Manuscripts
-
# 18640
THEVENARD, Antoine-Jean-Marie, Vice-Amiral (1733-1815)
[D’ENTRECASTEAUX EXPEDITION] Autograph letter signed by Vice-Admiral Thévenard, advising Roussillon that he is to be appointed surgeon and naturalist on d’Entrecasteaux’s expedition in search of La Pérouse.
Manuscript in ink on bluish watermarked laid paper, folio (310 x 200 mm); place and date ‘Paris, le 9 Juillet 1791’; signed ‘le Ministre de la Marine, Thévenard’; addressed (at foot) to ‘M. Roussillon’; scattered foxing. Vice-Admiral Antoine-Jean-Marie Thévenard (1733-1815) was Minister of the Marine between May and September, 1791. In this letter, he advises …
-
# 18639
HAMELIN, Emmanuel, Amiral (1768-1839)
[BAUDIN EXPEDITION] Autograph testimonial signed by Hamelin, commander of Le Naturaliste, written for one of his junior officers.
Manuscript in ink on bluish laid paper, 195 x 160 mm; place and revolutionary date of ‘Paris 1er thermidor an 11’ [20 July 1803], signed ‘Capitaine de frégate Commdt. Eel. Hamelin’; wet stamp of the Collection Deséglise; some foxing. Provenance: Collection Deséglise, France (late 19th – early 20th century), housed in the original Deséglise manila folder with manuscript …
-
# 16314
DERMÉE, Paul; TZARA, Tristan; BRETON, André; APOLLINAIRE, Guillaume; DELAUNAY, Robert, et al.
Dada and Surrealism : an archive
A collection of ephemeral publications, 1917 – 1960s. Dada and Surrealism – both diffuse artistic, literary and intellectual movements – were defining stages in the history of Modernism. Dada took shape in 1916 in Zurich at the famous Cabaret Voltaire, emerging in the work of artists and poets such as Tristan Tzara and Hans Arp. …
-
# 18662
SANDERS, David Locke (1817-1906)
[GOLD RUSH] Diary and notebook of an American gold miner, kept on the Victorian gold diggings at Forest Creek, Bendigo and Ballarat, 1853-57.
Manuscript contained in Diary, Memorandum Book and Almanack for 1853 (Concord, N.H. : Rufus Merrill, 1852). Duodecimo (130 x 90 mm), original wallet-style limp calf covers (worn) lettered in gilt ‘Diary 1853′; ownership inscriptions on pastedowns of David Locke Sanders of Concord, New Hampshire, U.S.A.; approximately [150] pages with Sanders’ entries in pencil and ink, comprising his …
-
# 18554
[ELLIS, Theophilus Tighe, Captain (1782-1834)]
Letter concerning the inheritance of lands owned by Superintendent Theophilus Ellis in the Swan River Colony.
Manuscript letter addressed to ‘The Hon’ble Colonial Secretary, Perth, Western Australia’ [Peter Nicholas Broun], headed ‘Cockermouth, Cumberland, 4 January 1842′, written by the as yet unidentified husband of one of Theophilus Ellis’ nieces. Single sheet, 265 x 410 mm, bifolium, written in ink on [3] pages, the fourth used for the address; the letter is …
-
# 18657
XIPHILINUS, Joannes (John); DIO CASSIUS
[BINDING] Ek ton Dionos tou Nikaeos Romanikon istorion, apo Pompeiou Magnou mechris Alexandrou tou Mamaias, epitome Ioannou tou Xiphilinou = Dionis Nicaei rerum Romanarum a Pompeio Magno ad Alexandrum Mamaeae, epitome authore Ioanne Xiphilino.
Lutetiae [Paris] : Regiis typis [Robert Estienne], 1551. Quarto (250 x 180 mm), in a striking contemporary binding of reused vellum containing 100 lines of fourteenth century manuscript in Latin, in black with initials in red and green, probably taken from a series of lections for the feast of St Peter, upper and lower boards with later …
-
# 18234
Peyrère, Isaac de la (1596-1676)
[MANUSCRIPT; ARCTIC] Extrait d’une Relation de Groenland addressée à M. de la Mothe le Vayer.
[Drop title]. [No date, but circa 1800]. Unbound manuscript in ink on laid paper, 225 x 165 mm, 3 1/4 pages; initialled ‘D’ at the foot; in very good condition, clean and legible. This manuscript is an extract from a work entitled Une Relation du Groenland (1647), written by Isaac de La Peyrère (1596-1676) while he was …
-
# 15242
SFORZA, Gian Galeazzo Maria, 1469-1494; [Isabella of Aragon, 1470-1524]
A love letter to the Mona Lisa?
