Printed Books and Manuscripts at Chiswick Auctions, March 30

On Wednesday 30th March Chiswick Auctions will be having a sale of Printed Books and Manuscripts. Items of interest include:

LOT 235 - HOWITT, Samuel (1756/7-1822). Original hand painted design for the frontispiece of Wild Sports of the East. Depicting a Tiger resting on a large rock on which are the title, and publisher Edwd Orme 59 Bond Street. Original illustration and calligraphic lettering designed by Samuel Howitt for Edward Orme's publication of Oriental Field Sports which was published in 20 parts for subscribers between June 1805 and January 1807. Drawn on blue sugar paper. On the verso of the drawing is a printed catalogue of most of Orme's publications including an advertisement to invite subscribers for The Wild Sports of the East. (Traces of an old vertical fold, with some loss of pigment, lower corners are torn away in the margins without effecting the image and the verso shows signs that it was originally tipped into an album or printer's guard book). This piece is a rare survivor executed on Edward Orme's printers waste. The original drawings for the plates would have been sold at the time but title pieces and wrapper designs would not usually be sold, but would remain with the publisher. The piece is unsigned, however there is no doubt it is drawn and designed by Howitt for Orme as evidenced by his catalogue on the verso which clearly dates from before the book was issued, and the identical image and lettering were used in the printed edition. Estimate: £2,000-£3,000

LOT 108 - OLERICH, Henry (1851-1927). A Cityless and Countryless World. An Outline of Practical Co-Operative Individualism. Holstein, Iowa: Published by Gilmore & Olerich, 1893. 8vo. 8 full-page diagrams, one folding (marginal staining and browning). Original red cloth gilt (some staining, fraying to head and foot of spine and corners). FIRST EDITION of this scarce Utopian science fiction novel which is largely narrated by Mr Midith, a Martian visitor to Earth who compares conditions on his own planet, in its advanced state of development, to those "mundane" ones on this. Whilst the work envisages Martian improvements in terms of education, social conditions and equality between the sexes, the living arrangements of Martians, in communal "Big Houses" each 8 storeys high and housing one thousand people built half a mile apart on a flat landscape linked by vast "Motor Lines", chillingly prefigures discredited 20th-century housing models and social engineering. Estimate: £100 - £150

Lot 125 - The Physical and Moral Condition of the Children and Young Persons employed in Mines and Manufactures. Illustrated by Extracts. London: John W. Parker, 1843. 8vo. (Lacks all before title [ie. [?]blank endpaper], blank lower half of final text leaf torn away, touching one letter). Original cloth-backed printed wrappers (some light staining, a few creases). FIRST EDITION of the official report investigating the state of children working in mines and factories in Great Britain, and one of the most important documents in British industrial history. Comprising thousands of pages of oral testimony, sometimes from children as young as five, the report’s findings shocked society and swiftly led to legislation to secure minimum safety standards in mines and factories, as well as more general controls on the employment of children. Estimate: £70 - £100

Lot 136 - STANLEY, William Ford Robinson (1829-1909).  The Case of The[odore] Fox being his Prophesies under Hypnotism of the Period Ending A.D. 1950. A Political Utopia. London: Truslove & Hanson, 1903. Square 8vo. Half title, half tone frontispiece of "Stanleyton on Thames 1950", illustration of a tunnel beneath the English Channel (some marginal staining to frontispiece, spotting to title and first and last few leaves). Original blue cloth, spine with title "Utopia" stamped in gilt, with a fox's head and tail beneath (covers waterstained). FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, the half title inscribed, "Mrs J. Chandler with the author's kind regards, Wm. J. S." A work of uncanny, but hit-and-miss, prescience, in which the author foresees Paris as the capital of a United States of Europe accessible in three hours from London by electric train through a Channel Tunnel, women granted the vote, transport provided by electric "hotel trains" with a summer line across Siberia linking Europe and America, telephones connected to gramophones to provide answering-machines, "little celluloid cards" replacing currency and fox hunting banned. Less accurate was his prediction that there would be no commercial future for mass air transport, but only bigger and better ocean liners. Estimate: £70 - £100

Lots 170-189:  Books from the collection of the Late Sir Patrick Moore (1923-2012).

Lot 210 - THE BEATLES- An autograph album signed by George Harrison,  Ringo Starr (very minor smudging) & John Lennon (Starr and Lennon on same page) and Paul McCartney. Estimate: £500 - £800

LOT 290 - WILBERFORCE, William (1759-1833). MS with reference to education.  Letter addressed to "Dear Sir"   and dated Dec 22nd. 1814. Wilberforce apologises to Pole for not answering his last letter and urges him to publish the second edition of his "most valued book" and suggests that it would be popular. He further suggests that he would be willing to contribute " ...the only objection I feel to your printing in yr [your] next edition any letter from me declaring my cordial & ...sense of the excellence of the design of teaching adults to read, & of its deserving to stand high among the many beneficent institutions which the goodness of God to our Highly favoured Country has enabled some of our countrymen to devise to patronise to complete the only objection I repeat it...this is my honest opinion, is that it seems like assuming to myself more consequence than I thought : as if my commendation could add any credit to an undertaking which cannot I conceive but recommend itself at once to all considerate minds". Wilberforce suggests however, he would be happy to comply. "Wish you have... and when I return to London which will not however be till after [the?] present Parliamentary Recess [?] which ends on 9th of ... I will endeavour to obtain for you similar testimonies of approbation from the other... & other persons you have specified" He goes on to re-affirm that he believes his name will add nothing to the work. He apologises that he has to sign off now, as he is "called in haste to conclude" signing his name at the foot of the page. On the last side he adds "Has yr [your] book been sent to america (O for peace with our transatlantic brethren!!!) If not I would like to send it to a very worthy friend there [.]  With the original mailing envelope inscribed with his name and that of Dr. Pole. It may be fair to conclude that this letter makes reference to Thomas Pole's work entitled A History of the Origin and Progress of Adult Schools, for which James Montgomery wrote a poem. It has been said that the book, which appeared in 1814 helped in the launching of a national adult school movement. Estimate: £500-£800

Wednesday 30th March at 1pm

View the catalogue and bid online 

For more information contact: Nicholas Worskett and Simon Nuckley (Book specialists), +44(0)20 8992 4442, nicholas@chiswickauctions.co.uk simon@chiswickauctions.co.uk www.chiswickauctions.co.uk