Manuscript Letters/Autographs (52 items)

Adorno / Horkheimer / Haag - Wichtige Sammlung von bedeutenden Arbeitsexexemplaren / Widmungsexemplaren / Autorenexemplaren der Frankfurter Schule

1. [Adorno, Theodor W. / Horkheimer, Max / Benjamin, Walter] Haag, Karl-Heinz / Schweppenhäuser, Prof. Dr. Hermann.

Wichtige Frankfurter Schule-Sammlung von sehr bedeutenden Arbeitsexemplaren / Widmungsexemplaren / Autorenexemplaren, Autographen und Manuskript-Notiz-Zetteln des deutschen Philosophen Karl-Heinz Haag. Die Arbeitsexemplare (Sieben Buchtitel in neun (9) Bänden) und handschriftlichen Notizen und Autographen (Postkarten), stammen aus der privaten Bibliothek des Adorno und Horkheimer- Schülers, Karl-Heinz Haag. Die in der Sammlung enthaltenen Manuskript-Notizen und Autographen (Postkarten von Horkheimer) sind inhaltsreich und teilweise auch deshalb sehr bedeutend, weil es unter Insidern bekannt ist, dass Haag auch während seiner aktiven Zeit innerhalb der Frankfurter Schule notorisch wenig veröffentlicht und schriftlich kommentiert hat. Beiliegt ausserdem ein Zeitungsausschnitt zur Adorno-Lehrstuhl-Nachfolge. / Important, stunning collection of seven, signed or/and annotated association-copies (working-copies) from the private library of german philosopher Karl-Heinz Haag. Haag was pupil, friend and colleague of Adorno and Horkheimer and was one of the members of the Frankfurt School of Social Theory and Social Research. The collection of annotated books (Seven Booktitles in nine (9) volumes) also includes ephemera (Autograph postcards, newspaper-clipping, as well as several manuscript – pages of significant notes and thoughts by Karl-Heinz Haag regarding topics discussed in some of these publications). The collection is especially important because Haag published and commented notoriously little during and after his tenure in Frankfurt. [See complete set of photographs of this collection on our website].

Frankfurt u.a., Suhrkamp / Institute of Social Research / Kohlhammer etc., 1955 – 1972. Octavo. Paginierung / Collation: 1. Adorno – Aspekte der Hegelschen Philosophie (Inscribed, signed): 59 Seiten mit zahlreichen Annotationen /59 pages, heavily annotated / 2. Haag – Kritik der neueren Ontologie (Author’s copy): 59 Seiten / 59 pages / 3. Adorno – Drei Studien zu Hegel (Inscribed, signed): 172 Seiten mit zahlreichen Annotationen / 172 pages with annotations / 4. Horkheimer – Zur Kritik der instrumentellen Vernunft (Inscribed, signed): 353 Seiten mit vielen Anmerkungen und Anstreichungen / 353 pages, heavily annotated / 5. Horkheimer – Kritische Theorie (Inscribed, signed): XIV, 376, XI, 358 Seiten mit zahlreichen Anmerkungen und Anstreichungen / XIV, 376, XI, 358 pages, heavily annotated / 6. Schweppenhäuser – Tractanda (Inscribed, signed): 141 Seiten / 141 pages. Original Softcover and Hardcover – Volumes. Sehr guter Erhaltungszustand aller Publikationen mit teilweise eingelegten, handschriftlichen Notizen sowie ein alter Zeitungsartikel in dem der Zersetzungsprozess der Frankfurter Schule kommentiert wird. / All publications in very good condition with minor signs of wear. Amazing provenance and possibly one of the last important collections surfacing from the library of a member of the Frankfurt School. The inter-connection between Adorno – Haag – Horkheimer, reflected in Haag’s annotations, lends itself for study and new publications of criticism.

EUR 6.800,-- 

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Collection of Five (5) Manuscript Letters from Greek-American Philosopher, Raphael Demos

2. [Aiken, Henry David] Demos, Raphael.

