Box 58

Scope and Contents Two letters addressed to a “Mr. Colenso.” The first, dated March 20, 1905, is from noted British composer, musician, and collector of folk music Cecil Sharp (1859-1924), and pertains to what Sharp refers to as some “Zulu hymns” sent to him by Colenso, which he has subsequently set to music. The second letter, dated July 1935, is in the hand of British biologist Sir Julian Huxley (1887-1975) on letterhead from the Zoological Society of London. The unidentified Mr Colenso is likely a member of...

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Materials related to the 1968 British comedy film Decline and Fall…of a Birdwatcher, an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s 1928 novel Decline and Fall. Included is a biography of the French actress Geneviève Page (b. 1927) who starred as Margot Beste-Chetwynde, typed on letterhead for the film, a signed still of her co-star Australian actor Leo McKern (1920-2002) along with a typed blurb about his role in the film.

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16 letters in the hand of British academic Henry Montagu Butler dated between 1857 and 1909. The recipients and contents are diverse, ranging from responses to invitations and to College business during Butler’s time at Trinity, Cambridge.

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Four letters in the hand of American writer George Henry Calvert dated between 1867 and 1874. The contents appear to be personal, and often relate to poetry, lecturing, or the arts.

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10 letters, 6 in the hand of Henry Charles Manners-Sutton, 4th Viscount Canterbury and 4 in that of his wife, Amye Rachel, Lady Canterbury, all addressed to a Mr. Chapman. The Viscount’s letters are dated between 1894 and 1895, and the Viscountess’ undated. The contents are largely personal.

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Three letters in the hand of George Capel-Coningsby, dated 1819, 1831, and 1833. The latter two letters pertain to Capel-Coningsby’s involvement in the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund, a charity incorporated in 1776 to support actors at the Theatre Royal.

Scope and Contents A notebook or copybook with marbled paper covers and a paper label reading “Edwd: Carpenter’s Lib. 5 mo. 24th. 1793”. Contents include “Advice to a young man”, poetry including Mary Chandler’s “On Solitude” and Pope’s “The Messiah”, and various biblical passages and paraphrases all executed in a fine Italic cursive script. Beyond his name, the author is not readily identifiable, and no geographic information is given, though the book is likely to be American and possibly Quaker in origin,...

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6 letters in the hand of American artist Frederick Stuart Church to Evelyn Baker Schley (“Dear Eve”) on various personal subjects. Three of the letters contain illustrations, caricatures related to various anecdotes directed at Schley’s children, including one about a bear loose in Central Park: “There were 500 people chasing him. If I had only known it I would have taken a plate of Turkey and a plate of Mince Pie and caught him at once.” Only one letter is dated, from 1906.

Scope and Contents A letter written by a woman calling herself “Sister Nellie” (or possibly Nella) to her mother and sister, detailing what appears to be her experience during the American Civil War. She writes from Edgartown, Massachusetts, and the contents are largely personal, relaying news of men who are involved in the fighting and asking after others waiting to be drafted. There is also a lengthy anecdote about a visiting company of soldiers who arrived with a band, much to the delight of the local...

Scope and Contents Six letters in the hand of Baron Coleridge, one time Lord Chief Justice of England, dated between 1866 and 1893. One of the letters is addressed to the poet Robert Browning (1812-1889) thanking him for sending a copy of his new book: “I will set to work on it at once & know I shall enjoy it – at least if I do not it will be first of your works I have not admired & enjoyed since I was a boy at Eton. I hope your books will remain in my Library for many a long year after it has ceased...

Scope and Contents 28 pieces of correspondence addressed to the British author and historian H.P. Collins, dated 1920-1973. The majority of the collection, 11 letters, are in the hand of the author, critic, and art historian James Laver, at that time Keeper of Prints, Drawings, and Paintings for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. 3 letters from literary critic and poet Hugh l’Anson Fausset are accompanied by copies also in his hand of what appear to be references for Collins, recommending him for a...

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4 letters in the hand of British curator and critic Sir Sidney Colvin, two undated, one 1883, one 1918. Three of the letters, including one addressed to noted polymath Sir Henry Thompson, are personal, primarily responses to invitations. The fourth letter (“Dear Bradley”) appears to be professional in nature, and mentions his work on Keats.

Scope and Contents 8 letters written from Civil War officer John Joseph Coppinger to Lucy Ord Mason, daughter of the noted engineer and Army officer Edward Ord, dated between 1895 and 1897. The earliest letter responds to a request on the part of Mrs. Mason for help securing pension money from Congress to pay for the funeral expenses of her mother, Mary M. Ord, who appears to have been a friend of Coppinger’s. The rest of the letters deal with the problems and progress of the pension, with the exception of...

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Four pieces of correspondence from the archive of British naturalist C.J. Cornish, all dated 1897. 3 letters in his own hand, written to his publisher, a Mr. Seeley, concerning various writings and drawings, alongside what appears to be a mock-up of Cornish’s Nights with an Old Gunner, then forthcoming from Seeley and Co., London. A fourth letter is written to Cornish by an unidentified correspondent who seems to be an artist working on illustrations for one of his books.

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A pencil drawing entitled “Camp, Sebastopol” showing what appears to be a uniformed British soldier of the Crimean War era. The piece is signed “M.K.” and dated 1855.

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Five letters in the hand of American writer and political activist George William Curtis, dated between 1875 and 1880. The contents are generally brief responses to invitations or similar, addressed to anonymous recipients Mr. Harker, Mr. Babbitt, and Mr. Drummond, as well as Senator Henry B. Anthony of Rhode Island (1815-1884) and noted lawyer and author Arthur G. Sedgwick (1844-1915). The Babbitt letter has been mounted on a later piece of paper.

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A single sheet of paper containing a manuscript draft of two lyric poems by Canadian poet Bliss Carman, later to be published in his Pipes of Pan Volume III, Songs of the Sea Children (1904). The text includes the entirety of poem XCVIII (“Do you know the pull of the wind on the sea?”), followed by Carman’s signature. Beneath this is the final stanza of poem CXVIII (“Along the faint horizon”). Undated.

Scope and Contents Correspondence in the hand of American philologist and folklorist Francis James Child. One 4-page letter, undated, addressed to lawyer Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch thanking him for a copy of his book on Surnames, generally praising the volume, and offering some additional examples of names derived from trades. A second letter to an unidentified recipient is mounted on a piece of paper alongside a printed portrait of Child and his signature. The contents pertain to the Chaucer Society, a...

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Three letters in the hand of English antiquarian and curator Sir Sydney Cockerell. Two, both dated to October 1929, are written to Egyptologist Sir Henry Thompson, a fellow at University College, London, and pertain to the business of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, where Cockerell was director. The third letter, dated 1911, is addressed to “My dear Rowley”, and is personal in nature.

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A document containing a supply list for the HMS Cornwallis, dated August 25th, 1778 in New York. The list, “received out of His Majesty’s Stores from Mr Thomas Man, Naval Ordinance Storekeeper,” consists of “Match”, “Spunge Tacks”, “Sheepskins”, “Oil”, and “Musquet Flints”. The Cornwallis was a British galley, purchased in the United States in 1777.