennington; 14 June 1833.
£320.00

1p., 4to. 15 lines. On aged and worn paper. The letter reads 'Dear Sir/ | A general meeting of all the Dramatic Authors will take place at the Garricks head in Bow Street on Monday nexxt at One o'Clock.

Manuscript reminder from the Lord Chamberlain [Marquess of Breadalbane] to the Manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden [Frederick Gye the younger], that 15 November 1849 is a Public Day of Thanksgiving, to be 'reverently and devoutly observed'.

Author: 
John Campbell (1796-1862), 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane, Lord Chamberlain from 1848 to 1852) [Frederick Gye (1810-1878), manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden [now the Royal Opera House]
Publication details: 
Lord Chambelain's Office [London]; 10 November 1849.
£180.00

1p., folio. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight staining to blank reverse. Fairly written out on a piece of Britannia laid paper. 'Lord Chamberlain's Office | 10th. November 1849. | The Lord Chamberlain thinks it right to draw the attention of the Manager of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden to The Queen's Proclamation of the 6th. Instant, in which Her Majesty, for the Reasons therein stated, earnestly exhorts that the Public Day of Thanksgiving, the 15th. Instant be reverently and devoutly observed'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jos Lancaster') from Joseph Lancaster, founder of the Lancasterian system of education, to the London booksellers Lackington, Allen & Co., expressing thanks for the 'valuable little present' of a book, which he will review.

Author: 
Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838) of Salvador House Academy, Lower Tooting, author and founder of the Lancasterian monitorial system of education [Lackington, Allen & Co., London booksellers]
Publication details: 
Salvador House, Lower Tooting, Surrey; 3 February 1813.
£160.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of last leaf 'To Lackington Allen & Co | Finsbury', with oval red postmark. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with unobtrusive traces of stub. The letter is addressed to 'My kind Friend'. The 'valuable little present' of a copy of 'The Accidents of Human Life' [by Newton Bosworth] is an 'unexpected pleasure' and 'truly welcome'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Joshua Leavitt, editor of the American Anti-Slavery Society's newspaper the Emancipator, to Professor Benjamin Silliman, asking whether Edward Hitchcock, President of Amherst College, had assisted him 53 years before.

Author: 
Joshua Leavitt (1794-1873), clergyman and editor of the Emancipator, the official organ of the American Anti-Slavery Society [Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864), chemist; Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864)]
Publication details: 
New York; 1 March 1864.
£130.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper.

Autograph Letter Signed from the American cook Juliet Corson to 'Miss Booth' [Mary Louise Booth, editor of Harper's Bazaar], discussing the arrangements for the writing of a book ['Every-Day Cookery, Table Talk, and Hints for the Laundry', 1884].

Author: 
Juliet Corson (1841-1897), American writer of cookery books, Superintendent of the New York Cooking School (founded by her in 1874) [Mary Louise Booth (1831-1889), first editor of Harper's Bazaar]
Publication details: 
Continental Hotel, New York; 6 September 1883.
£280.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on aged paper, neatly placed in a thin windowpane mount. After acknowledging receipt of $90, Corson announces that the previous week she 'had a letter from the House accepting my book.' She has received no answer to her letter asking for 'some information', and asks Booth to 'be my mediator again'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Mary H. Catherwood') from the novelist Mary Hartwell Catherwood to her publisher Charles F. Chichester of the Century Company, requesting correction of statement 'according to "White Islander" contract'. With two portraits.

Author: 
Mary Hartwell Catherwood (1847-1902), American author of historical romances, mostly set in set in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois [Charles F. Chichester, Treasurer of the Century Company, New York]
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but answered by Chichester on 1 January [1883].
£120.00

1p., 12mo. Very good, within thin paper windowpane mount. She writes 'Dear Mr. Chichester:- | I return statement. Please have it corrected according to "White Islander" contract, and send me the check early in February. And I shall be obliged.' Docketed by Chichester 'Ansd. 1. 30' and 'Corrected State. sent | Sent Ck $186.66'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Alabama writer Octavia Walton LeVert [Le Vert], 'the Pride of Mobile', to an unnamed 'valued friend', describing the Carrollton Hotel, Baltimore, and a 'disagreeable' journey featuring an exploding locomotive engine.

