‎Europe‎

‎WEGE, Sergent Major René Jules Charles‎

‎Military Archive - Service Papers & Identification Cards of Belgium POW Held Captive By the Germans.‎

‎Kingdom of Belgium, 1922-1957. Archive of military service papers and identification cards of Sergent Major René Jules Charles Wege of Liège, a Walloon Belgian who was held captive by the Germans as a political prisoner of war for 53 days in 1941. Comprises 7 printed military documents completed in manuscript, bearing stamps and signatures, and including 4 small portrait identification photographs. All documents are in French, a single exception being the POW recognition card which is in both French and Dutch. Documents range in size, the smallest card being a single leaf measuring approximately 8 x 10,5cm, and his personal army booklet being 21 pages and measuring approximately 10 x 14,5cm. Together with a manuscript copy of a sympathetic letter received from the wife of a deceased German soldier, written in English, during or following the Second World War. Attached to the Belgian Army from the age of twenty-one, volunteering later in the Liberation Army to fight against the German occupation, then the Armed Resistance Forces, and being active in the clandestine sabotage efforts of the 'Union Nationale de la résistance', this gallant Sergeant was awarded the Resistance Army medal, and the Commemorative Medal of the 1940-1945 War (Médaille commémorative de la guerre 1940-1945). This fascinating and informative lot of military documents belonging to a surviving World War II Political POW taken by the German Gestapo outlines his valorous service in the fight for his nation's liberation. Further biographic research is warranted in terms of the Belgian Sergeant's captivity, release, and unexpected benevolence towards a German officer. Sergent Major René Jules Charles Wege, born 1901 in Liège, entered the Belgian Army 30 November 1922, serving for one year. He joined the volunteer forces 1 February 1936, serving until 26 December 1945, during which time, in April and May he was taken prisoner by the German Army. On 13 June, after a recovery period, he returned, and served until 31 March 1957. He received veteran's military pension from April 1957. In 1941 The German secret state police was targeting resistance groups in Belgium, infiltrating the resistance network with informants to betray participants and to examine resistance publications for intelligence. They took over the former Belgian army Fort Breendonk, near Mechelen, which was used for torture and interrogation of political prisoners and members of the resistance. Around 3,500 inmates passed through the camp at Breendonk where they were kept in extremely degrading conditions. Around 300 people were killed in the camp itself, with at least 98 of them dying from deprivation or torture. It is probably that Sergeant Wege was a victim of this prison camp, as it was situated only one hour from Liège. The archive includes the following: A Political Prisoner of War identification card [No. 162.052] issued to Wege by the 'Ministère de la reconstruction' in recognition of 53 days in captivity from 2 April to 29 May 1941. Complete with his photograph. Excerpts: "Carte de Prisonnier Politique 1940-1945: Wege, René J.C.... a été prisionnier politique ayant subi un captivité de 2 avril 41 au 29 mai 41, 53 jours..." Three cards stamped and signed, issued to Wege pertaining to his membership in the clandestine Armée de la Libération [Belgian Liberation Army]. The Sergeant's personal military book and his statement of services card detailing his assignments with the Belgian Army during the Second World War, each with an identification photograph. With the Resistance Army, from 10 May to 11 June 1940 Wege was with the 12 ième régiment de ligne (an infantry unit of the Belgian armed forces). In the spring of 1941 he was a captive in German hands. From 10 February 1943 to 14 October 1944 he was attached to the Résistant armé (Armed Resistance Forces). From 24 