Manuscripts

Autograph Letters

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Description: Also includes letters from Louisa Powell MacDonald and their daughter to Professor A. J. Scott, Mrs. Scott, and their daughter.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1851-1914.
Call number: mssHM 6322-6353
Creator: MacDonald, George (1824-1905)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Maggs-Sotheby sale, lot 652, October 1926.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Sarah Siddons letter to Rev. Mr. Dennison and engravings

Manuscripts

Volume containing an undated two-page letter to Rev. Mr. Dennison of Norwich, England, circa 1788, sent by Siddons' following her return to her Gower Street residence in London. The letter is preceded by eight engraved portraits of Siddons and followed by a typescript transcript of the letter and biographical sketch of Siddons. The portraits consist of "Mrs. Siddons. After the Picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds," engraved by W. Holl; Mrs. Siddons from a drawing by Downman; "Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse," by Joshua Reynolds, engraved by John Bromley, and published by Moon, Boys & Graves, July 2, 1832; "Mrs. Siddons as Euphrasia ... The Grecian Daughter," by DeWilde and Conde, printed for J. Bell, 1792; "Mrs. Siddons as Jane Shore," by Hamilton and Leney, published by J. Bell, 1791; "Mrs. Siddons as Lady MacBeth," engraved by J. Rogers, published by G. Virtue, 1825; and "Mrs. Siddons as Medea" engraved by Thornthwaite.

mssHM 24038

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James Wolfe collection of letters, autographs, and drawings

Manuscripts

Letters, manuscripts, autographs, drawings, and prints related to James Wolfe, collected for their autograph value. Most of the letters are addressed to Wolfe's mother and concern's his effects and papers. The correspondents include Thomas Bell, Wolfe's aide-de-camp; Welbore Ellis, the 1st Baron of Mednip; Philip Hardel, a London goldsmith; Thomas Fisher, an executor of Wolfe's estate; William Pitt, the Elder, , and Samuel Francis Swinden, Wolfe's tutor, George Warde and Charles Warde. Also included are letters from Mrs. Wolfe to Wolfe's friend William Weston (1740, Dec. 16); Lord Shelbourne to Wolfe (1758, January); Wolfe's fiancee, Katherine Lowther to Mrs. Wolfe (1759, Oct. 25), and a note, in the hand of Thomas Bell, written at Montmorenci instructing "Major Dalling to come to Headquarters with both the captured women").

mssHM 9667-9695

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Letters on fruit trees in South Africa

Manuscripts

Six letters from fruit growers in South Africa writing for advice on growing fruit trees (particularly peach trees), including those acquired from California. In addition to writing of soil conditions and difficulty with fruit production, the authors also reference World War II, including their own losses and experiences and its impact on fruit exports. Also includes a letter from Weldon to Mrs. Una Winter, a newspaper article on Weldon, and a table of contents from his book Know your orchard problems (1946).

mssHM 73088-73096

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Autograph Letters of Robert Southey to William Taylor: original binding

Manuscripts

A collection of letters written by Robert Southey to William Taylor, British scholar, essayist, and translator. The collection also includes two letters to James Everett and a letter by John Warden Robberds. Three of the letters by Southey include autograph copies of his poems, "The Wedding," "Inscription Under an Oak," and "King Ramiro." The letters discuss many of the important people of the period including, among others, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Humphry Davy, Charles Lamb, Walter Savage Landor, Napoleon I, Sir Walter Scott, and William Wordsworth. Also included is the original separated binding, with the William K. Bixby bookplate; all of the material in the collection is still window-mounted on paper.

mssHM 4815-4876

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Jack London letter to Albert Frederick Wilson

Manuscripts

An autograph signed letter to Albert Frederick Wilson, an author, editor, and Professor of Journalism at New York University. London explains he and his wife, Charmian, are away from home to be with his daughter who is ill with typhoid; London also refers Wilson to his novel "Martin Eden" for information about his writing experience. The letter is in pencil, with the envelope; letter is heavily damaged with old tape repairs and loss of text.

mssHM 84417

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The zebra-striped hearse

Rare Books

"Lew Archer was hired by the bride's father to stop a wedding; he was to investigate the mysterious and romantic-looking young painter with whom Harriet was infatuated, and show him up as a good-for-nothing. Colonel Blackwell was very proprietary about his daughter although she was twenty-four years old. Inquiring into the young man's past, Archer soon finds not mere dissipation or minor delinquency--but murder. As his investigation proceeds, this first murder leads to others. The story moves with speed and steadily mounting excitement across the map of California and through its society from Los Angeles to the floating population of gamblers and their girls at Lake Tahoe. This is the tenth in this series of celebrated crime novels by Ross Macdonald. Brilliantly written and plotted, its climax comes as a triple shock and an all-too-credible revelation"--Half-title verso.

636038

Autograph Letters

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Sarah Siddons letter to Rev. Mr. Dennison and engravings

James Wolfe collection of letters, autographs, and drawings

Letters on fruit trees in South Africa

Autograph Letters of Robert Southey to William Taylor: original binding

Jack London letter to Albert Frederick Wilson

The zebra-striped hearse