Author: 
Octavia Walton LeVert [Octavia Celeste Valentine Walton Le Vert] (1811-1877), American writer associated with Alabama, known as the 'Pride of Mobile', [Colonel Robert B. Coleman (c.1804-1881)]
Publication details: 
Augusta, Georgia; 30 May 1872.
£180.00

4pp., 12mo. On bifolium of lined paper. Good, on lightl-aged paper. Addressed to 'Dearly valued friend', the letter begins 'Faithful to my promise, I write to tell you of our safe arrival in Augusta, after one of the most disagreeable journeys I ever made in all my wanderings, either in Europe, or America'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the mathematician Davies Gilbert, President of the Royal Society, to the chemist John George Children, regarding the 'Theory', 'contrary to probability', of a man sent to him by Children. With engraved portrait.

Author: 
Davies Gilbert [born Davies Giddy] (1767-1839), mathematician and President of the Royal Society [John George Children (1777-1852), chemist; J. Thomson; Henry Howard, RA]
Publication details: 
27 Gower Street, Bedford Square, London; 5 May 1833.
£180.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Written in a difficult, crabbed hand. The 'gentleman' Children has sent him 'is somewhat in the circumstances of Mr H<?>. He appears to possess some mathematical Knowledge; but to have adopted visionary Systems of Physics'. He goes on to describe the man's theory, which is 'contrary to probability' and 'in opposition to all previously existing opinions'. In a postscript he states that he has had a 'second interview'. The engraving of 'Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. P.R.S.' is by J.

Autograph Letter Signed ('D Green') from Duff Green, editor of the 'United States Telegraph', to the Hon. David Henshaw of Boston.

Author: 
Duff Green (1791-1875), American soldier, author and journalist, editor of the United States Telegraph [David Henshaw (1791-1852), United States Secretary of the Navy]
Publication details: 
Washington; 29 April 1829.
£150.00

1p., folio. Nineteen lines of text. Text of letter on the recto of first leaf of bifolium, with address on verso of second, with red postmark. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Green writes that Roberts is in Washington, but that although 'great exertions have been made for him' he does not believe he will be appointed. He refers to 'late developements [sic] in the 4th Auditors Office'. He asks if he can get his 'note renewed'; he finds himself 'hard pressed to make the arrangements for the next winter - buildg &c is expensive & I have much to bring up'.?>

Autograph Letter Signed ('E. L. Blanchard') from the dramatist Edward Litt Laman Blanchard to Frederick Burgess.

Author: 
E. L. Blanchard [Edward Litt Laman Blanchard] (1820-1889), English dramatist [Drury Lane; pantomime]
Publication details: 
6 Adelphi Terrace, Strand, WC [London]; 26 July 1878.
£80.00

3pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Blanchard and his wife 'very seldom go out of a Sunday but should the weather be at all favourable' they will 'make a vigorous effort to avail ourselves of the strong temptation you have so kindly thrown in our way'. They will be 'quite content with an afternoon ramble in your beautiful garden and a chat with dear Mrs. Keeley'. He is sending 'impromptu lines written by my father nearly a Century ago' (not present) that he believes ought to be in Burgess's possession 'as a double ancestral inheritance'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. R. Hassler') from the surveyor Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, head of the United States Coast Survey, to Hon. John C. Spencer, Secretary of the US Treasury, regarding 'the plan of Operation for the Coast Survey'.

Author: 
Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler (1770-1843), Swiss-born American surveyor, head of the United States Coast Survey and the Bureau of Weights and Measures [John Canfield Spencer (1788-1855), politician]
Publication details: 
Washington City; 28 May 1843.
£145.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Hassler begins: 'The peculiar position in which I am, will plead my excuse for addressing you the enclosed papers, and the cold which I have, for not coming personally in the present bad weather, as I intended, and shall do soon as admissible.' He asks Spencer to visit 'this Office before Your ultimate decision upon the plan of Operation for the Coast Survey'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('G R Gleig') from George Robert Gleig, Chaplain of Chelsea Hospital, to the editor of the Literary Gazette William Jerdan'. With portrait.

Author: 
George Robert Gleig (1796-1888), Scottish soldier and author, Chaplain to the Chelsea Hospital, Chaplain-General of the Forces, Inspector-General of Military Schools [William Jerdan (1782-1869)]
Publication details: 
Place not stated; 'Tuesday evng' [postmarked 21 February 1827]
£56.00

3pp., 12mo. A bifolium, with the reverse of the second leaf addressed by Gleig to Jerdan at Grove House, Brompton, and carrying a red postmark and Gleig's seal in black wax. Gleig cannot accept Jerdan's offer of 'admissions for the opera' himself, 'but some most particular friends' of his have 'just come to town', and if he were to 'transfer' his 'kindness' to them, Gleig would be obliged. He gives alternative dates, and an address for the tickets to be sent to.

