Autograph letters signed to his publisher
BRIGGS, RAYMOND
Published by six pages 6 December 1995 - 21 December 1988, Hassocks, Sussex, 1995
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Peter Grogan, London, United Kingdom
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This specific copy is no longer available. Here are our closest matches for Autograph letters signed to his publisher.
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Five autograph letters and one autograph postcard signed from the author of `When the Wind Blows' and `The Snowman' to Tom Maschler. On publishing matters concerning `Ethel and Ernest', Briggs's first book for Jonathan Cape. "Have just returned form the mists, drizzle, dampness and green-mould-walls of Cork to sunny Sussex. Thank you vey much for your letter about my book. I was very pleased to hear you liked it and am, of course, proud & honoured that it will be on the great Cape list. Top hole! (and triffic). All very best, Raymond". One letter gives thanks for "the stupendous Roald Dahl Treasury. It is a truly magnificent book and is a fitting monument to a great writer . . . I'm very proud to have been part of it." (Briggs was one of the contributing illustrators.) All in fine condition. Seller Inventory # 20257
Bibliographic Details
Title: Autograph letters signed to his publisher
Publisher: six pages 6 December 1995 - 21 December 1988, Hassocks, Sussex
Publication Date: 1995
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
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[Arthur Henry Bullen, publisher and literary editor.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'A. H. Bullen'), on the subject of Nell Gwynne's birthplace, the first to Charles Lavers Lavers-Smith, and the second to his son Hamilton Lavers-Smith.
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Both items on letterhead of 'A. H. Bullen | Publisher | 47 Great Russell Street Bloomsbury W.C.' 21 April and 4 May, 1903
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Seller: Richard M. Ford Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
The two items in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. ONE: To 'C. Lavers Smith, Esq'. 21 April 1903. 2pp., landscape 8vo. He asks 'whether prints are to be had of Nell Gwynne's reputed birthplace at Hereford'. He made enquiries about the house in Hereford on the previous Saturday. 'It was pulled down in 1861; but in 1858 two photographs of it were taken, and I found an old photographer who had negatives which he promised to lend to me for a small consideration. I was pleased to get them.' As Lavers-Smith knows 'a great deal more' about the subject, he will be pleased to hear whether he has 'seen any old prints of the house. The Hereford people are firmly convinced that Nell was born in their city. They have put up a tablet in the wall behind which the house stood, & they have turned the name of the street from Water Lane into Gwynne Street.' In a postscript he thanks him 'for the admirable review of Grammont'. TWO: To 'H. Lavers-Smith, Esq. | Woodstock, Ditton Hill, Surbiton'. 4 May 1903. 1p., landscape 8vo. He thanks him for his letter, and hopes that 'Mr. Brick will allow me to make a block from his photograph of the house in Drury Lane.' He continues: 'Mr. Goodwin is emphatic on the subject of Nell Gwynne's birthplace. He insists that she was born at Oxford & had nothing to do with the Hereford house. Still the Hereford house was a picturesque old place and I intend to give illustrations of it.' He ends by thanking him for a reference to 'Notes & Queries'. Seller Inventory # 14851
Quantity: 1 available
Series of five Autograph Letters Signed, to 'Sir' (his publisher), returning proofs, discussing prices and woodcuts, the blocks for the illustration of 'Cheshire Chivalry', sending the hunting songs "arranged according to the way I wish them printed and have marked the illustrations", etc.
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10½ pages 7 x 4½ inches, minor blemishes only, one letter cleanly torn along centre fold.
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Seller: Julian Browning Rare Books & Manuscripts, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Arley, 1844-1846. Rowland Eyles Egerton-Warburton (1804-91), poet, author of Hunting Songs and Miscellaneous Verses (1846), etc. On the subject of proofs he writes, "The dead horse wants working up a great deal, pray speak seriously to Mr. L about this, as I am quite fearful that they will all appear to be very coarse and slightly finished.". Seller Inventory # 20911
Quantity: 1 available
[Martin Farquhar Tupper critiques three poems by Walter Chalmers Smith.] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Martin F. Tupper'), one to Smith and two to his publisher MacLehose, on 'Olrig Grange', 'Borland Hall' and 'Hilda Among the Broken Gods'.
