Showing 16266 results

Letter from James Mann of Linton Park, [Kent] to an unknown recipient, 23 Nov 1840. Discussing soup and coal subscriptions for the poor of Cranbrook, Kent, who were suffering from the failure of the hops; promising to continue the subscription given by his recently deceased [second] wife [died 3 Aug 1840].

Autograph, with signature. On mourning paper.

Letter from Hugh Hamilton to an unknown recipient, [c1661-1678]. 'Richt Honorabill, your lords[hip] was pleased to remembir his mgisty of his promeissing me on prays [prize] schip and to deseyr me to seick out the naim of on ...'. Hamilton had found the officers unwilling to give him information, sent an express to Plymouth, and so discovered that the 'Toun of [?]Dantzicke', a 260-ton ship carrying French salt, was to be sold on 8 May. Asking his correspondent to speak to the King [Charles II], so that he 'may gett his warren [warrant] for the forsaid schip with all furniter and tackling', and the correpsondent is to say that 'hir ladning of frensch salt is of no considerebill walleu [value]'. He should consider it a great favour and obligation from his correspondent if the king would 'bestou ye schip and ladning upon me ...'.

Autograph, with signature: 'Heugh Glenauly'.

Letter from Jean-Baptiste Colbert of Versailles, [France] to M Daguesseau, 1 Jan 1683. Promoting the manufacturers of Saptes and Clermont in France, and their exports to the Levant.

With autograph signature.

Letter from Peter Dolland of London to an unknown recipient, 20 Aug 1803. Discussing an order given for instruments, including compasses, ivory scales, and 'the case of drawing instruments which you desire in every particular to be very good and yet you seem to expect the price to be very low'. Mentioning alternative types and prices of some instruments.

Autograph, signed 'P. & J. Dollond'.

Letter from Charles Haley of London to Mr Whitaker [possibly John William Whittaker, scholar and Anglican clergyman, then a fellow of the College], St John's College, Cambridge, 8 Dec 1818. Discussing a watch ordered by Whitaker, asking whether he would prefer it in silver or in gold; gold would cost 12 or 13 guineas more. Haley intends to put on the crest, 'but rather delicate that it may not injure the case by taking it out, yet it shall look well'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Alexander Galloway of West Street, [London] to Mr Applegarth, Stamford Street [recipient's name and address added in a different hand], 9 Jul 1824. He has received the letter about a press to mark Bath paper. Stating that he will engrave the seal to any design. The japanned press would cost £8 10s, the bright one £9, independent of the die.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from John Thornton Leslie-Melville of Old Broad Street, [London] to J D Powles, 10 Dec 1824. Stating that he does not wish to injure the market, but at the same time wishes Powles to sell 100 more of his (Melville's) Colombian mine shares at the first favorable opportunity, as his broker says that 50 shares had been sold that morning at £19 10s.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from John Taylor of London to Richard Taylor, Esq [probably the writer's son or brother], 5 Jul 1837. 'The bearers Messrs. [Gabriel] Daubrée and Sentis have studied at the Ecole des Mines at Paris and are strongly recommended by Messrs. [François] Arago and Combes. I have furnished them with introductions to some of our agents, but if you will give them further advice and assistance in Cornwall I shall be obliged to you.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from John Walker to James Simpson, Esq, engineer at the Chelsea Water Works, 10 Mar 1841. Apologising for being unable to get away until 1 o'clock; he has a bridge meeting to attend at 12 o'clock.

Autograph, with signature. [The year 1841 and the recipient's name and address have been added in another hand.]

Letter from S C Lakeman of 25 Place Vendôme, Paris to Monsieur Legrand, Sous Secretaire d'État aux Travaux Publics à Paris, 12 Jan 1847. Wishing to submit observations on the floating breakwater to La Ciotat, [Bouches-du-Rhône] and requests an audience for this purpose.

Autograph, with signature. An additional note gives the time and date of the audience as 11 am, Saturday 16 Jan [1847].

