[Eminent Georgians and Victorians] An autograph album collected by Rev. George Drinkwater Bourne (1821–1901), 4to, containing many clipped signed pieces laid down, envelope panels, autograph letters signed, laid down, tipped in and loose, largely 19th Century, to include 19th Century Prime Ministers, British aristocrats, politicians, religious dignitaries, judges, scientists, artists, authors and military figures
Provenance:
H. M. Bourne from Rev. George Drinkwater Bourne (1821–1901) in 1891 [likely Hannah Moss Bourne (1858-1897)].
Purchased Bruton, Knowles & Co., Gloucester, 4th September 1957, Lot 463, £1 5s
Footnote:to include amongst others: [George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (1784-1860)] small clipped note ‘Humble Servant’, signed Aberdeen [Prime Minister from 1852 until 1855 in a coalition between the Whigs and Peelites, with Radical and Irish support], John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792-1878), small clipped note, later dated 1853 ‘Immediate, His Royal Highness The Prince Albert. Russell’ [ Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 1866], [Palmerston (Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, (1784-1865))] five ALS to ‘F. Hole’, each on black rimmed paper, variously dated 1856-1869 regarding the appointment of canonries, [Clarendon] George William Frederick Villiers, 4th earl of Clarendon (1800-1870), small clipped note with printed legend ‘Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs’ [British foreign secretary under four prime ministers at various times from 1853, including the Crimean War period], Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-1898) [Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for 12 years, spread over four non-consecutive terms], small clipped note ‘Immediate HRH The Prince Albert. Gladstone], later dated 1853, George Canning (1770–1827) [British Tory statesman, foreign secretary, and short lived Prime Minister], two page autograph letter to unknown recipient ‘London, July 16, 1821’, Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–1881) [Twice British Prime Minister , statesman, Conservative politician and author] four page letter to ‘Talbot’, dated December 1852’, signed ‘D.’, Raglan (Lord Fitzroy Somerset, first Baron (1788-1855), [British army officer and commander in chief of the army in the Crimea from 1854 - a failure to deliver orders with sufficient clarity caused the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade], Arthur Richard Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington (1807-1884) single page autograph letter dated 12 Feb 1861, black rimmed with monogram, laid down, Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (1770–1828) [British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827], admittance note for Miss Taylor to he House of Lords, dated August 1822 to Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, signed ‘Liverpool’, laid down, BLONDIN, Charles (1824-1897) [Jean François Gravelet, tightrope walker, signature 'J.F. Blondin' a small piece, laid down, Sir Henry Ellis (1777-1869) [English librarian and antiquarian, for a long period principal librarian at the British Museum] to Joseph Brooks Yates (1780–1855), [English antiquary, merchant and slave trader], folded letter tipped in, dated August 14, 1820, Sir Charles Hallé (1819-1895) [Prussian Pianist and Conductor], musical notation with signature below dated 12 March 1866, a small piece laid down, Charles Waterton (1782–1865) [English naturalist, plantation overseer and explorer] single page letter dated June 5th, 1863 to unknown recipient with recipient’s wife name crossed out, Harriet Martineau (1802–1876) [English social theorist], signed letter fragment signed ‘H. Martineau’ with a few lines of text, laid down, Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (1831-1892) [English novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist], single page signed letter to Mrs Dent, dated May 26th 1866, laid down, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) and Francis Davis Millet (1848–1912) single page ALS with sender’s address Russell House, Broadway, Worcestershire, dated Jan 31, addressed to Miss Bourne regarding condolences offer on an unknown death, signed F. D. Millet countersigned and annotated by Alma-Tadema, Anna Alma Tadema (1867-1943) [British artist and suffragette], two page ALS dated Nov 3 1909, black rimmed headed paper to Miss Bourne, Charles Babbage (1791-1871) [English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, originating the concept of a digital programmable computer] signature to cover laid down, addressed to ‘Miss Holland with many thanks CB, signed top right ‘Mr Babbage Calculating-machine’, James Hall Nasmyth (1808-1890) [Scottish engineer, philosopher, artist