VICTORIAN

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Autograph Letter Signed to unknown male correspondent; Autograph Signed endorsement of 'Dr. Dick of Dundee'; and facsimile of letter of thanks to his 'Birth-day Benefactors'.

Author: 
James Montgomery (1771-1854), Scottish hymnwriter and poet
Publication details: 
The letter dated 29 May 1835, 10 New Palace Yard, Westminster; the endorsement dated 'The Mount, September 19. 1850'; the facsimile dated 'The Mount nr Sheffield, Nov. 4. 1851.'
£220.00

The letter (8vo, 1 p) is foxed, but otherwise very good. Had he not been 'engaged for ten days past to dine three or four miles off with an old acquaintance', whom it is too late to disappoint, he would have been happy to avail himself of the kind invitation. Sends best wishes and prayers to the recipient's family, 'from the elder to the youngest'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. Strahan') to Mrs Matheson.

Author: 
Alexander Stewart Strahan (1833-1918), Scottish publisher
Publication details: 
6 April 1861 ('Saturday Night'); Edinburgh.
£66.00

8vo: 2 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly creased and discoloured paper, with strip roughly 1.5 x 6 cm missing from top outside corner of first leaf, resulting in loss of around four words. 'Dr. Macleod' [Norman Macleod, 1812-1872, DNB] has just returned 'the M.SS which you were kind enough to submit to me | He likes Miss Robertson's papers, and would be glad to give her a place in "Good Words" if she wrote anything suitable.' Macleod 'is to think over a subject and suggest it the first time he is in town'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Dawson [William] Turner (1815-85), philanthropist and educational writer.

Author: 
Sir William Turner (1832-1916), anatomist and Principal of Edinburgh University
Publication details: 
Thursday' [no date]; on letterhead of the University of Edinburgh.
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo. Aged, grubby and creased, with closed tear repaired with archival tape. 'The second plate arrived too late unfortunately for the April number of the Journal as we had to print off at the end of the week.' He is busy with examinations and does not finish till the Monday, but 'would like much to see your work'. Signed 'W Turner'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Lockyer.

Author: 
William Black (1841-1898), Scottish journalist and novelist [Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896); astronomer; Altnaharra Hotel; angling; fishing]
Publication details: 
29 March [no year]; Altnaharra, Lairg, N.B. [Scotland]
£38.00

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.

Autograph Letter Signed ('D Brewster') to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Sir David Brewster (1781-1868), Scottish scientist, inventor of the Kaleidoscope [Bank of England; optics; optical; physics]
Publication details: 
Morrisons Hotel | Monday Morning' [no date].
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on aged paper, with light offsetting from another letter. Slight loss to one margin through removal from autograph album, slightly trimming a couple of words of text. He is 'much indebted' to the recipient 'for the trouble you have so kindly taken in obtaining for me sight of the Machinery in the Bank'. He will call 'to know if you have been able to make any arrangement'. The words 'inventor of the Kaleidescope [sic]' are neatly added in manuscript beneath Brewster's signature in imitation of type.

Autograph Letter Signed to Richard Owen.

Author: 
James Nicol [ROYAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY; PROFESSOR RICHARD OWEN]
Publication details: 
Geological Society | 4 December 1847'.
£44.00

Scottish geologist (1810-79). Sir Richard Owen (1804-92) was a naturalist. One page, 12mo. Very good, though grubby and creased in one corner. Traces of mount adhering to blank verso. 'I have much pleasure in at length having it in my power to send you a proof of your memoir. It has been far longer delayed than I expected. I send you the press proof as there are a good many connections and queries in the margin'. Signed 'James Nicol'. Note: Perhaps concerning "Memoir of William Clift, F.R.S." (1849).

Autograph Letter Signed to the naturalist Rev. Francis Orpen Morris (1810-1893).

Author: 
James Blackwood, Scottish publisher
Publication details: 
17 October 1857, on his business letterhead, 8 Lovell's Court, Paternoster Row.
£56.00

8vo: 2 pp. The 'idea is worth Consideration', but Blackwood 'can hardly see how any large sale cann be depended upon, so as to repay the expense of printing advertising &c.' Asks that Morris send him 'one sermon, to indicate style, length & to estimate cost'. Asks what size of paper should be used. Notices that Morris's works are 'principally on natural history'. Likes the idea of 'the <?> natural history', and 'will take an early opportunity of looking at it'. This notable London publisher is a surprising omission from BBTI.

