PERSONALIA
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PERSONALIA |
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MANUSCRIPTS
LITERATURE
AIRD, Thomas (1802–1876), editor and poet. Autograph letter signed to an unnamed correspondent, 3 sides, 8vo, Mountainhall, Dumfries, 21 October 1863. Giving permission to his correspondent to translate “The Holy Cottage” or any of his other poems into German, adding : "My latest pieces appeared in the fourth edition of my volume published by Messrs Blackwood in February last. And as I have now retired from the Editorship of the Herald, I am not likely to appear again in “Poet’s Corner”.
£35
Aird took up the editorship of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Herald upon
moving from Edinburgh to Dumfries in 1835. Over and above a wide range of
editorial duties, he was able to publish his own poems in his paper. He retired from
the post of editor in 1863, the year this letter was written.
Barham, Richard Harris, (1788–1845), nom de plume Thomas Ingoldsby, writer and Church of England clergyman. Autograph letter signed to an unnamed correspondent, 4 sides, 16mo, Amen Corner, 3rd February 1845. Enclosing a letter from Mr Hughes (not present), and lamenting over his state of health: "I have never been out of the house since the walk I took with Mr Hughes to Rush's last Monday a whole mortal week, & though I am what they call "mending" it is but a sad cobble after all. Cantherides to the throat, mutton broth to the intestines, and a Legend to the (Printer's) Devil, such are my comforts, and you shall be welcome to a show of all three. The last of all events is finished and off my hands barring the copying. There is an ugly red spot on my ancle - can it be that the old hereditary enemy of the Family whom I have baffled and laughed at these fifty years has at last - ? If it is so I shall swear with lady Macbeth "Out etc" and that at the very moment when I am just sending to Colburn "The Blasphemer's Warning".
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Best known for his "Ingoldsby Legends" published
under his nom de plume Thomas Ingoldsby, Barham suffered a throat infection in 1844
that laid the foundation for a serious condition, resulting in his death from ulceration of the larynx, at his
home, the canonry house, Amen Corner, St Paul's Churchyard, London, on 17 June
1845 (ODNB). This letter, written a few months before his death, illustrates Barham's genial
sense of humour surfacing in the face of considerable discomforts.
Graham, James (1765–1811), poet. Autograph letter signed to the Reverend Andrew Thomson, 3 sides with address panel on second leaf, 4to, Annan, August 19th 1810. Sending Thomson a hymn (written out on the first two sides of the letter) entitled "Out of the mouth of babes & sucklings thou hast ordained praise" for comment, and informing him of his move. "I was very much gratified indeed by your request that I should write a hymn to be sung by the orphans ....... My aim was to express those recollections and feelings which might be supposed to arise in the mind of an individual orphan ..... I have endeavoured to describe the contrast between the former desolate and the present protected state of the orphan ..... I go to Durham tomorrow. I am uncertain in what part of the town we shall take up our abode; but as it is a small place my name will be a sufficient direction." Letter with repaired splits along folds, and last page (bearing address panel and postal franks) soiled.
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Graham practiced as an advocate in Edinburgh, while writing verse as a
means of recreation. He published a number of poems from 1797 onwards, of which
The Sabbath (1804) won him the admiration of Sir Walter Scott. Finding
limited success as an advocate, he resolved to enter the church, and in 1809 was
appointed curate of Shipton Mayne, Gloucestershire. In August 1810 he became
sub-curate of St Margaret's, Durham, but with declining health, he moved back to
Scotland where he died in 1811. His correspondent, Andrew Mitchell Thomson
(1779–1831) was acknowledged as the leader of the evangelical
party in the Church of Scotland. Graham's “Poems on the Abolition of the Slave
Trade” (1810) would have found much favour with Thomson, also
an ardent abolitionist.