and inventor], seven page signed folded letter with vignette letterhead of Barnbro Hall, Doncaster, dated December 27, 1856 to ‘My Dear Laysel’ (?) regarding a visit to his wife’s parents house, his project at Penshurst and telescopes., Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (1792-1871) [English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor and experimental photographer], signed two page letter laid down, folded, dated ‘Henley Street, Nov 23 1853’, Michael Faraday (1791-1867) [English chemist and physicist who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism], single page signed letter to William Lassell dated 31 July 1855, blind stamped letterhead for the Royal Institution of Great Britain, laid down, John Ruskin (1819-1900) [English polymath – writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist], single page ALS to Mr Delamotte [Philip Henry Delamotte (?)] ‘The Turner is safe to hand, How you must have enjoyed it. Charming, charming was it not? A word will bring others to your hand, at any time …’, dated Denmark Hill 10 November 1861, Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-1873) [English sculptor and painter] small monogram signature on cover, cut down and laid down, to ‘Mrs Adolphus 12 Hyde Park Square’, later annotated in pencil ‘Sir Edwin Landseer’, 'Padre' George Smith (1845–1918), [army chaplain, defender of Rorke's Drift during the Zulu War, later known as ‘Ammunition’ Smith], single page ALS on headed paper for Sumner’s Hotel, Fulwood, Preston, Sir Francis Bond Head, 1st Baronet (1793-1875) [Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada during the rebellion of 1837], four page ALS annotated ‘private’ apparently to ‘Mr Creed’, predominantly regarding board resolutions for a railway company, dated 1852, Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919) [English painter associated early in her career with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement], single page ALS dated 28th May to Mrs Brocklebank with sender’s address ‘1 The Vale, Kings Road Chelsea’, Southey (Robert) (1774-1843) [English poet and reviewer] two page ALS ‘Keswick, 19 Jan 1830’ to an unknown recipient responding to a request for Southey to write a hymn ‘if it were as easy for me to compose a hymn as you suppose it to be …'
[Eminent Georgians and Victorians] An autograph album collected by Rev. George Drinkwater Bourne (1821–1901), 4to, containing many clipped signed pieces laid down, envelope panels, autograph letters signed, laid down, tipped in and loose, largely 19th Century, to include 19th Century Prime Ministers, British aristocrats, politicians, religious dignitaries, judges, scientists, artists, authors and military figures
H. M. Bourne from Rev. George Drinkwater Bourne (1821–1901) in 1891 [likely Hannah Moss Bourne (1858-1897)].
Purchased Bruton, Knowles & Co., Gloucester, 4th September 1957, Lot 463, £1 5s
to include amongst others: [George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (1784-1860)] small clipped note ‘Humble Servant’, signed Aberdeen [Prime Minister from 1852 until 1855 in a coalition between the Whigs and Peelites, with Radical and Irish support], John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792-1878), small clipped note, later dated 1853 ‘Immediate, His Royal Highness The Prince Albert. Russell’ [ Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 1866], [Palmerston (Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, (1784-1865))] five ALS to ‘F. Hole’, each on black rimmed paper, variously dated 1856-1869 regarding the appointment of canonries, [Clarendon] George William Frederick Villiers, 4th earl of Clarendon (1800-1870), small clipped note with printed legend ‘Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs’ [British foreign secretary under four prime ministers at various times from 1853, including the Crimean War period], Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-1898) [Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for 12 years, spread over four non-consecutive terms], small clipped note ‘Immediate HRH The Prince Albert. Gladstone], later dated 1853, George Canning (1770–1827) [British Tory statesman, foreign secretary, and short lived Prime Minister], two page autograph letter to unknown recipient ‘London, July 16, 1821’, Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–1881) [Twice British Prime Minister , statesman, Conservative politician and author] four page letter to ‘Talbot’, dated December 1852’, signed ‘D.’, Raglan (Lord Fitzroy Somerset, first Baron (1788-1855), [British army officer and commander in chief of the army in the Crimea from 1854 - a failure to deliver orders with sufficient clarity caused the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade], Arthur