13 December 2011 - Rare Book Sale

#0216

Lot 1021/0216

SOLD Hammer price €100

Marconi Wireless Telegraph, Co. of America. A finely engraved and colour printed Stock Certificate for 50 Five-Dollar shares, issued to Richard Henry Wheeler, with original signatures of the company’s Treasurer and Vice-President, dated 20 Aug. 1913, 205cms x 295cms (8″ x 11 1/2″), framed and glazed. Scarce. (1)

Lot 1023/0216

SOLD Hammer price €28000

HARLAND & WOLFF LTD.

A very important pair of manuscript ledgers, viz.

The company’s original manuscript Minute Book, beginning as the
Queen’s Island Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in 1886, including
manuscript annual reports with details of engineering developments and ships
built, minutes of principals’ meetings, balance sheets and some printed
documents recording changes in company structure up to the Annual Report of
1904-5, 254 numbered pages, indexed at front, folio, hf polished calf on
heavy buckram boards. A unique original document recording every important
development in the company’s structure, activities and fortunes, including
the formation of the H&W partnership in 1888, with the repeated signatures
of the company’s principals including the company’s founding chairman Edward
Harland, Walter A. Wilson (partner and designer), W.J. Pirrie (partner,
later Chairman) and others.

– The company’s original Register of Shareholders 1908-1926, with
lists of Directors, manuscript entries in printed forms, circa 50 pp folio,
strongly bound in half polished calf on buckram boards, upper board titled
‘H. & W. Ld.’. With a few related documents loosely laid in, enquiries from
the official Registrar, a letter from a supplier, etc. *An important and
sometimes poignant record. The Directors’ register for 1911 includes the
company’s designer Thomas Andrews; his name does not occur in the 1912 list,
as he went down with the Titanic.

These two volumes contain an absolutely fundamental record for anyone
interested in the history of this important business, unique and
irreplaceable. Both volumes in excellent condition.(2)
N.B. WITHDRAWN.

Lot 1024/0216

SOLD Hammer price €1300

FURNISHINGS FOR THE TITANIC

An original TLS from H.P.Mutters & Zoon, Koninkl. Nederl. Meubelenfabrik of Gravenhage [The Hague], 30 September 1911, to Messrs, Harland & Wolff of Belfast, regarding the S.S. Titanic and a ‘new order for the alteration of the Staterooms on B. deck on the above vessel and the Wickerworks in hand’,
and asking for payment to the National Bank of Scotland for credit to a Rotterdam account, ‘after delivery and satisfaction’. With ‘Answered’ stamp and various manuscript annotations.

An intriguing document. One might perhaps wonder why H&W were unable to source their wickerwork locally. (1)

Lot 1025/0216

SOLD Hammer price €1000

A “Titanic” Rivet Head

Harland & Woulfe Shipyard, engraved around the edge with shamrocks and inscribed R.M.S. Titanic 1912, Lost 15.4.1912.
Provenance: Christies Maritime Sale – 2007. (1)

Lot 1026/0216

SOLD Hammer price €1000

The Abbeyleix “Titanic” Carpet

[Titanic] A length of woven Carpet from the Abbeyleix Carpet Works, early 20th Century, being an off cut from carpeting specially manufactured at Abbeyleix for the Titanic and its sister ship. With a reproduced photograph showing Sarah Clooney and others of the girls who made the luxurious carpets for the Titanic; also with an example of the patented Latch hook Needle used by Ms. Clooney for the work, and another photograph & diagram.
* The Abbeyleix factory survived from 1904-1914. With a letter of provenance from the factory’s historian, Mairead Johnston. As a lot, w.a.f. (1)

Lot 1027/0216

SOLD Hammer price €240

Titanic: A very rare real photographic postcard S.S. Titanic, Cowes 10.4.1912, unused, v. good. V. Rare.
* Taken just four days before the appalling tragedy. (1)

Lot 1028/0216

SOLD Hammer price €90

Titanic: The Most Appalling Disaster in Maritime History – The White Star Liner ‘Titanic’ sunk on her maiden voyage off Cape Race, 15th April, 1912, A very good unused postcard, with details of the ship printed on reverse. Rare. (1)