Signed Manuscript 'Precept of Clare Constat by the Commissioner for The Duke of Portland in favor of Joseph Kennedy'.

Author: 
William John Cavendish Bentinck Scott, 5th Duke of Portland; Joseph Kennedy, carpet weaver of Lasswade, Kilmarnoch; James Moncrieff Melville; James Lindesay; William Bett
Publication details: 
Edinburgh; 7 April 1857.
£45.00

Three pages. On vellum bifolium made from skin roughly fourteen inches by twenty wide. Three official stamps. Signed twice by 'Jas M Melville', Writer to the Signet, and his partner James Lindesay ('Jas. Lindesay'), and witnessed by their clerk William Bett ('W. Bett').

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Henry [Trueman] Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir George Duff-Sutherland-Dunbar
Publication details: 
12 November 1915; on War Office letterhead.
£23.00

British soldier and historian (1878-1962). One page, quarto. Very good. Bearing the Society's stamp. '[...] I will be permitted by my duties to have the honour of attending at the Royal Society of Arts on the 17th. Instant at 4.30 pm in order to receive the Medal awarded to me by the Society. | I have also to acknowledge with thanks the kind invitation of the Council to attend in the Council Room before the Meeting [...]'. Signed 'G Duff Sutherland Dunbar'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent [Henry Petrie?].

Author: 
Patrick Fraser Tytler
Publication details: 
30 November 1840; 34 Devonshire Place.
£85.00

Scottish historian (1791-1849). Three pages, 12mo. In good condition, with second leaf of bifolium attached by blank verso to larger piece of docketed grey paper. An interesting, chatty letter relating to his 'History of Scotland' (1828-43), and the State Paper Office. He hopes his correspondent has received the seventh volume which 'cost me much labour - but if it is even an approach nearer to the truth the time has not been thrown away'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male clerical correspondent [the Rev. Dr Thomas Frognall Dibdin].

Author: 
William Douglas of Edinburgh [ Thomas Frognall Dibdin ]
Publication details: 
5 S. College St. [Edinburgh] | August 5 / 37' [1837].
£300.00

Two pages, 8vo. In good condition despite paper discoloration and smudging of text by author. Traces of stub adhering to one edge. An interesting letter from one of the engraver's to Dibdin's Northern Tour (1838), and important for the light it sheds on the book's production. Douglas greets Dibdin as 'Rev Sir'. He is sending his draft and has 'revised all the plates and sent them to Mr Johnstone to be proved'. Johnstone will send them on with the drawings. He has seen 'Mr.

Facsimile of Autograph Letter Signed, sent as circular to town clerks of Scottish Burghs.

Author: 
John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquis of Bute
Publication details: 
Mount Stuart | Rothesay.' [no year, but 1897 or after]
£25.00

Scottish nobleman (1847-1900) and author. Two pages, folio. Folded twice. First leaf of a bifoliate. On very good paper watermarked 'J WHATMAN | 1897'. Very good, but second (blank) leaf of bifoliate somewhat grubby. Facsimile signature 'Bute'. Long letter announcing the completion of his 'Arms of the Royal and Parliamentary Burghs of Scotland' (Blackwood, 1897) and appealing for information for his forthcoming 'Arms of the Baronial and Police Burghs of Scotland' (Blackwood & Sons, 1903).

Autograph Letter Signed [to Sir Cuthbert Sharp].

Author: 
George Sholto Douglas, 17th Earl of Morton
Publication details: 
25 December 1838; Dalmahoy.
£35.00

Scottish aristocrat (1789-1858). Sharp (1781-1849) was an antiquary of some note. Three pages, 12mo. In poor condition: folded twice and with considerable staining along the folds. Attached, by verso of second leaf of bifoliate, to larger piece of paper.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter to 'Miss [later Dame] S[arah]. E[lizabeth]. S[iddons]. Mair' (died 1941).

Author: 
George Douglas [pseud. of George Douglas Brown]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

Scottish novelist (1869-1902) of the 'kailyard school'. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by three inches. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of pink paper. Reads '[...] Let me add that your suggestion as to the poets of the early part of the last century is one which appeals to me much. | I am, dear Madam | yours faithfully | George Douglas. | Miss S. E. S. Mair, | [...]'. Docketed in pencil.

Autograph Letter Signed to Pryor's mother.