Richard Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington (1807-1884) single page autograph letter dated 12 Feb 1861, black rimmed with monogram, laid down, Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (1770–1828) [British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827], admittance note for Miss Taylor to he House of Lords, dated August 1822 to Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, signed ‘Liverpool’, laid down, BLONDIN, Charles (1824-1897) [Jean François Gravelet, tightrope walker, signature 'J.F. Blondin' a small piece, laid down, Sir Henry Ellis (1777-1869) [English librarian and antiquarian, for a long period principal librarian at the British Museum] to Joseph Brooks Yates (1780–1855), [English antiquary, merchant and slave trader], folded letter tipped in, dated August 14, 1820, Sir Charles Hallé (1819-1895) [Prussian Pianist and Conductor], musical notation with signature below dated 12 March 1866, a small piece laid down, Charles Waterton (1782–1865) [English naturalist, plantation overseer and explorer] single page letter dated June 5th, 1863 to unknown recipient with recipient’s wife name crossed out, Harriet Martineau (1802–1876) [English social theorist], signed letter fragment signed ‘H. Martineau’ with a few lines of text, laid down, Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (1831-1892) [English novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist], single page signed letter to Mrs Dent, dated May 26th 1866, laid down, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) and Francis Davis Millet (1848–1912) single page ALS with sender’s address Russell House, Broadway, Worcestershire, dated Jan 31, addressed to Miss Bourne regarding condolences offer on an unknown death, signed F. D. Millet countersigned and annotated by Alma-Tadema, Anna Alma Tadema (1867-1943) [British artist and suffragette], two page ALS dated Nov 3 1909, black rimmed headed paper to Miss Bourne, Charles Babbage (1791-1871) [English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, originating the concept of a digital programmable computer] signature to cover laid down, addressed to ‘Miss Holland with many thanks CB, signed top right ‘Mr Babbage Calculating-machine’, James Hall Nasmyth (1808-1890) [Scottish engineer, philosopher, artist and inventor], seven page signed folded letter with vignette letterhead of Barnbro Hall, Doncaster, dated December 27, 1856 to ‘My Dear Laysel’ (?) regarding a visit to his wife’s parents house, his project at Penshurst and telescopes., Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (1792-1871) [English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor and experimental photographer], signed two page letter laid down, folded, dated ‘Henley Street, Nov 23 1853’, Michael Faraday (1791-1867) [English chemist and physicist who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism], single page signed letter to William Lassell dated 31 July 1855, blind stamped letterhead for the Royal Institution of Great Britain, laid down, John Ruskin (1819-1900) [English polymath – writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist], single page ALS to Mr Delamotte [Philip Henry Delamotte (?)] ‘The Turner is safe to hand, How you must have enjoyed it. Charming, charming was it not? A word will bring others to your hand, at any time …’, dated Denmark Hill 10 November 1861, Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-1873) [English sculptor and painter] small monogram signature on cover, cut down and laid down, to ‘Mrs Adolphus 12 Hyde Park Square’, later annotated in pencil ‘Sir Edwin Landseer’, 'Padre' George Smith (1845–1918), [army chaplain, defender of Rorke's Drift during the Zulu War, later known as ‘Ammunition’ Smith], single page ALS on headed paper for Sumner’s Hotel, Fulwood, Preston, Sir Francis Bond Head, 1st Baronet (1793-1875) [Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada during the rebellion of 1837], four page ALS annotated ‘private’ apparently to ‘Mr Creed’, predominantly regarding board resolutions for a railway company, dated 1852, Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919) [English painter associated early in her career with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement], single page ALS dated 28th May to Mrs Brocklebank with sender’s address ‘1 The Vale, Kings Road Chelsea’, Southey (Robert) (1774-1843) [English poet and reviewer] two page ALS ‘Keswick, 19 Jan 1830’ to an unknown recipient responding to a request for Southey to write a hymn ‘if it were as easy for me to compose a hymn as you suppose it to be …'
Condition information is not provided as standard in the description of a lot but is available upon request; where possible we will also supply additional images with a condition report.
