1. [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.

2. Pugilism (Boxing) – Baert-Duholant, Charles-Alexandre-Balthazar-François de Paule baron de / Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage.

Tableau de la Grande-Bretagne, De L’Irlande et des Possessions Angloises dans les quatre parties du Monde. [Large Paper Copy / Better Paper Copy / Exemplaire de Luxe] [With five (5) large, folded Maps by Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage: Large, oblong folded Map/Plan of Gibraltar / England / Scotland / Ireland / India] / [With four (4) stunning copper-engravings: Grotte de Fingal, Chaussée des Géants / Plan et vue de Gibraltar / Combat de Boxe (Pugilists)] / [With two (2) portraits: 1.Portrait of William Pitt (after William Owen) and 2. Portrait of Charles Jacques Fox (after Karl Anton Hickel)].

Four Volumes (complete set). Paris, Chez H.J.Jansen, L’An 8me [1800]. Octavo (21.5 cm x 14 cm). Collation: Volume I: (8), 459, (1), 11 pages with Eleven (11) copper-engravings of which are: 5 Maps / Plans and 4 Engravings: The folded view of Fingals Cave (″Grotte de Fingal dans l’Ile de Staffa” – (20.5 cm x 31.5 cm) / “Folded Plate of the Giants Causeway (″Vue occidentale de la Chaussee des Geans et des Caps voisins” (20.5 cm x 39 cm)) / Fantastic, large Map/Plan of Gibraltar by Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage, with a Birds-Eye-View of the Ville de Gibraltar (20.5 cm x 65.5 cm) [also showing the Ville Irlandaise on Gibraltar] / Scenic View of Gibraltar (″Vue de Gibraltar, prise du cote de l’Espagne” (20.5 cm x 33 cm) / Large Fold-Out-Map of England by Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage with an Inset-View of Stonehenge (47 cm x 51 cm) / Large Fold-Out-Map of Scotland by Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage, including the Western Isles and Shetland, with a stunning Inset-View of the irish pilgrimage-mountain Croagh Patrick [Craig-Phadrick] in Westport, Ireland (37 cm x 50 cm)/ Large Fold-Out-Map of Ireland with an Inset-View of the Lakes of Killarney (39 cm x 44.5 cm) / Volume II: 532, (1), 12 pages with Large Fold-Out-Map of India (″Possessions Anglaises”) by Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage – the large India-Map showing areas as far as Tibet, Siam, Sumatra and the Andaman Islands, Ceylon, Burma (48 cm x 43 cm) / Volume III: 502, 48, (2) pages with two portraits: Guillaume Pitt [William Pitt] & Charles Jacques Fox (each 20.5 cm x 12.5 cm)/ Volume IV: 486, 22, (2) pages with the very famous Fold-out-Illustration of Pugilists / Boxers at Odiham in Hampshire [″Combats de Boxers a Odiham”] showing a boxing-match between Humphrey and Mendoza (32 cm x 20.5 cm). Hardcover / Original, very decorative original half leather bindings with gilt lettering and ornament on spine. Volume One professionally rebacked by an english master bookbinder. All four Volumes in protective Collector’s Mylar. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. From the library of François-Xavier de Valenzi with his bookplate / exlibris to the pastedowns of each Volume. Maps in this de Luxe Edition are all considerably larger than in the normal-paper-edition and all the maps and illustrations are in superb condition. An underestimated collectable.

3. Norris-Newman, Charles L.

In Zululand With The British Throughout the War of 1879.

London, W. H. Allen 1880. 14.5 cm x 23 cm. Frontispiece, XV, 343 pages. Illustrated throughout with portraits. Includes the vintage photograph of Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere (including tissue-guard), 3 fold-out plans. With the often missing large fold-out Military Map of Zulu Land and Adjacent Parts of Natal and Transvaal. Hardcover [publisher’s original green cloth] with gilt lettering on spine. Design on front board. First layer, with frontispiece, slightly detached. Otherwise in very good+ condition with only minor signs of external wear. Interior bright and clean, with very minor spotting near front. Ink markings to first page of first chapter. Bookplate / Exlibris of Davenport House (Bridgnorth) to front pastedown with the printed motto “Audentes Fortuna Junat”. Extremely rare, rather scarce and even scarcer with the large folding-map included !

