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DIARY WRITTEN BY ‘THE KEEPER OF THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER’, RECORDING THE COLLAPSE OF CROMWELL’S COMMONWEALTH & THE CORONATION OF CHARLES II

John Wynyard
1658
Extraordinary 17th century manuscript diary and day-book written by the ‘Keeper of the Palace at Westminster’ which offers an insider’s perspective on the torrid months around the collapse of the Cromwellian regime and the Restoration of Charles II, culminating on: ‘Tuesday Aprill 23 1661 Coronation day at night left in my charge the Globe & 2 Scep… Read more…
#9138

£14500.00

REBUILDING NAPOLEON’S LAST HOME, ‘LONGWOOD’, ON ST HELENA: 1860-1950

Napoleon Bonaparte
1952
An extensive collection of diaries, photographs, blueprints, letters and documents - and even a painted sample sheet of Longwood’s famous wallpaper from the 1920s - which together record the rescue and rebuilding of Napoleon Bonaparte’s dilapidated home on St Helena. Longwood housed Napoleon from December 1815 to his death in 1821, was bought by th… Read more…
#9122

£3500.00

UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT ESSAY: ‘The Art of Translation in Prose and Poetry - Original Manuscript by Arthur Symons’

Arthur Symons
1904
Autograph manuscript bound up with a bespoke typed transcript of Arthur Symons’ essay on translation, cased by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. This manuscript essay does not appear to have been published, and previously formed part of the collection of the bibliophile and performer Barry Humphries who had a particular interest in the theory and practice o… Read more…
#9086

£2750.00

SIGNALMAN’S PERSONAL DIARY AND HIS OFFICIAL ‘SIGNAL LOG’ FOR HMS GLOUCESTER IN THE MEDITERRANEAN DURING THE RUN-UP TO THE GALLIPOLI LANDINGS, 1913-1915

Alexander Wiseman (Leading Signalman)
1913 - 1915
‘Reminiscences of HMS Gloucester. Commissioned at Plymouth 30th January 1913 - NOT FOR PUBLICATION’, a diary cum memoir seemingly intended as a rejoinder against those who criticised the inactivity of the British navy during the early years of the Great War. This small folio, 349pp, originally intended as a W/T Cabinet Log book is full of well pres… Read more…
#9097

£1500.00

MANUSCRIPT OF GEORG GRAEVIUS’S COMMENTARY ON SUETONIUS’S ‘THE LIVES OF THE CAESARS’

Johan Georg Graevius; Suetonius
c. 1700
Manuscript fair copy of the German classical scholar Johan Georg Graevius’s commentary on Suetonius Lives of the Caesars, possibly compiled by someone with connections to Graevius himself. No later than the mid 18th century this is an imposing manuscript with an end note that appears to read: ‘Datore officiore codillos’ - suggesting it might be the… Read more…
#9093

£1250.00

1870s BRITISH DOCTORS HIT BACK AT MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: British Medical Association: Minute Book

Medical Defense Association; G Danford Thomas etc
1875
Minutes of an important but almost forgotten organisation, the ‘Medical Defence Association’, a collective, well-supported attempt made in Britain by members of the profession in the 1870s to target and outlaw malpractice and charlatanry by purported members of the medical profession. Predating the better known Medical Defence Union, the first minu… Read more…
#9056

£1500.00

LEAVES FROM THE BUIK OF THE WEST KIRKE - Manuscript Copy Incorporating Original Manuscript by David Williamson and Neil McVicar, ministers to the West Kirke Church of St Cuthbert’s in Edinburgh

George Lorimer [David Williamson; Neil McVicar]
1885
A handwritten reversioning of George Lorimer’s text which adds 2 original documents including one in the hand of the covenanter - and later moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland - David Williamson (1694), minister at the church in the 17th century. Additionally there is a document in the hand of his succesor at the Kirk, Neil… Read more…
#8935

£400.00

CONGRATULATIONS TO HALL CAINE ON TORY ELECTORAL VICTORY IN DORSET

Gordon R Hall Caine - son of the novelist Hall Caine; Ernest Hodder-Williams; Henrietta Bankes etc
1922
165 pieces of Conservative Party electoral ephemera gathered together by the victorious candidate in the General Election of 1922 in East Dorset. It is a collection of original letters (handwritten and typed), postcards, telegrams and cables sent to Gordon Ralph Hall Caine on his election victory for the East Dorset seat. The letters have been tipp… Read more…
#8903

£300.00

‘A PINT OF BEER EACH DAY’: Thomas Townshend’s Minute Book as a Commissioner for Westminster Road Building and Civic Improvement in the 1760s