All Lots are offered for sale in the condition they are in at the time of the sale. You acknowledge that many Lots are of an age and type such that they are not in perfect condition. Catalogue descriptions and condition reports may refer to imperfections of a Lot, but Lots may have other faults not expressly referred to in the Catalogue or condition report. Illustrations are for identification purposes only and may not convey full information as to the actual condition of a Lot. You accept responsibility for carrying out your own inspections and investigations of Lots in which you may be interested. You should inspect a Lot before bidding to determine and to satisfy yourself as to its condition, size, description and whether it has been repaired or restored, as applicable. We accept bids on Lots solely on this basis. Condition reports may be available to assist when inspecting Lots. Lots will be available for viewing in person at our premises or another location and viewing information will be available on our website.
IN PERSON BIDS
To be able to bid at a Chorley’s auction, you must register and obtain a paddle number from our office. If you have not bid with us before, you will be asked to provide proof of identity and residence, such as driver's licence photocard, or passport and current proof of address.
COMMISSION BIDS
If you cannot attend the auction in person to bid, you can submit a commission bid with our office no less than one hour before the start of an auction. Commission bids are the maximum amount up to which the auctioneer may bid on your behalf (exclusive of Buyer’s Premium and VAT, which will be added to your invoice if successful). They will be executed at the lowest possible price having regard to any reserve and competing bids. If two buyers submit identical commission bids, the auctioneers will give preference to the first bid received. The auctioneer will execute commission bids directly from the rostrum, clearly identifying the successful bid as commission bid.
Commission bids may be left in person, by telephone or by email. All bids submitted are regarded as acknowledgement that the bidder has read and accepts Chorley's Conditions of Business and will submit any specific personal details requested to verify their intention and ability to comply with those conditions (see also Registration).
Execution of commission bids is a free service undertaken subject to other commitments at the time of the sale and we do not accept liability in an individual instance for failing to execute a written bid or for errors and omissions in connection with it, arising from circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
TELEPHONE BIDS
At Chorley's discretion, usually for lots estimated to realise £500 or more, we offer prospective buyers the facility to bid over the telephone, subject to availability of lines/staff. Telephone bids must be booked no later than 4pm on the day prior to the auction. Bidders will be required to provide two telephone numbers, in case one line is busy or unobtainable at the time of the auction. They will also be asked to supply a covering bid for each lot for which they propose to bid; this will only be executed in the event that our staff are unable to reach the bidder on the telephone number provided at the time the lot is offered for sale.
This is a free service undertaken subject to other commitments at the time of the sale and we cannot accept liability in an individual instance for failing to execute a telephone bid or for errors and omissions in connection with it, arising from circumstances beyond our reasonable control. Telephone bids may be recorded for security purposes and, by bidding on the telephone, prospective buyers consent to the recording of their conversation.
ONLINE BIDS
Chorley's sales offer prospective buyers the facility to bid live online through our website and The-Saleroom.com.
The Saleroom - Additional live bidding platform fee 5% (6% incl. VAT).
Chorley's Live - Live Bidding if offered at no extra charge
Bidders will be approved and activated for live online bidding at our discretion. By registering to bid in our auction through these online platforms, you confirm that you are resident at the address supplied and that you are the authorised user of the card used for registration. This service is offered subject to Chorley's Terms and Conditions and those of The Saleroom, as stated on their website. Chorley's cannot be held responsible for any failure or delay in online bidding technology which results in bids failing to reach the auctioneer or reaching the auctioneer after the hammer has fallen, neither are we responsible for incorrect information provided by the bidding platforms regarding the success of internet bids. Please do not assume you have been successful until you receive an emailed invoice from Chorley's, as all results have to be verified at the end of the auction.
Auction: Modern Art & Design | Fine Art & Antiques, 25th Nov, 2025
Viewing
Sunday 23 November | 10am -4pm
Monday 24 November | 9am - 4pm
Full Terms & Conditions relating to our auctions can be found here