September 1944 to 17 December 1944 he was assigned to the Auditorat Militaire de Liège (Military auditors of Liege), and from 18 December 1944 to 8 May 1945 to the 1006 ième Compagnie des transports automobiles (a battalion designed to sabotage German transport lines). A summary of his military service , dated 31 May 1966, issued at his request by the Ministry of Defence, signed and stamped An uplifting note from a German widow, which reveals that in spite of his captivity and any ill-treatment at the hands of the Germans, Wege held no prejudice against the common folk. The note reads as follows, "It is my heartfelt desire to thank you for your sympathy with my sorrow at the loss of my husband, The honour you did to him a German is proof to me that it only needs personal contact to establish relations of mutual esteem. This will be a ray of light in my dark hour. [signed] Mrs. Sophie Hahn" The Belgian Resistance (Résistance belge, Belgisch verzet) refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Aside from sabotage of military infrastructure in the country and assassinations of collaborators, these groups also published large numbers of underground newspapers, gathered intelligence and maintained various escape networks that helped Allied airmen trapped behind enemy lines escape German-occupied Europe. The resistance included both men and women from both Walloon and Flemish parts of the country. German forces invaded Belgium, which had been following a policy of neutrality, on 10 May 1940. After 18 days of fighting, Belgium surrendered on 28 May and was placed under German occupation. During the fighting, some 600,000 or more Belgian men (nearly 20% of the country's entire male population) served in the military, many of whom were made prisoners of war and detained in camps in Germany, although some were released before the end of the war. Many of the first members of the Belgian resistance were former soldiers, and in particular officers, who, on their return from prisoner of war camps, wished to continue the fight against the Germans out of patriotism. Most of the resistance was focused in the French-speaking areas of Belgium (Wallonia and the city of Brussels), although Flemish involvement in the resistance was also significant. Around 70% of underground newspapers were in French, and 60% of political prisoners were Walloons, as was Sergeant Wege. In 1941 the Germans requisitioned the former Belgian army Fort Breendonk, near Mechelen, which was used for torture and interrogation of political prisoners and members of the resistance. Around 3,500 inmates passed through the camp at Breendonk where they were kept in extremely degrading conditions. Around 300 people were killed in the camp itself, with at least 98 of them dying from deprivation or torture. L'Armée de la Libération était un mouvement de la résistance intérieure belge durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale né à la fin de l'année 1940 dans la mouvance des démocrates-chrétiens. L'armée belge de la Libération est fondée à Liège, par des militants qui en recrutèrent les membres au sein des mouvements de jeunesse et des syndicats démocrates-chrétiens. L'A.L. s'appuiera également sur un important contingent issu des forces de police ou de la gendarmerie. Ses membres s'occupent avec la presse clandestine: édition du journal La Vérité, le renseignement, rendre le secours aux réfractaires, aux clandestins, et aux populations juives, ainsi que le sabotage. Liège is a major city and a municipality in of Belgium, located in the province of the same name, and is part of the Walloon region (mostly French-speaking). Walloons are a distinctive ethnic community of French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Important historical and anthropological criteria (religion, language, traditions, folklore) bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon Region. They speak regional languages such as Walloon (with Picard in the West and Lorrain in the South).‎