Thomas Townshend Esq. [later 1st Viscount Sydney]
1762
Small octavo manuscript record book in original marbled wrappers dating from 1762, written for Thomas Townshend who was serving as one of the Commissioners for the City of Westminster. Ownership inscription in a contemporary (secretarial) hand to verso of upper cover reads ‘Mr Townshend’; an address of Cleveland Court is given for him within the mi… Read more…
#9077

£300.00

‘VERY MANY CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR “K”’ – 50 LETTERS RECEIVED BY SIR ALFRED STANLEY FORDHAM AND HIS WIFE ISABEL

R A Butler [Alfred Fordham] Diplomats and Ambassadors
1964
Congratulatory letters to Sir Alfred Stanley Fordham K.B.E., C.M.G. (1907-81) who was educated at Eton and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge  before joining the Foreign Service and becoming a career diplomat. He was Vice-Consul in San Francisco in 1932. Other stations in his career included Lima (1933–1936), Guatemala (1936–1943), Los Angeles (… Read more…
#9006

£175.00

YOUNG ARTIST’S TOUR JOURNAL OF NORTHERN EUROPE IN 1850: ‘Pen and Pencil Scraps from Belgium by Robert Taylor Pritchett’

Robert Taylor Pritchett
1850
One of the overlooked gems of Europe pictured in an artist’s tour journal of his exploration of Belgium and Holland in 1850. Robert Taylor Pritchett (1828-1907) would later become a favourite artist of Queen Victoria and illustrate Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle but in these images we accompany the young traveller from Dover (seen looking up from th… Read more…
#9013

£2750.00

‘BALL AT DORCHESTER HOUSE RATHER DISAPPOINTING’: Aristocratic Diary by the Future Father of two Dukes of Portland

William George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck (1856-1948)
1878
Avowedly private journal of an English aristocrat, recent Cambridge graduate, Mayfair-resident, avid ball and theatre-goer and, paradoxically, future husband of the socialist and suffragist Ruth St Maur from whose union sprang the 8th and 9th Dukes of Portland. Known by his third given name, Frederick - William George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck (… Read more…
#9049

£2250.00

ONE OTHER KNOWN COPY William de Morgan The Potter as I Knew Him with an Appreciation by Halsey Ricardo

Emilie Russell Barrington & Halsey Ricardo
1930
Unknown except for a single copy held by the De Morgan Foundation, this is a full length memoir written by the artist and writer Emilie Russell Barrington in which she recalls her decades-long friendship with the preeminent Arts and Crafts designer, potter and friend of William Morris, William de Morgan. In this memoir which she wrote in the final… Read more…
#8581

£1400.00

PHYSICS MANUSCRIPT WRITTEN BY AN IRISHMAN IN EXILE

Patrick Mortimore - Patricio Mortimorer [Isaac Newton]
1772
A document of the Irish diaspora: a physics manuscript, with strong Newtonian content, written by an Irishman obliged to attend university - the Irish College - in France in the 1770s. Bound in dyed Irish green vellum with the remnants of an inscription in black ink to the upper cover and an old spine label. Splitting along outer hinges does not af… Read more…
#7621

£1050.00

A DIARIST & PHOTOGRAPHER AT EL ALAMEIN: ‘Each time I heard a screaming bomb I imagined it to be coming straight for me’

William Thomas Pritchard
1939
Visually fascinating photographic diary written by an officer with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps who - against all rules - took a camera to the front which allowed him to record the Battle of El Alamein (1942) as well as the chaotic British evacuation from St Nazaire (1940) from where he offers an eye witness account of the sinking of HMS Lancastri… Read more…
#8593

£1000.00

OPERA SINGER JESSIE ROSE’S BOOK OF LOVE POEMS - Written by a Lovelorn Suitor

Charles Sydney Buxton
1908
A volume of love poetry written by a young Liberal politician who had fallen head over heels with the glamorous, newly single opera singer, renowned for her performances in Gilbert and Sullivan operas. A note laid into the volume reveals that it featured on BBC Antiques Road Show in February 2007. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Beautiful, bespoke vellum bin… Read more…
#8477

£800.00

ORDER OF BATTLE - Ordre de Bataille de L’armee de Monseigneur Le Prince de Conde. En 1792

Louis Joseph, Prince de Conde
1792
Order of Battle from 1792 of the Prince of Conde’s emigre army which was dedicated to over-throwing the French revolutionary government and restoring Louis XVI and the Bourbon monarchy. A single sheet of water-marked chain-lined paper (42x33 cm) bearing a diagrammatic hand-drawn, pen and ink outline of the disposition of the forces of the Prince of… Read more…
#7946

