ARMYTAGE, J.W. Rev. BADSWORTH HUNTING JOURNAL

Small 4to notebook in half calf, rubbed and spine chipped. Pp. (197), written in a neat hand throughout. Titled and inscribed to John Wright of Hampsthwaite and Ripley by G.A.Luard, the author’s nephew. Unpublished, 1818-33. A fascinating and detailed early hunting diary of the Badsworth Hunt “before the railways and collieries spoilt a good country”, which also sheds much light on the local history and geography of the period. 3 relevant letters are loosely inserted (one asking permission to make a few mss. copies of the diary, which was apparently done in the 1930s) together with an old mss. copy of a Badsworth hunting song composed by the Hon.Martin Hawke (Lord Hawke, Master of the Hunt) in c.1806. Rev.JohnWentworth Armytage (1793-1865) was Rector of Bulwell in Nottinghamshire and Perpetual Curate of Hickleton in East Yorkshire for 47 and 48 years respectively. He seems to have been a hard man and a keen sportsman, regularly riding long distances, covering the whole of the Badsworth country as well as riding with the Fitzwilliam and Grove packs. The Badsworth Hunt (founded 1720) is the southernmost of the Yorkshire hunts, extending from near Pontefract to the Derbyshire borders. It merged with the Bramham Moor Hunt in 2002. Provenance: this diary was preserved by members of the Wright family since it was presented to their ancestor, before the days of C.B.E.Wright, Master of the Badsworth in the late 19th century.

£650.00 | Stock No: 64864 | Add to basket | View more details

BLACKBURN: BUILDERS VALUATION AND CREDIT ACCOUNT.

2 headed invoice sheets, folded and stapled. The total owing to Whalley amounts to nearly £1200. 1860s.

£15.00 | Stock No: 53144 | Add to basket | View more details

CHIPPENHAM: CONVEYANCE

Original deed on two sheets of vellum, with a fine hand-coloured pen and ink detailed plan at a scale of 30 ft to the inch of the property (fronting the High Street, next to the Old White Hart Inn). "Mr.George Edgecumbe and trustees to Gabriel Goldney Esq." Fully signed and sealed, and in excellent condition. 19th February 1864.

£45.00 | Stock No: 24653 | Add to basket | View more details

CURWEN, John F. THE CASTLES AND FORTIFIED TOWERS OF CUMBERLAND, WESTMORLAND, AND LANCASHIRE NORTH-OF-THE-SANDS,

4to. Punched and sewn, partly inserted into folders. Pp. 582, (xii, title and preface), 44 (index), in the author’s hand throughout with corrections and alterations, some in red ink, on one side of each sheet. Together with: THE FORTIFIED DWELLINGS OF CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND. Lecture notes, written up in similar format. Pp. 41. Signed by Curwen on the title-page. 1913. Published by Titus Wilson as Vol.XIII of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society’s Extra Series, this was the author’s finest publication, on which he had worked for many years. This important manuscript was originally purchased from the author’s estate in the 1950s.

£2500.00 | Stock No: 40638 | Add to basket | View more details

CURWEN, John F. THE EVOLUTION OF THE HEARTH.

4to. Unbound. Pp. 55 (typescript with mss. corrections and annotations), 35, 3 (mss. notes), the printed syllabus 4 pp. 8vo in red and black. c.1902. A fascinating collection of notes. Curwen obviously intended to write a complete book on the subject, but this typescript only covers “Section I - early methods”.

£250.00 | Stock No: 40640 | Add to basket | View more details

DELAFIELD, E.M. E.E.M. DE LA PASTURE. 1890-1943 British novelist. TYPESCRIPT LETTER SIGNED.

Single sheet, folded. Croyle, Cullompton, Devon. 31st May, 1938.

