Showing 17510 results

Letter form Henry Peter Brougham of York to T Hodgkin, Esq, of 5 Brunswick Terrace, Pentonville, [London], 5 Aug 1830. Written on the eve of Brougham's election as one of the four MPs for Yorkshire: 'I have not the least shadow of a claim to sit for this immense county except my principles and my known devotion to them.' Refers to the July Revolution in France: 'Never was such a death blow dealt to tyranny and priestcraft, never such a severe lesson inflicted on our own infatuated rulers ...'. Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Edward Henry Busk of 39 Hyde Park Gate, London to R A Rye, 20 May 1922. Referring to the 'toil of moving involving the examination of the accumulations of about 40 years' as being a distraction, 'but not of a pleasant nature, from the painful wrench of University Bonds.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Edward Henry Busk of Heath End, Checkendon, Oxfordshire to R A Rye. Referring to the removal of his household effects from his London house as 'almost as great a wrench a giving up the Chairmanship of Convocation.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Herbert George Wells of 47 Chiltern Court, Clarence Gate, London to D Wylie King [Mining Editor of the Financial Times] of The Close, Draycott Avenue, Kenton, Middlesex. Relating to Wells's use of King's phrase 'world audit' in The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1931).

Autograph, with signature.

With a typescript envelope (stamp torn away) and an undated cutting [probably contemporary with the letter] about The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind.

Letter from Henry Peter Brougham of St Kilda to William Erskine, Esq, at Mr Dundas's, St Andrews Square, Edinburgh, 10 Aug [1799]. 'You owe this letter more to a frolic than anyting else: several of us thought of writing just to try whether by any chance their Epistles would reach, so I address mine to you to let you know that your description of St. Kilda is perfectly poetical but does not contain one word of truth. My sea sickness prevents me writing this myself ...'. Written in another hand and signed by Brougham. Endorsed in Erskine's hand: 'H. Brougham, St. Kilda 10 Aug. 1799, rec'd 6 Novem. 1799'.

4 letters from Henry Peter Brougham to Richard Sharp MP, 1807-1820. Relating to political topics. All letters are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from John Ruskin of Denmark Hill to an unnamed correspondent, 29 Mar [1864]. Recalling the gracious reception he had once been accorded at Bradford [Mar 1859], thanking him for his compliments and for an invitation to lecture there again [Apr 1864]: 'I can't say pretty things any more...If you will let me say a few simple things in a quiet way I'll come, if my health permits me ...' Autograph, with signature. Written on black-edged paper [Ruskin's father died on 3 Mar 1864].

(i) 3 letters from Henry Peter Brougham to unidentified correspondents, [1799-1868]; (ii) Letter from Henry Peter Brougham replying to a request from R Custance, of Woolwich, 1844. Requesting a copy of one of his works.

Letter from Henry John Pye of Cacombe Priory, near Banbury, [Oxfordshire] to John Crisp, Esq, of the Anti-Slavery Society, 18 Aldermanbury, London, 16 Aug 1832. Concerning the conditions under which the slaves work and stating that, if elected to the next parliament, he would vote for the abolition of slavery.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from George Jacob Holyoake of 20 Cockspur Street, Pall Mall, London to Lady Trelawny, 20 Jul 1972. Telling of books he had recently read; referring to 'a people's edition now 2/6 of Erewhon ... by young [Samuel] Butler'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from John Cartwright to Mr Chantry, 2 Nov 1817. Recommending Mr Gualter as 'a candidate for an expected vacancy of surgeon to the Westminster Hospital.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Eden Phillpotts of Eltham, Torquay, [Devon] to Miss Vulliamy, 18 Oct 1901. 'May I come begging for a cause very near my heart? The memorial to Mr [R D] Blackmore is now an accomplished fact & it only remains to test the number of those who admired his work ...'

Autograph, with signature.

22 letters and 10 cards from Henry Arthur Jones to James Stanley Little, 1922-1929. With a letter from Jones's daughter [Doris A Jones] to Little, written after her father's death.

All letters autograph, with signatures.

