184 824 résultats
25573Letter dated ‘C/o B.B.C. Manchester. / October 9th 1957.’. Dodd’s entry in the Oxford DNB by Michael Billington concludes with the assessment that he was ‘the greatest theatrical comic of his age and the last link with the hallowed days of music hall’. The two items are in good condition lightly aged. ONE: TLS 9 October 1957. 1p 4to. Good large signature ‘Ken Dodd’. The male recipient is not named. He apologises for the late reply to the recipient’s letter. ‘May I also thank you for the compliments paid to my performance on Television. / I am a Liverpudlian residing in Knotty Ash Liverpool. / I shall be at the Manchester Palace Theatre for Pantomime This Christmas if you are in the vicinity perhaps you would care to call at the Stage-Door where my Fiancee a Liverpool Nurse and myself will be pleased to meet you.’ The ‘Liverpool Nurse’ is Anita Boutin c.1932-1977 Dodd’s partner until her death. TWO: Promotional portrait photographic postcard ‘Repro by Saidman Bros. Blackpool’ in black and white. 8.5 x 13.5 cm. A frenzied-looking Dodd with towselled hair hands upraised and fingers twitching in evening dress. Across Dodd’s chest in Autograph difficult to decipher as it is partly written over darkened areas: ‘Yours Toothfully / Ken Dodd’. See Image. Letter dated ‘C/o B.B.C. Manchester. / October 9th 1957.’ unknown
24739‘P Place Portland Place London / June 24 1798.’. See his entry in the Oxford DNB and the History of Parliament ‘the foremost diplomat of his age’. It was Malmesbury who went to Brunswick to fetch the Prince Regent’s betrothed Princess Caroline and whom he asked to get him a brandy on his first encounter with her three years before the present letter was written. A legible script was clearly not a prerequisite for a successful diplomat as the handwriting of this missive is scandalously bad: practically on a level with that of Dr Parr. 1p 4to. On recto of the first leaf of a bifolium the verso of the second being franked with partial ‘HENLEY’ postmark and red wax seal ‘Henley June twenty four 1798 / Revd Mr Tawcence / Partridge / near Cranbourn / ’. The franking signature ‘Malmesbury’ appears between two lines in the customary bottom-left corner. Heavily aged and worn with short closed tear to letter and repaired long closed tear across leaf carrying address. The whole of the following transcription is tentative ‘Dear Sir / After consulting with Mr Wilt & with my bailiff they both agree that is not let for Portland sheep & that as plantation that it will be my to keep them from there so much wilder than there it is for that reason that I have to thank you & I beg you to thank your Father for the trouble you have taken in this subject which for for the present at least I have given you uselessly. / I should hope your affair will be settled to yr satisfaction. I am glad yr brother & are so well.’ See Image ‘P Place [Portland Place, London?] / June 24 1798.’ unknown
25845No date or place. See his joint entry with his father John Loudon McAdam 1756-1836 in the Oxford DNB. On slip of paper roughly 11 x 6.5 cm cut from document. In good condition lightly aged and laid down on part of brown paper leaf from an autograph album. Part of an autograph by ‘. Perry’ is on the reverse. Good large disciplined autograph ‘James Mc Adam’ with the initial ‘J’ closely cropped at the head and left-hand side beneath which is written in a contemporary hand ‘The Colossus of Roads’. See Image. No date or place. unknown
26344‘Ivy Cottage Kentish Town / Novr 25 - /28 1828’. See his entry and that of his son in the Oxford DNB. The topic of this letter is referred to in the second volume of Dickens's edition of the son's life 1879. 3pp 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition lightly aged with strip of tape from mount adhering at edge of blank second leaf and two folds for postage. Addressed to ‘Dear Harley’ and signed ‘C Mathews.’ He begins by thanking him for his ‘kind enquiries’ and with regard to his son the actor Charles James Mathews writes that ‘Our dear good Charles thank God! is recovered and writes in excellent spirits from Florence. His disorder has been small pox! So much for vaccination! for of all the victims I have ever witnessed to that system he was the greatest - as his face was covered with frightful blotches for two years after inoculation.’ He claims that the ‘English Physician’ who attended the boy ‘hand no hesitation from the first in pronouncing it to be Small Pox’ but that ‘this was concealed from us’. ‘He accounts rationally for 3 weeks of silence - namely that he was blind. “The first reason will do.â€â€™ He has had ‘irksome work to play comforter to an almost broken hearted mother - and six nights per week to mimic gladness when the heart was sad’. He ends with renewed thanks for the ‘kind note which my wife equally appreciates’. ‘Ivy Cottage [Kentish Town] / Novr 25 - /28 [1828]’. unknown