A signed love letter of the young Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1469-1494) to his future bride, Isabella of Aragon (1470-1524). Sforza was later a confidant of Leonardo da Vinci; Isabella is considered by art historian Maike Vogt-Luerssen to have been the model for Leonardo’s Mona Lisa. Bifolium, 300 x 210 mm, on paper bearing the …
-
# 17833
Book of Hours (Use of Rouen)
Northern France (Rouen), c. 1490-1510. In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment; with 4 large miniatures with architectural borders, 10 large arch-topped miniatures, 8 small miniatures, and 24 calendar miniatures by a follower of the Master of the Échevinage of Rouen and the Playfair Hours Master, with borders by Jean Serpin. ii (paper) + i (parchment) + 96 …
-
# 18473
BODMAN, Anders Gustaf (Gösta), 1875-1960
The Swedish South Polar Expedition, 1901-1904 : expedition meteorologist and hydrographer Gösta Bodman’s unpublished manuscript account in the form of an archive of his private letters and Antarctic journal; with original photographs taken on Snow Hill Island, Antarctica.
Sammelband of manuscript material housed in a modern album, quarto (295 x 245 mm), cloth-backed marbled papered boards, containing [270] pages of Bodman’s manuscript letters and commentary, much of it written on Svenska Sydpolsexpeditionen stationery, the individual items archivally mounted on stubs; compiler’s title leaf in typescript Den Svenska Sydpolarexpeditionen 1901 – 1904, skildrad i privatbrev …
-
# 18526
[LANGLEY, Edward]
A Georgian engraved writing sheet.
London : Published, Printed & Sold by Edward Langley, Borough, and Champante & Whitrow, Jewry St. Aldgate, [c.1800]. Hand-coloured copper engraving on watermarked laid paper, 100 x 170 mm, child’s manuscript in ink ‘Mary Webster’ at centre; the lower section only of the original sheet, a little unevenly trimmed and foxed. The engraved writing sheet, or blank, was a …
-
# 18056
Creator unknown.
[ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT CHILDREN’S BOOK] The Adventures of Three Pins
[United Kingdom], circa 1900. Unpublished manuscript, comprising [19] loosely bound leaves from a nineteenth century scrap album, each 290 x 240 mm; the manuscript is written in ink in a late Victorian hand on 15 sheets of ruled paper laid down individually on the album leaves; the story is accompanied by 9 large ink and …
-
# 17253
HALL, James Norman (1887-1951)
[BOUNTY; TAHITI] James Norman Hall : typed letter, signed, by the co-author of Mutiny on the Bounty.
Typed letter, [7] pages, on thin paper, 280 x 215 mm, headed ‘At Sea, about 500 miles from N.Z. Sunday, August 19th, 1934’; with pencil map of ship’s journey through the islands of Tahiti and three lines of handwritten text; a private letter full of vivid, detailed descriptions of Tahiti as if it were being seen …
-
# 16669
KIPPIS, Andrew (1725-1795)
[COOK] Andrew Kippis : autograph letter, signed.
Sydenham, Kent, 17 June 1776. Entire letter, manuscript in ink on single folio sheet of wove paper watermarked G.R., 360 x 230 mm, written on 1 1/4 sides, addressed to ‘The Rev. Mr. Parry, at Cirencester, Gloucestershire’, signed at the foot ‘Your most affectionate Brother and obliged Servant, And. Kippis’; remnants of wax seal; original …
-
# 17482
[BAILLARD, Marie]
[MANUSCRIPT ATLAS] Contrées d’Europe
A beautiful manuscript atlas of the countries of Europe, drawn by a young French woman, Marie Baillard of the ‘2e. Cours des Réligieuses Saint-Charles de Saint-Pothin’, dated ’25 Juillet 1902′. Sketchbook, oblong folio (310 x 450 mm), printed card covers (short tear lower left front), [23] leaves with entries to recto only, comprised of title page …
-
# 17105
[TASMANIA; WINE] Entire letter sent from Circular Head to Launceston, August 27 1847, regarding the purchase of port wine.
Manuscript in ink, single folio sheet, 370 x 235 mm, folded, headed ‘Circular Head, August 27 1847’, signed at the foot ‘Yours truly, W. [Shepman?]’; outer side addressed to ‘W. Johnstone Esq. Launceston’ and endorsed ‘[Per] “Mercury”‘ / Paid’; old loss at 2 corners, small perforation from letter spike, but the letter itself is complete …