‎URE, Dr. Andrew‎

‎Manuscript Note Certifying a Shipment of "Perfectly Pure Cocoa" for the Royal Navy Together with a Printed Biography of Ure and an Orginal Photograph‎

‎London, 28 November 1849. Manuscript Signed Letter to approbate the cocoa served by the Royal Navy to its nearly 200,000 mariners, written by important Scottish chemist Andrew Ure. 8vo. Double-leaf measuring approximately 18.5 x 17 cm. Very good, original condition. A most unusual document of unexpected consequence. Together with a privately printed biography published in London 1874, featuring an original albumen portrait photograph frontis of Dr. Ure. Small 8vo. measuring 10.5 x 14.5 cm. 18, [3] pages, giltedged leafs, gilt tooled and titled green leather boards, minor wear to corners, otherwise in Very Good condition. The favourable result from a formal investigation of a specific company's cocoa purchased and consumed by the British Navy at 400 tonnes per year, Dr. Ure suggests that many English producers were at the time compromising quality during production, however, he confirms the purity of Graham & Hedley's Genuine Roll Cocoa which was manufactured in Liverpool. A new product, the cacao was moulded into rolls and stamped. For a fee of £10.10 and commissioned by the Lords of the Admiralty [Sir James Whitley Deans Dundas, &c.], this analysis may very well have secured enormous profitability and longevity for the chocolate company. Competitors immediately denounced the assessment, such as Taylor Brothers for example, whom stated that public preference or 'taste test' was all that truly mattered. Evidently significant not only to the Navy, but also to the public as a whole, Ure's letter was published in the "Law Times" volume 15, 1850. Subsequently, numerous publications touted Graham & Hedley's product as "the best preparation of cocoa for morning and evening meals.... advantageous for invalids to whom it is essential to have the article genuine... the most economical substance offered to the public... superior homeopathic cocoa..." and so on. Excerpt from the letter: "Having been employed by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to analyze and improve the Cocoa and Chocolate of which 400 tonnes are annually manufactured for Navy at the Deptford Victualling Yard... " "I take pleasure in testifying that the Roll Cocoa of Messrs Graham & Hedley of Liverpool is perfectly pure, and so well prepared as to afford with hot water or milk, a bland, aromatic, salubrious, and highly nutritious an article of diet." End Excerpts. The letter is accompanied by a rare biographical sketch which commemorates Dr. Ure's important works, a lovely volume printed for private distribution only. Excerpts from the book: "... To Dr. Ure belongs the honour of having taken the lead in a movement which has had incalculable power in developing national wealth... In 1809, when the Glasgow Observatory was about to be established, Dr. Ure came to London, commissioned to make the scientific arrangements. Here he met, and acquired the friendship of Maskelyne, Pond, Groombridge, and other Astronomers, and also of Davy, Wollaston, Henry, and other distinguished chemists of that day... in London... appointed in 1834, Chemist to the Board of Customs... important researches on sugar refining... his skill and accuracy as an analytic chemist were well known, as well as the ingenuity of the means employed in his researches..." Dr. Andrew Ure (1778-1857) was a Scottish physician, analytical chemist, and a highly respected professor of chemistry. A foremost (possibly the first) consulting chemist in Britain, doing much work in London where he settled in 1830, his work entailed investigative tours of several industries in England, Belgium and France, various government commissions such as the one outlined above, and speaking as an expert witness. His visits to English textile mills led to his famous publications of "The Philosophy of Manufactures" (1835) and "The Cotton Manufactures of Great Britain" (1836). His exposure to factory conditions led him to consider methods of heating and ventilation, and he is credited with being the first to describe a bi-metallic thermostat. "The Great Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines" (1837), was Ure's chief and most encyclopaedic work. In 1840 he helped found the Pharmaceutical Society. The Board of Commissioners for the Victualling of the Navy, often called the Victualling Commissioners or Victualling Board, was for 150 years the body responsible under the Navy Board for victualling ships of the British Royal Navy. It oversaw the vast operation of providing serving naval personnel (140,000 men in 1810) with enough food, drink and supplies to keep them fighting fit, sometimes for months at a time, in whatever part of the globe they might be stationed. It was in 1795 that Dr. Joseph Fry of Bristol employed a steam engine to grind cocoa beans, which led to the manufacture of chocolate on a large scale. By 1825 the Royal Navy purchased more cocoa than for the rest of Britain. It was considered perfectly nutritious beverage for sailors on watch duty, being hot and non-alcoholic was of further benefit. Sailors in the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea coined the term "chocolate gale" in reference to the cold wind from the northwest, which ultimately granted them the comforting treat. By the nineteenth century chocolate was being tested for commercial distribution as a "homeopathic" and "dietetic" product. According to Hassall's survey of British made chocolate, producers of homeopathic chocolates included Graham & Hedley, Taylor Brothers, Leaths, J.S. Fry & Sons, Cadbury, Barry and Company, Epps' and others. Manuscript‎

