February 28, 2013
Live Auction24 Maddox Street
London, W1S 1PP United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)207 495 9494
Fax: +44 (0)207 495 9499
Email: info@bloomsburyauctions.com
Viewing Notes26th February 9.30am to 7.30pm. 27th February 9.30am to 5.30pm. (restricted whilst the Beatrix Potter auction is in progress). Day of Sale from 9.30am.
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Lot 1: Piozzi (Hester Lynch, formerly Thrale, née
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Description: Piozzi (Hester Lynch, formerly Thrale, née Salusbury, friend of Dr Johnson, author, 1741-1821) 11 Autograph Letters signed HL Piozzi and HLP to Jacob Weston, steward of Streatham Park (9 with address panels to Jacob Weston), mostly in third person, and an addition to a letter by Gabriel Piozzi in his autograph, together 28pp., 90 x 188mm. & sm. 4to, some remains of red wax seals, Brynbella [Tremeirchion, near St Asaph], Denbeigh, Beaumaris & Shrewsbury, (3 undated), 10th October 1794 - Thursday 17th August 1797, business matters, ordering goods, settling bills etc., "The last Draft is for the Lamp man in Bruton Street"... "Mrs. Piozzi hopes nothing is owing to Mr Saltarelli, pray ask him, likewise Jefferies & Jones & Evans the Grocer, and poor Mr Smith Chandler... buy two Pots of Walker's Tooth Electuary in St. James's Street, & ask how many brown blinds came down, Jacob's Wife knows there were six in Hanover Square..."; health, "... pray send my Books and my Pills. The Pills above all things, for Sir Lucas Pepys bid me take on every night and they keep me very well indeed... My Master has been very bad indeed; and that just at coming into a new House..."; family and friends, "... make Miss Thrales welcome at Streatham, and Mr. Murphy [Arthur Murphy]... Jacob must find Mr. Murphy and follow him with the enclosed Letter"; finances, "we cannot keep two houses in Times like these, and live in a Third beside..."; prices of agricultural produce, "Wheat sold last Market for Twenty Shillings the Bushel and Oats at five Shillings"; problems with servants, "We send this by William Fleet, who shall never drive me again, or Touch a Horse of mine. We were engaged to dine with Lady Orkney, & go at Night with her to Denbeigh Assembly: but the Coachman... could not be found... and only returned just time enough to take us out. His Master scolded him and he gave his Master Warning, & began to drive us to Lady Orkney's. But on the Road he set Spurs into Mole; and checked him till the Blood ran down, and frighten'd me: and my Master too... and I think we all escaped Death only by Providence of God. He made no excuse, and he show'd no concern for terrifying me almost into Fits, and letting my clothes be spoiled by the necessity of putting down all the Glass Windows, while Mole kicked up the Dirt, and broke the Boot, and was likely to kill himself... Jacob and his Wife must not let in Barnard the Footman he has been sent away for very bad Behaviour...", 1 letter with piece working loose, another extensively creased and torn but with text largely intact, numerous tears, some where opened, others tears along folds, browned; and 2 other covering notes, both later, "Letters from Mrs. Piozzi" and "Dr Johnsons Letters to Mrs. Lucy Porter", v.s., v.d. "In these business letters she [Hester Piozzi] seems less studied, indeed indeed more genuinely, casual, than in the correspondence with her friends. Never writing down to her stewards, for example, she admitted her sense of dependence upon them (albeit expressed somewhat peremptorily) and therefore her gratitude." - Bloom & Bloom, The Piozzi Letters. Streatham Park. After the death of Henry Thrale in 1781, Streatham Park was leased out, the first tenant being Lord Shelburne, Prime Minister. In 1790 Hester and Gabriel Piozzi returned to live there and for the next six years she took up again her mantle of literary hostess and refurbished the house in an Italianate style. Thereafter they decided to live in north Wales, building Brynbella House, near St Asaph. Streatham Park was then leased to various tenants, including Peter Giles (d. 1830), grain merchant, at a rent of £550 per annum. Jacob Weston (1742-1820), steward of Streatham Park. Provenance: From the sale of furnishings and other items at Brynbella in 1874 to Philip Pearson Pennant (b. 1834) who was renting the house until his own, Nantlys, a large house was built nearby. The Pennants were distant relatives of Thomas Pennant (1726-98), the great Welsh naturalist and topographer, from whose family they had inherited the Bodfari estate in North Wales. Louisa Fielding, his great granddaughter and last of his line died in 1853 and the estates were entailed to the Pearson Pennant family. ***Unpublished. Not in Bloom & Bloom, The Piozzi Letters: Correspondence of Hester Lynch Piozzi, 1784-1821..., vol. 2. 1792-1798 & vol. 3, 1799-1804, Newark, University of Delaware Press, 1991 & 1993; but with reference in vol. I, Introduction, p. 17..