Letter from John Fisher of Weymouth to Patrick Colquhoun, LLD, 18 Sep 1816. Regarding plans for the provision of a female penitentiary and lock hospital [i.e. hospital for treating sexually-transmitted infections] in Bath; accompanying a copy of the institution's prospectus.

Autograph, with signature.

(1) Letter from William Paton Ker of University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff, to John Viriamu Jones, Principal of the College, 13 May 1887.
(2) Letter from John Viriamu Jones to the Registrar of the University of London, 17 May 1887. Enclosing Ker's letter.

(3) Letter from Henry Rudolf Reichel, Principal, University College of North Wales, Bangor to the Registrar of the University of London, 11 Jun 1887.
All 3 letters relate to degree examinations and syllabuses in Old English, Middle English and Science.

Items (1) and (3) are autograph; all letters bear signatures.

Letter from George Chalmers of the Office for Trade, Whitehall to T Cadell, Esq, publisher, 17 Feb 1821. Referring to Chalmers's work Caledonia.

Autograph, with signature.

25 letters, mainly written to Florence Farr/Emery, 1891-1911. Correspondents include: William Archer, J M Barrie, Annie Besant, Edward Carpenter, Arnold Dolmetsch, Richard Le Gallienne, John William Mackail, Edward Martyn, George Robert Stow Mead, Gilbert Aimé Murray, Sir W M Flinders Petrie, Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, the Princess Royal (HRH Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife), Charles Ricketts, Robert Baldwin Ross, Charles Haslewood Shannon, George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Symons, John Todhunter, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, W B Yeats.

All letters are autograph, with signatures. Many of the letters relate to plays, theatrical performances and drama criticism; other topics covered include theosophy, Indian religion and Egyptology.

Letter from Sir thomas Bernard of Wimpole Street, [London] to Samuel Parkes, chemist, 20 Nov 1816. Thanking him for making corrections to Bernard's proposals for the repeal of the salt duties. Autograph, with signature. The blank leaf is endorsed: 'Sir Thos. Bernard, 22d Nov. 1816'.

Letter from Michel Chevalier of Lodeve Herault to Sir Edward Watkin MP [railway promoter], 7 Aug 1876. Concerning a project to construct the metropolitan railway in Paris after the International Exhibition [Exposition Universelle] has been held there [i.e. after Nov 1878]. 'Mr. Fenton, the general manager of the Metropolitan of London, has forwarded me a set of documents and notes which are of great interest. I will make use of them for some communications to the press'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Thomas Clarkson of Woodbridge, [Suffolk] to Peter Clare of Manchester, 21 Apr 1826. Thanking him for details of a successful petition: 'Yours indeed is a great triumph, when you consider the opposition, if I may so call it, of the Boroughreeve ... It was much the case at Glasgow, where the hireling [James] Macqueen, the Editor of a Glasgow paper [?Glasgow Herald], and pensioned by two of the West Indian legislatures, and a host of W. India planters owners of West Indiamen and coopers, mechanics working for that employ resided ... There is ... something so good in our cause [the abolition of slavery], that it must always make its way among a moral people.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from William Wilberforce of Iver, Buckinghamshire to the [? Home Office], 2 Aug 1823. Asking for 'Mr. Peele' [i.e. the Home Secretary, Robert Peel, later Sir Robert Peel] to consider 'the application of several highly respectable people in favour of Geo. Fish [convicted at Hull] ... that instead of being transported for 7 years according to his sentence, he may be placed in the Penitentiary in the not unreasonable hope that the principles which were instilled into him in his childhood may there be reviv'd'. Requesting that any decision be communicated to him at Elmdon House near Coventry.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from William Tufnell Le Queux of Castor, Peterborough to George Horsfield of the Railway Passengers Assurance Company, Hitchin, 29 May 1895. Stating that he has no necessity to renew a policy.

Autograph, with signature.

From A P to John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield, 6 Apr 1791. Given Lord Sheffield's attention to national commercial interests, the writer (A P) 'takes the liberty of putting into your Lordship's hands a pamphlet, written some years ago by a country gentleman, on the effects of the bounties on exported corn, etc. It is true, your Lordship has paid more than common attention, to all regulation respecting trade, but more particularly to those relative to the article of corn'.