4. [Select Committee on Kafir Tribes / Henry Labouchere] [Freeman, Joseph John (J.J.) and others].

Report from the Select Committee on the ‘Kafir Tribes’ – Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, and Index.

London, House of Commons, 1851. 15.5 cm25.5 cm. X, 607 pages with two manuscript pages preceding the printed report. The manuscript pages title and detail the content and are bearing in pencil the name “J.J.Freeman” [Reverend Joseph John Freeman was one of the people who were called in to give evidence]. Hardcover / Late 20th – century navy half-leather with gilt lettering on maroon spinelabel with raised bands. Marbled paper-covered boards. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Interior very clean and bright. Bookstamp of the ‘Incorporated Law Society of the United Kingdom’ on endpapers, titlepage and preliminary pages. Inked titling to endpapers.

5. [South Africa – From Union to Rainbow Nation].

A Collection of Thirty [30] publications related to the evolution of South Africa – from Boer republics, Apartheid to the post-Mandela era. 1. Denis Beckett, Madibaland / 2. Gavin Bell, Somewhere Over The Rainbow / 3. Trewhella Cameron, Jan Smuts: An Illustrated Biography / 4. Justin Cartwright, Not Yet Home: A South African Journey / 5. Apollon Davidson, Cecil Rhodes and His Time / 6. Eugene de Kock, A Long Night’s Damage: Working for the Apartheid State / 7. John Fisher, Paul Kruger: His Life and Times / 8. Darrell Hall, The Hall Handbook of the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902 / 9. Pat Hopkins, Eccentric South Africa: A Celebration of Extraordinary People and Places / 10. Stanley Jackson, The Great Barnato / 11. Phyllis Scarnell Lean, One Man in his Time: A Pictorial Review of the Life of Jan Christian Smuts, May 24th 1870 – September 11th 1950 / 12. Rian Malan, My Traitor’s Heart / 13. Richard Mendelsohn, Sammy Marks: ‘The Uncrowned King of the Transvaal’ / 14. Mike Nicol, The Waiting Country: A South African Witness / 15. Ellen Palestrant, Johannesburg One Hundred: A Pictorial History / 16. Richard Rive, ‘Buckingham Palace’, District Six (2 copies) / 18. David Robbins, Driving South / 19. David Robbins, The 29th Parallel: A South African Journey / 20. Kevin Shillington, History of Southern Africa / 21. J.C. Smuts, Jan Christian Smuts / 22. Allister Sparks, Beyond the Miracle: Inside the New South Africa / 23. Allister Sparks, The Mind of South Africa: The Story of the Rise and Fall of Apartheid / 24. Allister Sparks, Tomorrow is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa’s Negotiated Revolution / 25. Lester Venter, When Mandela Goes: The Coming of South Africa’s Second Revolution / 26. René De Villiers and S. Brooke-Norris, The Story of the Rand Club / 27. John Wentzel, A View from The Ridge: Johannesburg Retrospect / 28. Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The Randlords: The Men who Made South Africa / 29. Zapiro, Dr Do-Little and the African Potato: Cartoons from Sowetan, Mail & Guardian and Sunday Times / 30. The Staff of Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company, The Story of ‘Johnnies’ (1889-1964): A History of the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company Limited.

London / Johannesburg / Moscow / And Others, Victor Gollanz / Penguin Books / Arrow / Progress Publishers / And Others, 1952 – 2002. 11 cm x 18 cm to 22 cm x 28.5 cm. Circa 7,800 pages. Numerous plates throughout volumes. 9 hardcovers (7 with dustjackets) and 21 softcovers with decorated boards. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Some internal browning to some volumes but most are clean and bright. Crack at hinge of front board near head of spine of ‘Sammy Marks’ Volume. Binding still firm and strong.

