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.

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.

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.

14. [Cygnet Press / Hofer, Philip / Winship, George Parker] Matteo da Ferrara.

Vita de Sancto Hieronymo [with original manuscript letter by Philip Hofer, later Curator of the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts at Harvard’s Houghton Library, discussing his work at the [Pierpont] Morgan Library and the first product of Cygnet Press, “Vita de Sancto Hieronymo”, which he and George Parker Winship had produced 6 years earlier: “The little book which accompanies this note is one which George Parker Winship and I set by hand and printed a few years ago. It amused us, and, I hope, will amuse you. Of course we would do it differently now – that is always the way !”. The letter, on Hofer’s stationery with his address at 14 East Ninetieth Street, is addressed to one Dr. Collija in Stockholm, on June 25, 1934 and Hofer reminisces about the wonderful time he had there and how he wants to return to Sweden.

Cambridge (Massachusetts), Cygnet Press, MCMXXVIII [1928]. Small Octavo (13.3 cm x 17 cm). [35] pages. Original Hardcover with Label. Housed in its original, protective box from Cygnet Press. Excellent condition with some minor signs of wear only. The four-page-letter (on one sheet), signed by Philip Hofer in full.

15. [Finger Ring Jewellery Design History ] – Beck, Reverend James.

A Manuscript Study on the History of Finger Rings / Finger Ring Jewellery Design written and researched by a scholarly Victorian clergyman in Suffolk.

[Suffolk], c.1872. 69, 11 pages. Hardcover / Half Morocco with gilt lettering to spine. Very good condition.

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.

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.

18. Freiberg, Siegfried.

Elegien und Oden. [Mit gewidmetem, signiertem Gedicht-Typoskript an Hanns Martin Elster].

Wien, Gerold & Co, 1935. 8°. 22 Blatt. Hardcover / Oiginaler Leinenband. Sehr guter Zustand mit nur geringen, rein äusserlichen Gebrauchsspuren. Aus der Bibliothek von Harry Zohn. Beiliegend: Maschinenschriftlicher Brief mit Unterschrift von Siegfried Freiberg an Harry Zohn in welchem Freiberg einen Zeitungsausschnitt zu Paul Celan ankuendigt, sowie eine Postkarte von Freiberg an Zohn. Beiliegend auch ein korrigiertes und signiertes Original Typoskript von Siegfried Freiberg, mit handschriftlicher Widmung an den deutschen Schriftsteller Hanns Martin Elster, mit einer durchgestrichenen Widmung und dem Vermerk eines neuen Pseudonym’s Elster’s (″jetzt Elisa Wolf-Fellinger”) und einem Hofmannsthal-Zitat. Das Gedicht-Typoskript trägt den Titel: “Hymne dem Sänger der Zeit”.

19. Fry, Christopher.

Autographed Manuscript Dialogue from “Venus Observed” – One full – page manuscript, signed.

England, c. 1990. Octavo. 1 pages. Original Softcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear.

20. Geigy-Hagenbach, Karl.

Album von Handschriften berühmter Persönlichkeiten von Mittelalter bis zur Neuzeit [Album with historical signatures of famous personalities from the Medieaval times until the Modern Period].

Trilingual edition in english, french and german. Basel, Rud. Gering, 1925. 4°. 4 Bl., 206 Seiten. Hardcover / Originales Halbleinen. Sehr guter Zustand mit nur ganz geringen Gebrauchsspuren. Einführung in deutsch, englisch und französisch / Introduction en francaise, anglaise et allemande / Introduction in french, englisch and german. Excellent condition of this rare publication.