Collection of Five (5) Manuscript Letters from Greek-American Philosopher, Raphael Demos to Philosopher Henry David Aiken. Besides very few personal matters (Aiken rented a Lice-infested house from Demos), the letters are lengthy and full of content regarding philosophical questions. Demos thanks Aiken for his “thoughtful comments about my article on ‘Society and the Individual’ and Demos reflects on Aiken: “Now as to your point that goodwill is addressed to me which is capable of joys and sorrows and not just an angel – I will distinguish between respect and goodwill. Angels, because rational, have intrinsic worth, and so claim respect certainly. Value and respectability don’t imply capacity for feeling. But goodwill does imply that the recipient is a striving, failing, succeeding, up-ended individual, who has sorrows & grip – not just an angelic being. While the Greek identify man with his rationality, it is noticeable that common sense proceeds otherwise; when the Radcliffe girls say their Professor is so human, they don’t mean he is intellectual, they mean the opposite – that he has non-rational impulses and feelings…..” / The collection of letters originates from the personal collection of Henry Aiken and also comes with a scathing letter from American Philosopher Arthur Edward Murphy in which Murphy writes to Aiken about Raphael Demos and does not hold back in his evaluation of Demos and his Philosophy: “I just saw your remarks re Demos in the Journal. Very well done ! I think Demos is not very bright, however, and it is perhaps better not to give him too much publicity. I don’t think he will convert any one except for those already suffering from dithers & blithers. And it is a waste to refute him. Intelligent people don’t have to be convinced. And bigots like R.D. can’t be convinced. Strictly speaking, before Demos creates an obligation in others… he ought to say in plain unemotional prose what he means by such concepts as ‘God’ & ‘evidence’. It is perfectly possible that if we knew how he uses these terms, we would agree that what he says is trivially true. This discussion is presumably in the domain of logic. But discussion on that domain when one of the parties refuses to make explicit the rules of his game can never terminate in illumination. Nevertheless, I think you handled him neatly & have done yourself no harm as general opinion is concerned. He is a perfect horrible example of retrogression. Ugh ! A perfectly low grade person morally & intellectually nonregarding as a seer & defender of orthodoxy…… Have you seen Lazerowitz’s [Morris Lazerowitz] paper in Mind on Universals. It is highly provocative. I would like to discuss it with you….”.

Westport Point (Massachusetts), c.1944 – 1967. Octavo. 13 pages of letters by Raphael Demos to Aiken / [Plus:] 1 page of a manuscript letter by Arthur Edward Murphy to Aiken about Demos. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. Original Letters or anything published by Raphael Demos or Arthur Edward Murphy, are very rare !

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Beston, Full Speed Ahead. Tales from the Log of  a Correspondent with Our Navy.

5. Beston, Henry B. / [Sims, Admiral William Sowden].

Full Speed Ahead. Tales from the Log of a Correspondent with Our Navy. [Inscribed Association copy from Henry B. Beston to Admiral William Sowden Sims – with original typescript in an envelope that is tipped into the pastedown / It is a typescript of a letter that was written during Beston’s time as editor at the magazine “The Living Age” (an offshoot of ‘Atlantic Monthly’) and stunningly also reflects on Beston’s classmate, Theodore Roosevelt, whom he obviously gave a copy of this book and according to Beston’s letter to Sims, Theodore Roosevelt and his children confirming that they enjoyed it. The letter reveals that Beston sends this book as a “thank you” to Admiral Sims for his time as war correspondent under Sims’ command during World War I. The typescript of the letter must be seen as an extension to Beston’s Preface in the book in which he writes: “And no acknowledgment, no matter how studied or courtly, its phrasing, can express what I owe to Admiral Sims for the friendliness of my reception, for his care that i be shown all the Navy’s activities, and for his constant and kindly effort to advance my work in every possible way”].

First Edition. New York, Doubleday, 1919. Octavo. XIII, 254 pages. Original Hardcover in protective Mylar. Very Scarce [OCLC locates only 1 copy]. Very good + condition with only minor signs of external wear. The definitive, signed and inscribed association copy by Henry B. Beston to Admiral William Sowden Sims and also with a letter typescript to Admiral William Sowden Sims. The inscription reads: “To Admiral Sims with every grateful good wish of the author – Henry Beston Sheahan – 1919”.

