Autograph Collection.- 19th Century

A collection of letters, envelopes and signatures by various 19^th century statesmen, civil servants and administrators, mostly addressed to John Thadeus Delane, highlights including: Sir James Graham (letter to George Cochram, thanking him for his note and a brochure he sent, 19 August 1855); the Duke of Portland (“I beg you would direct the globe to be sent here till further orders…I will send you the first volume of Horace Walpole’s private correspondence to be changed, for it is incomplete”, 12 September 1821); Sir Charles Trevelyan; the Earl of Stanhope; Sharon Turner; John Charles Herries (letter confirming his wish to be a member of a club promoting Science, Literature and Arts, 28 March 1824); James Sheridan Knowles; Thomas Fremantle (letter to Mr Delane, “I am much gratified by the favourable writing which you have taken of my character and services on the occasion of my retirement from public office, and I thank you very sincerely for the good service which you have rendered me on this, to me most important, occasion”, 6 December 1873); Lord Russell (signed envelope ); Arthur Helps (thanking Mr Delane for his letter and adding “I am amused and interested with your description of the Duke. I see how you have got your power in the world, from being able to understand human beings – a faculty which alas! Our last great political chief had not in the slightest degree”, 15 April 1874); Philip Rose (letter to Colonel Rathbone, arranging a meeting between the recipient and the Under Secretary of the Home Department to discuss some Indian matters, 13^th May 1858); John Lothrop Motley (letter to Delane, reading in part “Just before leaving England ten days ago in search of health (a fugitive…and very hard to catch0 I begged Murray to send you a copy of a work which was to come out almost immediately. It was placed in the printers’ hands three or four days before my sudden and violent illness last summer, the exaggerated accounts of which you were so very kind in helping me to contradict. If you think it worthy of attention, I will not say how much pleasure it will give me if you could find place for a review in The Times of the last work with which I am likely to trouble the public -at least for a long time to come”, 3 January 1874); Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (letter to Delane thanking him for a positive review of his translation of Horace, 18 November 1869); Katharine, countess of Clarendon; Lord Dudley Stuart and others; all letters are now loose but were originally housed in an album and are still mounted, some age-related toning, v.s. , 19^th century (c. 70)

***John Thadeus Delane (1817 – 1879) was editor of The Times between 1841 and 1877