‎AMIES, Hardy‎

‎SIGNED - Three Volumes From His Personal Library - Text in German‎

‎Three (3) original signatures of Hardy Amies, the couturier for Queen Elizabeth for some thirty-nine years, contained in three books from his personal library, and each also containing his bookplate. 8vo. Three volumes each signed and dated by Amies to front endpaper, very slight wear to boards, otherwise in Very Good condition, signed on crisp, clean leafs. Sir Edwin Hardy Amies, KCVO (1909-2003), was a British fashion designer, best known for being the dress designer for HM Queen Elizabeth II for thirty-nine years. In the 1930s Amies rose to become one of Britain's leading couturiers and his salon was one of the few to rival the great dress houses of Paris. After a successful pre-war career as a designer in other people’s fashion houses, Amies opened his own establishment at 14 Savile Row in 1946. In 1950 Amies made several outfits for Elizabeth's royal tour to Canada (then Princess Elizabeth). He received the award of a Royal Warrant as official dressmaker in 1955. One of his best known creations is the gown he designed in 1977 for Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee portrait. Knighted in 1989, Amies held the warrant until 1990, when he gave it up so that younger designers could create for the Queen. He was also the couturier for Lady Alice Egerton, who was appointed as lady-in-waiting to the young Princess Elizabeth in 1949, and who would go on to become Woman of the Bedchamber when Elizabeth became queen in 1953. For three years he travelled and worked in France and Germany; becoming fluent in both countries' languages. Amies worked for a customs agent and then as an English tutor in Antibes, and later in Bendorf, Germany where in 1928 he acquired one of these volumes for his library. Around the same time, another of the volumes was acquired in a village on the Mosel River. He returned to England in 1930. The third volume is signed by him in 1933 and appears to have been gifted to him by famous Austrian writer Karl Heinrich Waggerl. Manuscript‎

‎NORDENSKIOLD, A. E.‎

‎Postcards - Argentine Rescue of Otto Nordenskjold's Swedish Antarctic Expedition‎

‎Antarctica, South America, 1903-1904. Three (3) photographic postcards made in Buenos Aires illustrate the successful rescue of Otto Nordenskjold's Swedish Antarctic Expedition by the Argentine relief expedition led by Captain Irizar with the Uruguay (1903-1904), as well as a little-known simultaneous expedition which had set out to Antarctica with the same purpose. Postcards measure approximately 14 x 9.5 cm, each printed with Spanish captions, and individually mounted with clear corners onto a cardstock leaf. Postally not used; two are in original condition as published; one bears the stamp of the Lloyd Sabaudo shipping line. Very Good Condition. These rare picture postcards relate to the Antarctic rescue efforts by both Sweden and Argentina to locate and safely bring home members of Otto Nordenskjold's Swedish South Polar Expedition (1901-1904). One of these is the successful rescue made by the Argentine Relief Expedition in December 1903, led by Captain Irizar aboard the corvette ARA 'Uruguay'. The other is a far lesser known but valiant attempt made by the Swedish Navy; it too would have saved the men if not for Uruguay having arrived but a few weeks earlier. The postcards illustrate the following: • The deck of Norwegian whaling ship 'Frithjof' at Buenos Aires with Captain K.H. Olof F. Glydén and crew onboard, laden with supplies, and preparing for the departure of the little-known Swedish Relief Expedition (1903-1904). Perhaps of special interest for being generally forgotten, the Swedish navy also undertook their own Relief Expedition, departing from Sweden 18 August 1903. The vessel was almost shipwrecked on its voyage, and upon arriving at Snow Hill on December 4th, Captain Glydén found that 'Uruguay' had already made the rescue. Postcard No. 53 from 'La Nación' series. • The Argentine Navy's corvette 'Uruguay' and her crew, commanded by Captain Irizar, departing from Buenos Aires in November 1903 with civilians crowding the shore to bid farewell. [At the same time, rescue expeditions were made by the Swedish and the French, but this Argentinean expedition was the one to successfully rescue Nordenskjöld's two surviving Antarctic parties.] Postcard No. 16 from 'La Nación' series. • A cameo portrait of Argentinean Lieutenant Commander Julián Irizar (1869-1935), in the background his ship is navigating Antarctic waters to make the resuce. Leading the Argentine Relief Expedition, Irizar aboard the corvette ARA Uruguay sailed from Buenos Aires in November 1903 and within one month had most fortuitously met with the stranded Swedish explorers, all but one person having survived two long Antarctic winters. The Swedish Antarctic expeditionary party, led by Swedish geologist Nils Otto Nordenskjöld (1869-1928), left Gothenburg aboard the aptly named 'Antarctic' on October 16th, 1901, with Norwegian Captain Carl Anton Larsen (1860-1924) at the helm. The ship went on to Buenos Aires, arriving on the 15th of December 1901, where Nordenskjöld received an offer of food, fuel and help from the Argentinean government if the ship took an Argentinean naval officer José Sobral with them; he was also to be a part of the wintering party. They went on via the Falkland Islands sighting King George Island in the South Shetlands on the 10th of January 1902. [Alferez Sobral became the first Argentinean to step on Antarctic territories.] Enduring two long winters on the Antarctic Peninsula, this is a story of resilience and survival, scientific discovery in hostile conditions, as well as international cooperation. Despite the hardships, the expedition was considered a scientific success, having explored much of the eastern coast of Graham Land. Only one man perished. The successful rescue of Otto Nordenskjold's Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904 was made by the Argentine Relief Expedition led by Captain Irizar aboard the corvette ARA Uruguay, in November 1903.‎

