Showing 1681 results

Letter from Lewis Slight of the Town Hall, Brighton to the Clerk to the Commissioners for Lighting, [King's] Lynn, Norfolk, 6 Jul 1839. Printed circular explaining that the Commissioners under the Brighton Improvement Act [6 Geo.4. c.clxxix (22 Jun 1825)] are about to enter into a new contract for lighting the town with gas; asks the recipients to supply the information specified on the accompanying half sheet [missing], and any other useful particulars.

Signed by Lewis Slight.

Letter from Layton Cooke of 69 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, [London] to Lord Sheffield, 5 Jan 1829. Relating to his estate, with a cash account.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from James Robertshaw of Colne, [Lancashire] to George Chapman, engineer of Whitby, [North Riding] Yorkshire, 29 Jan 1846. Reply on behalf of Mr Thornber of Vivary Bridge, [Colne], to a letter of 27 Jan 1846; referring Chapman to his letter of 8 Jan (copied on the third page of this letter) in reply to Chapman's of 5 Jan. Chapman had asked for £20 for use of 'the patent expansion gear', but Thornber had stopped using it, had given Chapman notice of doing so, and was prepared to appear to any process Chapman proposed to issue against him.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Charles Babbage of Dorset Street, Manchester Square, [London] to an unknown recipient, 8 Nov 1850. Giving directions for meeting Babbage on Wednesday at 7 o'clock. Autograph, with signature. Last leaf only of a letter written on several sheets.

(1) Letter from Eyre Massey Shaw of the Metropolian Fire Brigade, Watling Street, London to Mr Fraser, 21 Mar 1872. Explaining that he is unable to inspect premises unless invited to do so by the occupants. The law allows 'your neighbours to set their premises on fire, & then, but only then, I have full power to break in & interfere. The moment the place is cool I must walk away ...'.

(2) Letter from Eyre Massey Shaw of the Fire Brigade, Southwark, London to Miss E S Busk, 13 Jul 1889. Stating that Mr G W Gamble, who had applied to Miss Busk for books, was thoroughly respectable, but 'he is not the whole institution', and advising her to lend the books, and then, if the 'society is likely to endure', to turn the loan into a gift; [the society mentioned has not be identified].

Both letters are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from George Balfour of the House of Commons (embossed heading) to C G Williams, Leigh House, Lower Heath, Hampstead, London, 16 Nov 1934. Replying to a query about Public Acts [of Parliament] passed since the National Government came in [in 1931]: 'There are some 170 Acts ... But in over fifty Acts where some distinct question of political principle enters I can find some half-dozen Conservative Acts, three times as many Socialist Acts, while the remainder are a mixture of the two with Socialism predominant ... As I have frequently said ... it is time for Conservatives to consider in what direction we are going.'

Signed by Balfour. Marked: 'Personal and Confidential' in MS.

Letter from Henry Hobhouse of Hadspen [House, Somerset] to [John Russell] the [6th] Duke of Bedford, 12 May 1830. '... in consequence of the existence of a Commission for the publication of State Papers ... it [is] inexpedient to permit copies to be taken of papers falling within the scope of the Commission, until it has been ascertained whether they will be fit for publication under it ... I will inspect the papers of the several Earls of Bedford, of which Your Grace is desirous to possess copies ...'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from A Offley, c 1790. No address. To Mrs Walker. Supplies a character reference for a servant, Mrs Stent, who had among her recommendations that she 'stayd with ye dificall lady Manchester [Elizabeth Montagu, Duchess of Manchester] longer than most of her sarvents do but as to her [Mrs Stent's] temper it is warm and pashonat and she cant allways commande it ...'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Mr Nash of Bath, [Somerset] to Miss Way, Jul 1761. Written in the third person on the back of a playing card (the Queen of Hearts).

Autograph, unsigned.

Letter from Eden Phillpotts of Torquay, [Devon] to Brenda Spender [literary editor of Country Life magazine], 17 Jan 1928. Thanking her for a letter of sympathy. He had been 'bombarded with applications to write about T H [a reference to an obituary for Thomas Hardy, who had died the previous week], but Sir James Barrie seems to have been a splendid little undertaker ...'.

Autograph, with signature 'E.P.'

(i) Letter from Herbert George Wells of The Bridge Hotel, Wheatley, Oxfordshire to the External Registrar, University of London, 4 Aug 1942. Concerning the submission of his thesis, entitled Illusory Continuity of the Personal Life for the degree of DSc. 'It is essentially an essay upon human ecology'. Autograph, with signature. (ii) Carbon copy of the Registrar's reply to H G Wells, 12 Aug 1942. H G Wells was granted a DSc in 1943.