Greville [née Macartney], Frances (1727?–1789), poet. Autograph letter, missing last page, 4 sides, 4to, to "My Lord" [George Townsend, Viceroy of Ireland], Wilbury, August 26th 1771. A long (and in part, flirtaceous) letter touching upon friends, family and politics, etc "I received your letter with infinite pleasure but since I can't cure you of Philandering me I wish I could at least cure myself of the strong propensity I have to think you mean to laugh a little at your humble servant, my vanity would find it's account in such a want of modesty, for if flattery is palatable even from different persons how grateful must it be from those on whose opinion one sets a high value"............"As to what you ask concerning Lord S[uffolk ?]. I am told he makes only two Members and his secretary Mr. W. has a seat which he bought. I did hear, but with what truth I know not, that Lord N[orth]. seemed to incline most to that set of people that belonged to G. G. [George Grenville?] I do not believe that ever was a syllable of truth in any of the reports of this going out and this I am sure of from people very nearly connected with him; that he was remarkably satisfied his M's favour and protection even at a time when some who should have known much better looked upon him as on the eve of being dismissed" .......... "Everyone here is astonished at your success, and I think my Lord since you have so good a hand at these matters you had better come over to help us, but I don't believe you wish, therefore I shall, one of these days go and claim your promise of visiting the lake of Kilarney." ......... "Before I conclude I must remind you of the obligation you said you would confer on me in the person of my unfortunate cousin; when you can without inconvenience to your own plans grant him the little thing I requested you will make a brave and worthy man very happy". Despite the missing end of this letter, the opening of the last paragraph suggests that most of the matters are dealt with. Split along fold. PHOTO
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Probably born in Ireland, the daughter of James Macartney (1692–1770), Irish MP, and Catherine Coote (d. 1731), Frances Macartney was beautiful, spirited, and celebrated for her clever verses. In 1747 she met the popular socialite and man of fashion Fulke Greville (1717–1806), of Wilbury in Wiltshire, who she eloped with and married. The writer Fanny Burney described her as ‘pedantic, sarcastic, and supercilious’, but to the few who possessed her favour, ‘she was a treasure of ideas and of variety’. Her husband gambled away his fortune, and following the death of their son Robert in 1768, he returned to England from his diplomatic post in Munich, in a state of collapse, and ruin ensued in 1782, when Wilbury was sold. Fances took refuge in Ireland, and by 1788 a legal separation was effected. ODNB
[JOHNSON, Samuel 1709-1784] . Autograph letter in third person from Mr Bowles, to Mr Humphry, no date, 1 side, 4to, Dr. Wake's Cloysters, Westminster, accepting an invitation "of his coming to dinner on Thursday (1/2 past 4) to meet Dr. Johnson & Mr. Cambridge." Mounted onto an old album leaf.
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This is possibly from William Bowles of Heale, Salisbury, who Johnson corresponded with and stayed with in 1783 after his stroke. The invitation to dine came from Ozias Humphry (1742–1810), miniature and portrait painter, a friend of Samuel Johnson and the poet Richard Owen Cambridge, who executed portraits of both men.
Keating, Eliza H., (1801-1868), author of children's books. Autograph letter signed to Mr Hailes Lacey, 4 sides, 16mo, 23 Great Charles St., Birmingham, November 7th 1855. Accepting the terms offered by her publisher for a book, and discussing its content. "I shall feel much pleasure in accepting the terms you have offered ...... to make over to you the copyright of the volume of Charades I have written, and to receive one hundred copies for myself ....... With respect to the Charade you mention - as being inferior to the rest – I suppose you mean Guy Fawkes which not being a great favourite as the others can be omitted. If you think a fourth is wanting I have another that was very successful – “Bulletin” ....... adapted to the year of the Great Exhibition in 51." Narrow strip of paper adhering to back edge indicating removal from an album page.
£30
The book referred to is "Dramas for the Drawing Room; or Charades for
Christmas" published in 1856. Charade dramas were a popular form of private
entertainment, performed in the domestic setting of the drawing room.
GEORGE ELIOT CONNECTION
NEWDIGATE of Kirk Hallam. Autograph letter signed from Frances B. Newdigate to Captain Gardiner, 5 sides, 16mo, Kirk Hallam, September 13th [c1849], asking him to distribute prospectuses concerning her forthcoming publication, "I shall be very grateful if you will sow where they are likely to produce fruit! Perhaps you would take charge of three or four out of the number if you are going this long round by new South Wales to Nova Scotia ......... Roderick is to be published. Cundall was so keen to do it & offered to take the whole risk if I would let him do it, that I thought it would be weak to refuse, in spite of my previous resolutions ....... there is to be a large paper size as I was obliged to add it on this first batch of prospecti", and regarding Gardiner's travels "I hope you mean to do a great many sketches in these different ends of the world you are going to visit, & that I shall have the benefit of them when you return. I shall be quite ready to do sandwich for them as of course they are to be published."