EUR 1.400,-- 

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Bushby, Round the World from North to South with Rod & Camera

9. Bushby, John / [Maori Village Travels] –

Round the World from North to South with Rod & Camera / Collection of three Volumes of printed and manuscript travelogue (reads like a logbook) / Travel Diary. Volume I – Privately printed, luxury photoalbum from the year 1907 – 1908 with 142 pages of printed photographs of a trip through Canada, Alaska South Sea Islands (Suva, Fiji), Tonga, New Zealand with several photographs of a trip on S.S.Manuka (Union Steam Ship Company) with images of life on board and of the trip to Maori Villages, Rotoiti, Tu Moana, Cape Horn, Rio de Janeiro, Teneriffe, Hunting, Fishing, Camping etc. / Volume II: Manuscript Volume in an easy decipherable hand of a trip on the steamer “Pretorian” from Liverpool on July 30th, 1903 to New York, Maryland, then on to Vancouver and Japan with excellent travel descriptions and list of costs of lodging in Yokohama, Kyoto, Nagasaki etc. / Volume III: Continues the Travelogue to Singapore, Siam, Java, Japan, Hawaii (Honolulu and back to California) – With extensive listing of costs for Passage, Hotels etc. in New York, Honolulu, Hongkong, etc. This Volume with longer descriptions of Hong Kong etc.

Daere (Cumberland), Privately printed and original manuscript, 1903 – 1908. Octavo. Volume I – 142 pages / Volume II (Manuscript) – 89 pages / Volume III (Manuscript) – 185 pages. Original Hardcover and flexible red leather. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Magnificent account with exact and vivid descriptions of localities and the technique of the trip and its expenses. Ticket Prices, Hotel Costs, Voyage costs from Harbour to Harbour etc. etc. Unpublished account of a british merchant family’s private (Cotton Merchant) trip around the world.

EUR 1.800,-- 

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Collection of eight publications by and about Agnes Mary Clerke plus one autographed / signed manuscript - letter by Agnes Clerke.

10. [Clerke, Agnes Mary].

Collection of eight publications by and about Agnes Mary Clerke plus one autographed / signed manuscript-letter by Agnes Clerke [The letter answers the request of a fellow german Astronomer who complimented her on her History of Astronomy and asked for her permission to translate her latest work). The recipient is possibly german astronomer R.Engelmann who wrote about Nebula. The letter dates from 1891 and is written in perfect german (Agnes Clerke was known to have written reviews and letters in French, German, Greek and Italian). This rare collection includes the following books: 1. A.M.Clerke – Geschichte der Astronomie während des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Gemeinfasslich dargestellt. (Autorisierte deutsche Ausgabe von H.Maser) – First german edition of “A popular History of Astronomy during the 19th century” from 1889 – with a signed, contemporary manuscript letter by Agnes Clerke in german (!) regarding this publication / 2. Agnes Clerke – Familiar Studies in Homer (London, 1892) / 3. Agnes Clerke – “The Herschels and Modern Astronomy” (with a loosely inserted portrait of Sir William Herschel) (London, 1895) / 4. Agnes Clerke – “A popular History of Astronomy during the 19th century” (The important Fourth Edition, revised and corrected by the author) (London, Adam and Charles Black, 1902) – Famously: With the vintage photographs pasted to frontispiece and titlepage / 5. Agnes Clerke – “The System of the Stars” – Second Edition (London, 1905) / 6. Agnes Clerke – Modern Cosmogonies (London, 1905) / 7. Agnes Clerke – “A popular History of Astronomy during the 19th century” 1908-Reprint of the important Fourth Edition, revised and corrected by the author) (London, Adam and Charles Black, 1908) / 8. Mary Brueck / Mary Brück – Agnes Mary Clerke & The Rise of Astrophysics (Cambridge University Press, 2002).

A mixture of first and later editions. Berlin / London, Springer / Cassell / Longmans & Green and others, 1889 – 1908. Octavo. More than 2500 pages with many illustrations and diagrams etc. / The vintage letter has two pages filled and signed by Clerke in ink / The only modern publication within the collection is a very important monograph on Clerke by scientist Mary Brueck / Mary Brück, published by Cambridge University Press (275 pages). Original Hardcovers in bespoke protective collector’s Mylar. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. A stunning collection of all the major publications by this important woman astronomer. Agnes Clerke paved the way for women in science and must be seen as the pioneer female astronomer. The price includes worldwide free shipping of the collection per UPS Express Courier.