Lot 1029/0216

SOLD Hammer price €2200

Lost in the Titanic
A large photographic Portrait, retouched, sepia, laid on canvas, framed and glazed, showing Mrs. Margaret Norton Rice (from Athlone) and her five children, all of whom were lost in the Titanic disaster of April, 1912.
Mrs. Rice was born Margaret Norton in Athlone, October 1872. She moved to Canada at an early age with her family. At 19 she married William Rice, a shipping clerk, and came home to Ireland for a time before returning to Canada and moving to Washington. In 1909 William Rice died in a rail accident, and Margaret received an insurance settlement of £300, with which she returned to Ireland in 1910 with her sons. She is recorded in Athlone in the 1911 census. In 1912, however, she decided to return to Washington and booked her passage on the Titanic. Her ticket number was 382652, costing £29. She embarked at Queenstown with her five sons, it is believed this photograph was taken in Cork before they embarked.
After the ship struck an iceberg, she was seen sitting in the third class area with her children. The Titanic carried sufficient lifeboats for only half its 2,240 passengers. Although women and children were given priority by the crew, third class passengers had little chance of reaching the boats on the upper deck.
Margaret’s body was recovered afterwards by a cable-laying ship, and she was identified through a box of pills purchased at an Athlone pharmacy. She is buried at Mount Olivet cemetery. Her children were not identified among the recovered bodies. A poignant memento of a dreadful night, when 1500 people died. (1)

Lot 1031/0216

SOLD Hammer price €80

The Titanic: The original issue of The Daily Mirror, for April 17th, 1912, reporting on the disaster with photos of passengers embarking at Cobh, etc., some photos of those lost, and those served, 8pp folio. As a newspaper w.a.f. (1)

Lot 1032/0216

SOLD Hammer price €170

Titanic: Young (Filson) Titanic, 8vo L. 1912. First Edn. hf. title, cold. frontis, 28pp. Cat. at end, orig. gilt decor. cloth, & orig. pict. d.w. (1)

Lot 1034/0216

SOLD Hammer price €210

Signed by Titanic Survivor

R.M.S. Titanic’ Lord (Walter) A Night to Remember, 8vo N.Y. (H. Holt & Co.) 1955. Second photo illus. orig. cloth backed, boards, joints worn.
* Signed presentation inscription on hf.-title, ‘From Maedi, a survivor, Jan. 15.56,’ Mrs. Maedi Schwarzenbach was on the Titanic as a young girl of 17 years, and was rescued from the ship on the night of the Disaster. She lived out the rest of her life in California & Switzerland. (1)

Lot 1035/0216

SOLD Hammer price €1000

Signed by The Last Survivor

Titanic interest: A coloured commemorative Poster, “R.M.S. Titanic – The Ill-Fated Luxury Liner,” approx. 33cms x 23cms (13″ x 9″), and framed.
* Signed by [Mrs. Elizabeth Gladys] “Millvina” Dean, the last person to survive from the sinking of the Titanic on that ill-fated night, 15th April 1912.

Lot 1038/0216

SOLD Hammer price €160

HARLAND & WOLFF Ltd.

An interesting TLS from National And Grindleys Bank of London, June 1966, to Harland & Wolff, concerning a cheque for some £2,300 issued to a customer, which they are unable to cash ‘owing to the Irish Bank strike’, and asking if it can be replaced with a cheque on an English bank, as ‘our
customer requires the use of this money as soon as possible’. With ‘Received’ stamp, and ms. endorsement indicating a replacement cheque was sent. (1)

Lot 1039/0216

SOLD Hammer price €180

Harland & Wolff Shipyard, Belfast: A collection including an interesting note book, black rexine, containing what appears to be a detailed list of ships built and launched, 1936 to c. 1972, with dimensions, owners names etc; and a quantity of mostly recent documents concerning the history and facilities of the yard. As a coll., w.a.f., in a box. (1)