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This letter concerns the publication of Illustrations to Southey's
Roderick published by Joseph Cundall, London 1850. Frances B. Newdigate
was a close relative, and possibly a daughter of Francis Newdigate and Barbara (née
Legge) of Kirk Hallam, and Arbury, and may be the Frances Barbara
Newdigate who married Henry
Lynedoch Gardiner in 1849 in Lewisham, Kent (home of the Legge family). The
Newdigate's land agent was Robert Evans, father
of Marian Evans, better known as the famous novelist George Eliot (1819-1880).
George Eliot drew upon the contrast between the lives of the estate tenants and
that of the prosperous landed Newdigate family in her novels.
Procter, Bryan Waller (1787–1874), poet and lawyer. Autograph letter signed to Charles Knight, Esq., 1 side with integral blank with address panel, 8vo, 25 Bedford Square, no date [1832?], sending him a book just printed, and praising his correspondent’s publications. "I shall print no more rhyme: all the rest shall be reason. I send you this in order that I may tell you how much I like your little publications - I hope I do not offend you by calling them ‘little’, seeing that they are little only in size & expense" ......." upset that you have abandoned your little pocket books called ‘Cottage Evenings .... I think (under favor) that they might have been made very useful - with a little trouble. You are indeed conveying much of that sort of information in your Magazine - but one cannot put your magazine in ones pocket – at least, without spoiling the number." Edges rather tatty, with damage to integral blank from broken seal.
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From 1815 Procter contributed poems to many journals using various pen-names but eventually fixing upon Barry Cornwall. He became a close friend of Leigh Hunt, Charles Lamb, and William Hazlitt, and over the years became acquainted with most of the best writers in London. He entered Gray's Inn in 1826 and was admitted barrister in 1831.
The work he has sent Knight is probably “English Songs, and other Small Poems” (1832), for his publications after this period were all prose works. His correspondent Charles Knight (1791–1873), was a publisher and writer, whose “Penny Magazine” of 1832–45, was hugely popular. The book of Knight’s that he refers to was “The working man's companion : cottage evenings” published in 1831.
Charlotte Brontë’s Headmaster in Jane Eyre
WILSON, William Carus (1791–1859), Church of England clergyman and founder of charity schools. Autograph letter signed to Charles Baker, Deaf & Dumb Institute, Doncaster, 1 side 8vo, with address overleaf and penny red stamp and frank mark September 10th 1845, acknowledging the receipt of his correspondent’s letter and of a package (probably of publications) “I feel exceedingly obliged to you for your kindness in sending them but really should feel ashamed to accept them even for my schools without paying for them”. Right hand edge with creases and top edge slightly cut down.
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William Carus Wilson, a Church of England clergyman, was the founder of several charity schools for girls and was a prolific author of accessible religious literature, mainly aimed at children. The Clergy Daughters' School which he founded at Cowan Bridge, Lancashire in 1824, became notorious as the original of Lowood Institution in Jane Eyre (1847). Charlotte Brontë entered the school in 1824 with her sisters, Maria, Elizabeth, and Emily, and always blamed the school's harsh regime and punitive religious discipline for the deaths of her two eldest sisters. When Mrs Gaskell identified the school and Carus Wilson by name in her Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857) she was threatened with a libel action.
By 1845 when this letter was written Wilson’s ill health had forced him to cease the active editorship of his periodicals, and he resigned the management of his schools handing over to his son and sons-in-law.
His correspondent Charles Baker (1803–1874) was a teacher of deaf people, who in 1829 established a deaf and dumb institution at Doncaster. Lacking suitable books, he wrote a graded reading and comprehension course, The Circle of Knowledge; as well as a graded series of books about Bible characters, events, and history; and many other works of special relevance to the teaching of deaf and deaf mute people. (ODNB)
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