EUR 1.800,-- 

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Louis Cobbett - Two Manuscript Books of Laboratory Notes by student of bacteriology and later publisher of "The Causes of Tuberculosis", Louis Cobbett (1863 - 1947)

11. [Cobbett, Louis] [mentioned are: Behring, Emil von / Koch, Robert / Metchnikoff, Ilya (Élie) / Dönitz, Friedrich Karl Wilhelm / Ehrlich, Paul / Shield, Marmaduke and others]

Two Manuscript Books of Laboratory Notes by student of bacteriology and later publisher of “The Causes of Tuberculosis”, Louis Cobbett (1863 – 1947), dealing in these lab notes with the discovery of remedies for Tuberculosis and Diphtheria. Original, two-volume Manuscript-Compendium of research-notes regarding all the important discoveries in Bacteriology (Diphtheria and Tuberculosis) by contemporaries of Louis Cobbett during the years 1885 – 1908 (Behring, Koch, Metchnikoff etc.). The notes were started by Louis Cobbett in 1885, after graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge and while he was working towards his degree in 1899. The stunning documents are not only reading like a first-hand-journal of discoveries, citing and reflecting on all the important developments and medical advancements of the outgoing 19th and beginning 20th century, but these notes were written parallel to Robert Koch, Emil von Behring and others making their breakthrough discoveries for mankind’s desperately needed cures against Tuberculosis and Diphtheria. Cobbett reflects on the publications in the “Zeitschrift fuer Hygiene” and separately published books and articles. Louis Cobbett lists all the important and also the critical publications leading up to (for example) Koch’s discovery of Tuberculin (e.g.: Beck – “Ueber die diagnostische Bedeutung des Kochschen Tuberculins”), he mentions Emil von Behring, Paul Ehrlich’s “Ueber die Constitution des Diphteriegiftes”, he cites A.Jeffery Turner’s “Statistics on the Diphtheria mortality of the 3 principal Australian Colonies for the past 15 years” (published in 1899), he writes about Tuberculin production in fowl, he reflects on A.Calmette and G. Guerin, “supporting [Emil von] Behring in his contention that pulmonary tuberculosis is of intestinal origin”. Other mentions are “TB of human origin (from a cervical gland)”, he speculates on the publication by Fiebiger and Jensen regarding the transmission of tuberculosis from human to animal, he offers drawings of cultures with Rabbit emulsions, Bovine Characters, Avian cultural characters etc. A few lectures are referred to, including one by Sims Woodhead, a colleague of Louis Cobbett and no doubt attended by Cobbett himself; one newspaper report has been pasted in: ‘Important conference’ in Leeds, from Yorkshire Post 1899 / Louis Cobbett intensely elaborates on Kossel and his report on the english Tuberculosis – Commission in 1908 (H. Kossel – Die Tuberkulosefrage und die Arbeiten der englischen Tuberkulosekommission).

[Cambridge], c. 1885 – 1908. Octavo (17 cm x 21 cm). 90 blank leaves with manuscript entries in each volume, usually written on rectos only. Hardcover / Original half leather with dark blue cloth-covered boards bearing paper-labels to covers, detailing some of the sources cited within; marbled endpapers and edges. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear.

EUR 2.400,-- 

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Collection of four very important and meaningful manuscript letters by Leopold II

12. Congo / Kongo – Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909) – King of the Belgians and Owner / Absolute Ruler of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.

Collection of four very important and meaningful manuscript letters by Leopold II to his administrator and Foreign Minister of the Congo – Free-State, Baron Adolphe de Cuvelier (1860-1931) with a total of 16 pages filled with Leopold’s instructions on pressing issues regarding a warning about an imminent visit by the Rector of the Mill-Hill Missionaries [probably Herbert Alfred Henry Vaughan (1832 – 1903)] and Leopold’s qualification of the visit of being detrimental to the Congo Free State (″ne travaillent pas pour l’État”). Leopold continues in another letter to talk about the hostile positions of english officials (consuls) and missionaries (″que les consuls anglais et les missionnaires anglais se conduisent bien mal envers l’État”). Interestingly, Leopold also touches on the nuisance of the german press criticizing Belgian Railway Lines and he is of the opinion that this is all happening in order to force the german parliament [″Reichstag”] to finance the building of the Tanganyika Railway [between Dar es Salaam and Kigoma]: (″cherche à effrayer l’opinion [en] Allemagne à propos de mes chemins de fer afin d’obtenir du Reichstag des fonds pour la ligne allemande vers le Tanganika”.