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Two on letterheads of Albury House near Guildford Surrey. 4 and 12 December The third from Western Villa North Park Croydon. 23 June 1878, 1874
Used
Seller: Richard M. Ford Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Three 12mo letters in good condition, lightly aged and worn. An interesting batch of letters, in which one minor Victorian poet critiques the work of another, both to the author himself and to his publisher. The three books by Smith which are the subjects of Tupper's letters are 'Olrig Grange' (1872), 'Borland Hall' (1874) and 'Hilda Among the Broken Gods' (1878), all of which were published by the Glasgow publishers James MacLehose and Sons. ONE: Addressed 'To the unnamed Author of Olrig Grange'. 4 December 1874. On letterhead of Albury House, near Guildford. 4pp., 12mo. 'On the human principle of thanks being welcome, when justly due' Tupper sends his 'hearty commendation' of the book. 'These last 2 evenings I have read aloud the whole of this graphic & touching poem to my home-flock, and we all testify to its power & beauty.' A critique of the poem follows, in which he commends 'the deep & true & full feeling of the story', with its 'tender & true catastrophe'. He urges him to 'give the world your name, for no truer poet is extant'. He 'picked up Olrig' by 'mere chance', and is 'delighted & astonished at having chanced upon "an angel unwares"'. TWO: To 'Mr. Mackehose. [sic] | Glasgow'. Letterhead as One above. 12 December 1874. 6pp., 12mo, comprising a main letter of 4pp., and a postscript of 2pp. The postscript, signed 'M F Tupper', is dated from 'Albury. Dec. 12/74.' He has sent him a 'Card of thanks for the gift of Borland Hall: having just read it aloud at 2 eventides to my homeflock I take leave to tell you at once what I think of the poem.' He begins his assessment by describing the poem as 'a work of true genius, evidencing great & varied powers; not a pleasant nor perhaps on the whole so perfect as Olrig Grange, - but more forceful'. He describes some 'blots in the dramatic framework', but does not wish to be 'hypercritical where there is much to praise in every section of the story'. He is happy to see that the 'wellpaired volumes' of 'the Unknown Author' are to be 'supplemented [] by yet a third'. He concludes the main letter by pointing to what he takes to be 'a very masterly & mindful section', as well as 'what I like least'. The two-page postscript concerns 'quite another subject': 'I myself lack a publisher, as thus, - & for aught I know the matter might suit you.' He proceeds to suggest terms for a collection of dramatic pieces: 'Long ago I published a 5 act play "King Alfred", - also another 5 act "Sir Walter Raleigh" - both utterly out of print & wanting reissue: also I have written for the same thin volume when it appears 3 Dramatic Scotch sketches, on Wallace, Bruce, & Claverhouse, to be added.' That MacLehose 'may judge better of the idea', he is sending him 'the parcel registered for safety & to be returned similarly if, after some days perusal &c, you are unwilling to take it'. THREE: [To MacLehose.] Western Villa, North Park, Croydon. 23 June 1878. 3pp., 12mo. The recipient is not named, but is clearly MacLehose (see the reference to 'your author'). Tupper begins: 'My dear Sir, | I always do a thing when I can for fear of no other chance of doing it when I can't so (as tomorrow mg. For a week I shall be in Warwickshire, & thereafter for a fortnight in the Isle of Wight) not to disappoint sine die your unknown Genius of Hilda, I have made a two hours' rush through the book (though it deserves a thoughtful & critical two days') & will now give obiter my judgement of it, as you ask me.' He wonders whether the anonymity of the work might be due on the one hand to the 'autobiographical' nature of the 'whole sad story', and on the other to 'the author's clerical status'. His assessment follows, in which, while praising 'the beauty force & wit & wisdom everywhere disclosed', which all 'prove points of genius & power very various in kind', he doubts whether the book 'can be popular with the many; it is too painful for that, and Hilda with her broken idols, - the chief being her husband her child & herself is an object rather for the intellectual pathologist than for the Spiritual poet'. He considers the 'opening verses to Theodore Martin [] quite a pendant to Tennyson's letter to Maurice'. In conclusion he expresses the hope that he may in future 'thoroughly read the book: meanwhile my daughters will good poets both, - & possibly some day you & your author may hear more from Truly Yours | Martin F. Tupper.'. Seller Inventory # 20815
Quantity: 1 available
[Cyril Beaumont, dance historian.] Seven Autograph Letters Signed and seven Typed Letters Signed to publisher Philip Dosse, regarding reviews in 'Dance and Dancers', payment, ill health, and his memoir 'Bookseller at the Ballet'.