Letter from E Shaw of the Derwentwater Hotel, Portincasle, Keswick, [Cumberland] to 'Tom', 25 Sep 1888. Shaw's party had dined at the hotel and were obliged to stay there for a week as they could find no suitable lodgings. They had taken up the Hampsons on the way.

Autograph, with signature. On headed paper, bearing an engraved view of the hotel.

Letter from Thoomas Algernon Dorien-Smith of Tresco Abbey, Isles of Scilly, Cornwall to James Hooper, 28 Dec [1883-1884]. Intending to send flowers by the next mail. Discussing the demerits of the parcel post for the flower trade's deliveries. The islands are suitable for growing flowers, espcially narcissi, but strong winds prevent fruit-growing.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from William Henry Grenfell of 30 Bruton Street, London [the printed letter-head 'Carlton Club' has been struck through] to [Edward] Marston, 26 Jun 1912. Relating to Marston's query about the origin of the Port of London Authority regulations for fishing.

Autograph, with signature.

(1) Letter from William Hesketh Lever, Lord Leverhulme, of The Hill, Hampstead Heath, North End, London to A B Cooper, 34b Earlsfield Road, Wandsworth Common, London, 23 Apr 1918. In reply to a letter of 19 Apr. 'In my opinion the greatest discovery of the twentieth century has been that making war on peaceful neighbours does not pay ... We are greatly indebted to Mr. Norman Angell for being the first to call attention to this great fact ...'.

(2) Letter from William Hesketh Lever, Lord Leverhulme, of Port Sunlight, Cheshire to C D Melville, Meole Hall, Shrewsbury, 10 Jul 1919. Declining a request to study fish curing and canning in Stornaway [Isle of Lewis], as the developments are proceeding slowly, and the proposed works far from completion.

Both letters signed by Lord Leverhulme.

Letter from Thomas Cooper of 10 Devonshire Place, Stoke Newington Green, Middlesex to Edward Smith, 30 Jan 1855. 'I can do no more than sympathise with you - for I am sometimes at my wits end to know how the week's bread is to [be] purchased.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from John Proby of Hill Street to [George Montagu Dunk, Earl of Halifax, then First Lord of the Admiralty], 19 Nov 1762. Seeking an appointment to the board of the Admiralty.

Autograph, with signature. Endorsed in another hand: 'Ans. 20 [Nov] 1762'.

Letter from Hunter and Co, Bank Office of Ayr, [Ayrshire, Scotland] to Ebenezer Gilchrist, Esq of British Linen Company Bank, Edinburgh, 13 May 1822. Relating to business topics.

With signature.

Notes in the hand of Professor H S Foxwell are filed with the letter.

Bound volume containing approximately 100 letters and other miscellaneous writings, c 1763-1925, comprising copies of poems; newspaper cuttings; cuttings from booksellers' catalogues and biographical dictionaries; handwritten notes; and engraved and photographic portraits. The following items have been inserted at the front of the volume: 4 newspaper cuttings; catalogue number 46 of P J and A E Dobell, booksellers (Jul 1925); and the address portions of 2 envelopes, 1837-1838.