16 pages of MLS, Manuscript Letters (signed) on 10 leaves of Leopold’s official stationery “Château de Laeken” and “Palais de Bruxelles”. Laeken / Brussels, Château de Laeken [Palace of Laeken], 1901 – 1906. The leaves with different sizes (13,5 cm x 9 cm) and (18 cm x 11,5 cm). Excellent condition. Unsigned. Tremendously rare to find original letters by Leopold II on the open market in which the Colonial Free State and the protection against inquisitive visitors is discussed in such clear and instructive fashion. Leopold’s correspondence with Adolphe de Cuvelier shows how he is very much trying to still protect and influence the narrative of his Colonial Slavery Outpost even in the final years of his life.

EUR 2.800,-- 

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[Cumberbatch, Large Family Archive of the Benwell Rees - Family, including William Benwell Rees

13. [Cumberbatch, Benedict] Cumberbatch, Henry Arnold / Rees, Helen / Basil Benwell Rees / William Benwell Rees / Etheldreda Blanche Barker / [Sir Winston Churchill / Sir Anthony Arthur Duncan Montague Browne [Private Secretary to Sir Winston Churchill]].

Large Family Archive of the Benwell Rees – Family, including William Benwell Rees (brother to actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s grandmother Helen Rees, by marriage to British Diplomat Henry Arnold Cumberbatch, who was Consul in Romania, Turkey and Lebanon ). The archive includes at least one manuscript letter by Henry Arnold Cumberbatch and around one thousand documents chronicling the lives of the ex-patriate Benwell Rees family from 1890-1970 in Alexandria and Monaco, including William Benwell Rees, whose marriage to Etheldreda Blanche Barker cemented the family’s role in the highest circles of Alexandria life. The archive also charts their son Basil Rees’ decade in Monaco under Princess Grace and Prince Rainer III where he served as President of the British Association in the 1950’s-‘60s and solicited a letter written by Sir Anthony Arthur Duncan Montague Browne, on Winston Churchill’s behalf on Chartwell headed paper in which the former Prime Minister declined to attend an event in Monaco [signed by Montague Browne]. The archive is held in five heavy volumes, bursting with a plethora of amazing and wonderful historical letters, ephemera, emotional messages and telegrams, old images, theatre-programmes, and especially also includes programmes of plays in which ancestors of Benedict played (J.M.Barrie, Shakespeare etc.). The original letters and documents paint an interesting picture of Benedict Cumberbatch’s grandmother’s side of the family history in the Levant, their service in the Middle East and their social lives. The five volumes are bound in bespoke red morocco over textured paper-covered-boards and they contain at least one reference to Helen Rees next to a newspaper-clipping and dozens of wonderful handwritten letters and cards. Each volume about four inches across spine with title in gilt to upper cover and around 100 leaves in each with documents mounted recto and verso throughout, with photographs, invitations, business materials and clippings that chart the family’s life in their service for the British Colonial Office. The five Volumes include for example: Volume 1: The Benwell Rees’: begins with Egyptian Gazette, 1890 and a programme for a performance c1900 at the Port Theatre, Marina, Alexandria of Rumpelstilkskin; visiting cards and contemporary reports of the marriage of W B Rees and Etheldreda Blanche Barker in Alexandria, February 1901; Windsor Hotels prospectus and flyer (a WBR enterprise); 1913 Casino de Monte Carlo ticket for Ethel Rees; Kings School Canterbury ephemera and St Johns’ College, Cambridge for Basil Rees from 1920’s, graduated June 1924. Volume 2: The Benwell Rees’ Vol II, 1920’s-1990’s: includes J M Barrie, Quality Street programme for English Girls’ School, Alexandria, 1941; invitations from Princess Grace of Monaco etc Volume 3: Basil Rees Vol III, cover nearly detached, 1953- Basil Rees living at 2 Rue Origene, Alexandria, and covering period of move to Palais Majestic, Monaco after which he served as President of the British Association and his sudden death in 1967. Invitations to dinner and place settings with the Prince and Princess of Monaco. Birthday greetings; international stamp collecting societies. Photographic ‘Permis de Sejour’ for William Benwell Rees in Monaco, October 1918. Volume 4: Basil Rees Vol. IV Begins with telegram from Rees to the Queen; mostly very extensive formal correspondence concerned with Rees’ Presidency of he British Association in Monaco; invitations, notes, printed volume of Statutes of association from 1950, royal correspondence with Monaco and Britain. Volume 5: Basil Rees 4-5 1902 Vol II; William Basil Benwell Rees; Royal Navy ID card, British Forces, September 1943 – other material relating to Rees’ work as Duty Defence Officer at the Royal Navy Defence Base in Alexandria, HMS Nice. Volume begins in 1902 and includes Alexandria Dog Show, W B B Rees at Jesus College, Cambridge; Egypt NAAFI permits; lock of Basil Rees’ hair, aged 2 etc.