Lot 1042/0216

SOLD Hammer price €100

Harland & Wolff: An unusual collection of scarce ephemeral items relating to the famous shipbuilding firm, including booklets on Staff Pension Fund, various different items, booklets on various engines & compressors used on the different ships, an illustrated printed account of H. & W. Shipbuilding and Engineering Works at Belfast, 1952, & a file on the arrangement of Luncheon Room Tables, for various launches, and some Plans of Works & Port of Harbour, as an archive, w.a.f. (1)

Lot 1045/0216

SOLD Hammer price €400

National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies

Fawcett (Millicent, Mrs. Henry Fawcett) President of the National Union of Woman’s Suffrage Societies. Manuscript text of a 13pp. speech in favour of Women’s Suffrage, with two related leaflets, no date or signature, probably circa 1908. An eloquent appeal. ‘Let us read, think and do something that the woman of our generation and of the generations yet to come may crave in vain through any fault of ours, for more life and fuller…’ as a m/ss, w.a.f. Rare. (1)

Lot 1047/0216

SOLD Hammer price €7000

Leader of First European Attempt to Conquer Mt. Everest

Howard-Bury (Lt. Col. C.K.) DSO. A collection including a manuscript Indian Travel Diary, 1909, (Jan. 13th – Feb. 16th, & Nov. 24 – Dec. 25th), approx. 85pp; an Eton College mor. bound notebook, 1900; his bank book with Cox & Co. 1904 – 14; a copy of his Will, 1934; a Mention in Despatches Certificate 1914 – 18; documents concerning a military enquiry, 1919; a Red Cross identity document, 1944; and a collection of about 50 – 70 various documents and letters, many from members of the nobility and gentry. As an Archive, w.a.f.
* Col. Howard-Bury, of Charleville Castle, Tullamore and Belvedere House,Mullingar, was leader of the first European expedition to attempt to climb Mt. Everest in 1921, reaching 23,000 ft, and laying the ground work, and paving the way which eventually led to the first full ascent in 1953. He travelled extensively in India and brought back many rare plants and shrubs to Belvedere. He was a British M.P. for many years, and was Parliamentary Secretary to the Undersecretary for War. He was the last surviving former High Sheriff for Offaly, and the last surviving Deputy Lieutenant for Co. Westmeath. He died in 1963. His mountaineering archive was sold by Mealy’s Auction House in 1994. (1)

Lot 1049/0216

SOLD Hammer price €90

Dublin Chap Books: Travels in European Russia, 16mo D. (Bentham & Hardy) 1826, wd. cut frontis & plts.; also Travels in Spain & Portugal, 16mo D. (Thomas White) 1828, wd. cut frontis & plts, both old sheep & two others sim. (4)

Lot 1050/0216

SOLD Hammer price €450

Collection of 17th Century Plays

Lees Plays: 1. Lee (Nathaniel) Mithridates King of Pontus, A Tragedy, 4to L. 1678. First Edn. [10], [78]pp.
2. Lee (N.) The Tragedy of Nero, Emperor of Rome, 4to L. 1675. First Edn. [VIII], 54, [1]pp.
3. Crowne (John) The Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian, In Two Parts, 4to L. 1677. First Edn. [XVI], [56]pp + [VIII] 64pp.
4. Lee (N.) The Rival Queens, or The Death of Alexander The Great, 4to L. 1677. First Edn. [XII], [66]pp.
5. Lee (N.) Sophonisba, or Hannibal’s Overthrow. A Tragedy, 4to L. 1676. First Edn. B1 lacking.
6. Lee (N.) Gloriania, of The Court of Augustus Caesar, 4to L. 1676. First Edn. [VI], [68]pp.
7. Anon. Andromache. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the Dukes Theatre, 4to L. 1675. First Edn. [8]pp, 48pp. Together 7 separate works, plus other items (mostly defective) cont. calf, broken, needs rebinding. As a coll. of Plays, w.a.f. Important collection. (1)

Lot 1051/0216

SOLD Hammer price €65

Curiosity: [Truman (C.M.) & Leslie (J.)] The Ypres Alphabet, 12mo n.d. [c. 1915] 25 cyclostyled sketched pages, & title, rough green cloth, gilt lettering. As a lot. Rare. (1)