[100 Years Buddenbrooks in America] Mann, Thomas.

Buddenbrooks. [First American Edition in stunning condition with an amazing, signed Letter by Thomas Mann, thanking an admirer for reflecting on reading his masterpiece “Buddenbrooks”. Signed on 21st of June 1940, on personalized stationery of Thomas Mann from Princeton, New Jersey, Mann wrote: “Thank you for writing to me and for telling me that you liked ‘Buddenbrooks’ when you read it recently at Colby College. It gave me pleasure, too, to know that you heard my daughter Erika lecture and had ‘thoroughly enjoyed’ yourself. With all good wishes, yours sincerely. Thomas Mann” ]. Translated from the German by H. T. Lowe-Porter [American Translator Mrs. Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter].

Two Volumes (complete set). New York, Knopf, 1924. Octavo. 389, 359 pages. Original Hardcover with the very rare, original dustjackets in breathtaking condition (now in protective collector’s Mylar). Unusually Fine condition with the meaningful letter by Nobel Laureate Thomas Mann.

Aiken, Henry David / [Hans Jonas] / Quine, W.V.O.

Typed letter, signed by German-born, American Jewish philosopher Hans Jonas, loosely inserted in Henry David Aiken’s pamphlet “God and Evil: A Study of Some Relations Between Faith and Morals”. The Essay by Aiken is inscribed and signed by Aiken in a sarcastic manner: “To God, from one of his congregation – Shem”. In the letter, Jonas reflects on two pages on an evening with Henry David Aiken and his then wife Lillian Woodworth. In his letter to Aiken, Hans Jonas reports back to Aiken after reading his essay [″God and Evil”] and calls it “a beautiful piece of work – in style and content worthy of your “master” who wrote on natural theology….”. Jonas goes on encouraging Aiken: “you are also dead wrong n not publishing a collection of your essays in ethical theory. If your pal Quine can do it “from a logical point of you [sic]”, so can you “from a moral point of view”. Jonas also mentions “that it is worth writing about the ancient problem opf a theodicy in a contemporary context”. [The Essay is n Offprint from Ethics, An International Journal of Social, Political and Legal Philosophy, Volume LXVIII, No. 2].

New York / Washington, DC, 1958. 16,8 x 24 cm. 21 pages (pages 77-97 of the Journal) plus two page-letter (on one leaf), signed by Hans Jonas Original Offprint / Original TLS (Typed letter signed). Very good+ condition. Stapled. Only minimal signs of staining. The letter also discusses a Reference for one “Ed Sayles” and Jonas suggest that Aiken writes “casual but fairly strong” to Howard R. Bartlett, professor of history and head of the Department of Humanities at MIT.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery / Lane, John Henry H.V.

19th century original british Passport for “Mr.John Henry H. V. Lane (British Subject) travelling on the continent”, signed in July of 1886 by later prime minister Archibald Philip, Earl of Roseberry, then Foreign Secretary under Gladstone during his brief third ministry.

London, Given at the Foreign Office, 1886. 27.7 cm x 38.2 cm. 1 sheet. Original Softcover. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Signed by Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery. Fantastic and important document of british foreign office history.

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”.

Clarke, Arthur C.

Imperial Earth. A novel. [Together with signed letter (and two more interesting letters in copy) by Arthur C. Clarke on his personal stationery. Clarke makes some handwritten remarks about the allegations against him and writes: ‘I hope to make more money from the S. Smear than from all my books when the lawyers have finished with them !).

London, Victor Gollancz, 1975. Octavo. 287 pages. Original Hardcover with illustrated, unclipped dustjacket in protective Mylar. Near Fine condition with only minor signs of external wear. Rare in this exceptional condition.

[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.

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.

[Cyprus Content] – Lukach, Harry Charles later Sir Harry Luke / [Claude Delaval Cobham (British Colonial Official in Cyprus (Larnaca)] / [Guy le Strange (British Orientalist).

Manuscript letter by british colonial officer Claude Delaval Cobham to Harry Lukach, [later Sir Harry Luke] in which Cobham reflects on a manuscript Luke had sent him for analysis: “My dear Lukach, I return the Ms. I lent it to Guy ;e Strange who showed it to Ellis [possibly Sir Ellis Hovell Minns], of the B.M. [British Museum] [who are] both skilled analists”. Cobham continues about the manuscript: “It is a kind of Hagiology, but written by a Druze – hence the [?] of the mad Khalife Hakim bin amr allah as a Saint, and spells Salih, which is a Druze Mack. There are similar Mss. in the B.M. library but Ellis [?] not a Druze one – but they are of no great interest or Value. The writing is neat and very legible….I hope you are well and enjoying yourself. I start, I think, on Thursday for Coblenz and S. Blasien [that is St. Blasien], returning at the very end of August. Yours very truly – C. Delaval Cobham”.

S. James,, July 27 (no year but c.1906). Small Octavo. 2 pages filled on one bifolium / Plus Letter from British Museum to Harry Charles Lukach regarding Admission to the Reading Room (19th of July 1906). Excellent letter by British Colonial official in Cyprus, Claude Delaval Cobham. Important letter which states the early influence of Luke in his love for Cyprus because by the time this letter was written and Luke had a relationship with this important scholar, Cobham had wlready written the important “Excerpta Cypria”. The ALS by Cobham came with a letter by the Director of the British Museum to H.C.Lukach regarding admission to the Reading Room of the B.M.

[Cyprus Content] – Luke, Harry Charles / [Anastas Hanania (Jordan)].

Manuscript-Annotated publication “The Fringe Of The East” together with a collection of manuscript letters from Damascus and his wider trip through the middle east in the years 1907 – 1908. [These letters reflect the formative years of Sir Harry Luke during his Travels through the Middle East, prior to World War One and shortly before starting his career in the British Colonial Administration in the year 1911 as A.D.C. (Assistant District Commissioner) in Cyprus under High Commissioner, Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams, who succeeded Sir Charles King-Harman in 1911 / Including also a letter of Palestinian-Jordanian Lawyer Anastas Hanania to Luke].

Glasgow, Robert MacLehose & Co., Ltd., 1913. 22,5 cm x 15 cm. 267 pages. Original Hardcover. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. With annotations and markings by Harry Luke. Split hinge, detached front board. Fair condition. Includes a large envelope with original letters Harry Luke sent home from his trip through the Near East / Levant.

[Cyprus Content] – Luke, Harry Charles / [Wilkins, Fraser – First Ambassador to Cyprus from the United States of America (USA) / Kennedy, John F. / JFK Assassination].

Manuscript (MLS) /Autographed letter (ALS) signed by Fraser Wilkins to Sir Harry Luke. The two-page-letter on mourning stationery of the “Embassy of the United States of America by Fraser Wilkins is a thank-you note to former british colonial officer, Sir Harry Luke, who had obviously sent condolences to the US-Embassy on Cyprus regarding the Assassination of JFK. Fraser Wilkins writes: “Dear Sir Harry – It was very thoughtful of you to write at this sad time. We had not realized that you were both in Kyrenia [Cyprus]. It is sad – not only for Mrs Kennedy & his family but also for our Country. There was so much more – as you indicate, which he might have done if he had not been cut down. Its maybe, as the ancient Greeks …said, that those whome the Gods love die young….Sincerely Fraser Wilkins”. Wilkins closes: “We hope to see you before too long!”

Cyprus, December 2, 1963. Octavo. 2 pages. Very good condition with minor annoation on the letter in red ink by Sir Harry Luke, identifying Fraser Wilkins as “Ist US Ambassador to Cyprus”.