£30.00 | Stock No: 16397 | Add to basket | View more details

FIRST WORLD WAR: PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM. DER TAG THE DAY OF THE SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN HIGH SEAS FLEET,

Oblong 4to album. Original stiff grey paper wrappers with silk cord sewing. 13 original photographs of some of the major German warships involved, each 150 x 200 mm., slotted in to the grey album leaves, all captioned in ink. Also loosely inserted are an original photograph of H.M.S. Loch Arkaig at the Clyde Review 1946/47(?) (creased), and two copies of a fine photograph by R.Ellis, Malta, of H.M.S Ajax in Malta Harbour in the late 1930s (on... Unpublished, 1918. This fine collection of photographs was taken from the destroyer H.MS.Seymour, which had been detailed exclusively for the use of photographers and cinema men, approximately an hour before the German ships were officially taken over by the British fleet. The surrender of the German fleet (a total of 10 battleships, 5 battle cruisers, 7 light cruisers and 50 destroyers) took place in the Firth of Forth on a foggy evening in November 1918. “As the German vessels approached the mouth of the Firth of Forth, rounded up and shepherded by our Fleet, line after line of ships in an apparently endless vista was seen, squadron after squadron emerging like grey ghosts through the haze and passing by to be succeeded by oncoming squadrons. Between the long lane six miles wide formed by our escorting vessels the German battleships, cruisers and destroyers slowly steamed in abject humiliation, and on nearing the island of Inch Keith dejectedly dropped anchor in the places appointed” - contemporary press account. The German ships were later interned in Scapa Flow, where Admiral Reuter eventually had them all scuttled in the following year. The photos, all excellent unfaded examples, include views of the German battlecruisers Seydlitz and Moltke being led by H.M.S Cardiff, the battleships Konig and Kaiser, the battlecruiser Von der Tann, the German battlefleet, and battlecruisers in line astern, the battlecruiser Hindenburg, the battleship Bayern, a battleship of the Konig class, the battlecruiser Seydlitz flying the flag of Commodore Tagert, battlecruisers Moltke and Seydlitz in line ahead, four German destroyers in line ahead, and H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, the English fleet flagship, (Admiral Sir David Beatty). Provenance: this album originally belonged to Lieut.Cmdr. G.T.Wright, who served in H.M.S.Ajax, then of the 2nd.Battle Squadron of the English Grand Fleet, from 1915 to 1919 , and subsequently remained with his family.

£450.00 | Stock No: 64773 | Add to basket | View more details

LAMORNA BIRCH, Samuel John, R.A., R.W.S. 1869-1955 CHRISTMAS GREETINGS.

4 page letter addressed to Henry Woods with seasonal greetings and so on. 8vo., the back page rather darkened. Attractively mounted and framed, a copy of the reverse of the letter mounted on the back. [Halton Green, Lancaster, Xmas 1896. [See Renouf: The Lake Artists Society, p.57, for an illustration of this item]. Alderman Henry Woods, a keen art collector, was Mayor of Preston at the time, and this letter formed part of a collection of greetings cards sent to him during this period.

£450.00 | Stock No: 44550 | Add to basket | View more details

LONDON COLISEUM. COLLECTION OF PERFORMERS SIGNED RECEIPTS FOR WEEKLY SALARIES.

Sixteen printed receipts for payment for a week’s performance, (18 x 14 cm.), all stamped, signed and countersigned by the artiste. A fascinating collection, revealing the weekly amounts paid to some famous performers during two periods in 1919 and 1931, including Vesta Tilley (£200), Cicely Courtneidge (£100), Little Tich (£200), Wee Georgie Wood (£95), Billy Bennett (£125) and Max Miller (£40). Coliseum Syndicate, 1919-31. Those included in the collection are: Vesta Tilley (1864-1915, music hall performer and male impersonator. Harry Hemsley, comedian and music hall performer. Wilkie Bard, comedian and one of the music hall greats. Cicely Courtneidge (1893-1980) actress and comedienne, wife of Jack Hulbert. Little Tich (1867-1928) alias Harry Relph, diminutive music hall performer. George Graves (1876-1949) actor. Georgie Wood (1894-1979) known as Wee Georgie Wood, music hall and variety entertainer and pantomime star. Arthur Prince, comedian and music hall enterainer. Godfrey Tearle (1884-1953) actor. Grock & Gartner, music hall turn. Billy Bennett (1887-1942) comedian, specialist in humorous monologues. Albert Whelan (1874-1982) actor. Harry Tate (1872-1940) comedian and actor. Freddie Forbes, actor. Bransby Williams (1870-1961) actor. Max Miller (1894-1953, the “Cheekie Chappie”. music hall comedian. The London Coliseum, now the Coliseum Theatre, opened in 1904, the creation of theatre manager Oswald Stoll, and was the largest and finest “Peoples’ Palace of Entertainment” of its time. It ran as a variety theatre from 1907 until 1931, and nearly all the great variety and music hall stars appeared there. It is now home to the English National Opera Company.

