121. Wells, Percy A. (1867-1956) / [Letter by Morris, Mary ‘May’ (Designer)] / [Letter by Allom, Sir Charles Carrick (english decorator)] / [Letter by Garnett, Prof. William (Experimental Physics)] / [Letter by Henry, Jacob Solomon (Furniture Maker)] / Letter by Hems, Harry (English architectural and ecclesiastical sculptor)] / [Letter: Image, Selwyn (British Artist & Designer of the Arts & Crafts Movement)] / [Letter: Russell, Sir Sydney Gordon (English Designer & Craftsman) / [Letter: Quennell, Marjorie (Courtney) (British historian, illustrator and Museum Curator at The Geffrye Museum) //

Small Archive / Manuscript Material, Letters, Designs, Books and Pamphlets as well as vintage photographs of Furniture like Chairs (Percy A. Wells Chair), Wardrobe, Advertising of Exhibitions [chaired for example by Christopher Hussey], etc. etc. This material all originates from Percy A. Wells’ personal collection and sensationally also includes a manuscript notebook / sketchbook with his drawings, designs and a detailed, typescript with autobiographical memories in which Wells details his decades of being involved in Furniture Design. Loosely inserted in the manuscript notebook / sketchbook, is a signed manuscript letter on stationery of Kelmscott Manor by Mary ‘May’ Morris, daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and his wife and artists’ model, Jane Morris [included is ephemeral material which for example informs about a pair of Episcopal Gloves, designed by William Morris’s daughter [May Morris] and the clipping continues: “Those who remember Morris’s attitude towards the Church will smile and reflect upon time’s revenges”]. The collection includes an abundance of information which easily can lead to a monograph on the life of Percy A. Wells. Detailed description of the Archive and all materials contained below (more details will be listed constantly).

Dulwich / Shoreditch / London a.o., Percy A.Wells Private Library, c.1900-c.1920. Octavo / Quarto / Folio. Hardcover Folder with loosely inserted material like letters and photographs, envelopes, signed and inscribed books and rare pamphlets with designs etc. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. Fantstic Archive and lots of unpublished material of one of the more eminent Cabinet, Furniture and Chair – Designers which resulted from inspiration by William Morris’ Kelmscott – School. Percy A. Wells Chairs are still in regular demand today and sell for stunning prices (3000 £ etc.).

122. [Walter Benjamin Collection] – Guilleminot, Bœspflug et Cie. / [Paris during the World Exhibition in the Year 1900]

Collection of thirtyfour (34) original photographic glass-slides, allowing us to imagine the surroundings of Walter Benjamin’s “Arcades Project” and the Genesis of his Idea of “Paris as the Capital of the 19th Century”. While the Glass-Slides are NOT from Benjamin’s library or from one of his friends collections, they are contemporary artefacts which allow us to Timetravel into the Paris of Benjamin’s “Arcades” and illustrate Benjamin’s creation of the six sections of his “Arcades Project”: “Fourier, or the Arcades” ; “Daguerre, or the Panoramas”; “Grandville, or the World Exhibitions” ; “Louis-Philippe, or the Interior”; “Baudelaire, or the Streets of Paris”; “Hausmann, or the Barricades”. The slides were produced by Parisien Radio-Brom manufacturer of photographic plates and papers, “Guilleminot, Bœspflug et Cie”. The fantastic slides all produced around the time of the 1900 Paris Exposition (World’s Fair), known in french as “Exposition Universelle” in Paris. Included are photographic plates of the “Theatre Sarah-Bernhardt” at the “Place du Chatelet”, “Le Louvre”, “Paris – Buttes-Chaumont – Le Lac & Le Belvedere”, “Avenue de L’Opera”, “Place de Victoires”, “Gare St.Lazare – Rue de Rome”, L’Institut pris du pont des Arts”, “Gare Montsouris”, “Monument de Pasteur – Avenue de Breteuil”, “La Seine et L’Hotel de Ville”, “Pont au Change”, “Les Tuileries – avec “Charmeur d’Oiseaux”, “Le Conseil d’Etat”, “Avenue des Champs Elysees”, “Palais de Justice, Boulevard du Palais”, “Pont ALexandre III”, “Square d’Anvers”, “Grand Palais”, “Fontaine de Carpeaux”, “Jardin des Plantes” “Galerie de la Plaeontologie”, “Place du Carrousel – Arc de Triomphe”, “De Notre Dame sur l’Hotel Dieu – Tour St.Jacques – Sacre Coeur”, etc. Also included are some private images of family, picnic in the forests etc.

Paris, Exposition Universelle of 1900 / Guilleminot, Bœspflug et Cie., [c.1900]. 10.7 cm x 4.4 cm. 34 slides in three boxes (one of the boxes labelled: “Diapositifs de Verascope Richard”. Original Hardcover Boxes with glass-slides. Excellent condition with some minor signs of wear only.

123. Shoemaker, Michael Myers.

Palaces Prisons and Resting Places of Mary Queen of Scots.

No 26 of 375 Numbered Copies. London, H. Virtue and Company Limited, 1902. 37 cm x 29 cm. 196 pages. With 8 full page photo gravures, 24 full page plates and 30 textual illustrations. Original, parchment covered Softcover with supralibro to frontcover. Very good copy in the original white vellum covers. Only slightly foxed.