Autograph, with signature [initials 'A P', surname illegible].

6 letters written by Thomas Campbell, c 1815-1841. Correspondents include Lord Jeffrey [Francis Jeffrey], Cyrus Redding and Bess Campbell. Topics covered include social engagements and Campbell's health.

All items are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury of 1 Verulam Buildings, Gray's Inn, London to Sir William Job Collins, 20 Jun 1925. Writing as Secretary of the Medico-Legal Society to express the hope that he would attend the next meeting of the Society and take part in the discussion. Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Michel Chasles of Paris to Augustus De Morgan, 17 May 1850. On mathematical matters.

Autograph, with signature.

2 letters written to John Philippart, 1836.

(1) From Herman Hendriks of 2 Copthall Chambers, [London], 26 May 1836. Enclosing a document [?printed prospectus of the Haytien Banking Company]: '... if you felt disposed to join the Direction, after I had explained its nature to you, it would afford me pleasure'.

(2) From William Wildey of 3 Agar Street, Strand, [London], 28 Jul 1836. 'You were good enough to say some short time since, that when I was prepared to come before the public, with my substitute for horse-hair, that you would give me a helping hand in your valuable gazette ... I am now in that position, having a large quantity of the cocoa-nut fibre broke up.' Inviting inspection of articles filled with coconut fibre and encloses a printed prospectus which sets out its merits over other kinds of stuffing, with testimonials and a list of institutions using the fibre, including the police, prisons, hospitals and Poor Law Unions.

Both letters are autograph, with signatures.

2 letters written to Frederic Seebohm. (1) From Richard Oliver Heslop, iron and steel merchant of Akenside Hill and Newcastle upon Tyne, 8 Feb 1886. Promising to send a tracing of a map of Corbridge, Northumberland; suggests sources bearing on the history of land tenure in Northumberland. (2) From [James] Saunders, of Clapham and Westminster, 20 Oct 1892. Covering letter sent with tracings of some common field systems, discussing land tenure.

Both letters are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from Edward Law (1st Earl of Ellenborough) of Grosvernor Place, [London] to Rev Henry Walter, 28 Feb 1839. Replying to a letter on the state of labourers in contemporary society.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from J M Hyde of 4 Westcome Park, Blackheath, Kent to J Briggs, 22 Mar 1873. Thanking him for a letter which 'gives me a notion of the v[er]y extreme ideas of a decided oponent [sic] to the dictum of Home Industry being of any national importance - I will send you a copy of a letter addressed by me to Mr [Adolphe] Thiers, it contains the view I hold on the subject of the onesided system of competition, - onesided free trade has introduced ...'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Michel Chasles of Paris to Augustus De Morgan, 4 Oct 1852. On mathematical matters.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Thomas Phillipps of Oxford to [Edward Duke], 14 Mar 1837. '... my thanks for the kind manner in which you express a wish to see my portion of the Wilts History in print. You will be gratified to hear that I have advanced to page 56 of the 2nd part of Aubreys Wilts [John Aubrey Natural History of Wiltshire] ... & have this last week collected from the stores of Bodley some information which I did not before possess'. Mentioning the expense of publication and the difficulty of selling works of local history. 'I am not so rich as our mutual and valuable friend Sir Richard Hoare to be able to spend & lose 2000 per annum for the mere pleasure of illustrating the History of Wiltshire. At the same time I have no wish to make it a profitable speculation for myself.' Saying that he is happy to purchase a copy of Duke's book [probably Prolusiones historicae (1837)].

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Josiah Child of Streatham to the Hon. Sir Thomas Cooke, Governor of the East India Company, 28 Dec 1692. Recommending 'Bearer' [unidentified], who is willing 'to returne to Bombay a leift. In the meane time he is willing to be knowne to his Masters of which you are nowe ye Cheif'.

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.

3 letters from James Orchard Halliwell to Charles Roach Smith, 1867-1875. Topics covered include Frederick William Fairholt (whose executor Smith was) and William Shakespeare.

All letters are autograph, with signatures.

(i) Fragment of a letter from Robert Owen to an unknown recipient, [1830].

(ii) Stamped envelope addressed to Charles Pearson MP and signed by Robert Owen, Mar 1849.