6. Antilles – Homann, Erben. (1702 – 1848).

Dominia Anglorum in præcipuis Insulis Americæ ut sunt Insula S. Christophori Antega Iamaica Barbados, nen non Insulæ Bermudes vel Sommers dictæ. / Die Englische Colonie-Laender Auf den Insuln von America und zwar Insuln S. Christophori Antegoa Jamaica Barbados Smt den Ins. Bermudes sonst Sommers gennant.

Original hand-coloured map. Nuremberg, Homann Heirs, [c.1740]. Plate Size: 55.6 cm x 48.7 cm. Sheet Size: 60 cm x 52 cm. Original map. Very good condition. Trace of foxing along sheet edges. Minor open tear with missing material evident to fore edge. Lower margin running out towards left corner. Centre-fold as issued.

7. Petherick, John.

Egypt, The Soudan and Central Africa. With Explorations from Khartoum on the White Nile to the Regions of the Equator Being Sketches from Sixteen Years’ Travel.

Edinburgh and London, William Blackwood and Sons, 1861. 15 cm x 23 cm. XII, 482 pages. With large, fold-out ‘Sketch Map of John Petherick’s Travels in the years 1853-1858’. Hardcover / Original green publisher’s cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Design to front board. One corner stronger bumped. Otherwise in very good+ condition with only minor signs of external wear. The map in excellent condition. Very Rare !

8. Norris-Newman, Charles L.

With the Boers in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State in 1880-1 / With A New Map of the South African Republic and Text of the Convention of 1884. [Including an extensive Appendix with a Glossary of Local Terms used in South Africa – The Transvaal Volksraad – Convention Between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the South African Republic – Notices of the Boer Leaders etc.].

Second Edition. London, Abbott, Jones & Co., Limited, (1881). 15 cm x 22.5 cm. XVI, 392 pages. Fold-out map near front showing South African Republic. Hardcover [publisher’s original khaki cloth] with gilt lettering and tooling on spine. Blind ruling on boards. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Appendix unopened (uncut). Binding firm and strong. Interior is bright and clean with sharp corners. Preowner’s name on half-title: “Miss McCracken – 19th Dec.1899”.

9. MacDonald, J.R.L. / [Provenance: Edmund Heathcote Thruston].

Soldiering and Surveying in British East Africa, 1891-1894. With Maps and Illustrations.

First Edition. London and New York, Edward Arnold, 1897. 15 cm x 23 cm. Frontispiece, XVI, 333 pages. 12 illustrations, including frontispiece. 8 maps, including fold-out colour map at rear showing “Major MacDonald’s work in British East Africa.” Hardcover [publisher’s original maroon cloth] with gilt lettering on spine. Deckled edges. Good- condition. Large yellow ’‘Mudie Select Library”– label on front board. Rear board bears remnant of removed label. Minor staining and rubbing to boards. Tears at gutters between pastedowns and endpapers with exposed cloth front and rear. Binding is shaky but bookblock still solid. Front endpaper partially loose. Armorial bookplate of Edmund Heathcote Thruston with latin inscription (Esse Quam Videri) on front pastedown. Names of two previous owners on half-title page. Occassional annotations throughout the book. Occasional foxing throughout. Rare !

10. Foran, W. Robert.

A Cuckoo in Kenya – The Reminiscences of a [Irish] Pioneer Police Officer in British East Africa. Illustrated with Photographs by the Author and Others.

London, Hutchinson & Co, no year (c.1936). 15.5 cm x 23.5 cm. Frontispiece, 360 pages. 119 monochrome photographs on 47 plates, including frontispiece. Maps of Kenya on pastedowns and endpapers. Hardcover [publisher’s original green cloth] with gilt lettering on spine. Very good condition with some clear signs of external wear. Slightly bumped and rubbed. Very minor staining to front board. Binding still firm and strong. Minor foxing to edges. Interior very bright and clean. Very Rare, rather scarce publication !