Showing 1681 results

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 William Cobbett of Botley, Hampshire to James Swann, Esq, 9 May 1809. Advising him to purchase land. 'The loan of this year will make money depreciate 1/2 per cent at least. Only think of that!'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Richard Cobden of London to C E Macqueen, [Secretary of the Liverpool Financial Reform Association], 11 May 1863. '... I hope before the close of the session to be able to offer some remarks on finance, and to urge a reduction of taxation... In my opinion the only way of enforcing economy is by witholding the means of extravagance...'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Richard Cobden to Mrs Drummond, 16 Shamrock Place, Edinburgh, 12 May 1845. Thanking her for a present to his young daughter. Referring to [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, who 'is now I fear a little under the shade, in consequence of his Maynooth vote, with some of his constitutents', and to the bazaar given by the National Anti-Corn Law League at Covent Garden.

Autograph, with signature. With the original envelope (with a decorative border in the form of wheat ears), bearing the seal of the National Anti-Corn Law League.

Letter from Richard Cobden of Manchester to F Buloz, Esq, Paris, 19 Dec 1845. Answering Buloz's request for a collection of the National Anti-Corn Law League's publications for an article in the Revue des Deux Mondes. Cobden explains that 'no complete collection of [tracts, articles, pamphlets and advertisements] has been preserved - Nor has there been any history of the League written in England.' He promises to give full information and 'copies of all our publications which are preserved' to a visitor 'if recommended by you'. He recommends Bastiat's Cobden et la Ligue [printed by Senlis, Paris, 1845]. 'I may also add the Monsr Fonteyrand ... paid us a visit here a few weeks ago to whom I explained the machinery of our organisation ... I am not sure that he would feel at liberty to assist in furnishing an article for your publication - But he is more competent than any other person in France to do it correctly - At all events, I wish you would see him ... and say that I shall be obliged if he will allow you to have access to the publications which I gave him and afford you all facilities in his power for preparing a description of the League ...'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Richard Cobden to Dr W C Taylor, 2 Aug 1842. Thanking him for the gift of 'your little vol' [possibly Notes on a Tour in the Manufacturing Districts of Lancashire]. 'The best thing that could happen wd be to see it well abused in the Morning Post and Standard.'

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 Richard Cobden of Midhurst, [Sussex] to T G Shaw, Esq, 27 Sep 1861. On wine duties.

Autograph, with signature. Annotated with comments in Shaw's hand.

Letter from Richard Cobden to R C Chawner, Esq of Wall, near Lichfield, [Staffordshire], 9 Apr [1844]. Asking him to give a 'free trade address from the boards of Covent Garden.'

Autograph, with signature. With the original envelope, bearing the seal of the National Anti-Corn Law League.

Letter from Richard Cobden of the Board of Trade, Whitehall, London [from embossed stamp on paper] to M Jules le Chevalier St Andre, 29 May 1860. Headed: 'Private'. Referring to an article by M Mornand, drawn to his attention by Le Chevalier St Andre: 'The word "impuissance" is very insulting and very dangerous when applied to my country'. He warns France against 'the idea of England being less powerful in compassion with France than in former time,' and continues: 'New and henceforth supremacy at sea must depend entirely on steam power. " Our tonnage in sailing vessels as compared with France is at least 5 to 1 But the horse power of our steam mercantile marine as compared with yours is about 30 to 1.' He concludes: 'You know how I hate this topic. But depend on it England was never so much to be dreaded in a maritime war as at present.'

Autograph, with signature. The letter paper is inverted.

With the original envelope, on which the following later note has been added: 'Mille compliments à Monsieur E. Dentu. Ceci est l'autograph de Mr Cobden que je lui ai promise mais comme elle traite d'un sujet politique du moment, je désire qu'elle reste sous ce pli et ne soit communiquée à personne du vivant de Mr. Cobden.' On the dorse, above the broken seal: 'Décacheté: - le dimanche 30 avril 1869. E.D.'

The original ordinances of the New College of Cobham, made on 17 November 1598.