Author: 
John Hopkinson (1844-1919), English geologist [Alfred Reginald Pryor (1839-1881); Royal Geological Society]
Publication details: 
5 March 1888; St Albans, Hertfordshire.
£56.00

12mo: 3 pp. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Concerns Pryor's posthumous 'Flora of Hertfordshire' (1887), which contained an introduction co-written by Hopkinson. Four copies of the book are being presented to Mrs Pryor 'by our Society'. 'This is partly the cause of the delay in sending them to you, for we had to wait for authority from the Council of the Society, to present them.' The rest of the letter concerns the large paper edition of the book, a copy of which Hopkinson offers to procure for Mrs Pryor 'at the subscription price'.

Autograph Letter Signed [to the publishers Messrs George Routledge & Sons].

Author: 
Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936), British novelist and suffragette [George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.]
Publication details: 
29 July [no year]; on letterhead 3, Fitzjohn's Mansions, Netherall Gardens, Hampstead, N.W. [London]
£100.00

Two pages, 12mo. Good, with minor effects of damp. Text clear and entire. Twenty-five lines. Harraden has found an old acquaintance, Mrs Charles Routledge ('the widow of the son of Colonel Robert Warne Routledge'), in 'very distressing circumstances; she had been very ill from blood poisoning in the leg, had been in hospital, & in the work house'. Mrs Routledge has 'done her very best [...] to fight an adverse fate', working hard 'as a house keeper, maid of all work, servant of lodging house'.

Album containing 170 photographs of an unnamed British army officer and his family, compiled while on service in Africa, India and elsewhere.

Author: 
[Schoolmaster Cameron, 2/4th Battalion the East York Regiment] [the Raj; British Army; Victorian photography; Bermuda]
Publication details: 
From c.1900 to c.1920.
£950.00

170 photographs, on forty-one pages of a fifty-page album with leaf dimensions of 26 x 35.5 cm. The album is half-bound, with black leather corners and spine, and green faux-leather boards, aged and with loose leaves and worn binding. The photographs are often slightly faded, but are for the most part in good condition. Each page is entirely filled, the photographs ranging in size from 22 x 26 cm to 3 x 2 cm.

Kirby, Essex. Catalogue of Live and Dead Farming Stock and Household Furniture, to be sold by auction. By Mr. E. Blyth, on Tuesday, September 19, 1843, At Eleven o'clock, By Order of the Proprietor, Mr. Wm. Wilson, who is retiring from Business.

Author: 
Edward Blyth, auctioneer, of Rose Cottage, Thorpe-le-Soken [Colchester, Essex; povincial printing; agriculture; auction catalogues]
Publication details: 
1843. Colchester: Printed by G. Dennis, 40, High Street.
£95.00

12mo: 8 pp (a 43 x 27 cm leaf, printed on both sides and folded twice to make four unopened leaves). Pamphlet. Text clear and complete on lightly-aged and spotted paper. 'Conditions of Sale' on reverse of title. 170 lots, with lots 48 to 68 priced and named by the auctioneer, who gives the total as £4 9s 6d, with 'Commission & Exps.' of £0 8s 6d. Interesting manuscript note at head of title: 'Lot 65 not sold - is the Drawers & Dresser in the Storeroom in the Parlour which were not a part of the Tenants Fittings and belong to the Landlord - and were not taken by Mr.

Handbill advertisement for 'The Celebrated Working Model, by Real Water, of a Copper Mine, [...] Now on View, At Exeter Hall, Strand.'

Author: 
T. Smith, Exeter Hall, the Strand [Robert Robinett, printer, White Street, Borough; Shows of London]
Publication details: 
[1834.] 'Robinett, Printer, White St. Borough.'
£75.00

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, dimensions 22 x 14 cm. Text clear and complete, on aged and lightly-spotted paper, with minor wear to extremities. Headed 'Under the Patronage of the Nobility and Gentry.' 48 lines of text, including positive quotations from the Observer, Christian Advocate, Sunday Times and Albion and Star. Describes ten aspects of the exhibition, lettered A to K, including the conveyance of the ore 'to the surface by a --- (G) --- POWERFUL HYDRAULIC MACHINE, first in kibbles, through a perpendicular shaft, and lastly in waggons drawn upon an inclined plane'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. L. Hatton.') to Bennett.