Letter from Helen Thompson of Swarthmore, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire to [J H P] Pafford, Goldsmiths' Librarian, University of London Library, 24 Feb 1967. Discussing the library and papers of her father, Silvanus P Thompson, and portraits of him.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Charles Robert Darwin of Down, Farnborough, Kent to an unnamed member of the Council of the Palaeontographical Society [the Secretary, J S Bowerbank], [Feb or Mar 1850]. Thanking him for the loan of Pollicipes cornucopia. Referring to the Society's acceptance of his (Darwin's) proposal [an offer to prepare a monograph on the 'British Fossil Cirripedia']; stating that the plates are being prepared by James de C Sowerby, who will be the best man to engrave them. Concluding: 'I suppose I was admitted a member of the Palaeont. Soc. and shall sometime here when and where I can pay my subscriptions, etc.'

Autograph, with signature.

The events mentioned date the letter to later than 22 Feb 1850, when Darwin's monograph proposal was accepted, and before 15 Mar 1850, when he was proposed to serve as a member of the Society's Council.

Letter from Sir Francis Burdett to an unknown recipient, [c 29 Apr 1824]. Returning a copy of Charles Jenkinson (Lord Liverpool's) Treatise on the coins of the realm (1805), with comments on the work.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from William Frend De Morgan of 1 The Vale, Kings Road, [Chelsea], London to [R A Rye], the Goldsmith's Librarian, University of London, [Nov 1911]. Covering letter for 2 boxes and a parcel of miscellaneous manuscripts of Professor Augustus De Morgan.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Matthew Dove of Execution Dock Brewhouse, [London], 15 Sep 1744. Outlining a scheme for a lottery on survivorships for 99 years [apparently relating to some form of insurance or annuity dependent on certain people outliving others].

Autograph, with signature.

5 letters and cards from George Edward Bateman Saintsbury of 1 Royal Crescent, Bath to Miss Brenda E Spender, 1929-1932.

All items are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from William Bence Jones of Kilgarriffe, Clonakilty, County Cork to 'Madam' [? Mary Ann Gilbert, wife of Davies Gilbert (then President of the Royal Society) and founder of the Self-Suporting School of Industry, Willington, Sussex]. Acknowledging receipt of 'your pamphlet on self-supporting schools', but doubts whether such an establishment would be successful in Ireland. Enclosing a 'copy of the regulations of some allotments which I am trying to establish here'.

Autograph, with signature. The accompanying pamphlet is inscribed: 'Requested to be returned to Mrs. Gilbert'.

Letter from Thomas Telford of Inverness to Rev John Warren, Dean of Bangor, [Caernarfonshire], 23 Sep 1811. Concerning a possible road to pass through Bangor, and giving instructions for the surveyor.

Autograph, with signature.

The following items are filed with the letter: (a) an engraving of Thomas Telford (1832); (b) engravings of Menai Bridge, the Vale of Llangollen and Conway, by W Radclyffe (undated); (c) a list of Telford's achievements, set out as if for a memorial plaque [produced after Telford's death in 1834].

Letters and papers relating to Gottfried von Leibnitz's claim to primacy over Sir Isaac Newton in the discovery of calculus. Including correspondence between H Sloman, William Hepworth Dixon (editor of The Athenaeum), W Metcalfe, Augustus De Morgan and a Mr de Fanget, 1861-1863. Many items are autograph and bear signatures.

Letter from Stanley Arthur Morison of 2 Whitehall Court, [London] to Mrs Irene Wellington, 26 Apr 1958. Thanking her for her gift of a transcription of the Crux Fidelis.

Autograph, with signature. Filed with the original envelope.

Letter from Irene Wellington to Miss Joan Gibbs, [Dec] 1975. Card bearing a reproduction of a piece of work done by Wellington in Jan 1942, sent with greetings for Christmas 1975 and New Year 1976.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Ebenezer Elliot of Sheffield to the Editor of the Morning Chronicle, London, 19 Jan 1834. Urging him to 'give all possible publicity, by quoting in your leading article, or elsewhere,' to a Memorial, composed by Elliott, from Members of the Sheffield Regeneration Society, addressed to its founder, Robert Owen, which was to appear in the Sheffield Iris. Elliott thought Owen was 'honest, but wrong'; 'I resolved to be a member of his committee that I might convert him or counteract him'. Concluding: 'From discussion men learn what is true and what false: print me and Mr Owen must answer me, notice us, and the workmen, if wrong, or misled, will reason themselves into the right way.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Matthew Collins of 40 Upper Pitt Street, Liverpool to Augustus De Morgan, 8 Apr 1853. Covering note, enclosing a pamphlet, On Clairaut's theorem ... (1853).