Alexandria / Monaco / etc., c. 1902 – 1967. Octavo. Half Morocco. Bindings stronger rubbed and slightly damaged.

EUR 7.800,-- 

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Vere Foster, "Presentation Copy of "The Two Duchesses" with Autograph / Manuscript-Letter

16. Foster, Vere [Henry Louis / Lewis] / [Emily Albinia “Alba” Foster] / [Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire].

Amazing Vere Foster-Collection including Educational Materials and as a centerpiece the “Presentation Copy of “The Two Duchesses” with Autograph / Manuscript – Letter by Vere Foster to his niece, Emily Albinia “Alba” Foster. With a stunning, unpublished, two-page-letter, revealing several important details about the immediately favorable reviews and reception of the book [″in the Daily Telegraph”] and Vere Foster’s disdain about some criticism from one J.Donohue [which led to an alteration in the second edition of the book]. Vere Foster is also expecting a review to appear in the “Athenaeum” but reports “the Athenaeum has nothing yet”. Vere Foster apologizes to his niece for the delay in sending the book and explains that he had left 12 “parcels″£ with Blackie’s agent and gave instructions to send them but a few days later found they had been “untouched”. / The Two Duchesses – Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire – Family Correspondence of and Relating to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire, Earl of Bristol (Bishop of Derby), The Countess of Bristol, Lord and Lady Byron, The Earl of Aberdeen, Sir Augustus Foster Bart, and Others, 1777-1859. [See Full list of items which are part of this collection, on our website under the topic “Libraries & Collections”].

First Edition. London / Glasgow and Dublin, Blackie & Son Limited, 1898. Octavo (15 cm x 22 cm). Pagination: Frontispiece, IX, [3], 497 pages with 18 Illustrations (including frontispiece and one Vignette of the two Duchesses opposite page 1). Hardcover / Original, publisher’s green cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Very good condition with some minor signs of wear only. This is an astonishing find for the Vere Foster Research Community and the letter gives significant insight into the importance the publication had for him, its reception as seen by Vere Foster and it solves the riddle why an altertaion was necessary for the second edition [which Vere Foster explains in a brief note to the reader at the beginning of the second edition]. The heartfelt inscription to his niece Albinia Foster is also of great importance and to our knowledge the only presentation-copy of this book on the international market for the several decades we can look back at auction records.

EUR 9.500,-- 

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Vere Foster, The Two Duchesses - Presentation copy with important manuscript letter [signed and inscribed]

17. Foster, Vere [Henry Louis / Lewis] / [Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire].

The Two Duchesses – Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire – Family Correspondence of and Relating to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire, Earl of Bristol (Bishop of Derby), The Countess of Bristol, Lord and Lady Byron, The Earl of Aberdeen, Sir Augustus Foster Bart, and Others, 1777-1859. First Edition. With 17 illustrations.

London / Glasgow and Dublin, Blackie & Son Limited, 1898. Octavo (16 cm x 22,5 cm). XII, 497 pages with 16 full-page-illustrations and one small vignette, showing the Two Duchesses in cordial embrace. Hardcover / Original, green publisher’s cloth with gilt lettering and ornament to spine and armorial supralibro to cover with the Motto of the “British chivalric Order of the Garter”: “Honi soit qui mal y pense” [″shame on anyone who thinks evil of it”]. Very good condition with some minor signs of wear only. “Presentation Copy of “The Two Duchesses” with Autograph / Manuscript – Letter by Vere Foster to his niece, Emily Albinia “Alba” Foster. With a stunning, unpublished, two-page manuscript letter, revealing several important details about the immediately favorable reviews and reception of the book “Two Duchesses” [″in the Daily Telegraph”] and Vere Foster’s disdain about some criticism from one J.Donohue [which led to an alteration in the second edition of the book]. Vere Foster is also expecting a review to appear in the “Athenaeum” but reports: “the Athenaeum has nothing yet”. Vere Foster apologizes to his niece for the delay in sending the book and explains that he had left 12 “parcels” with Blackie’s agent and gave instructions to send them, but a few days later found they had been “untouched”. One of the most important finds of Vere Foster – Material in recent years with no sign of similar material on offer in the past years on the international market.

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