Autograph Letter Signed from the abolitionist Hinton Rowan Helper to John Cook Rives, editor of the Congressional Globe.

Author: 
Hinton Rowan Helper (1829-1909), racist and abolitionist, United States Consul at Buenos Aires, 1861-1866, author of 'The Impending Crisis of the South' (1857) [John Cook Rives (1795-1864), editor]
Publication details: 
43 Pine Street, New York; 22 February 1860.
£120.00

1p., landscape 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Helper asks Rives to send, with 'back numbers, from the commencement of the present Session [...] the Congressional Globe (and Appendix) for the thirty-sixth Congress'. He discusses payment and method of delivery.

Anonymous abolitionist poem, in a mid-nineteenth-century hand, entitled 'The Fugitive Slave', with the first line: 'I'm weary yet I cannot sleep'. Apparently unpublished.

Author: 
[Anonymous mid-nineteenth-century abolitionist poem] [slavery; the American Civil War]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£800.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium, on ruled, laid paper. Fair: aged, with a 12.5 x 5 cm section cut away from the top of the first leaf, before the writing out of the poem. 63 lines, divided into six nine-line stanzas. The stanzas are numbered, and the poem is complete. The stanzas are numbered, and the poem is complete.

Typed Letter Signed from the American historian Albert J. Beveridge to Charles Gallup. With a transcript, in another hand, of a passage from Beveridge's article 'Pitfalls of a "League of Nations" (North American Review, 1882), signed by Beveridge.

Author: 
Albert J. Beveridge [Albert Jeremiah Beveridge] (1862-1927), American historian and United States Senator from Indiana [Charles Gallup; Chief Justice John Marshall; the League of Nations]
Publication details: 
Letter on letterhead of Beverly Farms, Massachusetts; 10 October 1919. Transcript made around the same time.
£350.00

Both items neatly tipped-in onto a leaf from an album. Both in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter is 1p., 8vo. Beveridge begins by explaining that he is late answering Gallup's letter because he has been 'working so hard for many months to finish the last two volumes of my "Life of John Marshall" that I have been forced to neglect all correspondence'. He is enclosing 'the quotation, autographed as requested'. He is glad Gallup liked the article, and 'flattered by your too partial words'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alexr Chalmers') from the biographer Alexander Chalmers to James Perry, commenting humorously on an attack of gout.

Author: 
Alexander Chalmers (1759-1834), Scottish biographer and editor [James Perry (1756-1821), proprietor and editor of the 'Morning Chronicle']
Publication details: 
Throgmorton Street, London; 26 March 1821.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. Seventeen lines, closely written. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with thin strip of stub adhering to margin. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'J. Perry Esqre | Tavistock Square'. He will dine with Perry with pleasure, 'after a five weeks confinement with the Gout, a disorder of which I never before had any personal acquaintance, but which, I suppose, I must, in some unguarded moment, have treated with contempt.

Two Autograph drafts of a long poem by Arthur Benoni Evans (later Professor of Classics and History at Sandhurst), titled 'Lines [Verses] on the Death of the Princess Charlotte'. Both with corrections and emendations, and one signed 'A. B. Evans'.

Author: 
Arthur Benoni Evans (1781-1854), Professor of Classics and History in the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and headmaster of the free grammar school at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire
Publication details: 
Neither with date and place [one draft on paper watermarked 1816, and the other on paper watermarked 1818].
£450.00

Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the Prince Regent, died in 1817 at the age of 21. Many poems of mourning were published, but whether Evans's was among them is uncertain. Both drafts are in good condition, on aged paper; the first with short closed tears to the spine. DRAFT ONE (the earlier?): Title: 'Verse on the Death of the Princess Charlotte', altered from 'Threnodia Augustalis, Odes on the Death of the Princess Charlotte'.

The autograph signatures of the English actor Charles Kean and his wife Ellen Kean [nee Tree].

Author: 
Charles Kean [Charles John Kean] (1811-1868), Irish-born actor and manager of the Princess's Theatre, Oxford Street, London; his wife Ellen Kean [born Eleanora Tree] (1805-1880)
Publication details: 
Place not stated; 25 June 1852.
£80.00

On one side of a piece of laid paper, approximately 11.5 cm square. Minor traces of glue to corners on the reverse. Good, firm signatures, provided for an autograph hunter. The husband signs first: 'Charles Kean | Friday | 25 June 1852'. Beneath this is the wife's signature: 'Ellen Kean'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the actor Charles Kean, informing an unnamed correspondent that it is not his intention 'to close the Princess's Theatre during any portion of Lent'.