Letter from Sir Charles Cockerill of Sezincote, Gloucestershire to [Messrs Thwaites and Reed, clockmakers], 28 Jan [1800-1850]. In reply to their letter of 27 Jan, Cockerell 'will send to the clock maker at Stow[-on-the-Wold] to examine the clock with his own clerk of the works and to oil them, as suggested. The result of which shall be communicated to T. and R.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Edward Codrington of Eaton Square, London to the Rt Hon J W Croker, 2 Jun 1830. Urging the claims to 'head money' of the officers, seamen and marines who fought in the Battle of Navarino (20 Oct1827) [the claims had been refused on the grounds that there had been no prior declaration of war]. An offer of £800 a year pension for life had been made to Admiral Codrington through the Duke of Wellington; 'Your Grace must excuse me ... I cannot receive such a thing while my poor fellows who fought under me at Navarino have had no head money'.

Autograph, with signature. The first sheet is endorsed: 'This copy is throughout in the handwriting of my father Admiral Sir Edward Codrington. W J Codrington, 110 Eaton Square.'

'Exempcion perpetua de huespedes de aposento de Corte para dos Casas que Don Antonio Coello tiene en la Calle traviesa de Santa Isabel', Royal exemption from lodging members of the Court granted to Antonio Coello, 1674 February 26.

Manuscript memoranda book, 1817-1824, relating to the issue of the new silver coinage in February 1817 when the Hon William Wellesley-Pole (later 1st Baron Maryborough and 3rd Earl of Mornington) was Master of the Mint. Full details are given of the administrative measures taken to collect the old silver coin of the realm and to replace it by the new issue. The operation began on 13 February and was completed in fourteen days. Enclosed is a draft of a letter dated 10 February 1824 to Mr. B. Barnard, banker, of 50 Cornhill, London, announcing the presentation to him, by officers of the Mint, on the occasion of the Master's retirement (1824), of a bronze medal 'for assisting in the arrangement for the exchange of the silver coin in 1817'.

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.

An indenture , 1602, of a bargain and sale between Henry Newgate of Hampton, Middlesex and George Cole, of Petersham, Surrey.

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.

The volume, c 1965, contains an unpublished typescript of Food of the Gods: Studies in Religion, written by Rev. Ernest Edgar Vyvyan Collcott.

Collection of papers relating to politics, genealogy and slavery in Jamaica, comprising:

1. 'Plott or no Plott; in a dialogue between a clergyman of the city and Mr. A. of Hanover Square', in which the protagonist appears to support the reaction of Sir Robert Walpole's ministry to the Jacobite conspiracy of May 1722. Mentions the reaction to the Quarantine Bill [of 1721], the declaration of the City of London clergy against Quakers [concerning the Affirmation Act of 1722], and the South Sea Bubble, memory of which was 'too fresh to be forgot'. The manuscript possibly dates from 1722.
2. Copy of a legal opinion by Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Attorney-General, concerning the claims of John Kynaston to the barony of Powys, 25 Mar 1731. Kynaston's claims were contested by Sir Nathanial Curzon, Bt.
3. A political satire in verse, dating from the 18th century, and beginning 'A Hen, a farmer's pride and care / who lives at W-- or elsewere'. A note in pencil plausibly suggests that the subject of the satire was John Wilkes.
4. Papers, 1832-1868, assembled by Lyndon Howard Evelyn, with a copy of a covering letter (dated 15 Jul 1868) to George Sclater-Booth, Secretary to the Treasury, which supported a claim to compensation for dismissal from the post of Collector of Customs in Jamaica in 1834. Includes testimonials, copies of letters, a printed Statement of certain services...laid before the government by Governor Sir Henry Barkly K.C.B., for its consideration describing Evelyn's role in the slave revolt of Jan 1832 in Jamaica, and 'The entire narrative of Mr. Evelyn's oppression'.

The volume, c1948, contains scripts of lectures delivered by Arthur Jefferies at University College London Library School of Librarianship in 1948. The lectures deal with European handwriting, the origin, development and transformation of Caroline minuscules and Gothic and humanistic scripts.