The majority of the correspondents are poets, authors, academics or clergymen, mainly from the 19th century. Letter-writers include the following: Charles Hamilton Aidé; Archibald Alison (later Sir Archibald); Edwin Atherstone; James Atlay, Bishop of Hereford; Shute Barrington, Bishop of Durham; Peter Bayne (Ellis Brandt); Arthur Christopher Benson; Rev Edward Bickersteth (?Dean of Lichfield); Robert Bickersteth, Bishop of Ripon; Professor John Stuart Blackie; Professor John James Blunt; Thomas George Bonney; Oscar Browning; Edward Capern; Edward Daniel Clarke; George Edward Lynch Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta; Charles Henry Olive Daniel; John Disney; John Douglas, Bishop of Carlisle; Reverend Henry Drury; Robert John Eden, Lord Auckland, Bishop of Bath and Wells; Rev John Wogan Festing, Bishop of St Albans; Rev James Fleming; Francis Fulford, Bishop of Montreal; William Nugent Glascock; Rev Sabine Baring-Gould; Eugene Jacob Lee-Hamilton; William Hayley; Charles Harold Herford; John Hoole; William Howitt; William Jerdan; Augustus Jessopp; Edmund Keene, Bishop of Chester; Charles Mackay; Halford John Mackinder (later Sir Halford); John Richard Magrath; Herbert Marsh, Bishop of Peterborough; Thomas Gerald Massey; Hugh Boyd McNeile, Dean of Ripon; John Miller Dow Meiklejohn; Rev Charles Merivale, Dean of Ely; Rev Frederick Brotherton Meyer; Richard Monckton Milnes (later Lord Houghton); Rev John Murray Mitchell; William Mitford; James Montgomery; Robert Montgomery; Thomas Moore; Rev John Morison; John Henry Muirhead; Professor Friedrich Max Müller; the Hon Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel; Charles Evelyn Pierrepont, Viscount Newark; Professor James Pillans; Sir Lyon Playfair (later Lord Playfair); Professor Richard Potter; John Critchley Prince; John Edmund Reade; William Stewart Rose; John Towill Rutt; Anna Seward (the 'Swan of Lichfield'); Mary Montgomerie Singleton (Violet Fane, afterwards Lady Currie); William Skinner, Bishop of Aberdeen; George Barnett Smith (Guy Roslyn); Robert Payne Smith, Dean of Canterbury; Robert Southey; Charles Swain; Sir Henry Taylor; John Timbs; Sir George Pretyman Tomline, Bishop of Winchester; Rev Henry Baker Tristram; John Matthias Turner, Bishop of Calcutta; Patrick Fraser Tytler; Aubrey Thomas de Vere; Paul Gavrilovitch Vinogradoff (later Sir Paul); Edwin Waugh; Gerald Valerian Wellesley, Dean of Windsor; Stanley John Weyman; Joseph Blanco White; Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen; Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta; Rev Christopher Wordsworth (later Bishop of Lincoln); and William Aldis Wright. Many of the letters are autograph and bear signatures.

Some of the letters were purchased or solicited from their writers or owners by one Thomas Hutchinson, who may also have compiled the whole volume.

Letter from Stephen Harry Skillington of 20 Victoria Park Road, Leicester to [Alexander Hamilton] Thompson, 21 Nov 1923. Covering letter enclosing a copy of Skillington's book [A History of Leicester (1923)]; also discussing Skillington's health, etc.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Eberhard Bethge to [G K A Bell, Bishop of Chichester], 2 Feb 1955. Covering note enclosing a copy of T Heuss et al Bekenntnis und Verpflichtung (1955) and 'the small bible study of Dietrich just appeared'.
Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Harry Evers Palfrey of The Beeches, Penn, Staffordshire to [Gervase Disney Alexander] Lord Cobham, 23 Mar 1929. Mainly discussing topographical and genealogical books.

Autograph, with signature.

(1) Letter from David Mather Masson of the Garrick Club to Augustus De Morgan, 13 Jun 1867. Discussing Thomas Carlyle's mathematical work.

(2) Letter from Thomas Carlyle of Chelsea to [De Morgan], 19 Jun 1867. Discussing Carlyle's translation of A M Legendre's Eléments de géométrie and the 'the Galbraith legend' [that a Mr Galbraith was the translator of Legendre's work].