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Between 13 January and 13 January 1976. Each of the fourteen items on his letterhead 68 Bedford Court Mansions Bedford Avenue WC1, 1972
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Softcover
Seller: Richard M. Ford Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See 'Death of a Bookman' by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of 'Books and Bookmen' at the time of Dosse's suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present material is in good condition, lightly aged. A total of 18pp, 12mo (nine pages apiece in autograph and typed). In the first letter (13 January 1972, typed) he states that he would 'love' to review Richard Buckle's book on Nijinsky for 'Dance and Dancers', but that he 'dare not take on any further commitments', as he is 'already in arrear with literary work', in addition to visiting his wife in a nursing home every day. On 28 August 1973 he agrees to review Kerensky's 'Pavlova', noting that the review of the Buckle book is on his conscience. The correspondence continues with reference to reviews he has undertaken for Dosse, payments and ill health. On 23 September 1975 (typed) he thanks Dosse 'for asking Buckle to review my book for B[ooks]. & B[ookmen], while possibly Peter Williams may review the book for D[ance]. & D[ancers].' He also thanks him for the offer of a free advertisement in both magazines for his forthcoming memoir 'Bookseller at the Ballet'. 'This would be a great help. I should mention that I am publishing the book myself, so I shall have to go cautiously in regard to taking paid space, I have spent so much on the production of the book, which should be ready during November.' In a later letter he states that he is sending a copy of the book's prospectus, and on 6 November 1975 he sends copies of the book 'for the favour of review'. In the final letter (13 January 1976, autograph) he thanks him for the free advertisements, while expressing worry that Dosse is 'losing advertisement revenue'. He ends by stating that he has 'not been too well lately, but I am now getting back to normal'. Beaumont died four months later, or 24 May 1976. Seller Inventory # 24851
Quantity: 1 available
[Sir Arthur Bryant, historian and biographer of Samuel Pepys.] Seven Autograph Letters Signed and four Typed Letters Signed to publisher Philip Dosse, regarding reviews in 'Books and Bookmen', and his writing a multi-volume biography of Dr Johnson.
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Between 12 May and 22 January 1976. On either of two of his letterheads: from 18 Rutland Gate London SW7 or Myles Place The Close Salisbury, 1974
Used
Softcover
Seller: Richard M. Ford Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
See his entry in the Oxford DNB, the revised version of which describes his pre-war Nazi sympathies. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See 'Death of a Bookman' by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of 'Books and Bookmen' at the time of Dosse's suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present collection of eleven items totals 17pp (fourteen pages in autograph and four typed), in various sizes from 4to to 12mo. Each letter is on either one of his London or Salisbury letterheads, but in some the addresses are substituted, so that in the event only two are addressed from London. In the first letter (12 May 1974, typed) he states that he has been 'working day and night to get the first volume of my Life of Dr. Johnson finished by the end of this month' (the book remains unpublished), but that when he is 'less driven' he will be 'delighted to review an occasional book' for Dosse. In the next letter (17 November 1974, autograph) he states that his 'first volume on Johnson - "The Ascent of Parnassus" - won't be appearing now till next summer or autumn, as I wasn't satisfied with it and have spent this summer rewriting it. Its successor - "The English Socrates" - will have to wait till the following year. I thought the review of John Wain's book excellent.' In the next letter (30 December 1974, autograph) he complains that it has taken the Post Office 'more than five weeks' to deliver the copy of John Terraine's 'The Mighty Continent', sent for review by Dosse. In a subsequent letter (14 May 1975, autograph) he apologizes 'that the slowness of my recovery from my fall should have so long delayed my doing what you so kindly asked me to do'. He has written a first draft of Terraine's book, but is 'not yet satisfied with it'. He is however enclosing a review of 'what I consider to be a very unusual and perceptive volume of verse - a view I share with John Betjeman - by Louise Stockdale (The Hon Lady Stockdale) called "Waiting for Charon", which seems to me to merit far more notice than it is likely to receive in the scanty columns of our current literary press'. On 30 September 1975 (typed) he thanks Dosse for asking 'who I would like to review my Thousand Years of British Monarchy. Two people who were very keen that I should publish it are Eizabeth Longford and Dr. A. G. Dickens'. In a long autograph postscript he apologizes for 'the untidiness of the script and for not having it retyped, but in the pandemonium of my move - I have myself manhandled more than 10,000 books and carried them to their new shelves, in the past four weeks'. A letter of 31 October 1975 (autograph) states that he is sending a copy of 'my attempt to tell the essentials of our history in 35,000 words'. A week later he asks Dosse to arrange for a review of a book by 'an old friend', William Seymour's 'Battles in Britain'. 'It is a very fine piece of work, readable, accurate and, as military history should be, admirably clear. If the idea of my doing it appeals to you, there is no need to send me another copy, as I have one.' At the end of the same month, November 1975, Bryant thanks Dosse for his generosity over the advertisement for Bryant's book, adding 'The more I think about it, the more impressed I am by your achievement in making "Books and Bookmen" what it is - a great literary forum at a time when our literary cultural heritage seemed almost destroyed'. On 3 January 1976 (autograph) he sends a review of Margaret Lane's book on Dr Johnson, and enquires whether the Athenaeum club subscribes to 'Books and Bookmen': 'I have not seen it on display there. If not, I would like to write to the Librarian suggestion [sic] that, as the leading book-reviewing magazine, apart from the Times Lit. (and far superior to that!) now in England, it should certainly be in the Athenaeum library. The same applies to the R.A.C. and the Beefsteak, of both of which I am members, though I imagine Pratt's hasn't much place for monthly magazines, at least in these inflationary days.'. Seller Inventory # 24873
Quantity: 1 available
[George Clarke Musgrave, English-born American soldier and writer] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'G. C. Musgrave') to a reviewer on the 'Figaro', concerning his book 'To Kumassi with Scott'. With printed publisher's flier and press cutting.