2438429 October 1907. On ‘Khartoum’ Sudan letterhead. The entry for Slatin in the Oxford DNB gives a good outline of the life of this adventurer. The present item forms half of a 4to leaf torn down the middle vertically no doubt in order to provide an autograph. In good condition lightly aged. Written lengthwise on the reverse in a large bold hand is the valediction: ‘Hoping that you are fit & well / Yours ever / R Slatin’. The text on the recto reads: ‘. Jackson / . again - and / .y Home a little .cians dates - although .d written word . the gift comes . & thank you for . this time the Katran . be a success’. 29 October 1907. On ‘Khartoum’ [Sudan] letterhead. unknown
24748No date circa 1920 or place but circa 1920 On paper watermarked ‘The Club Note Thomas & Sons London’. The circumstances surrounding this extraordinary original composition in Latin verse are obscure. See Phillips’s entry in the Oxford DNB which notes that there was ‘an air of Proust’ about him and quotes Oliver Brown’s description of him as ‘a stout man immaculately dressed and heavily scented who talked continuously while he looked at the pictures'. It may be that Phillips and the author of the poem had been educated together or that they were members of the same club the Athenaeum for example. Whatever their relationship the author of the present work was clearly a capable classicist. Until the handwriting has been compared the suggestion cannot be dismissed that he might be the Professor of the Classical Association and Corpus Christi Professor of Latin at Oxford Albert Curtis Clark described in his own ODNB entry as a man who ‘could carry his learning lightly was the best of company full of humour and of wit and a perfect raconteur’. 2pp 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition lightly aged and creased. Central horizontal crease. Written in black ink. Poem and translation face one another with the Latin text beneath the heading ‘IN CLAUDIUM PHILIPPSIUM. EQUITEM.’ on the recto of the second leaf and the translation headed ‘IN LIBIDINOSUM.’ on the verso of the first. The Latin poem is twelve lines long in three four-line stanzas. It begins: ‘Cur stercoratae verba licentiae / Libidinosus semper in auribus / Emittis obscaenisque gaudes / Colloquiis .’. The English translation reads in its entirety: ‘Why dost thou lustful discharge ever in our / ears words of licence reeking of the dungheap: / why dost thou rejoice in obscene conversations O / Veteran Claudius / Old age presses on: thy last word inserted language planted with dirty last word inserted refuse / dishonours thy white hair: a forehead ploughed / with hardset wrinkles is out of keeping with / lascivious words. / Do thou at least case from foul gossip: last word an emendation of ‘talk’ let thy / bawdy stories be silenced remembering / thy industrious youth O Old Man worthy / of a better reputation.’ No date [circa 1920?] or place, but circa 1920? On paper watermarked ‘The Club Note | Thomas & Sons | London’. unknown
23929Poem by ‘Gordon. L.’ dated 20 June 1921. London Pavilion. Keys features in his son’s entry in the Oxford DNB. John Paddy Carstairs was christened Nelson John Keys. Three theatrical autographs - Nelson Keys ‘G. L.’ and ‘Gordon’ - on one side of a 25 x 20.5 cm piece of card. Apparently a gift from fellow cast-members to the actress playing the ‘Spirit of Spring’ in the Arthur Wimperis sketch ‘The Queen of Hearts’ in the C. B. Cochran London Pavilion revue ‘London Paris and New York’ which ran for 366 performances between 1920 and 1921. J. P. Wearing ‘The London Stage 1920-1929’ 2014 states that the ‘Queen of Hearts’ sketch was introduced on 6 June 1921 and reports that the Times reviewer ‘thought that the revue demonstrated that Nelson Keys taking part in every scene was “one of the very best comedians of the generation.â€â€™ In fair condition lightly aged and worn. At the head in a bold hand: ‘Always Bunch to you to anyone else / Sincerely yours / Nelson Keys’. Covering the greater part of the page is a thirty-line poem signed and dated at the end ‘G. L. / 20. V. 21’. Arranged in five numbered six-line stanzas it is titled ‘To the “Spirit of Spring†Thoughts born on Whit Monday 1921.’ Begins: ‘As down the sun-kissed glade you pass / From dew-bespangled blades of grass / Bright gems you fling.’ Towards the top of the right-hand margin in the same hand is the following quotation from Oscar Wilde: ‘For if these fallen petals / One to you seem fair / Love will waft it till it settles / On your hair. / O. W.’ And in the bottom right-hand corner: ‘Give me your hands. / Let grief & sorrow still possess his heart / That does not wish you joy. / The Tempest / Act V. Sc. i / Gordon’. See image. Poem by ‘G[ordon]. L.’ dated 20 June 1921. [London Pavilion.] unknown