Both letters are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from William Thompson of Bay View Cottage, near Swansea to his cousin William Thompson, Seymour Place, Bristol Road, Birmingham, 28 Sep 1841. Concerning 'what situation I could place Richard in' and news of 'our Friend Vansittart'. Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Richard Cobden of Manchester to Mr [?George] Moffatt, 23 Dec 1845. 'Not a word passed between [Earl] Grey and me upon any other subject than corn - I called on him solely for the purpose of urging the Whigs to stick to our principle, and to explain that the League could not swerve a hairs breadth from its path of Total and Immediate to suit any party. This is all that passed - [Viscount] Palmerstons name was of course never mentioned or referred to ... The Whigs are lower than ever by this exhibition of impracticableness at a moment when every other question ought to have been suspended at least till they had dealt some-how or other with that food crisis which alone called them into place and alone warranted them in assuming a power which otherwise they did not possess. At such a time to squabble over seats at the Council board! If I had been Lord John [Russell], history should have rather said of me that I had sent into the parish vestryroom for a dozen select men of the parish to form my cabinet, until I could in my place in Parlt. birng on the total repeal of the corn law, than that I had allowed any two or even twelve men to stop me in my course when once pledged to such an undertaking'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from John Lunan of Spanish Town, [Jamaica] to Rear-Admiral Sir Home Popham, 15 Oct 1819. Sending a copy of his book, which 'he flatters himself ... may assist Sir Home in obtaining a knowledge of our Slave Code'.

Autograph, unsigned.

Letter from Cornelius Walford of 86 Belsize Park Gardens, London to Professor [Herbert Somerton] Foxwell, Cambridge, 14 Sep 1882. The J P Esqre referred to in the preface is James Postlethwayte. He is supposed to have calculated the table of probability contained in the work.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from George Warde Norman of the Bank of England to [Edward Pleydell-]Bouverie, 3 Mar 1870. Thanking him for his good opinion 'as to my pamphlet on Comparative Taxation'; undertakes to send him 'a small volume of Papers, which I had printed for distribution last autumn ... [I] feel that my literary career is over'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from W G Burns of Derby to Colonel [Thomas Perronet] Thompson, 23 Feb 1846. 'As I think it [a] pity you should be ignorant [of] the nature of the arguments [u]rged against free trade principles I send you a specimen of [w]hat a clerical opponent can [d]o ...'

Autograph, with signature. Written on the dorse of the title page and the end fly leaf of a pamphlet [by Henry Robert Crewe] The repeal of the Corn Laws (1846).

Letter from John Ramsay McCulloch of the Stationery Office to [S J Loyd], Baron Overstone, 23 Mar 1863. Covering letter accompanying a proof copy of the 3rd edition of McCulloch's Treatise on the principles and practical influence of taxation and the funding system (1863); McCulloch has 'marked the passages which I think would answer best for reference'.

Written in another hand and signed by McCulloch.

Letter from Henry Roberts of 31 Prince's Square, Kensington Gardens, London to C C Nelson, 16 Mar 1861. 'The lecture which you attended some months since at the So[uth] Kensington Museum [now the Victoria and Albert Museum] has just been published by the Ladies' Sanitary Association [under the title Healthy Dwellings]'.

Autograph, with signature.

6 letters from Richard Doddridge Blackmore of Gomer House, Teddington, [Middlesex] to Blackmore's publishers, Messrs Smith, Elder and Co of 15 Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, London, 1876-1879. Mainly concerning the publication and sales of Blackmore's novel Erema (1877). All letters are autograph, with signatures (except the last, from which the signature appears to have been cut away).

Letter from Thomas Clarkson of Playford [Hall, Suffolk] to Dykes Alexander, c 1830-1840. 'I am going to do a thing, which through delicacy I have never yet been able to do, though I have been at Playford for twenty three years; - that is, to ask you and your cousin Samuel [Alexander] to give a trifle, however small, to the inclosed case...'.

Autograph, with signature. Dated 'Friday afternoon'. With a list of charitable subscribers, including William Allen '... and your son Richard has fiven me a sovereign unasked ...'.

Letter from George Rose of Old Palace Green to John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield, 11 May 1814. Covering letter accompanying a printed copy of a speech delivered by Rose in the House of Commons on 5 May 1814, in favour of the status quo with respect to Corn Laws. He states: 'I am for a full and fair protecting price to the grower'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from John Woodrow of the Cannon Hotel, Cockspur Street to [Patrick] Colquhoun, 26 May 1818. Covering letter sending a copy of his pamphlet on savings banks and friendly societies.