Author: 
John Liptrot Hatton [J. L. Hatton] (1809-1886), English composer and conductor [William Cox Bennett (1820-1895)]
Publication details: 
26 October 1859; 3 Goswell St. E.C. [London], on cancelled letterheada of 13 Park Village West, Regents Park.
£36.00

12mo, 2 pp. Ten lines of text. Good. Asks 'upon what terms' he may 'publish some of the songs I have set from the charming volume you sent me'. He is 'acquainted with the Gentleman' to whom Bennett has dedicated his book: 'it was in his shop I was introduced to Longfellow'. Possibly referring to Bennett's 'A Sea Song' and 'The Sea-Boy's Dream', set to music by Hatton and both published in 1861.

Autograph Manuscript musical score, 'From Mass in C minor. | for five voices', signed by 'Ronald M. Burnker'.

Author: 
R. M. Brunker [Ronald M. Brunker], choirmaster and organist, St Bartholomew's, Battersea
Publication details: 
Dated 'June 28th. 1927'.
£100.00

On one side of a leaf of green paper, roughly 17.5 x 23.5 cm, removed from an autograph album. Good, on lightly aged paper. Thirteen bars, with staves for soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Covering the greater part of the page, and followed by 'From Mass in C minor. | for five voices. | [signed] Ronald. M. Brunker. | June 28th. 1927'.

Signatures of 'Russell Thorndike' and 'Harry Alfred Harding', and manuscript score of music by 'E. H. Thorne', transcribed by 'A. E. Thorne'.

Author: 
Dr Edward Henry Thorne (c.1835-1917), organist at St Anne's, Soho; Alfred E. Thorne, organist, Christ Church, Newgate Street; Arthur Russell Thorndike (1885-1972); Harry Alfred Harding (1855-1930)
Publication details: 
The score and two signatures all dated 1929.
£100.00

On a leaf of pink paper, roughly 18 x 23.5 cm, removed from an album. Good, on lightly aged paper. The score, on the recto, consists of eight grand staff bars, titled 'St. Andrew | A + M 403. | Jesus calls us; o'er the tumult | E. H. Thorne'. The score is folowed by the signature 'A. E. Thorne | 30th. Aug 1929.' The autographs, on the reverse, read 'Yours Very Sincerely | Russell Thorndike. | (Death in Everyman.) | Grey Friars Mar. 1929.' and 'Harry Alfred Harding | June 1. 1929.' Thorne was a leading figure in the late-Victorian Bach revival. Thorndike was the detective novelist.

Detailed pen drawing captioned 'Hill's Organ at Birmingham'. Signature of Sir Oliver Lodge on reverse.

Author: 
Hugh Clayson [William Hill's Organ, Birmingham Town Hall; Sir Oliver Lodge (1851-1940)]
Publication details: 
Signed 'Hugh Clayson. Dec. '08'.
£60.00

On a piece of yellow paper, 18 x 23.5 cm, removed from an autograph album. Dimensions of image 12.5 x 17.5 cm, neatly enclosed within a border. Good, on aged paper discoloured at extremities of margin. An accurate and detailed drawing of the organ in its setting on the balcony, with ceiling above and the surrounding steps, columns and alcoves.

Stationery and Bookselling. Special Spring Number. A select Directory to the Leading Firms dealing in Paper, Commercial and Fancy Stationery, Books, Fine Art Publications, Photographs [...] with specially written articles [....].

Author: 
J. S. Morriss, editor [Stationery and Bookselling; trade directory; British publishing; printing; bookselling]
Publication details: 
April, 1890. London: Published by J. G. Smith & Co., 165, Queen Victoria St., E.C.
£56.00

4to (27.5 x 21.5 cm), 140 pp on shiny art paper. In original light-green red and black printed wraps. Tight, on lightly-aged paper, a little dog-eared at back. In worn and chipped wraps. Filled with striking and attractive engraved illustrations and advertisements. Illustrations include stock cabinets, book presses, printing presses, ledgers, notebooks, artists' materials, magnifying glasses. Long obituary of Edward Lloyd of Lloyd's News.

Scrapbook entitled 'Lightning and other Records.'

Author: 
Commander James Liddell, Royal Navy, of Bodmin, Cornwall [thunder and lightning; thunderstorms; natural phenomena; meteorology; the weather]
Publication details: 
1860-1879.
£225.00

Small quarto of around forty pages, covered in easily in excess of a hundred press cuttings, primarily relating to lightning strikes, thunder storms and other natural phenomena. Internally loose but in reasonable condition, but externally in need of attention: the heavily worn original quarter-binding, has the leather spine worn away. Manuscript label, in Liddell's hand, laid down on the marbled front board. Several of the cuttings reproduce letters from Lidddell himself, the first, dated 'Bodmin, Dec.