24875Not dated but published in the London magazine ‘Books and Bookmen’ in 1974. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Philip Dosse who was proprietor of Hansom Books publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide in Standpoint magazine October 2018. Rees-Mogg’s book was published in 1974 and the present item appeared in ‘Books and Bookmen’ in the same year. A late draft neatly written out on 5pp small 4to with each page on separate leaf. Signed at end ‘Colin R. Coote’. Minor emendations to the first second and last pages. Begins: ‘This brilliantly sensible essay does something to redress my conviction that nothing good can come out of Printing House Square except by dismissal. The verdict was reached afterr over 20 year’s service with the former Thunderer when it became a ringleader in the foolish flimsy and almost lethal flummery called appeasement. But I now rejoice that God has answered Belloc’s prayer to be with Balliol men by clearly inspiring one of them - Mr Rees-Mogg.’ ‘What is the “Reigning Errorâ€â€™ Coote asks. ‘It is failure to realise that an imaginary test is the enemy of a practical good. There are two basic themes in this essay. The first is the behaviour of money; the second is the behaviour of men.’ At one point he writes: ‘The only advantage I have over Mr Rees-Mogg is that I have actually experienced rabid deflation here and rabid inflation in four separate countries.’ He concludes on the subject of ‘human behaviour’ ‘What is really distressing is not the venom of mindless militancy but its stupidity. You need only be able to read and to see in order to know that if strikes are substituted for honest sweat the end will be ghastly unemployment; that if Parliamentary Democracy is destroyed the alternative will be either tyranny or anarchy; that the real danger is not from known indignants but from “leaders†who say “I am their leader I must follow themâ€.’ Not dated, but published in the London magazine ‘Books and Bookmen’ in 1974. unknown
2385814 February 1902; on letterhead of St. Ermin’s Mansions Caxton Street S.W. London. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp 12mo. On bifolium. A thin strip no more than 1 cm deep has been cut away at the head of the first leaf with no loss of text otherwise in good condition. Folded once. Written a few months after Wallace’s return from his duties as Private Secretary to the future King George V on his world tour on HMS Ophir and during the Second Boer War. Wallace has just been struck by the thought that ‘though I returned the Volume on South Africa to the address in Victoria Street’ he forgot to give her his opinion of it. ‘The author is evidently Dutch in nationality and sentiment. I mean of course Dutch in the South African sense of the term and he is very proud of the exploits of his countrymen in their struggles with the blacks.’ As an example of the author’s attempt at impartiality Wallace gives his account of ‘the incident which gave rise to the celebration of “Dingan’s Dayâ€. About recent events also he tries to be impartial and he is very reticent as to burning questions. See particularly his account of the Jameson raid.’ Nevertheless on reading a great part of the volume Wallace was in no doubt where the author’s ‘innermost sympathies tended. His state of mind is I should think very much that of the Cape Dutch under the peach-trees as graphically described in an article published in the Times last Tuesday.’ Wallace’s conclusion is that the volume is ‘not well fitted for stimulating the Imperial British sentiment in children or young people but it may be read with advantage by open-minded people of a less tender age’. 14 February 1902; on letterhead of St. Ermin’s Mansions, Caxton Street, S.W. [London] unknown
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25566‘Lisbon 16 March 1811’. He receives the briefest of obituaries in the Gentleman's Magazine July 1840: 'May 10. At Exeter aged 81 Col. Thomas Abernethie K.H. on the retired list of the Royal Marines.' 3pp 4to. Bifolium. On aged and discoloured paper with the usual damage to the second leaf from the breaking of the seal. Addressed on reverse of second leaf with postmark to ‘Messrs Cox & Son / 20 Bartletts Buildings / Holborn / London’. Signed ‘Thos. Abernethie’ and docketed ‘Maj: Abernethie / 16 March 1811’. Begins: ‘Gentlemen / I have requested a Cap. Falcon of the Navy to purchase for me a Qr cask of Madeira - should he and to draw upon you per the Amt. which you will please to honor -’. He continues: ‘Lord Wellington is in full pursuit of the French - but I scarcely think he will follow them further than the confines of Portugal - should they escape thither - we have no certain intelligence of the Armies till we receive it in an official shape from England - Cap. Cox is well - we rode together yesterday to see the palace of Queluse sic about 8 miles from Lisbon - a very charming spot -’. ‘Lisbon 16 March 1811’. unknown