‎Heyerdahl, Thor‎

‎The RA Expeditions‎

‎First American edition. Hardcover. 341 pages. Inscribed, "To Casper Citron with Best Wishes"... Heyerdahl 9.14.1971 on half-title page. B&W illustrations and 111 colour photographs of his expeditions. Dark green cloth with dustjacket slightly chipped at extremities, otherwise, in very good condition. Heyerdahl, the Kon-Tiki explorer, describes his two trips from Africa to South America aboard papyrus reed boats, proving it is possible.‎

‎Anonymous‎

‎Manuscript Book - Reading Rifle Club‎

‎Reading (Berkshire, England), 1901-1923. Manuscript minute book for the Reading Rifle Club, established in 1900, containing all particulars of its growing membership, annual shooting programs and competitions, rules and regulations, financial statements, and the like, recorded in various hands over the years and containing several original signatures. A few of the club's printed documents, some manuscript letters from members, and newspaper clippings are tipped in. Together with a printed pocketsize 9 page handbook of the club's rules. 8vo. 218 pages on watermarked lined paper. Half calf over dark teal cloth boards titled in gilt to spine, original marbled endpapers, bookbinder's label to front pastedown. Endpapers reinforced at seam, otherwise in very good condition, a most interesting volume dealing with shooting as a sanctioned pastime. A fine example of a pre-war shooting club, nineteenth century firearms etiquette, and freedom to enjoy skilled gunnery competition. Gaining popularity and new members every year from its opening season, the Reading Rifle Club appears to have been most diligently managed, every one of its meetings being recorded in this manuscript minute book. Entries are wide-ranging in subject matter, some topics up for discussion being entrance fees and prizes, monthly competitions, an annual challenge cup, subscriptions, nominations and elections for leadership and administrative posts, expenses and receipts, ammunition purchases, firearms kept onsite, new members, annual shooting programs and competitions, rules and protocol, scoring, handicapping, dividing competitors into classes, the daily pay rate for the range warden, special use of the firing range, and so forth. Meetings were very regular from the turn of the century until 1914, then reduced rather abruptly owing to the Great War, during which time most of the members would have been in service, putting their shooting skills to practical use. Many captains are named as members, being of the British Army or the Royal Navy, many surely being attached to the pre-First World War Berkshire Yeomanry. Further research may find some notable persons. Being a legitimate and accredited pastime promoting honest and skilful competition, the member roll also included reverends. [In 2009 the National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom celebrated its 150th Anniversary. Today the association is primarily concerned with civilian full-bore target rifle shooting, although retaining its military heritage and close links with the British Armed Forces. Similarly, the Reading Rifle Club would have attracted Captains and Colonels of the Royal Armed Forces.] Incidences of special interest include experimentation with a patent target machine, a disconcerting matter of irregular entries on a score card, possible embezzlement of subscription money, a shooter having an epileptic seizure, and a proposal for establishing a summer camp at Clacton-on-Sea together with the Colchester Rifle Club. We also find occasional mention of Churn Camp, which was at the time in Berkshire, and another popular place for men of the Berkshire Yeomanry. Indeed a pastime requiring fastidious safety monitoring and honorable sportsmanship, frequent mention is made of the governing body of full bore rifle and pistol shooting sports, the National Rifle Association (NRA), which had been founded only forty years earlier in 1859. The Reading Rifle Club was affiliated to it. [The National Rifle Association was based at Putney Heath & Wimbledon Common, in south-west London, 12 years before its better known American cousin.] Manuscript‎