124. Somerville, Edith / Ross, Martin [Violet Martin].

A Patrick’s Day Hunt. [Engraved & Printed at the Racquet Court Press by Edmund Evans].

Westminster [London], Archibald Constable & Co., no year [c.1902]. Oblong Folio. 47 pages with eight (8) plates in colour and several illustrations in black-and-white. Original, illustrated Hardcover, now in professional colloctor’s Mylar. Some of the plates with some minor staining, one plate cleanly detached. But all plates in wonderful and vibrant condition overall (see photographs).

125. Tourista.

Tourista – Revue pratique de Voyages. [Incl.: “La Motocyclette et Le Grand Tourisme”] / Including the essay by Charles Rabot – “La Formation des Gorges”.

13 issues in one Volume (complete annual 1903). Paris, Prieur et Dubois, 1903. Octavo. 221 pages. Numerous monochrome illustrations throughout the Volume. Hardcover [contemporary buckram] with gilt lettering on spine / Original, decorative wrappers bound within / Alpine Club gilt insignia on lower spine. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Binding firm and strong. Interior bright and clean. Former library copy of the world-famous “Alpine Club” with thier subtle library stamp evident throughout.

126. Aarts, Johannes Josephus (1871 – 1934).

“Bedelaar” [″Bettler” / “Beggar”].

Rare, antique, vintage, original Lithograph by the dutch artist Johannes Josephus Aarts, showing the scene of an invalid beggar entering a Hamlet of farmers and asking for alms. Striking and beautiful scene in the typical earthy, nature-embedded, strong depiction by Aarts; full of character and gripping through the magnified presence of Aarts subjects, which are “in your face”. Signed in pencil by Johannes Josephus Aarts. [Fine Art-Paper watermarked “TRCHES”]. [Amsterdam], Roeloffzen, Hübner und van Santen, 1903. Size of the framed Picture: 63 cm wide x 53 cm high. Size of the Sheet : 49 cm wide x 41 cm high (the image itself: 22 cm x 30 cm). Excellent condition, beautifully framed. The price for this signed and rare lithograph includes free international courier shipping per UPS Express.

127. Baldry, A. L.

The Wallace Collection at Hertford House.

London, Goupil & Co., 1904. 22.5 cm x 30.2 cm. 302 pages. With black & white illustrations throughout. Original Hardcover in protective collector’s Mylar. Very good+ condition with only minor signs of external wear. The price for this heavy book includes international shipping per Courier !

128. Hubbard, Elbert.

Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Philosophers – Aristotle. Written by Elbert Hubbard and done into a book by The Roycrofters, at their shop, which is in East Aurora, New York, MCMIV.

New York, The Roycrofters, 1904. 15.5 cm x 20 cm. 22 pages. A variety of advertisements for Roycroft products and services at the beginning and end of publication. Original Softcover. Hand stiched with silk. Deckled edges. Unusually excellent condition of this fragile publication / Only minor signs of external wear. [Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Philosophers (Vol. XIV. March, 1904. No.3)].

129. [Mary, Queen of Scots] Foster, J.J.

Concerning the True Portraiture of Mary Queen of Scots. With a Chapter by L. Dimier on the French Court Painters of the XVI. Century. Illustrated by numerous examples selected from famous Collections.

London, Dickinsons, 1904. Large-Folio. Frontispiece, XVII, 125 (1) pages with 57 Illustrations (36 plates of which 4 are in color plus several text-illustrations). Original, very decorative red half-morocco with gilt lettering and ornament on spine / Coat of Arms of “Maria Regina″on front board. / Hardcover. Some signs of stronger external wear to upper hinge. Binding rubbed but firm. Only occasional foxing, also to some of the illustrations. Edition de Luxe: No.65 of 175 copies. Signed by J.J.Foster.

130. Società Rododendro.

Bollettino della Società Rododendro [ogni numero compresa una sezione / each issue including a section: “Sezione Automobilistica” / Compreso il numero unico “Paganella” per l’anno 1905 / With the extra number for 1905 “Paganella”].

Five Volumes (bound in 2). Trento, Società Rododendro / Scotoni & Viiti, 1904-1908. 21 cm x 30 cm. Vol.1-2, 200 pages / Vol.3-5, 240 pages. Monochrome illustrations and photographs throughout both volumes. Beautifully illustrated coloured paper issue covers in Vol.1-2. Fold-out map of ‘Val Nambino, Val Agola e Val Dalgone’ in Vol.3-5. Hardcover / Excellent, contemporary library Buckram with gilt lettering on spine / Illustrazione delle copertine [Art Nouveau] di Tevini e Vitti / [Original, beautifully decorative wrappers with art nouveau cover-art by Tevini and Vitti bound within]. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear and some occasional abrasions to the brochure – covers bound within. Interior unmarked. Binding strong and firm. Alpine Club stamps throughout. / Includes many pages with advertising on early car travel / Advertising for “Puch”, “Adler” and “Neckarsulmer” Motociclette / Local Advertising for tourism in the italian Trento [Trient / Alto Adige / Suedtirol] /