Autograph, with signature. A note in De Morgan's hand states that the content of the pamphlet, published in the Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal, new series vol IX (1854), were plagiarized from a lecture given by Mr James MacCullagh in 1846.

Letter from Esmond Samuel de Beer of 31 Brompton Square, London to [Dr John Henry Pyle] Pafford, 11 Apr 1971. Concerning de Beer's edition of the letters of John Locke.

Letter from Jeremy Bentham of Queen's Square Place, Westminster to Rev Dr Ford, 1 Newgate Street, [London], 24 Dec 1802. Letter headed 'Unaccountable Pardons'. Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Osbert Lancaster of Flat 2, 12 Eaton Square, London to [Dr John Henry Pyle Pafford], 22 Jun [1945-1967]. Agreeing to autograph a book for the University of London Library.

(1) Letter from Sir James Robert George Graham of the Admiralty to John Spottiswood, 14 May 1834. Concerning the postpoining of the second reading of the Leith Harbour Bill in the House of Commons.

(2) Letter from Sir James Robert George Graham of Whitehall to James Loch, 30 Nov 1842. Urging him to serve on the Poor Law Commission for Scotland.

(3) Letter from Sir James Robert George Graham of the Admiralty to James Loch, 19 Jun 1853. Discussing works on harbours in Alderney, Guernsey, Dover and Portland, and the training of pilots for the Channel Islands.

Letter from Thomas Clarkson of Playford Hall [near Ipswich, Suffolk] to Henry Hope, 'at the Bank', Wells, Somerset, 9 Jan 1826. Printed circular letter, asking for support for the petition to Parliament to urge them to carry out a plan for the improvement of the condition of the slave population. An addition in MS asks Hope to promote petitions in Wells, Shepton Mallet, Bruton and neighbouring towns. A note in another hand has been added to the dorse of the second leaf. A newspaper cutting Extracts from the new Jamaica Slave Code accompanies the letter.

Letter from Henry Spencer Moore of Hoglands, Perry Green, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire to Mr [George] Clark of the University of London, 3 Nov 1961. Supporting the conferment of the title of Reader on Mr V Townsend.

Letter from William Green soliciting subscriptions to his Plans of Economy; with a printed list of subscribers. 'Price 3/6. You are at liberty to peruse before you purchase.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Thomas Clarkson of Bury [St Edmunds, Suffolk] to Rev M Maurice, [1807-1816]. Urging him to restore the committee at Southampton to promote a petition to Parliament in favour of a plan for the improvement of the condition of the slave population.

Letter from Jospeh Hume of Bryanston Square, [London] to J F Cardew, Esq, 6 Mar 1828. Referring to the preparation of an analysis of returns of sales of half-pay commissions. Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Thomas Joplin of Levant House, St Helens Place, [London] to Joseph Hume, Esq, MP, 7 May 1832. Accompanying a copy of Joplin's petition.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Charles King of Brompton, [London] to 'My Lord' [1st Baron King, shortly to become Lord Chancellor], 25 May 1725. Accompanying a copy of The British Merchant. Stating that it had been 'said that ye fewer there were Printed the bettter, because it Contain'd many Secrets of out Trade wch if Transmitted to Foreign Parts [i.e. France] might do us Hurt'.

Autograph, with signature.

2 letters from E R Le Mare of Hazelwood, Clevedon, Somerset to J O Chadwick of 46 Bolton Road, St John's Wood, London.

(1) Urging Chadwick to enter the House of Commons - 'we want practical men, men who will dare to think for themselves, and maintain their opinions'; with part of the envelope, bearing stamps and the address, 31 October 1879.

(2) Describing how Le Mare is 82 years old and nearly blind. To write, he uses 'a frame of woodwork with a frame of wire work laid upon it with thin bars across to keep the lines straight, 7 November 1879.

Autographs, with signatures.