‎CAMPBELL, MARTIN & BOSWELL‎

‎Manuscript - Solicitors' Letter Book - 170 Draft Documents Pertaining to Dalquharran Castle and Kennedy Estate, Foreign Investments in Australia and a Fascinating Link to Poet Robert Burns‎

‎Edinburgh, 1893. Letter Book Archive of draft documents made by the law firm Campbell, Martin & Boswell, for private estates and business agreements, neatly preserved in a custom binding, featuring little known details relating to the Dalquharran Castle and Kennedy estate, Scottish investments and links to Australia, and a fascinating connection to the renowned poet Robert Burns by way of a lease made with his descendent for a mansion estate which he, too, had personally visited. 8vo. Approximately 170 documents, most in manuscript and some in typescript, 1166 pages combined, with a scant few integral blanks, plus unpaginated manuscript index listed alphabetically by document type. Very large volume measuring 23 x 35 x 9 cm (WxHxD) and weighing 10 pounds. Quarter calf over brown cloth boards labelled in gilt to spine, original marbled endpapers. Bookbinder's label to front pastedown (Caldwell Brothers of Edinburgh). Very good condition, an excellent depository volume of legal and historical interest. The firm Campbell, Martin & Boswell, consisted of three solicitors, each with the title and privileges of "Writers to the Signet", John Douglas Boswell, W.S.; Patrick William Campbell, W.S.; and Francis John Martin, W.S., the latter of whom became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1892. Their office was at 1 North Charlotte Street in Edinburgh, which was the same address as the Royal Bank of Scotland, and situated very near to Charlotte Square. Scots law and legal proceedings of the late nineteenth century, much of which differ today, are well illustrated in this archive of original working documents executed by accomplished patrician lawyers representing some discriminating and aristocratic clients. Many of the documents deal with property conveyance and estate matters, and represent traditions no longer observed, including the obsolete " Trust Disposition and Settlement" procedure for claiming an inheritance. Other documents include assignations, land conveyances, bond and disposition in security, deeds of assumption and discharges, estate inventories, a search for deeds with the Register of Sasines, leases, loan proposals for purchasing commercial space in Edinburgh, records of monetary investments in Highland Railway (HR), Jamaican plantations, property to let in Scotland, Australian banks, and so forth. So exclusive and intertwined were the upper class and wealthy, perhaps not large in number, but surely powerful in society, some interesting genealogical and business connections can be made from examining these papers. Many clients are also relations to the solicitors who often acted as trustees. In one case, we find a multi-generational connection between the Campbell and Burns families, beginning with the Jamaica sugar plantation owner Patrick Douglas and Scotland's celebrated national poet Robert Burns (1759-1796). In addition, these documents shed light on the leasing history of the Dalquharran Castle in South Ayrshire, which included hunting rights for at least one resident, as well as the Kennedy family's monetary investments in Australia. Interesting to note, one of the lawyers from this firm, Mr. Campbell, is related through marriage to the castle's then most recent owner, Mr. Francis Thomas Romilly Kennedy (died in 1892). Some items of special interest: • A twenty page lease agreement was issued to a Glasgow coalmaster named Robert Burns (1844-1896), who was the great-great-grandson and namesake of the famous poet and lyricist Robert Burns (1759-1796) - who had visited the very same Mansion House of Garrallan in his day, being a friend of its proprietor at the time, Dr. Patrick Douglas. A fascinating and detailed document, the lessors were concerned with mining royalties, minerals specifically deemed as belonging to the Marquis of Bute, and minerals raised at the mansion house. [Garrallan was owned by the Campbell family until 1676. The Douglas family followed but it became