Mr. Disraeli, Colonel Rathborne, and the Council of India. A letter [...] in explanation of a petition of enquiry, presented from Colonel Rathborne, on the 9th August, 1859. (For distribution to the Members of the House of Commons.)

Author: 
[Anthony Blake Rathborne, 'Colonel, and late Collector and Magistrate of Hyderabad, in Scynde'; Benjamin Disraeli]
Publication details: 
London: 1860. [Charles Westerton, Publisher, St. George's Place, Hyde Park Corner.]
£56.00

Quarto: 88 pp. Unbound and in worn original yellow printed wraps. On aged, discoloured paper, with last dozen leaves and back wrap with damage (by burn?), affecting only a few words of text, but requiring repair. This copy addressed on back wrap to 'T C Haliburton Esq MP | Atheneum Club | Pall Mall' (Thomas Chandler Haliburton, 1796-1865). An uncommon item: COPAC only lists copies at Cambridge, Bristol, the National Library of Scotland and the British Library.

Traite de la Construction des Theatres.

Author: 
Alphonse Gosset, Architecte a Reims, Laureat de la Societe Centrale des Architectes (1878).
Publication details: 
Paris: Libraire Polytechnique Baudry et Cie, Editeurs. 1886.
£150.00

Quarto: 140 pages. 62 plates. Somewhat grubby and with a few nicks and dogears, but good overall, on browning high-acidity paper. In original red printed cloth, stained and with cover becoming detached. Accession number in red in top-right hand corner of title-page.

Some Recent Phases of the Sewage Question, With Remarks on "Ensilage," As applied to the Storing and Preservation of Sewage-Grown Green Crops.

Author: 
Henry Robinson, C.E., F.S.I. [sanitation; Victorian London sewers; silage; sewage; sewerage; cesspools]
Publication details: 
[London:] Reprinted by permission of the Council from the "Transactions" of the Surveyors' Institution.' To be obtained of Messrs. Spon, 125, Strand, W.C. [1885.]
£30.00

Octavo: 28 pp (paginated 203-230). Unbound and stitched. In original orange printed wraps. Fold-out lithographic plate (c.21 x 45 cms, containing figs. 2 to 6) by C. F. Kell of Castle Street, Holborn, and three illustrations in text: fig.1, a 'useful portable silo [...] made by Messrs. Reynolds', fig.7, 'a simple form of silo with Reynolds' pressure', and fig.8, 'a suggested design for a silo'. The aim of the paper is to 'bring before The Surveyors' Institution some recent phases of the sewage question'. Very good, if a tad dusty at head.

Storage of Flood Water.

Author: 
Professor Henry Robinson, M.Inst.C.E., F.G.S. [sanitation; Victorian London sewers; sewage; sewerage; silage]
Publication details: 
Excerpt from Vol. XX., Part IV., of The Journal of The Sanitary Institute.' The Sanitary Institute. Congress at Southampton, 1899. Offices: Parkes Museum, Margaret Street, London, W.
£30.00

Octavo: 5 pps. Unbound. In original grey printed wraps. Very good, with thin strip of discoloration at foot of back wrap. Manuscript correction (by Robinson?) to one word, and pencil diagram of 'Waste Weir & flood Water Channel' drawn on blank verso of final leaf.

Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of Book-Plates, (Ex-Libris.)

Author: 
Puttick and Simpson, London auctioneers [auction catalogues; bookplates; ex-libris]
Publication details: 
London, 1897. Sale the 28th, January, at two o'clock precisely, At the Rooms of PUTTICK & SIMPSON, 47, Leicester Square. [Printed by S. and J. Brawn, 13, Gate Street, High Holborn, W.C.]
£125.00

8vo: 21 pp. Stitched and unbound. Tastefully printed on good watermarked laid paper. Aged, and with the covers grubby. Priced and named to lot 113, and with a few of the other lots priced in pencil. A slip, dimensions 2.5 x 15.5 cm, has been cut away from the beginning of the sale (pp.3-4), resulting in the loss of the entries for three lots (12, 13 and 14). Scarce, with no copy listed on COPAC or WorldCat.

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