The collection consists of miscellaneous manuscript and typescript notes, 1938, on news pamphlets during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

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.

The papers listed here relate chiefly to the affairs of the University of London, and to the London County Council. Though many of Collins' correspondents were fellow physicians and scientists, there is little in the correspondence relating to medical or scientific subjects. There is some material relating directly to national politics in Collins' autobiographical papers, and a full account by Collins of the Royal Commission on Vaccination. Given the range of Collins' interests, this is a small collection indeed. It appears however, that Collins himself carefully weeded and arranged his own papers. The list which follows here preserves, as far as possible, the original arrangement. A box of printed material, containing pamphlets, offprints of articles, speeches etc. by Collins, 1882-1925, was deposited with the papers. These relate chiefly to medical and political subjects. They are not listed here in detail. An additional deposit comprising press-cuttings, autobiographical material including sketches of contemporaries, archives relating to Collin's work on University of London bodies, his parliamentary career, and speeches was deposited in 1996. A box list has been compiled for this deposit. There are three other 'stray' letters addressed to Sir William Job Collins in the University of London Library which have been catalogued separately: 1916, 23 Nov. Benchara Branford, London County Council. Inserted in a presentation copy (to Collins) of Branford's 'Janus & Vesta' (London, 1916) 1925, 20 June. Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury, 1 Verulam Buildings, Gray's Inn, WC1. (A.L. 229) 1926, 22 June. Sir Philip Magnus, Tangley Hill, Chilworth, Surrey. (A.L. 162) 1. Abbreviations - Sir William Job Collins is referred to by his initials, W.J.C. The abbreviation, TS., means typescript. 2. Correspondents - Peers are referred to by their title in the record but are indexed under their surname. Unless specificed otherwise, all letters are addressed to Sir William Job Collins. 3. Postal Addresses - Where the town is not specified in the entry, the address is in London. Where known, the names of counties are inserted in square brackets where they are missing from the original letter. 4. Volume - Where an item exceeds two leaves, its volume is given in the entry.

Drafts of letters and opinions of the Lord Advocate from 1807 to 1809.

Letter from George Combe of 45 Melville Street, Edinburgh to Professor [Augustus] De Morgan, London, 10 May 1847. Referring to criticism levelled at Combe and De Morgan by Sir William Hamilton, of whom he writes: 'He is, I believe, a good husband, a good master to his servants, pays his debts honestly, and so forth: But he is notoriously quarrelsome, and not very scrupulous ... as to the mode in which he annoys his opponent'.

Headed: 'Confidential'. Autograph, with signature.

Manuscript fragments used to strengthen a book-binding, as follows:

1. Leaf containing part of scholastic commentary on Psalm 101, 2-5. The exposition is broken up into paragraphs. The manuscript was written in England in the 14th century.
2. Letters, dated 1695, issued by the Greffiers of the Court of the Small Seals for Contracts, Paris, recounting proceedings before the notaries Jean Herrard and Charles Gaugnard which involve Pierre Rémy and others, Master-Tailors of Paris. With a printed heading.

Manuscript volume containing minutes of the proceedings of the Commissioners for Examining Public Accounts, 30 Mar-14 Aug 1703. The manuscript is volume four of a series, and has an index at the end.

Manuscript volume containing 'A particular of the several sets of Commissioners [of Excise] that have been commissionated from the first setting up of the duty', [1664], comprising a list of Commissioners from 11 Sep 1643 to 20 Mar 1664.

Book of accounts from 1679-1760 of the gross and net produce of customs and yearly payments into the receipt of the Exchequer. A pencil note on the end of the papers reads, 'V. interesting and valuable. Specially drawn up by the Officers of the Crown for the private use of successive Chancellors of the Exchequer. Commences 1679, ends 1760, in all 81 years.'