2452414 March 1949; 60 Christchurch Road Streatham Hill SW2 London. From the Macqueen-Pope papers see his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp 8vo. In good condition lightly aged and worn and folded three times for postage. She asks him to send ‘3 or 4 more copies’ of his ‘nice write up in the “Sunday Chronicle†March 13th.’ as she would like to send ‘a copy to Australia Canada & America as there is some talk about my going to America in the near future’. She has ‘tried all over Streatham and Brixton and it seems impossible to get a copy anywhere’ and will be happy to pay the cost. She would ‘also like to ask you if you could put me in touch with anyone who could write up my memoirs for me’. 14 March 1949; 60 Christchurch Road, Streatham Hill, SW2 [London]. unknown
243506 October 1882; no place. On 11 x 14.5 piece of paper cut for an autograph collector from the conclusion of a letter. In fair condition lightly aged and worn with light patches of discoloration and a couple of pin holes; laid down on piece of cream paper from album. One fold line. Reads: ‘. I will be very pleased to look through it and if it suits me to sing it. / With kind regards to all / Believe me to remain / Yours faithfully / Mary Davies’. 6 October 1882; no place. unknown
251227 February 1896. London: 242 Portsdown Road W. 4pp 12mo. Bifolium. Aged worn and with spots of discoloration. 106 lines in a truly execrable hand. The following reading is tentative. The recipient is not named and the letter is signed ‘T. Outram Marshall’. The letter begins: ‘My dear Sir / I also read the letters in the Guardian very carefully’. There follow references to ‘the argument of a pamphlet as to the Teaching of Holy Scripture’. The third paragraph begins: ‘But to my mind the words of the Council of Arles are evidence that in 314 the Bps. there assembled believed just what our Petitioner says.’ He quotes a Latin test and discusses it. There are three long numbered objections. and three assertions are given of which ‘We are convinced’. He discusses what is the case ‘If “the High Ch. Party†is not content with the Scripture & the existing Laws of the English & whole western Ch’. He is glad that the recipient does not agree on one point ‘with the Bp. of London’ ‘But if you do not - what remains - you say the husband of this unfaithful wife - has permission to marry again - then it follows that he has permission to dissolve the bond which till he desides to do so - has not been broken. This is a wholly new theory which as yet no Bp. East or West has fulfilled. / Forgive my writing this - I want to shew you how very insecure is your foothold’. 7 February 1896. London: 242 Portsdown Road, W. unknown
242463 and 5 November 1936 and 22 February 1937; all three from Longmeadow Street Somerset. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. All three letters 1p 8vo. The third letter in good condition lightly aged; the first two in fair condition on creased and chipping cartridge paper with a few spots of rust from a paperclip. All three folded for postage. All three signed ‘Laurence Housman’. ONE 3 November 1936: Begins: ‘Dear Mr. Sayers / I am rather perturbed to find that the meeting I am asked to speak at is the Annual of the League of Nations Union. The request for me to speak came from the Peace Pledge Union and no indication was given that it was not a Peace Pledge meeting. / I take the position of an absolute pacifist and I am not in agreement with a good deal of the League of Nation’s policy nor am I any longer an accredited speaker.’ If he does speak to the Monmouth Town LNU ‘I must speak as a full pacifist; on those terms I am quite willing to come and you can explain the position to your meeting’. The letter has an autograph postscript: ‘P.S. “The Price of Peace†could be my title. I have no photo-block for publication.’ TWO 5 November 1936: ‘As you are prepared to put up with what I shall say on Peace I am willing to keep the engagement’. He proceeds to discuss transport arrangements and ends by asking Sayers to ‘thank Miss MacDonald for her kind offer of hospitality’. THREE 22 February 1937: He is glad that his book ‘The Unexpected Years’ has given Sayers pleasure. ‘In spite of the many knocks I received in the course of them I also managed to get pleasure out of them and hope to continue to do so.’ 3 and 5 November 1936 and 22 February 1937; all three from Longmeadow, Street, Somerset. unknown