£450.00 | Stock No: 57088 | Add to basket | View more details

PICKLES, Wilfred Yorkshire broadcaster Three typescript letters signed, and four typescript letters signed by his secretary, to a Mr.Mayle of Battersea, all acknowledging letters about an illness and sending good wishes for recovery etc., and with other brief information. Each a single sheet on headed notepaper. Together with their envelopes, and a few relevant press cuttings.

n.p., 1954-56.

£30.00 | Stock No: 18553 | Add to basket | View more details

SCOTT, Sir Peter, CBE, DSC ornithologist and artist TYPESCRIPT LETTER SIGNED.

An interesting short letter concerning the function and harvesting of down from the nests of the eider duck. Punched for filing and folded once. Slimbridge, 18th Dec., 1953.

£45.00 | Stock No: 23109 | Add to basket | View more details

SELFORS, Wilhelm de. GLUCH A NOVEL

12mo. Original manuscript “done with a pen by Dr.Selfors, Corner Fir Tree Lane, Quernmore Rd., Lancaster”. Original rough card binding with plain dustwrapper (edges worn). Pp. 34, 19, 23, 33, 34. A translation from the original low German of a short story in five parts set in the forests of Bohemia, written in blue ink in a very neat hand throughout. Second edition, Lancaster, 1918. The author was apparently a Professor of Philosophy and a member of the House of Hohelzollern. His English and spelling leaves much to be desired but he was clearly at great pains to protect his translation as he states in several places that publication or translation without his permission is forbidden. A slip loosely inserted in the translators’ hand states “present from Wilhelm der Selfors, son of Prinz Louis of Prusia, adress Castle Selfors near Nord Lichterfelde, Selinger District, Duchy of Brandenburg, Germany”. The work appears to be unpublished.

£120.00 | Stock No: 70153 | Add to basket | View more details

STAMFORD: LEASE FOR A YEAR OF A PROPERTY IN ST.PAULS STREET.

Original manuscript on a single large sheet of vellum, complete with five shilling stamp and seal signed by the The Earl of Exeter. Lease of a tenement in a street in the Parish of St.George “over against the leaden conduit”, occupied by Joan Tillson, and land in Drew Close Field in the middle furlong, between the Hon.Brownlow, Marquis and Earl of Exeter, and James Torkington, for a peppercorn rent. 1821.

£35.00 | Stock No: 52732 | Add to basket | View more details

STONE, Helena. DULCIE DUCKS GOLDEN TREASURE.

Unbound, loose in a box. Pp. 6, typescript on each recto, together with the original artwork - title-page with overlay and 5 sheets containing 3 full-page and 6 smaller watercolour and gouache illustrations in a rather Disney-like style of excellent quality. We are unable to trace the artist, but the work, a short children’s story, appears to be unpublished. Unpublished typescript, no date [1950s?].

£350.00 | Stock No: 62902 | Add to basket | View more details

WHYMPER, Charles Illustrator AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED.

2 sides, small 8vo., probably to his publishers, advising that his engravers have asked him to send a list of woodcuts for Lady Dixie's book, and giving a brief description of them. 2 Primrose Hill Studios, Fitzroy Rd., NW. Sep 6th, 1880.

£30.00 | Stock No: 21776 | Add to basket | View more details