Letter from James Ludovic Lindsay of 2 Cadogan Square, [London] to R A Rye, [Librarian of the University of London], 9 Jun 1907. Describing how Lord Crawford had used the De Morgan Mathematical Collection, now in in the University Library, to help him in founding the mathematical and physical science section of his own library at Haigh Hall, 'second only, I think, to the Imperial Library of Pulcowa Observatory in Russia [Pulkovo Observatory, near St Petersburg]'. Describing the printing of the 'great catalogue' of his library as 'a very heavy business'. A postscript expresses sympathy for the death of William Brenchley Rye 'a very valued assistant [in the Earl's library] at Haigh'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Thomas Babington Macaulay to Augustus De Morgan, 2 Jan [1853]. Answering an enquiry about Bishop Burnet. '... whoever wishes to obtain full information must read volume after volume of squibs, and controversial pamphlets. I have myself sermons, tracts and lampoons relating to the honest bishop which would fill a book-shelf.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Thomas Babington Macaulay of Holly Lodge, Kensington to Augustus De Morgan, 7 Nov 1857. Thanking him for a copy of his pamphlet [Answers to the questions communicated by Lord Overstone to the Decimal Coinage Commissioners; (London, 1857)]. 'I will frankly own to you that you seem to me greatly to overrate the advantages and greatly to underrate the inconveniences of the change which you recommend.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Thomas Babington Macaulay of Holly Lodge, Kensington to[Augustus De Morgan], 14 Aug 1858. Referring to his interpretation of 'P M A C F' [apparently: 'Père Mansuete, A Cordelier (or Capuchin) Friar', Confessor to the Duke of York (afterwards King James II) and author of a broadside account of the death of King Charles II].

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Henry Dunning Macleod of the Oxford and Cambridge Club, Pall Mall, London to Professor H S Foxwell, 11 Oct 1901. Requesting that his [Macleod's] works may be introduced into the teaching of the University [of London].

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Thomas Robert Malthus of London to [David] Ricardo, Esq of Gatcombe Park, Minchin Hampton, Gloucestershire, 9 Oct 1814. 'I think that a letter now and then on these subjects will do us no harm, and perhaps may be the means of settling some important points relating to the metaphysics of Political Economy'.

Autograph, with signature. A note states that Ricardo replied on 23 Oct 1814.

Letter from Karl Heinrich Marx of London to an unspecified recipient, 30 Jan 1875. Relating to the French edition of Das Kapital.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from John Stuart Mill of India House, [London] to an unidentified publisher, 30 Mar 1844. Referring to the publication of Essays on some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy.

Autograph, with signature.

Fragment of a letter from Richard Oastler to an unknown recipient, [1807-1861]. Bearing Oastler's signature.

Letter from Richard Oastler of Fixby Hall, Huddersfield, [West Riding of Yorkshire] to John Foster, Esq of 1 Vincent Square, Westminster, 23 Jun 1833. Chiefly relating to the Ten Hours Bill. Lord Althorp had advocated 2 sets of 8 hours as the maximum for children under 14 to work. 'The news came just in time for your Hudd meeting - one hour before we began - & thus before 15,000 to 20,000 people I had the opportunity of blowing the whole scheme to rags' [referring to a speech Oastler made at a meeting on 18 Jun 1833. Urging the London section not to yield a single point: 'If they yield they disgrace themselves and give us another year's excitement and in my opinion hurry on a bloody revolution'.

Autograph, with signature. With Oastler's black seal, bearing the motto: 'The Altar, the Throne and the Cottage'.

Letter from Richard Oastler of 10 Edith Villa, Fulham to Colonel [W L] Moberley, 9 Feb 1848. Requesting that his letters or papers be redirected.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Robert Peel of Drayton Manor, [Tamworth, Staffordshire] to an unknown recipient,13 Dec [1849]. Criticising the Colonial Reform Society.

Autograph, with signature.

Including a pass to 'Admit Bearer to the Strangers Gallery House of Commons', signed by Sir Robert Peel [presumably the 3rd Baronet, named after his father], 4 Apr 1878.

Letter from Jean Pellerin of Amsterdam to an unknown recipient, [1699]. Urging the English to combine with the Scots in founding a colony at Darién [Panama]. 'Je voy bien qu'il n'y a point de nation a présent dan L'europe que Les anglois.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Francis Place to [David] Booth, 20 Ampton Street, Grays Inn Road, [London], [1823]. Relating to an article by Booth in the Literary Register criticizing Jeremy Bentham on the Usury Laws and in opposition to the Bill for their repeal. 'I know you are sincere, and I assure you I am so when I say that Mr. Bentham would laugh both at your argument and your appeal to him.'

Autograph, with signature.