2449211 March 1836. ‘Cottage / Winchmore Hill’. An idiosyncratic letter revealing something of his working practices and the relations between client and bookseller in the early nineteenth century. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p 12mo. From the collection of a painstaking Victorian autograph collector who has unobtrusively repaired slight damage to a central fold. On lightly discoloured paper with a thin neat strip from the windowpane mount adheres to the edges. The letter is signed ‘Sh.n Turner’ and the recipients are not named. The letter begins: ‘Gentn / I would thank you to get for me Rosellinis ‘I Monumenti dell Egitto’ / Tom I. Pisa 1832 8o / with an atlas & 30 plates / large folio - / and the parts which have been published since. / As it is an expensive work I will send you a draft for the amount on receiving it - but I see I shall want it to do my next Volume as satisfactory to myself as I wish - as I like to see myself all original authorities’. The recipients have written at the head of the letter: ‘24 Numbers of Plates Folio at 27/ per No. will becompleted in 40 Numbers and must subscribe for the whole / 4 vols 8o published will be completed in 20 Vols / those will be gratis’. 11 March 1836. ‘Cottage / Winchmore Hill’. unknown
2407017 January and 8 November 1948. Both on government letterheads. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient the educationist Thomas Lloyd Humberstone 1876-1957 was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. Both items in fair condition on lightly aged paper the second with slight loss along one edge due to removal from mount. Both signed ‘Simon’. ONE: 17 January 1948. 1p 12mo. Folded once. ‘I do not for a moment believe that the adverse vote carried at a depleted meeting of the General Committee represents the broad view of the Club clearly the National Liberal Club as a whole but I have to take things as I find them. So unless the Club as a whole cancels the verdict I have no desire to be a marked man in that company. I am urging all other Liberal-Nationals who have not been selected for attack to remain.’ TWO: 8 November 1948. 1p 4to. Folded twice. He is sorry that Humberstone is ‘laid up’ and will read his ‘brochure’ with interest. He does not consider that there is ‘anything of a legal or constitutional force’ with the words ‘of’ to ‘force’ in autograph in Humberstone’s point ‘that the old Universities at one time were granted Parliamentary representation by prerogative action’. He discusses the present operation of the prerogative with reference to ‘my argument in Attorney-General v. De Keyser Hotel where we proved that the Crown could not exercise its power to requisition land even for war purposes without paying for it as statute law provides’. He concludes the paragraph: ‘Whether right or wrong the question now turns solely on what the Statute Book contains.’ 17 January and 8 November 1948. Both on government letterheads. unknown
2622724 October 1871; on embossed letterhead of the Athenaeum club London. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p 12mo. In good condition lightly aged and folded twice for postage. One corner very slightly cropped. Signed ‘Tho. Hughes’. In response to a request for an autograph he writes: ‘My dear Madam / I have only just returned to town where I find your note with the request contained in which I have much pleasure in complying & sending you my signature below though it is not a good specimen as I have got hold of a rascally bad pen.’ See Image. 24 October 1871; on embossed letterhead of the Athenaeum club, London. unknown
23815Without date or place but before Chantrey's death in 1841 and probably from London. See the entries for Jones and Chantry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp 12mo. On bifolium. An interesting letter of 39 lines with text intact in poor condition aged and with closed tears and discoloration from tape used in repair and ink blot to first page. The surname of the recipient is not given but the close friendship between the two men Jones published a memoir of Chantrey in 1849 puts Chantrey’s identity beyond doubt. Begins: ‘Very dear Sir Francis / Your kind note is duly appreciated and all you do tends to my happiness altho’ it occasionally embarrasses my conduct; in the present instance I deeply feel your kindness in cherishing the pursuit that affords me pleasure but your dony so makes me feel as if I were receiving too great a testimony of your good will’. He is aware that it is ‘impertinent’ for him to ‘judge’ for Sir Francis but he has ‘permitted me to such a station of familiarity that I feel rather as a brother than as a client’. He would far rather his picture were in Sir Francis’s possession than anyone else’s and offer it to him ‘most willingly’ as a ‘testimonium amicitiae’ but he ‘dare not - therefore if it be your will send me one hundred Guineas and I will write you a formal answer by which you will learn what you are to name if my professional fee be demanded -’. If Sir Francis will indulge him by ‘acceding to my wish in this particular’ he will be ‘completely satisfied and this I affirm with the most complete sincerity of heart’ last eleven words underlined. A hundred guineas would have meant nothing to Chantrey; according to the DNB his estate was worth £150000. Without date or place, but before Chantrey's death in 1841, and probably from London. unknown
