Box 59

Scope and Contents A small collection of items related to British artist and illustrator Kate Greenaway. A single letter addressed to English writer and horticulturalist Lady Dorothy Nevill, dated Christmas 1894. The contents are personal. Also present is a small pen-and-ink drawing of flowers, initialed by the artist and matted. This is not the “small drawing” of flowers mentioned in the Nevill letter, as according to included curatorial documents, the two items were purchased by Scheetz at different times...

Scope and Contents A tall thin manuscript book of 25 perforated, hole-punched pages, written in what appears to be blue ballpoint pen with illustrations in the same with added colored marker. The volume is titled Tabitha Caricatures on Big Daddy and Sunbeam Controls (1980) by Joan Patricia Abell Grubbs, a schoolteacher from Indianapolis, IN, and tells the story of Noah and his four children Peter/Sunbeam, Prudence/General Electric, John/General Motors, and Patience/Westinghouse in a surreal narrative that...

Scope and Contents Three 19th-century deeds of trust between landowners and trustees of the Georgetown Building Association, printed with handwritten additions. The first, dated October 1852, grants George W. Godey the right to a portion of lot 13 of “Holmead’s Addition to Georgetown” near Olive Street; the second, dated November 1852, grants Thomas Brown the same to lots 29-32 in “Bealty and Hawkins Addition to Georgetown fronting on Seventh Street and Frederick Street in the said town”; the third, dated...

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A single letter from an unknown correspondent (“Jack”) addressed to British broadcaster and literary critic Eric Gillet. The contents appear to relate to Gillet’s soliciting poetry for publication. Undated.

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A receipt signed by Françoise d'Humières (as Françoise de Contay) governess to the royal family of France in the 16th century. Dated 1553. The document is written in a cursive document hand on parchment, with modern paper tape added around the edges of the verso. Minor damage to the upper left-hand corner of the recto.

Scope and Contents Eight letters in the hand of British novelist R.C. Hutchinson, addressed to his friend and fellow writer Eric Gillett between September of 1938, shortly following the publication of Hutchinson’s novel Testament, and March 1940. The letters are filled with literary references, discussions of his own and others’ work, and anecdotes from his working life, including a dinner at the Ivy with J.B. Priestly before the opening of their play Last Train South. Hutchinson signed up for the Officers...

Scope and Contents Six letters in the hand of British novelist A.S.M. Hutchinson, addressed to American librarian and book collector John S. Mayfield (1904-1983) between 1925 and 1960: the earliest letter is on plain paper (1925), two are on personalized letterhead (1959), and three are blue aerogrammes (1959-1960). The contents are general, and include commentary on his books and other personal matters such as their own youths and family histories: In August of 1959 he replies to Mayfield, “I would much like...

Scope and Contents A small collection of materials related to American stage magician and self-styled “Edison of magic” Burling Hull. The centerpiece of the collection is two typed and signed letters, undated, and addressed “Dear Stanley.” One is on letterhead for Hull’s 1935 publication “Stage Magic” and details his move to DeLand, Florida near Daytona Beach. “Florida is my idea of Heaven,” he writes, before discussing his new home (a “5 room cement block house”) and show style: “Took us a while to get used...

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A copy of Etienne Carjat’s famous 1875 photographic portrait of French writer and politician Victor Hugo. The portrait has been cropped into an oval showing only the head and shoulders, and pasted onto a piece of cream-colored card with a decorative frame printed in gray ink. Likely once part of a set. Undated.

Scope and Contents Two objects related to American social reformer Samuel Gridley Howe. The first is a letter in Italian, addressed to Howe and dated 1836 from Baron Pietro Pisani (1760-1837). It appears to pertain at least in part to the proceedings of the Boston Phrenological Society, of which Howe was then the secretary. Both men had an interest in social causes related to people with mental illness or developmental disability. The second is a diary for the year 1874, bound in burgundy leather, containing...

Scope and Contents A single letter with envelope dated 26 January 1897 from Massachusetts Congressman George F. Hoar to one of his constituents, Boston businessman S.S. Blanchard. The letter is typed, edited by hand, and signed by Hoar, and is a response to a request from Blanchard for him to “write something to be read to our Brethren at the Massachusetts Club concerning the Arbitration Treaty” between the United States and Great Britain, likely the failed Olney-Pauncefote Treaty argued before Congress that...

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Five half leaves of paper containing what appears to be an early draft of a portion of “London Voluntaries” by English poet William Ernest Henley. The text, written in pencil and much-edited, corresponds to what would become the second part of the poem, “Andante Con Moto.” The draft is undated, but the volume containing the finished poem, also called London Voluntaries, was published in 1893.

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A carte de visite featuring a photograph of American Catholic prelate James Augustine Healy, styled as “Rt. Rev. James A. Healey.” On the reverse is printed information about the publisher, T.P. McGowan of Portland, Maine. Undated.

Scope and Contents A note addressed to British teacher and politician Christopher Hollis, written on a blue stationary card marked “New College Oxford” and dated “Friday October 15” – this may be the year 1937, which had such a date. The note pertains to Hollis’ talk at a dinner held at Rhodes House, Oxford, and is from a correspondent who signs themself “Peter Paul” – possibly a pseudonym. Curatorial material compiled by Scheetz contains a letter that indicates the letter was found inside a book once owned by...

Scope and Contents A printed program from a dinner offered by the London-based Fédération Britannique des Comités de l'Alliance Française marking the 30th anniversary of the crossing of the English Channel by French aviator and inventor Louis Blériot (1872-1936). The event took place on July 25th, 1939, exactly 30 years after Blériot’s historic flight. The program features a sketch of Blériot by artist Charles Dupechez on the cover, and the order of events and dinner menu on the inside. Notes in pencil on the...

Scope and Contents A brief note on lined paper dated July 3rd 1881 concerning the shooting of president James A Garfield: “The President was shot yesterday at Washington, when about taking the cars to come North. His case was hopeful at 4.06 this morning. The assassin after shooting him said ‘We are all right now! Arthur is president! I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts.’” The paper appears to have been torn from a notebook, and has various notes and calculations on the verso. Whether the author was an eyewitness...

Scope and Contents A typescript of a report by British publisher David Farrer, director of Secker and Warburg, regarding a trip to Sweden for a lecture tour by novelist Angus Wilson (1913-1991) promoting his new novel “The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot” (1958). The report is followed by a speech given by Farrer in Stockholm. The contents describe the trip and provide details as to the cooperation between Wilson’s British and Swedish publishers: “...this occasion does seem to me unique. So far as I am aware, it is...

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Three letters sent to Oxford historian Roger Highfield by two different correspondents: two from noted scholar of Anglo-Norman language and literature M. Dominica Legge (1905-1986) dated October 19th and 22nd 1966, and a third signed only “Joan” and undated. Contents of all three are largely personal. Also included is a pamphlet advertising a new Bibliography of Oscar Wilde to be published in 1967, but any connection to the other materials or to Highfield is unknown.

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Two documents recording the conveyance of land in Harrington near Liverpool between merchants Thomas Flahavan and Thomas Wilson via lease and release. The lease is dated June 17th and the release June 18th, 1796. Signed, stamped, and sealed in wax.

Scope and Contents A small collection of correspondence from American author Grace King and her sister Nina, all addressed to a “Mrs Hardesty,” apparently the spouse of a Professor John T. Hardesty of the University of California at Berkeley. Two letters in the hand of Grace King, dated 1919 and 1921, are accompanied by a card marked “The Misses King” acknowledging the Hardestys’ condolences following Grace’s death in 1932, as well as a letter in Nina’s hand accompanied by a photograph of her with her dog...