|
|
Manuscript Material |
To see our most recent acquisitions please ask to go on our catalogue mailing list
GILPIN, William. View down the Trent near Nottingham. A fine original oval sepia wash watercolour, unusual in being identified in Gilpin's hand in the margin. In fine state. Numbered ‘8' on the right hand margin.
200mm x 280mm. c1770. £380.00 + vat
HAWK'S WICK ESTATE, St Albans, Hertfordshire. A copy manuscript dated 1880 forming an ‘Inventory and appended Valuation of tenants fixtures, fittings and articles of planned furniture in and upon the premises Hawk's Wick, nr. St Albans, Herts. The property of the late George Checkland, Esq." 34 pages recording in detail each room's contents, the total valued at £950.00.
320mm x 200mm. 1880.
Together with...
The Sale Catalogue for the Property... at auction on 23rd June, 1880. 12pp, with large lithograph plan of the estate. It details the mansion, stables, range of carriage houses, pleasure grounds, walled kitchen garden, vinery, cucumber & melon houses, model farm buildings, private gas works, and the park.
440mm x 280mm. 1880.
Together with...
The very large original printed poster for the auction of the estate, "occupying one of the most charming situations in the County of Hertfordshire." Slight tear to several folds but in very good condition.
870mm x 540mm. 1880. £320.00
ARCHITECTURE. The original plan and four related documents for the construction of a ‘Maison de Cure', a curate's house for the commune of Moustier in Belgium, 1819-1821. Together with the hand coloured plan [1819], there is a four page ‘Devis Estimatif pour la Construction' [1819], with detailed costings; another five page revised estimate dated 1820; an undated single sheet revised estimate; and a report of a meeting of the village committee [1821]. Some slight marginal tears to the plan, without loss, otherwise in very good condition. An interesting and detailed collection relating to a modest rural dwelling.
270mm x 210mm [plan], 297mm x 205mm & smaller [estimates]. 1819-1821. £120.00 + VAT
MINERS STRIKE. A spirited pen and ink drawing entitled ‘The Wail of the Workless', by J.H. Lunn, 197 High Street, Hampton Hill, possibly for publication in a newspaper during the period of the General Strike in 1926. Some slight marking to the margins outside of the image, and corners bumped.
268mm x 375mm. c1926. £60.00 + VAT.
CALLIGRAPHY. Specimens of Writing by Charles Norman, Christmas 1832. Calligraphic title-page, 4 pages of writing, and with a variant title dated 1833 loosely inserted. Original marbled wrappers, spine worn.
folio. 1832-1833. £120.00
HOUSE SALE - 1608. Original manuscript indenture for the sale of a house in Upwell, Norfolk (between Downham and Wisbech). Sold in 1608 by Thomas Browne to Robert Ashton. In excellent condition, clearly legible and with the original seal.
Norfolk. 1608. £75.00+ VAT
HUMOROUS VERSE. An early 19th century collection of manuscript verse, mainly humorous, dated 1809. Written over 34 leaves, with one blank leaf at the end, and bound in original buff wrappers, with the name George Gitton, August 16th, 1809, within ink ruled borders on the upper cover. In excellent condition.
oblong 8vo. August-October 1809. £220.00
The verses include Mrs Waddle was a widow; Squire Frogs Visit; Epitaph on a Dormouse; The Dominion of the Moon in Man's Body, Passing under the Twelve Zodiacal Constellations; The Menagerie of Grand Exhibition of Birds and Beasts; Royal Reasons for Roast Beef; John Bull in Town; The Whim of the Day. The poet may be the George Gitton of Bridgnorth, a printer and newspaper reporter whose lively diary for 1866 was edited and published in 1998. These verses, written on ruled pencil lines, certainly suggest them to be the work of a young boy.
ITALY. Two volumes of highly detailed manuscript account books covering the period 1835-1857, possibly relating to the British Consulate in Italy, as the sums involved are substantial. 84ff; 86ff. Contemporary dark green half morocco and dark red half calf, marbled boards. Some pages loose in the earlier volume but in very good clean condition, with just some rubbing to the corners and boards. One inserted note is written on the verso of a slip taken from a handbill printed in Firenze, perhaps suggesting a location for these accounts.
4to. 1835-1857. £320.00
The volumes record considerable expenses for travels around Italy, "sundries bought at Genoa by Signor Gibbs £887.00"; "sundries in Munich"; "Gibbs postage account for the year 1835"; "ye Cooks daily account"; "relief of British distressed subjects"; expenses relating to a pro-consul;"British sailors in hospital, salaries, references to the Admiralty. There are numerous names mentioned in the accounts, and the volumes would certainly be worthy of further research.
POOR LAW 1688 - North Devon. A manuscript warrant to present poor law children to the Justices for Apprenticing and also unemployed "young single persons". Addressed by Robert Bulled, "To the Constable of Rose Ash haste for His Majesty's Service", instructing him to present "all such poor children as are fit to be bound out apprentices... and also ... all young and single persons living out of service having no visible means save their Labour to live by".... "at the Falcon in South Moulton on Wednesday the 20th day of this instant June by Ten of the Clock in the forenoon." Written in a legible hand on one side of a folio sheet, folded for sending and with the name on the verso. Full typed transcript.
Devon. 1688. £180.00 + VAT
SHOEMAKER. The early 19th century manuscript record book kept by Daniel Warner, Shoemaker from the vicinity of Groton, Shirley, & Pepperell in Massachusetts, in 1826-1831. Approximately 288 pages, with thousands of entries for the making and repairing of boots and shoes for his local community, with the name of each of his customers. Original thick paper covers, stitched, and with some wear to the spine, otherwise in very good condition.
folio. Masschusetts. 1826-1831. £380.00
YORK. Common and Meadow. An Ecological Survey of Common and Meadow Land: Middlethorpe and Fulford, York. R.A. Newton. A well presented and highly detailed study, covering over 100 typescript pages, with photographs, charts, and even 16 samples of seeds. In his preface the author acknowledges the assistance given to him "from retired farm squires, and anglers, to greenkeepers and gipsies.... their talk has ranged over a wide field, yielding much ecological data for the text, for a field is indeed fallow where one can find nothing. Perhaps it is both fitting, and characteristic of their unassuming nature, that I do not know their names." Gilt lettered album.
4to. 285mm x 230mm. York. 1957. £120.00
YORKSHIRE. A charming album of 126 photographs on 20 leaves mostly of outings and picnics in Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Lake District. The keen but anonymous photographer pictures cycle and motorcycle groups as well as more formal landscape views. It evokes a post war Britain just beginning to enjoy itself and again looking forward to a better future. In a contemporary brown pebble cloth album, the photographs corner mounted, many with pencil annotations beneath.
oblong 4to. 215mm x 290mm. 1946-1960. £60.00