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Lot 2: Piozzi (Hester Lynch, formerly Thrale, née
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Description: Piozzi (Hester Lynch, formerly Thrale, née Salusbury, friend of Dr Johnson, author, 1741-1821) 14 Autograph Letters signed "HL Piozzi" and "HLP", 13 to Jacob Weston and 1 to Peter Giles (11 with address panels to Jacob Weston and 1 to Peter Giles), mostly in third person, together 38pp., sm. 4to, some remains of red wax seals, Brynbella [Tremeirchion, near St Asaph], Denbeigh & Shrewsbury, 5th November 1798 - 29th November 1799 (many dates from postmarks), on various business matters etc., "Mr. & Mrs. Piozzi hope all goes well at Old Streatham Park. Pray make our Coms: to Mr. Giles, & cut no Trees without letting us know, and give us an Acc.t of what have been cut"; Gabriel Piozzi, "My poor Master lies in Miss Thrale's Room not able at all to move hand or foot"; servants, "Things are very bad in the Stable, our young Man Thomas made a good servant but he is a very bad Master indeed... lies in Bed till 8 or 9 o'clock and locks the Door, so that he and the Horses and all are spoiling"; their coach horses Rat and Mole, "Pray do not starve my pretty Rat & Mole... Poor Mole met with a sad Accident a Fortnight ago, he leaped over the Pole with one Hind Leg, and hurt his Belly, & inside of his Thigh", taxes, "I suppose the Receipt for the Assess'd Taxes is to serve as a Certificate that they have been paid; but we do not know when they began to be charged"; Peter Giles at Streatham Park, thanking him for an invitation to stay and commenting on a function Giles held at the house, "I am glad old Streatham Park shone away so brilliantly..."; ; the Irish Rebellion of 1798, "... because of the Irish Families who run hither in whole Troops to shelter from the cruel Rebels who cut in Pieces every one that will not wear a Green Ribbon"; the prospect of a French invasion of Wales, "... I suppose there is talk enough of the French. We are to have ten Thousand Soldiers to guard the Welsh Coast... & be ready for sending over to Ireland"; living in Wales, "We are very fond of Wales and you never saw such a sweet place as my Master has made here"; ?a visit to the Ladies of Llangollen, "We go to Bath next Monday - that is we set out for Bath, but we go first to see those Ladies that live in the nice Cottage you remember", 1 letter cut at tail with possible loss, numerous tears, some where opened, others tears along folds, browned, v.s., v.d. "Farewell & believe me your Friend H:L: Piozzi." ***Unpublished. Not in Bloom & Bloom, The Piozzi Letters: Correspondence of Hester Lynch Piozzi, 1784-1821..., vol. 2. 1792-1798 & vol. 3, 1799-1804, Newark, University of Delaware Press, 1991 & 1993; but with reference in vol. I, Introduction, p. 17..
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Lot 3: Stuart (Charles Edward, styled Charles III, known
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Description: Stuart (Charles Edward, styled Charles III, known as the Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Jacobite claimant to the English, Scottish, and Irish thrones, 1720-88) Autograph Letter signed "Charles P" to "Mon Cousin", 1p. with black wax seal of the Royal coat of arms, in French, 205 x 195mm., 31st January 1743, an expression of deep and abiding affection, "Je suis tres persuade que vous l'embrasseriez avec joie, et de mon coté je trouverai bien plus de plaisir a vous temoigner en Personne l'Amitié et l'estime que je concus alors," folds, slightly foxed, framed and glazed. ***Written perhaps, to Louis XV as an expression of mutual goodwill shortly before Charles Edward Stuart's invasion of Scotland in 1745..
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Lot 4: Louisa Stuart (styled countess of Albany, consort
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Description: Louisa Stuart (styled countess of Albany, consort of Charles Edward Stuart, styled Charles III, known as the Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, 1752-1824) Autograph Letter signed "Louise de Stolberg Comtesse d'Albany" to Monseigneur Ridolfi at Rome, 2pp. & address panel, in French, 4to, Florence, 27th January 1799, requesting payment as it is her only form of income, arrangements for payment from her banker, Doctor Farnese and bewailing having to spend her time in chasing payment, folds, slightly stained, foxed and browned, torn where opened, framed and glazed. ***The marriage of Charles Edward Stuart and Louise was a connubial and political disaster. No child and the promised pension from France were forthcoming and the couple soon drifted apart, a separation being negotiated by Gustav III of Sweden in 1784. Long before that, in 1776 she began a long and enduring affair with the Piedmontese poet Count Vittorio Alfieri (d. 1803), which caused great scandal and precipitated a rupture with Charles's brother, Henry, Cardinal of York..
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Lot 5: Hackney Carriages.- Hackney Coach & Cabriolet
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Description: Hackney Carriages.- Hackney Coach & Cabriolet Fares, Regulations and Acts of Parliament, printed on silk, 4 figures and 9 images, tissue repairs to verso, short tears and punch holes to corners and head, some browning and spotting, 860 x 900mm., [1832]. ***'In 1832 the Hackney Coach Board was abolished and its licensing powers and management of the licence duties passed first to the Board of Stamps and then, in 1833, to the Board of Stamps and Taxes. Its regulatory powers passed entirely to a metropolitan magistrate nominated by the Secretary of State for Home Affairs.' - National Archives..
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