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Seller: Richard M. Ford Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
The two letters and flier are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper; the cutting is on aged newsprint, separated into two parts along a crease line. Letter One (17 December 1896): 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. He informs the recipient that, as the review list for the book is closed, its publishers Wightman & Co have sent on the reviewer's letter to Musgrave. 'We are following this course as much interest exists between the North Country & West Africa. In fact the deadly colonies of the coast would soon come to a standstill, were it not for the labours of numbers of Scotchmen, who brave the climate in a way that makes "Southerners" wonder'. He describes his book as 'an unpretentious little volume, of more interest perhaps, for its side lights than the account of the expedition, which has been so fully dealt upon in Major Baden Powell's Diary "The Downfall of Prempeh".' Baden Powell's book is 'a well produced & expensive work [.] beyond the reach of ordinary readers, whilst its interest is mainly military rather than general'. Letter Two (25 December 1896): 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. He discusses a photographic reproduction which the recipient would like to accompany his review in the Figaro. Musgrave gives the details of the printer (J. Lesley, 17 Charlotte Street, Portland Place), and explains how to obtain and return the 'fair block, taken from a small snap shot enlargement', which the recipient wishes to accompany the review. Musgrave is 'sailing to Cuba in the course of a few days', and lists four people to whom he would like copies of the review sent. Printed flier: 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Headed 'Now Ready. | To Kumassi with Scott. | A new & popular edition of a work on West Africa and the Ashanti Expedition. | By George C. Musgrave'. The last page prints three endorsements: the first from H. M. Stanley, the second from the Daily News, the third from 'An Officer who served with the Force'. The cutting is headed: 'The occupation of Kumasi. [sic] | King Prempeh a prisoner. | Arrest of the envoys. | Official despatches.'. Seller Inventory # 13770
Quantity: 1 available
[Thomas Dibdin] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'T: Dibdin') from the playwright/song-writer Thomas Dibdin to his publisher John Whitaker of Button & Whitaker discussing work and finances; with an autograph cheque signed by Dibdin.