Written in another hand and signed by Woodrow.

Letter from H Jones of 54 Dorset Street, Fleet Street, London to Colonel [Charles Richard] Fox, 24 Jun 1841. Covering letter (written on behalf of the Property Tax Association) to a printed copy of Joshua Scholefield's speech, (made in the House of Commons on 23 Mar 1841) proposing that a property tax be substituted for the existing customs and excise taxes. Jones forecasts that the proposed property tax 'is likely to become a populat topic at the [forthcoming] elections' and expresses the hope that Fox would be elected MP for Tower Hamlets.

Autograph, with signature.

2 letters sent from officers of the Sambre and Meuse Central Railway Company, London, to John Philippart, 1845. Describing developments and public interest in the Belgian railway and asking for Philippart's support as a member of the managements committee; an explanatory pamphlet accompanied the first letter.

Both letters are autograph, with the signatures of company employees: (i) Osmund Lewis; (ii) G D Carvalho.

Letter from William Cobbett of Botley, Hampshire to an unknown recipient, 20 Jul 1808. Recommending Mr Dickins of No 1 Borough Road, 'not a damned roguish author, but a person of great literary talents, great taste in writing ... He has, by causes, arising not from his vices, by [sic] from unavoidable misfortune, been, for sometime past, in the King's Bench (the rendezvous of the muses).'

Autograph, with signature.

2 letters from John Gale Jones of 5 Wilsted Street, Somers Town, [London] to unknown recipients, 1828. (1) Covering letter to a copy of Jones's Oration on the late George Washington (1825). 'Should you deem it worthy of any little token of your esteem for the memory of that exalted character ... it will be gratefully acknowledged', 25 Apr 1828. (2) Acknowledging 'the liberal present of a sovereign', 28 Apr 1828.

Both letters are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from Sara Coleridge of Keswick, Cumberland to [John] J Morgan Esq of 71 Berners Street, Oxford Street, London [a friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was staying with Morgan's family in London], 5 Sep 1812. '... to request the favor of you to use your influence with my husband to prevail on him to send me a few lines immediately, for I have been so long [since Apr 1812] waiting for a letter from him ... I will thank you to represent to him that I want a little money very much ... for my sister [Edith] Southey having lost 30 pounds by the failure of the Workington Bank, and having occasion for money at present more than is convenient for S [i.e. Robert Southey, Edith's husband] to draw for - I own I feel very uncomfortable at the thought of not being able to settle my accounts with him ... I have bought the books for the boys; I was obliged to send to London for them ... I have also been obliged to get all their school books bound, the Aeschylus among the rest which was coming to peices [sic]. Please also say that we have not been able to find at Grasmere that "Reynard the Fox" which C [her husband] designed for Southey, and that probably he has it with him in town ...'

Autograph, with signature. A note in the hand of her 9-year-old daughter, also Sara, appears at the end of the letter.

12 letters and 1 postcard, all addressed to Silvanus Phillips Thompson, 1891-1909. Written by the following people: George Carey Foster; John Hopkinson; Sir Joseph Lister (later Lord Lister); Lyon Playfair, Lord Playfair; Sir William Ramsay; Sir Arthur Rücker; John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh; Sir William Thiselton-Dyer; and Sidney Webb (later Lord Passfield). Topics covered include the University of London and the role of King's College within the University.

All items are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from A Moray Williams, 19 May 1932. Address: North Stoneham House, near Eastleigh, Hampshire. To [Thomas] Sturge Moore. Thanks him 'for reading my version of Sakuntala [Shakuntala] so carefully ... I know now that my version is not an adaptation of Kalidasa or a possible stage play of the Sakuntala story. But your kind and helpful criticism encourages me to try again and I think I shall do so'.

Autograph, with signature.

A pencilled draft of a letter from Sturge Moore to W B Yeats (offering commiserations on the death of his friend and patron, Lady Gregory) appears on the dorse of the second leaf.