Author: 
Charles Kean [Charles John Kean] (1811-1868), Irish-born actor-manager, best remembered for his Shakespeare revivals at the Princess's Theatre, Oxford Street, London, son of Edmund Kean (1789-1833)
Publication details: 
Place not stated; 1 February 1852.
£90.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with negligible glue from previous mounting to the corners of the blank reverse. The letter reads: 'Sir, In reply to your note, I write to say that as it is not my intention to close the Princess's Theatre during any portion of Lent, it will not be in my power to avail myself of your offer.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('C: M: Young') from the actor Charles Mayne Young to his rival William Charles Macready, recommending an actor named Simpson for a position at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and wishing Macready success as manager there.

Author: 
Charles Mayne Young (1777-1856), actor [William Charles Macready (1793-1873); Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]
Publication details: 
Ashbourne Hall, Ashbourne, Derbyshire; 16 November 1841.
£220.00

3pp., 12mo. 37 lines. Fair, on worn and discoloured paper. An interesting letter, casting light on the relationship between two great actors who, according to the Oxford DNB, 'disliked but respected each other'. Macready is not named, but Young ends by sending his 'Kind Comts to Mrs Macready'. Macready had taken over at Drury Lane on 4 October 1841, but the season would not begin until 27 December. The letter begins 'My dear Sir!

Autograph Letter Signed ('Cs. Redding') by Cyrus Redding, expressing regret at not being able to assist William Shoberl, son of the journalist Frederic Shoberl, and bewailing the state of English publishing, and of his own affairs.

Author: 
Cyrus Redding (1785-1870), journalist and author, editor, Galignani's Messenger, and working editor, New Monthly Magazine [William Shoberl, son of Frederic Shoberl [Schoberl] (1775-1853), journalist]
Publication details: 
"Hill Road, | Thursday'. [No date, but on paper watermarked 1855.]
£220.00

3pp., 12mo. 55 lines, neatly and closely written. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Mr W. Shoberl.' An excellent letter, giving an experienced and knowledgable view of the state of the mid-Victorian British booktrade. Redding begins by stating that he is 'indeed concerned to hear the statement' Shoberl has communicated to him. He wishes it was in his power to forward Shoberl's wishes.

Part of the corrected autograph draft manuscript of Timothy Pitkin's 'Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States of America' (1816), relating to the renewal of the charter of the Bank of North America at Washington.

Author: 
Timothy Pitkin (1766-1847), American Yale-educated lawyer, politician, historian and statistician [Bank of North America, Washington (now merged with Wells Fargo)]
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated, but written before the book's publication in 1816.
£850.00
Timothy Pitkin

2pp., on one side each of two 4to leaves headed '14' and '15'. 53 lines of text (25 lines to the first leaf and 28 lines to the second), with deletions and emendations. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with negligible cut to margin of second leaf (not affecting text). Neatly tipped-in to nineteenth-century grey paper wallet.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. Melmoth') from the writer William Melmoth the Younger to the attorney Joseph Sharpe

Author: 
William Melmoth the Younger (c.1710-1799), translator of Pliny and Cicero, and author of 'Fitzosborne's Letters' (1748, 1749)
Publication details: 
Bath; 15 January 1767.
£180.00

1 p, 4to. Nine lines, in a neat and close hand. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, and still tipped-in onto a leaf from an autograph album. Addressed, with two postmarks, on reverse of second leaf of bifolium, to 'Mr. Jos. Sharpe, | at his chambers in | Lincolns Inn | London'. He wrote to Sharpe five weeks previously, sending a lease for his perusal, 'and likewise to authorise you to deliver up my sister's plate upon Mr. Argile paying you ye. <?> I agreed to take.' If the latter matter is still unsettled, he instructs Sharpe to apply to Argile's attorney 'to settle it forthwith'.

French nineteenth-century handbill poem by 'L. N.' on the game of whist, titled 'Le Whist.'

Author: 
'L. N.' [French nineteenth-century handbill poem on the game of whist]
Publication details: 
Date of publication and name of printer not stated [1840s Paris?].
£350.00
Handbill poem by 'L. N.' on the game of whist

2 pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium of wove paper. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Signed 'L. N.' in type at end. A 114-line poem, in rhyming alexandrine couplets, beginning 'Messieurs, au jeu du whist adoptez constamment | L'air grave britannique et le flegme allemand.

Syndicate content