Volume containing printed and manuscript instructions to customs workers throughout the UK.
The manuscript section of the volume (pp. 263-323) comprises instructions from the Commissioners of Customs to tide, coast and landing waiters, warehouse keepers landing surveyors, etc, with particular reference to the written records to be kept. These instructions are similar to the printed instructions which make up the earlier part of the volume, and which contain manuscript annotations. Those beginning on p.209 are addressed to William Assheton Harbord, 2nd Baron Suffield and landing surveyor of Yarmouth, and dated 1811. Manuscript additions on pp. 320-323 cannot be earlier than 1821. There is a manuscript index to the entire volume, which has handwritten pagination throughout. Among the Commissioners mentioned are G Wilson, James Deacon Hume, J Williams, William Roe and Thomas Boone.

Journal book containing the 'proceedings of his Majesty's Commissioners for the lessening of his Majesty's charge and increase of his revenue', 11 Jul 1626-24 Nov 1627. These volumes deal with the efforts made to reduce the debts incurred by the King's Household. Particulars are given of the households both of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria. The entries relating to the Queen's household are of especial interest in view of the critical situation caused at this time by the dismissal of her French attendants and staff. Includes minutes of the 'Commissioners for selling and granting his Majesty's lands in fee farm' for 20-21 Sep and 5 Oct 1626. Volume II is inscribed 'Mr Whitaker's booke', referring to Lawrence Whitaker, Clerk of the Privy Council, 1624-1640.

Manuscript volume containing a report [to the House of Lords] by the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, 16 Dec 1703, on the state of trade.

Legal papers created by the Committee for Plundered Ministers, 1646-1647, relating to the trial for delinquency of Dr. Henry Watkins, Rector of Sutton-upon-Brailes, Gloucestershire, including the following.

1. Copy, certified by John Crisp, clerk, of depositions of witnesses taken at Banbury between January and March 1647. (8 leaves. 12" x 7¾").
2. Copy of depositions of witnesses taken at Gloucester between March and November 1647, with a copy of the answer of Dr. Watkins to the charge exhibited against him, 8 May 1647. (18 leaves. 12" x 7¾").
3. Copy, certified by Francis Harris, clerk of the court, of further depositions taken and cross-examinations made, October 1647. (2 leaves. 13¾ x 12").
4. Copy, certified by John Phelpes, of a resolution of Parliament of 11 November 1647 that the wives and children of persons suffering sequestration shall have a fifth part allowed to them; signed by Henry Elsynge, clerk of the House of Commons. (Single sheet. 12" x 7¾").
5. Interrogatories exhibited by Dr. Henry Watkins to certain witnesses produced by him before the Committee [of Plundered Ministers] appointed by ordinance of Parliament for the county of Gloucester. (4 leaves. 12" x 7¾").
6. Petition by the inhabitants of 'Sutton under Brayles, Co.Glos.', to the Committee for Plundered Ministers to take action in the matter of Dr. Henry Watkins. (2 leaves. 12" x 7¾").
7. Second copy, certified by John Phelpes, of articles exhibited against Dr. Watkins at the Committee of Plundered Ministers, 18 December 1646. (2 leaves. 12" x 7¾").

Manuscript volumes containing copies of the minutes of the 'Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations', 3 Mar 1823-6 Feb 1827. Each volume contains an index of contents. It appears from the watermarks that the volumes were written later than 1826, possibly under the direction of William Huskisson, President of the Board of Trade.

Minutes of evidence of the Committee to consider the state of the linen trade in Great Britain and Ireland, given at twelve sessions held between 1 March and 12 May 1774.

Commonplace book.