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The two letters: 'Weston Green 10th: July ' and 'Johnsons Coffee House | Monday Evg: July 1812'. Cheque: 'London September 19th: 1817', 1812
Used
Hardcover
Signed
Seller: Richard M. Ford Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
All three items are on stubs, within a card wallet. All good, on aged paper. Letter One: 'Weston Green 10th: July'. 1 p, 4to. On bifolium, with verso of second leaf addressed to 'Mr: Whitaker | St: Pauls Church Yard | London', with two postmarks (one 'KINGSTON - T | 12'), and docketed 'Mr; T. Dibdin | July 1812.' Whitaker will have 'two, or perhaps all three' of the songs by Monday's post, and 'with respect to the remuneration, I am still from the failure of my last Opera in want of the Sum I once before mentioned to you - if you woud [sic] procure me the Loan of a hundred or a hundred and fifty Pounds for a few Months you shall be welcome by way of Interest to any thing my Efforts in the scribbling way can furnish'. He will send 'the Song of Mr: Spriggs' on the Monday, and asks for an answer to be sent to 'Johnsons Coffee house, Surrey Theater'. Letter Two: 'Johnsons Coffee House | Monday Evg:'. 1 p, 4to. On bifolium, with recto of second leaf addressed to 'Mr: Whitaker | W: Smithfield', and verso of second leaf docketed 'Mr. T. Dibdin | July 1812.' He is sending 'Mr: Spriggs & nine Songs for Choice or to keep all, if of any use, and if there is any other Style you can point out I will gladly adopt it [.] there are 8 Lady's & one Sailors Song - but the latter might be sung by a Lady'. He has a farce 'accepted by Mr. Harris in which I shall introduce the Song Fawcett refused for Matthews which you I hope will publish - & if you woud [sic] take a Ballad in it I'll write one for you - there are no other Songs in the Piece'. Cheque: Addressed 'To Messrs. Button & Whitaker | St. Pauls Church Yard', and dated 'London September 19th: 1817'. Entirely in manuscript on rectangular slip of paper, 23.5 x 9.5 cm. With embossed tax stamp. 'Two Months after date please to pay me or my Order the Sum of One Hundred and Fifty Pounds Value received | [Signed] Thos Dibdin'. Crossed, endorsed, and accepted by Sir John Lubbock & Co. With typed transcript of the three items. Seller Inventory # 11275
Quantity: 1 available
[Sir Alexander Crichton, personal physician to Tsar Alexander I of Russia.] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Alr. Crichton') to his London publisher John Churchill, regarding publishing arrangements and review copies of his 'Commentaries'.
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Seller: Richard M. Ford Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
The subject is all three letters is Crichton's 'Commentaries on Some Doctrines of a Dangerous Tendency in Medicine', published by Churchill in 1842, and the three cast light on publishing practices for medical publications in the booktrade in early Victorian London. All three with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to one edge. ONE: 23 July 1842. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight damp stain to one corner. Chrichton begins by asking to be sent 'the two bound Copies of my work to the Bolt and Tun Fleet St. before three oCl on the day you receive this viz. Monday'. He asks him to 'add up the parcel' to him at Sevenoaks, giving details of the coach from that place to be used. He also asks to be sent 'copies of any periodical in which my Commentaries are reviewed or commented on, whether favorably or the reverse'. The letter concludes: 'If you hear any remarks on the work by the medical men who frequent your library perhaps you will be kind enough to communicate them.' TWO: 20 August 1842. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf, with postmark, to 'Mr Churchill | Bookseller | Wardour St | Soho | London'. In good condition. Folded four times. Before writing to his friend 'Professor Chelius [Maximilian Joseph von Chelius (1794-1876)] of Heidelberg' he is 'desirous of knowing if the copy of my Commentaries which I addressed to him has been forwarded, and when it left London'. He asks 'to what German bookseller or other person it was sent in order to be handed to him'. He concludes in the hope that 'the copy for the R[oya]l Soc[iet]y of Sciences at Gottingen has also been despatched'. THREE: 13 June 1850. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'Sir | A bookseller in Bath made me believe that he could sell the remaining copies of my Commentaries and accordingly I ordered Palmer (the printer) to send them to him. The unfortunate Speculator died soon after, and his Stock in trade was bought by a Mr Jennings who writes the accompanying letter to me.' He will ask Jennings to forward 'the parcel or package' to Churchill, 'but not in the hope that you can dispose of them at the price you first put on them, nor in fact, at almost any reasonable price'. He suggests a price for 'selling them to the trade' at which he will be satisfied, otherwise asking what to do with them. The letter concludes: 'My old age and its infirmities prevent me from coming to London and therefore I must ask you to favor me with your advice as soon as convenient to you.' From the distinguished autograph collection of the psychiatrist Richard Alfred Hunter (1923-1981), whose collection of 7000 works relating to psychiatry is now in Cambridge University Library. Hunter and his mother Ida Macalpine had a particular interest in the illness of King George III, and their book 'George III and the Mad Business' (1969) suggested the diagnosis of porphyria popularised by Alan Bennett in his play 'The Madness of George III'. Seller Inventory # 21784