extinct in the male line. Dr. Patrick Douglas, who died 1819, also owned property in Jamaica and in 1786 he offered Robert Burns a position as a bookkeeper in Port Antonio, but the poet declined. Burns was a visitor at Garrallan. Jane Douglas married Hamilton Boswell and this family retained it until 1914 when it was sold to the Stevenson family of Changue, who still own the property.] • Another fascinating document is headed "Notes on Titles of Charlotte Square," now a World Heritage Site situated in Edinburgh. In this we find reference to feudal tenancy and particulars of construction. Excerpts from the document: "Charter by the Magistrates & Town Council of Edinburgh in favour of Alexander Stevens dated 1st June 1803... no buildings are to be erected... on the foresaid back ground... that the area of the square within the line of the street ways was to become a common property for the accommodation pleasure health or other convenience of the several feuars round said square... For the lot of ground in Charlotte Square X the sum of £6. 18/4 3/12 and further paying the sum of £14. 18/4 3/12 upon the entry of each heir and singular successor or disponee to said Lot Houses or Tenements built thereon... For the foresaid piece of ground on Young Street the sum... Disposition of Sir George Hope to Margaret Kyle of Binghill dated 2nd April 1818. Disposition & assignation of the said Rev'd Dr. James Kyle in favour of Alexander Russell dated 8th January 1868. Disposition Settlement by the said George Bruce [Factor and Law Agent, W.S.] dated 10th July 1891 & recorded in the Books of Council Session 27th July 1892." • At least 8-10 documents pertain to Francis Thomas Romilly Kennedy (1842-1892) and the Dalquharran Castle which he inherited in 1879 and immediately expanded. The castle, which was built for his grandfather and featured a round bastion tower with a drawing room, piano nobile, and a library above, and an exquisite top-lit spiral central staircase, was extended from 1880-81 by Francis Thomas Romilly Kennedy, to accommodate his wife and bedrooms for their nine children. The work was completed at great expense, leaving the Kennedy family almost bankrupt. The family is known to have left Dalquharran for alternative lodgings, and by 1890 they had leased the castle and its lands as a hunting and fishing estate, as seen in this volume. Examples of the papers found herein include: An Agreement of Lease of the Dalquharran Castle as a furnished residence, "excepting the Strong Room retained by the proprietor", to James Paterson of Milton Lockhart, and includes surrounding lands with permission for shooting small game in accordance with the Ground Game Act of 1880. On 24 July 1893, the Scottish Union & National Insurance Company confirming notice of an "assignation" which transfers the estate of Francis Thomas Romilly Kennedy, to his second son "John Campbell Kennedy of the Royal Navy." A two page document which itemizes and places monetary value on the "Additional Inventory of the Personal Estate... of the late Mr. Kennedy", including the surrender value of a life insurance of sorts, from which are deducted debts and funeral expenses. A list of debentures, borrowed from institutions in Australia, Canada, and Oregon, also documents relating to his investments with the British and Australasian Trust and Loan Company. Matters concerning his executrix and widow Eliza Barbara Colina (née Campbell) Kennedy. • An agreement permitting a John Ernest Orr to manufacture and sell a certain steam trap which was patented in 1892 by a millwright named John Mackie. As members of the elite society of Scottish solicitors, the Writers to the Signet, and thus holding special signing authorities and privileges, the firm of three attracted some notable clients, some of which were long-standing clients from generations past. A cursory gander through the volume finds these examples: • William Jardine Herries Maxwell (1852-1933), a Liberal Unionist politician in Scotland. Maxwell was elected at the 1892 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dumfriesshire in 1895, but lost it very narrowly when his Liberal Party opponent had a majority of