Commonplace book, [1590-1620], containing contemporary transcripts of various notes, treatises and sermons. The first part of the volume comprises notes in Latin, Greek and English of a theological nature, initially organised under alphabetical headings. Among these notes is a transcript of instructions for secret agents in France, drawn up by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, for three different agents in the period 1595-1596. The copyist has copied three separate documents to form a single continuous document. The first part of the transcript is composed of the directions given by the Earl to Dr Henry Hawkyns, who was sent to Venice late in 1595 to perforn espionage and quasi-diplomatic functions for Essex and Queen Elizabeth I. The second part of the document consists of the instructions to [Anthony] Ersfield or Eversfield, who was sent to Paris to gather intelligence for Essex at the end of 1595. The third and final part of the document comprises the directions drawn up by Essex for Robert Naunton, whom the Earl sent to study under Antonio Perez in France in early 1596. Other notes from the first part of the volume include 'Of artillery' and notes on ships headed 'On shipping', the latter comprising details of the Queen's charges for maintaining large ships. There is an index to this section which omits the theological notes. The second part of the volume includes transcripts of sermons delivered on 10 Mar 1588 at Greenwich before the Queen, on 'Queene's daye', 1588, and on Christmas day 1588 and 1589; notes on what to observe when travelling abroad; notes on minerals; notes on heraldry; notes taken 'out of an ould Cronicle in Waverly Abbey'; 'The copye of the Great Turkes stile which he commonly useth'; and 'The copye of the Emperor of Russia or Muscovy his stile', taken from a letter to King Edward VI in 1553. There is a table of contents to this section.

Commonplace book, written in the early 19th century, containing copies of poems by various authors, including Mrs. R. Wilmot, the Reverend John Chetwood, and Eward Wilmot. The poems include 'To Miss Wilmot, now Mrs. Bradford, on her arrival from Russia' by F.S.I. (p.135), and 'Prologue written for the opening of the Lyceum at Madras 1782, spoken by Major Maule, by Eyles Irwin, Esq.' (p.245). A few poems are dated, 1782, 1788, 1802-1816.

Manuscript Commonplace Book of English poetry and prose, dating from the 19th century, containing the second half of a long poem on early biblical history 'continued from the book in white forrel', and other items. Inserted is a folded leaf containing two poems, one dated 1834, by W. C. Yonge, who may have been the compiler of the volume.

Manuscripts relating to The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies (known as the Darien Company), [1696]-1707, including a volume containing a paper by William Paterson entitled 'Memorandum for the Bank Company', possibly in reply to John Holland's A short discourse on the present temper of the nation with respect to the Indian and African Company and of the Bank of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1696), arguing that the Fund of Credit proposed by the Darien Company would not infringe upon the monopoly granted to the Bank of Scotland, [1696]; petitions by William Paterson to the Directors of the Darien Company requesting remuneration for money spent during a visit to Holland and Hamburg on Company business, [1697] and 1707, a claim which was not settled until a Parliamentary bill, supported by the King, was passed in 1715 (a previous ruling in his favour by the House of Commons, 1713, was thrown out by the Lords); a Memoire, signed by John Erskine, John Haldane and William Paterson on behalf of the Darien Company, and presented to the Senate of Hamburg, requesting that they be allowed to see the memorial written by Sir Paul Rycout, the English Resident, and Mr Cresset, the English Envoy, stating the opposition of the King of England to the presence of the Darien Company representatives in Hamburg, 1697; copy of the 'Act for preventing frauds and regulating abuses in the plantation trade', 1698, which provides that no goods are to be imported of exported from colonies except in ships built in England, Ireland, or the colonies; a list of 'Goods Proper to bee sent to the Collony of Caledonia', giving an enumerated list of 56 items ranging from arms and ammunition to looking-glasses, 1698; 'Report from the Committee of the Court of Directors of the African and Indian Company of Scotland appointed for giving the sailing orders to the council or government of the Company's intended colony or settlement in the Indies', giving their reasons for choosing the Darien site, and answering 15 objections made against the scheme, 1698; tables headed 'A scheme of victualling, shewing each man's allowance of every species of provisions...where the complement of men is 1000', giving the types of food to be eaten on certain days, and dividing the men up into messes of 5, 1698; extract from the records of the Directors of the Darien Company of a resolution to appoint ministers to go to Caledonia, 12 Jun 1699; a report of the proceedings appointing Archibald Stobo, Alexander Dalgleish and James Stewart as ministers to the Scots colony of Caledonia, 12 Jul 1699; a copy of 'Caledonia: the declaration of the Council constituted by the Indian and African Company of Scotland for the governments and directions of their colonies and settlements in the Indies', [28 Dec, 1699], formally establishing the settlement of Caledonia, declaring the colony open to all, and granting freedom of government, trade and religion; a memorandum from the Spanish Ambassador to James Vernon, Secretary of State, concerning Spanish protests at the Scottish settlement in Darien, 3 May 1699; and an anonymous proposal to the Darien Company for the establishment of a trade route to Madagascar, [1699].