Letter from Samuel Roberts of Park Grange, [Sheffield, Yorkshire] to George Thompson, c/o Alexander Cruickshanks, Meadowside, Edinburgh, 26 Oct 1833. Covering note to a copy of Roberts's An address to the members of the two Wilberforce-Committees, London and York, concerning a suitable memorial to the late William Wilberforce, slavery abolitionist.

Autograph, with signature.

This note is written on a blank portion at the end of the third page of the printed pamphlet. The date stamp, frank, seal and address are on the fourth (back) page.

Letter from John Taylor of the Cannon Coffee House, Charing Cross to Alexander Dalrymple Esq, 17 Feb 1795. Covering letter to a 1794 proof copy of Captain Taylor's Considerations on the practicability and advantages of a more speedy communication between Great Britain and her possessions in India [advocating the superiority of the overland route above the usual sea voyage]. 'I hope I have profited by the advice you was kind enough to give me some time ago in regard to the accompanying plan ... I have ... condensed the subject and am now busy in arranging what authorities I have been able to collect ...'.

Autograph, with signature.

(1-2) Letters from William Arthur Rücker and Sir Thomas Thorpe to Mr Lupton, 20 Jan 1904. Accepting a dinner engagement on 26 Jan 1904 to meet Mr Miall.

(3) Letter from Richard Burdon Haldane to William Arthur Rücker, 24 Feb 1904. Making a dinner engagement.

(4) Printed mourning card for William Arthur Rücker, who died 1 Nov 1915.

The 3 letters are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from William Fiennes to [John] Swynfen [MP] of St Anne's Lane, Westminster, 29 May 1648. 'I have sent you a narrative of the former proceedinges about the castle of Banbury (my house) ... The gentlemen have spoken with me, and my cousin Knightly will report this to the House [of Commons] ... Excuse me for putting you to this trouble I assure my selfe the House will not misuse me if rightly informed, wch that they may be I desyre yo favour with some other of my frendes ... Lett me be lett alone to inioye [enjoy] mine owne and I am satisfyed. Sr I shall remayne Your affectionate frend to serve you'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from John Wood to Richard Oastler via the Post Office, Leeds, Yorkshire [redirected from Foxley Hall, Huddersfield], Nov 1830. 'I send you this as proof of the general disposition to meet the question. The signatures annexed include almost every Bradford Spinner ...'.

Autograph, with signature. Written on the dorse of a poster advertising a meeting of Bradford worsted spinners on 22 Nov 1830, with the aim of improving working conditions; the poster is folded in half, with the direction and postmarks on one leaf and the content of the letter on the other.

Letter from Joseph Deacon Fetch of Cambridge [District Poor Law] Union, Cambridge to [Edward Brent] Prest, [auditor for the Union], 6 Jul 1870. Asking for an opinion on the legality, if they appeared in the accounts of the [Board] of Guardians, of pecuniary awards made for the apprehension of men that had abandoned their families. 'At the present time there are not less than seven men in the Borough Gaol convicted as Rogues & Vagabonds for deserting their families'.

Written in another hand and signed by Fetch.

Letter from E Clavering of Newcastle upon Tyne to Mrs Dorothy Fenwick, [Nether] Burows, Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland, 23 Feb 1752. Containing news about friends and relations.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Peter Hardy of London Assurance to Augustus De Morgan, 25 Jul 1851. Apologising for the delay in replying to a question about 'Jamieson's papers'; sends a 'trifling paper' On the values of annuities read before the Institute of Actuaries on 25 Nov 1850.

Autograph, with signature.

Fragment of a letter from Virginia Woolf to an unknown recipient, [1924]. 'We [?Virginia and Leonard Woolf] are here [?in London] till October ... I'm so sorry about Lady Colvin' [?a reference to the death of Frances Colvin, the wife of Sir Sidney Colvin on 1 Aug 1924].

Autograph, with signature.