Box 61

Scope and Contents A postcard addressed to Florence Stilliard at Windsor Castle and postmarked August 25th, 1898 apparently from two German admirers who sign themselves Poellnitz and von Sittan. The text is brief – “Dear Miss Flo, We are very much with longing of you, because we are so lonely, no pretty girls here - o it is dreadfull. The days of Windsor were not they lovely? We send our best regards and our respects to your parents” and is accompanied by a pencil sketch of a well-dressed man and woman. The...

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Five pieces of correspondence in the hand of English poet Henry Taylor. Various recipients, including “Mr Forster” and W.R. Pyne. One undated, the rest 1844-1869. Contents are brief and general: invitations, thank-yous, and other personal matters.

Scope and Contents A letter in the hand of British archaeologist R. Campbell Thompson, addressed “dear Maitland” and dated November 4th, to which a later hand has added “1934” in pencil. 3 pages, somewhat damaged with occasional loss of text, now in plastic. The contents are personal, and include an anecdote about a friend whose eyes were damaged during the war regaining some sight after a surgery. Also included is a printed copy of Campbell Thompson’s poem “Ignatius” with a note addressed to “Rosalind” from...

Scope and Contents A letter in the hand of London Police Commissioner Sir Hugh Turnbull, addressed “My dear George” and dated January 4th and 18th, 1941. On City of London Police letterhead. The contents include several detailed descriptions of attacks during the Blitz, including the raid on 29 December 1940 known as the Second Great Fire of London: “the destruction is miles worse than anything that has happened before, anywhere, in this war. At a guess nearly ¾ of a mile by a ¼ mile is nearly gutted out to...

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A note and check “to settle account for Dec 1965” addressed to Forrest and Sons, gunsmiths of Kelso, Roxburghshire from English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper. Accompanied by two A4 pages of what appear to be notes, perhaps for an index. Undated.

Scope and Contents A letter from William Steele to his brother Captain Samuel Steele of Augusta, Virginia regarding the potential sale of enslaved people to a mutual acquaintance: “He mentioned that he Expected you along on your way to the Natchez Cuntry this Spring & perhaps might bring on some Negroes for him – I am about trying to tell his Lieking for Negroes – if I can effect it I will send him 4 or 5 fellows to begin the world with.” Dated March 8th 1801(?). The identity of the Steele brothers is not...

Scope and Contents A letter in the hand of American poet and writer Harriet Prescott Spofford addressed to a Miss McMillan and dated March 3rd, 1893. The contents refer to McMillan’s request for a poem: “I have not the verses you wish for at hand, – and so am obliged to send you some others, – which I do with pleasure.” Included with the letter is a handwritten copy of a portion of the poem “The Tryst” – the first eight stanzas are present, as well as the first line of the ninth. The remainder has been...

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A press release containing a copy of Adlai Stevenson’s speech “The Political Relevance of Moral Principle”, delivered at Constitution Hall, Washington DC on January 18, 1959 as the A. Powell Davies Memorial Lecture. 14 pages. The name “Adlai Stevenson” is written in blue pen on the verso of the final page, but it does not appear to match Stevenson’s usual signature.

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7 letters and notes in the hand of American author Charles Warren Stoddard dated June 1893 through May 1904, two on Catholic University letterhead. All correspondence is addressed to Horace P. Chandler (1842-1919), editor of Every Other Saturday, A Journal of Select Reading. Contents are a mix of personal matters and conversation related to publishing.

Scope and Contents A letter in the hand of British adventurer and archaeologist Lady Hester Stanhope to her friend the author James Silk Buckingham (1786-1855). The letter is undated, but is likely to have been written sometime around 1815. Stanhope writes from Egypt, reporting on current events ranging from an outbreak of plague at Rhodes to gossip regarding Napoleon and the “quite shocking” state of politics in France. Stanhope gently scolds Buckingham for not taking her advice on various matters of decorum...

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A manuscript copy of the poem “Song” in the hand of English poet Stephen Spender. A heading preceding the work reads “Song, by Stephen Spender (Inscribed for C.H. Peacock, March 1944)”. There are several very small deviations (mostly punctuation) from the published version of the poem. 2 pages.

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A manuscript poem, “Isaac Walton’s Song,” in the hand of British author George Walter Thornbury. 2 pages; 40 lines in five 8-line stanzas. Undated.

Scope and Contents A notebook belonging to Eliza Skipton (d. 1909) of 56 Clarendon Street, Londonderry. A note on the verso of the first page is dated February 23rd, 1880. The contents trace Skipton’s genealogy on her father’s side, providing biographical details and clippings from letters and documents with each individual’s signature. Only the first 13 pages of the book are used: the first bears a heraldic bookplate for Eliza’s father Pitt Kennedy Skipton (1797-1877), with a detailed explanation of its...

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A watercolor of a tiger being pursued by a pack of dogs, mounted on a piece of board with red and blue tape trim. Anonymous, possibly Indian, late 19th or 20th century.

Scope and Contents Materials related to former Rhode Island Senator and Governor George Peabody Wetmore. One letter in Wetmore’s hand, dated October 25th 1888 and addressed “My dear Edy”, is written on letterhead from the Knickerbocker Club, New York City. Two further items, a letter addressed to Wetmore from an L.C. Tappey, and a news clipping related to Wetmore’s wife Edith Keteltas Wetmore, appear to have been enclosures within the Edy letter. The general contents are both personal and political in...

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Materials related to the American writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten. Two typed and signed letters on blue personalized letterhead addressed to famed ballet dancer Hugh Laing (1911-1988), dated June 17th and 24th 1961. Contents are brief and personal; envelopes included. Alongside these letters is a black and white photographic portrait of Ron-Dean Taffel stamped with the address of Van Vechten’s New York studio and labeled on the verso in his hand. Dated October 6th, 1964.

Scope and Contents A collection of five letters in the hand of Scottish novelist George Whyte-Melville. One letter of condolence to “my dear Chapman” dated only March 15th (though the paper is watermarked “1865”) and sent from Northampton. This is almost certainly Whyte-Melville’s publisher Edward Chapman (1804-1880) of Chapman & Hall. Four letters, two on mourning paper, to a P. Rose, Esquire – evidently Whyte-Melville’s solicitor – concerning various financial and family matters, including a legacy from...

Scope and Contents Five pieces of correspondence in the hand of English churchman Samuel Wilberforce during his tenure as Bishop of Oxford. Three undated, one on Cuddesdon Palace letterhead addressed “my dear Mr Murray”, one on mourning paper, and one partial envelope addressed to J. Walter Esquire, MP, most likely the publisher and Liberal politician John Walter III (1818-1894). The envelope is mounted on a piece of thick paper. The remaining two letters are dated: one sent from Oxford on October 24th, 1847...

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Three copies of the bookplate of silent film star Rudolph Valentino. The plate was designed in the 1920s by noted filmmaker and designer William Cameron Menzies (1896-1957) and shows a knight on a horse surrounded by other knights.

Scope and Contents A small black notebook containing what appears to be a diary of travel by sea to the USSR by an unnamed British writer in the summer of 1936. The contents are a mix of the usual tourist chatter regarding the sights, the food, and the difference between Russian and British culture, as well as a records of conversations with fellow-travelers, including noted pro-Soviet Labour MP Denis Nowell Pritt (1887-1972) who speaks about having witnessed a trial of “Trotskyites.” The writer provides only...