Manuscript volume containing a treatise entitled 'Considerationes upon the question whither the parliament of Scotland should begin nixt session with asserting their right to Caledonia and the legality of our settlement there', [1698]. This manuscript was written after 1698 and before 1702, as reference is made on the last page to the 'Anatomy of the equivalent, printed some years ago'. This refers to The anatomy of an equivalent, an anonymous work written by George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, and published about 1688.

Letter from E R Comyn of 23 Bush Lane, [London] to Messrs Stulz & Co, 21 Feb 1839. 'Gentlemen, My brother Sir Rob Comyn, [Chief Justice at the Supreme Court at Madras] wishes you to send him, until further orders the annual supply of three coats and waistcoats until countermanded ...'. The writer will pay his brother's account of £60 2s.

Autograph, with signature.

Conduct record of John Warrow, a labourer born in Africa, convict no. 2039, from a court martial in Trinidad in 1834 to his transportation to Sydney in 1838, together with a physical description of the man. This colonial conduct record describes alleged offences against the disciplinary regime of penal settlements.

'Copy of Constiutiones del Real Colegio de Ninas Huerfanas de Santa Isabel Reyna de Hungaria de esta corte y villa de Madrid', promulgated by Philip V of Spain on 7 Oct 1838.

Leaf from a cancelled instrument recording the contract established before two notaries of the court of the Prévôté of Paris, by which Jean Baptiste Godin, of Rue St Denis, undertook to pay annually to Nicolas Avisse, of the Faubourg St Germain, the sum of 250 livres, being the interest on a loan of 5,000 livres. An inscription records the cancelling of the contract: 'Constitution du 8 Mai 1754 de 5,000 livres de Capital. Remboursé'.

Contract, dated 28 Dec 1670, containing an undertaking by John Brown to repair the stables he rented from Thomas Panton, and to stop up the water course from the horse pond in Round Mill Yard. Signed and sealed by John Brown.

Letter from Sir John Coode of 35 Norfolk Square, Hyde Park, London to Mr Liddell, 30 Dec 1873. Thanking him for his congratulations and says that they are much impressed with the work of Fanny's husband. He is glad to hear that William is well occupied 'in these days when so many men are put aside and "shelved" against their wishes'. Discussing the Weymouth sewage works, nearly completed. Hopes to meet William, if he (Coode) visits Portsmouth.

Autograph, with signature.

The collection contains material from James Cook's student days at Imperial College, London in the 1920s and 1930s, papers relating to the Ipswich Unemployed Workers' League and other political activities in this period. There are papers relating to Cook's period in the South Place Ethical Society and general correspondence on national and international politics. The collection also contains papers relating to Cook's parliamentary campaigns in Henley-on-Thames in Berkshire and Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey; his time as Senator at the University of London; his membership of the Labour Party and his work in the General Municipal Workers Union. There is also material relating to Cook's personal life.

Letter from Thomas A Cook of Newcastle upon Tyne to H B Jordan, Esq of the Alkali Works, Bristol, 8 Dec 1845. Acknowledging Jordan's letter of 4 Dec 1845. Discussing at length the relative efficiency of stone stills [for manufacturing alkalis] used by Cook [at Walker, Newcastle], by Jordan and by Lee and Co; advising Jordan to visit Lee and Co and copy their stills exactly. Mentioning a Mr Bell's patent, the surprising cheapness of coal, and a meeting of masters [i.e. factory owners] which he was unable to attend. Noting that the returns show an increase of stock.

Autograph, with signature. A note [in Jordan's hand] on page 3 states: 'Ansd. 5 Jany'.