£350.00

SLAVE PLANTATION SUGAR-CARRYING WEST INDIAN MERCHANT SHIP’S LOGBOOK: ‘Ship Mercury on her Passage to Tobago under Convoy of HMS Meleager Captain Ogle’

Robert Rising
1798
RESERVED Officer’s log book of a merchant West Indiaman engaged in supplying horses and mules to the enslaved African and African-American servicemen of Britain’s West India Regiments - and on the homeward journey bringing back a cargo of sugar manufactured by their enslaved cousins in the plantations of the Caribbean. Both Atlantic crossings were… Read more…
#8855

£3500.00

ALNWICK & HOLY ISLAND: ACCOUNTS OF HENRY COLLINGWOOD SELBY, Queen’s Advocate and Agent to the Duke of Northumberland

Henry Collingwood Selby
1777
A personal account book belonging to Henry Collingwood Selby (1748 -1839) of Swansfield House, Alnwick and Holy Island covering the period circa. 1777 -1797. Page after page records his observations and his financial dealings with the great, good and notable persons of the area. Names and places are peppered throughout. Money is lent to Dr Thomas P… Read more…
#9022

£400.00

RONDA IN LOGICUM – an early Handwritten Philosophical and Logical work in Latin

Joseph Assenaro
c.1700-1750
An interesting vellum bound handwritten early text in very good condition. Attractive limp vellum binding, sound if a little discoloured. Remnants of spine supports laced into velum cover remain visible as are remnants of previous ties close to foreedge. Spine hand titled in brown ink ‘Ronda in Logicum’ [Logical Cycle]. Front endpapers cracking ove… Read more…
#9019

£700.00

HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC: FRONTISPIECE SIGNED BY 14 MEMBERS INCLUDING SHACKLETON

Ernest Shackleton, Douglas Mawson etc
1907
Ernest Shackleton's Heart Of The Antarctic Nimrod Expedition frontispiece signed by 16 crew members including the expedition leader Shackleton himself, Adams, Mackintosh, etc. Other signers include, in alphabetical order: Jameson Adams; Bertram Armytage; Philip Brocklehurst; Bernard Day; Ernest Joyce; Alistair Mackay; Aeneas Mackintosh; Eric Marsha… Read more…
#9026

£3500.00

CELEBRATING THEIR DEPARTURE FOR NEW YORK CITY - FRIDA KAHLO & DIEGO RIVERA INSCRIBE A CHILD’S ALBUM

Frida Kahlo - Carmen Rivera; Diego Rivera
1933
Inscribed with drawings and doodles by the artistic super-couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at the unveiling of Rivera’s newly completed masterpiece, the Detroit Industry Murals at the city’s Institute of Art, early in 1933. With these drawings into a child’s autograph album, made a few days before their departure for New York City, Kahlo and Riv… Read more…
#9014

£7500.00

TRAVELS WITH ‘A VERY LARGE CHEQUE BOOK’ Grand Tour Journal of a Victorian Playboy and Grandson of the industrialist Richard Arkwright

John Hungerford Arkwright of Herefordshire
1857
Grand Tour sketchbook and diary written by the playboy Johnny Hungerford Arkwright, shortly to inherit 10,000 acres of prime Herefordshire farmland paid for by his grandfather, the industrial tycoon Richard Arkwright. Johnny Arkwright made this trip to southern France and Italy in December 1857, returning to England the following month for his sist… Read more…
#8939

£2750.00

BOYS’ WALKING TOUR ACROSS CORNWALL, DEVON AND DORSET: Photographs and Itinerary

J H Evans; H Marchant
1889
Late Victorian album recording a walk undertaken by two friends from Land’s End to Weymouth. J H Evans and H Marchant set off on Monday July 1 st 1889 and arrived at their destination on Saturday July 13 th 1889, having departed Paddington at 1145 am on Saturday June 29 th arriving in Penzance and overnighting before heading to Land’s End. The albu… Read more…
#8963

£400.00

ACROSS THE WORLD: A SEA VOYAGE TO VISIT UNCLE NATHANIEL, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE AUSTRALIA STATION

Edward Cyril Bowden-Smith [Emily Cecilia Bowden-Smith & Nathaniel Bowden-Smith]
1896
Sketchbook and diary recording a round trip to Australia aboard Conrad’s last ship, written by Edward Cyril Bowden-Smith which formed the inspiration for his short book, Land Ho: the Last of her Kind which details the story of the Torrens and this trip. Edward, or Ned Bowden-Smith (1878-1973) was the nephew by a younger brother to the commander in… Read more…
#8121

£950.00