English History – Rare (141 items)

John Campbell, Lives of the Admirals, And other eminent British Seamen

63. Campbell, John.

Lives of the Admirals, And other eminent British Seamen; containing Their Personal Histories, and a Detail of all their Public Services. Including A new and accurate Naval History, from the earliest Account of Time; and clearly proving by a continued Series of Facts, our uninterrupted Claim to, and Enjoyment of, the Dominion of our Seas. Interspersed With many curious Passages, relating to our Discoveries, Plantations and Commerce. Supported throughout by proper Authorities.

The Third Edition. In Four Volumes (complete set). London, Printed for T.Osborne, C.Hitch and L.Hawes, H.Woodfall, J.Rivington and others, 1761. Octavo (13.5 cm x 20.5 cm). Pagination [see full list of maps and portraits below the description]: Volume I: 587 pages with one folded map and two portraits / Volume II: 580 pages with one folded map and two portraits / Volume III: 488 pages with two fold-out maps / Volume IV: 519 pages with two fold-out maps. Hardcover / Original 18th century – calf with gilt ornament and original spine-labels [of which one spine-label has been recently replaced in matching style]. Bindings all firm and with only minor signs of wear and bunping to top and bottom of spine’s. Interior, Maps and Portraits all in excellent condition. Very inor, faded dampstain to the outer margins of some pages of Volume III. From the library of Daniel Conner (Connerville / Manch House), with his Exlibris / Bookplate to pastedown.

EUR 1.480,-- 

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

66. [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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[Saunders, Rider's British Merlin: For the Year of our Lord 1799.

73. [Saunders, Richard] Rider, Cardanus.

Rider’s British Merlin: For the Year of our Lord 1799. Being the Third after Bissextile or Leap-Year. Adorned with many delightful and useful Verities, fitting all Capacities in the Islands of Great Britain’s Monarchy. With notes of Husbandry, Fairs, Marts, High Roads and Tables for many necessary uses. Compiled for the Country’s Benefit by Cardanus Rider. [With: “The Arms of the Peers, Peeresses &c. of England, Scotland & Ireland the Insignia of the Different Orders of Knighthood with the Baronets of Great Britain and the Dates of their Creations” [With: “Heraldry in Miniature” / Including a small section to the end of the publication with “British Governments in America and the West-Indies with Upper Canada – Lower Canada – Cape Breton – Virgin Island – Montserrat – Grenada – Jamaica – Leeward Islands – Barbados [Barbadoes]” etc.]. [ With a section on “Peers, Peeresses and Bishops of Ireland – That are Not Peers of England”].

London, Printed for the Company of Stationers, 1799. Slim-Octavo (9,5 cm x 16 cm). Collation complete with parts of the book interleaved: 60, XXXVI, [122 + 4 misbound planches with coats of arms, pagination incorrect but all plates available that are called for], plus 321 pages [House of Peers of Great Britain with misprinted pagination to the beginning of the 321 pages]. Original Hardcover / 18th century or early 19th century red leather. Stronger rubbed but firm and intact binding. Interior with tear to page 15/16, some minor foxing and browning only, some writing to interleaved pages in a child’s hand. All plates with Heraldic Bearings, Coat of Arms, Emblemata, Badges etc. included. Here the rare 1799 publication with over 500 examples of Heraldry of Ireland, Scotland and England. Includes Irish Earls, Irish Barons, Irish Archbishops, Irish Viscounts, etc. [Coat of Arms of Fingal, Glandore, Lisburne, Winterton, Arran, Barrymore, Marq. Donegall, Clanricarde, Fife, Lowth, Upper Ossory etc. etc.]

EUR 680,-- 

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

80. 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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