25095Without date or place. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A good large bold signature with the autograph valediction of a letter. On one side of a 20 x 9 cm piece of wove paper. In good condition lightly aged. Reads: ‘Your’s sic very truly / V. Lovett Cameron / Commander R. N.’ See Image. Without date or place. unknown
24003111 Mount Street London. ‘Friday evening’ no date. The present item gives an indication of the high spirits though hardly the ‘brilliant wit’ which according to Quin’s entry in the Oxford DNB afforded him a welcome to high society. 3pp 16mo. Bifolium with second leaf slightly damaged at foot by removal from mount. The body of the letter reads: ‘Dear Jesse / Don’t you or your fair friends forget Supper at Vun Undred and Vunety Vun Mount Street tomorrow Saturday night at 11 oclock or as soon after it as you can come. / N.B. “No Dogs admitted on these premises under a severe fine & penalty.†/ thine & my unhappy Country / God save the Quin.’ Longish postscript asks to know when he is ‘likely to arrive - so that a hot dish I have ordered may not be spilt by waiting. Do you understand Eh’ See image of pp.2/3. 111 Mount Street [London]. ‘Friday evening’ [no date]. unknown
2491312 May 1932; on letterhead of the Manchester Guardian London Office 43 Fleet Street EC4 London. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition lightly aged and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Dear Burdett’ and signed ‘J Bone’. He will let him know if he hears of anything with regard to Burdett’s ‘young friend’ ‘but one hears so rarely now of newspaper openings as everyone is holding on tight and there are so many experienced men on the street’. He is sending Burdett’s note ‘on to Manchester in case there should ever be an opportunity there’. He concludes by explaining: ‘We never have anything going in this office as Manchester has first claim if any vacancy occurs and they occur at very long intervals.’ 12 May 1932; on letterhead of the Manchester Guardian London Office, 43 Fleet Street, EC4 [London]. unknown
23877No place or date. On one side of a 12.5 x 8.5 cm piece of thin white card. Clearly given in response to a request for an autograph. Written in a large somewhat old-fashioned hand with ‘Edith Pargeter.’ centred towards the head of the page and ‘‘Ellis Peters’.’ at bottom right. See image. No place or date. unknown
2455915 April 1953; on letterhead of Lavender Lodge Maidenhead Court Maidenhead. From the Macqueen-Pope papers. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p 16mo. Signed ‘Bill Owen’. In fair condition lightly aged and creased. Hailing him as ‘the greatest living authority on British Theatre’ he asks for advice. ‘My job is acting and it has always been an ambition of mine to portray the life of Dan Leno either on film or TV. The “powers that be†have shown a certain interest in the idea and in order to get things moving I want to present them with a full working script or even a synopsis as soon as possible.’ He asks him ‘what reading matter I might find useful for historical detail of this wonderful artiste’. 15 April 1953; on letterhead of Lavender Lodge, Maidenhead Court, Maidenhead. unknown
26032‘London Institution / Finsbury Circus. / January 17. 1834’. On paper watermarked ‘GATER / 1815’. See his entry in the Oxford DNB together with A. N. L. Munby’s entertaining ‘The Cult of the Autograph Letter in England’ 1962. 1p 4to. No fold. In good condition on lightly aged paper extracted from a notebook. Signed at foot: ‘William Upcott / a collector and preserver of Autographs. / London Institution / Finsbury Circus. / January 17. 1834’. The four memoranda are neatly written out over fifteen lines in Upcott’s distinctive hand. But compare the other item by him with same watermark offered separately in what is clearly his best hand and more like type. First: ‘An Hour well spent is worth a Life. When we reflect on the Sum of Improvement and delight gained in a single hour how do the multitude of hours already past use and say “What good has marked us†Wouldst thou know the true worth of Time employ one hour.’ The second memorandum concerns happiness the third daily improvement and the last employments. ‘London Institution / Finsbury Circus. / January 17. 1834’. On paper watermarked ‘GATER / 1815’. unknown