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.

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 J P Marbeau of 8 Rue Montolivet, Paris to [Henry Hucks Gibbs], 11 Aug 1878. Covering note sent with two pamphlets [Question monataire: Abaissement du titre de la petite monnaie (1863) and Question monataire: Proposition d'une monnaie internationale (1867)].

Written in another hand and signed by Marbeau.

Letter from William Scott of 14 White Conduit Grove, Islington, [London] to Joseph Hume MP of Bryanstone Square, [London], 28 Dec 1836. Covering letter to a copy of An Address to the People of Scotland ... [a work on the human constitution and scriptural education], written by the phrenologist George Combe, a relative of Scott's. Scott describes the author as a tradesman living in Edinburgh, of 'radical views and reforming temper'. Autograph, with signature. Annotated in Hume's hand: 'Recd & ansd 6 Jnry 1837'.

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.

Letter from Arthur Hugh Clough of University Hall, London to an unidentified recipient, 4 Jul 1851. Asks whether the rooms vacated by a Mr Kenrick might be occupied 'for two or three day next week' by Kenrick's brother.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Arthur Helps of the Privy Council Offices, [London] to Sir John Duke Coleridge (afterwards Lord Coleridge), 18 Jul 1872. Covering letter to a copy of Helps's book Life and Labours of Mr. Brassey 1805-1870(1872).

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Robert Bloomfield to 'Charles' [? Bloomfield's brother or son], 27 May 1818. 'The coach is just coming, and I have time only to say that I send your flageolet. I have nothing to say if I had time, only that we are well and join in love and good wishes'. Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Joseph Banks of Soho Square, London to an unknown recipient, 12 Aug 1815. Relating to 'the undertaking now in hand for exploring the rapid Currents of the Zaira'. Reference is made to the mutiny of the Bounty, 'which began by turning the Commander adrift and ended in the Peopling of Pitcairn's Island. A less economical Outfit succeeded and the business was happily effected. Hence I deduce that in all matters of Naval Equipment it is better to adopt a Plan of sufficient extent at first than to do it after a failure, which if attributable to parsimony will in a Country like this meet with censure.' He advocates the use of a steamboat, 'a Fort impregnable to Native Armies and capable of sending out a subordinate Expedition'. This letter appears to be either a copy or a draft letter made by an amanuensis.

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.

3 letter from Richard Pery of London to Richard and John Wisse (or Wise), merchants, of Totnes, Devon, 1621. Concerning the sale of wine and related payments.

All letters are autograph, with signatures and seals.

2 postcards from George Jacob Holyoake of Eastern Lodge, Brighton to Edwin Ashworth, Todmorden Hall, Yorkshire, West Riding. (1) On the subject of portraits, 1 Feb [1897]. (2) 'Thank you for your pleasant birthday note. I have pleasant memories of Todmorden', 16 Apr 1901.

Both letters are autograph, with signatures.

Letter from J Cross of London to [Mr Oriel], 14 Apr 1794. 'I laid your proposal respecting the mill at Quemerford [near Calne, Wiltshire] before my Lord Lansdown [i.e. the Marquess of Lansdowne], in answer to which he had directed me to give you, in his own words, his opinion of the use of machinery in the cloathing manufacture - vizt "Nothing can be more mistaken than the prejudice conceived against machinery, nor could be more unfortunate for the country if suffer'd to prevail - for the consequence must be, the transfer of the manufacture either to the North of England, where the prejudice has been got the better of, and where they experience the advantage, or else to foreign countrys - or part to one and part to the other. Calne is calculated to be the seat of it, much better than either Chippenham or Devizes, or any town which I can immediately recollect, and independent of the great increase of trade, it would create a number of mechanists, and promote in consequence every sort of ingenuity, which would make up abundantly the loss sustain'd by the spinners; besides the navigations which are proposed [i.e. the Wilts and Berks Canal] will furnish a great deal of work; but rather than attempt any thing so arbitrary & absurd as to stop the progress of the machinery, I am very clear it would be better to come to a general rise of wage, especially if every person was compell'd at the same time to belong to some amicable society ...".'

Autograph, with signature.