Quantity: 1 available
2 Autograph letters signed to his publisher Bailliere, with 2 articles on his scientific work
Published by
Paris, 1872
Used
Seller: Jeremy Norman's historyofscience, Novato, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 3 out of 5 stars
Duchenne de Boulogne, Guillaume B. A. (1806-75). (1). 2 A.Ls.s. on his embossed stationery to the publisher Bailliere, dated 22 and 29 August 1872. 2pp. plus integral blank (22 August) & 2-1/2pp. (29 August). Together 4-1/2pp. 216 x 135 mm. & 210 x 135 mm. Creased where previously folded, edges of first letter chipped, light dust-soiling to second letter, but very good. Both letters docketed and annotated by recipient. With: (2). Motet, A[uguste] (1832- ). Duchenne (de Boulogne) et son oeuvre. loge. . . . Offprint from Ann. med.-psych., 8th series, 3 (1896). 8vo. 31 [1]pp. Paris: Masson et Cie., 1896. 244 x 158 mm. Original wrappers, tear in front wrapper. With: (3). Brissaud [Edouard] (1852-1909). L'oeuvre scientifique de Duchenne de Boulogne. Extract from Arch. d'electricite medicale exp. et clin. 7 (1899). 8vo. [448]-468pp. 242 x 162 mm. Disbound, several leaves loose, light foxing. Two letters from the founder of modern neurology in France, best known for his electrophysiological studies of the nerves and muscles; see G-M 614, 624, 4732, 4736, etc. In his first letter, Duchenne notifies his publisher that he will be returning several books lent to him by the Baillieres for the purpose of compiling an unnamed work-possibly the collection of articles published in the early 1870s under the title Contributions a l'Ètude du systeme nerveux et du systeme musculaire. Among the books Duchenne borrowed were a 2-volume work by Jaccoud (possibly his Traite de pathologie interne, 1870-71); a work by Holmes on the diseases of children (possibly Timothy Holmes' Surgical Treatment of the Diseases of Infancy and Childhood, 1868); Vol. III of Francois Longet's Traite de physiologie (3rd ed., 1868-69); and Leuret and Gratiolet's Anatomie comparee du systeme nerveux (1839-57). In the second letter Duchenne reminds the Baillieres that the Jaccoud work mentioned in his previous letter had been sent to him in error, and that the BailliËres had billed him twice for the Leuret-Gratiolet set. Accompanying these letters are two articles on Duchenne's life and scientific work. . Seller Inventory # 36266
Quantity: 1 available
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Three Autograph Letters Signed to His London Publisher, William Swan Sonnenschein
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[London: 1890-93]
Used
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Three ALS [autograph letters signed] on folded stationery sheets, as follows: 1. Dated "March 31" without year; from context, ca. 1888-1890. 2pp, ca. 250 words, in black ink; datemarked St. John's Wood, March 31. Requesting the publisher's permission to commission a German translation of his Russian Peasantry, which first appeared in 1888 with a second edition in 1890. Stepniak proposes 50/50 division of royalties and identifies the translator as [Victor] Adler, who has just been sentenced to three months in prison and thus now has "ample leisure" for undertaking the translation. Adler (1852-1918) was founder and first chairman of the Austrian Socialist Democratic Workers Party in 1888. Signed at close "S. Stepniak." Near Fine. 2. Dated November 6, 1890. 1pp, ca. 75 words, in blue ink. Declines a request from his publisher to undertake a book on the Jewish Question: ".it is impossible for me to write upon any question upon Jews or anything else, for I am quite full with preparing a series of American lectures." Signed at close, "S. Stepniak." Slight smudging final two lines and left margin, not affecting legibility. Very Good. 3. Dated May 15, 1893. 2pp, ca. 120 words, in black ink. Addressed to "Dear Mrs [i.e. messieurs] Sonnenschein," accepting an invitation to visit but stating he cannot arrive early. Signed at close "S. Stepniak." Light soil; Near FIne. Sergei Stepniak [aka Sergius; aka Sergey Stepnyak-Kravchinskii, 1851-1895] made his revolutionary bones during the Narodnik Rebellion of 1877-78 by openly assassinating Nikolai Mezentsov, the head of the Czar's secret police, on the streets of St. Petersburg. Kravchinskii committed the act in broad daylight in and made no attempt to disavow his guilt, living openly (if dangerously) for several months before finally escaping to Switzerland. He arrived in London around 1880 and quickly became the center of a lively Russian revolutionary exile scene. He founded the Society of Friends of Russian Freedom in 1891 and wrote a number of well-received books on revolutionary Russia, including Underground Russia (which had in fact been published in translation prior to his exile), The Russian Peasantry (1888); and a fictionalized account of his own exploits, The Career of a Nihilist (1889). He was killed, somewhat mysteriously we think, by an onrushing train in December of 1895, depriving him of any opportunity to witness the fruit of his labors in the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. Dying young, Stepniak did not leave a great body of manuscript material behind him, and relatively few letters with good content have appeared in commerce. Seller Inventory # 81182
Quantity: 1 available