only 13 votes. He regained his seat in 1900, but stood down at the 1906 general election. • William Caven Lockhart-Mure of Livingston in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, Lieutenant in the 4th Bombay Cavalry (Poona Horse), Indian Army, who later rose to the rank of Major, and died in died in 1913. [With a lease herein the lieutenant agreed to a term of five years, letting and maintaining the Livingstone House, gamekeeper's house, garden and orchard in Kirkcudbright. It was owned by Colonel John Stewart (died 1726), a Scottish professional soldier who served in the Scottish Army and, after the Union with England, in the British Army, who also held a seat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1715, and who had inherited the property from his father. • James Oswald (1779-1853), an influential merchant and Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow from 1832 to 1837 , who inherited the estate of his cousin Richard Alexander Oswald (1771-1841), a Scottish Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1835. [Again a family connection, his son, also named Richard, married Lady Mary Kennedy.] • Alexander Oswald (1811-1868), a Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayrshire from 1843 to 1852, as well as his father Richard Alexander Oswald, a Glasgow merchant. • Robert Haldane Scott, a Scottish attorney in Jamaica who filed returns for slaves by plantation owners in Trelawny, and his daughter Eliza Scott who married Reverend Edward Holland of New South Wales and died intestate June 1890. [A detailed document assigns a woman named Margaret Jane Wakeford, resident of Falmouth, Jamaica, as Power of Attorney for the estate of the late Eliza Scott.] • William Hume, technical chemist and innovative instrument maker, who was very active in the 1880s and 1890s designing and manufacturing magic lanterns, glass lantern slides, oxy-hydrogen lime-light apparatuses, a cantilever enlarging apparatus, a half-plate camera, rapid rectilinear lenses, and other photographic equipment, from his shop at 1 Lothian Street in Edinburgh. [A loan proposal herein indicates that he also purchased the property of 31 Lothian Street.] • Annabella Alexandrina Campbell Boswell (1826-1914), gentlewoman, born at Yarrows, Bathurst Plains, New South Wales, having a maternal lineage linked to the Campbells. She was a prolific diarist, horsewoman, skilled watercolourist and pianist. In 1849 Annabella met Patrick Charles Douglas Boswell, a free settler from Ayrshire, Scotland, accountant for the Bank of New South Wales (later becoming manager), who was related to James Boswell the biographer, and presumably also Mr. Boswell of this firm. Together Annabella and Patrick returned to Scotland in 1865, where Patrick had inherited the family estate in Ayrshire. • The only actual "will" recorded here is that of Bengal Army Major General Robert Farquhar Webster's widow, Janetta Annan Webster (née Dewar), which bequeaths the estate to her son, and permits the trustee to invest funds and heritable securities into in stocks of Great Britain, any British Colony or Dependency, until such time as he reaches the age of maturity. [Her husband was educated at the Edinburgh Academy before joining the British Army in India in 1843. He retired in 1878 as a Major General in the Bengal Staff Corps.] • Major Archibald Hume of Auchendolly and Spitalside, born 27 Dec 1843, and recognized by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for having presented the museum with a bronze enamelled harness ornament of British Celtic origin. • William Fullarton of Fullarton (1754-1808), a Scottish soldier in the Bengal Staff Corps who participated in the Second Anglo-Mysore War, a statesman, agriculturalist, author, and son of a wealthy Ayrshire gentleman for whom he was named - William Fullarton of Fullarton. • Reverend Samuel Smith, attached to the church and parish of Borgue in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. • Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Maitland (176-1824), a British soldier who served in St. Domingue, and colonial Governor of British Ceylon. Historical Scottish minutiae through and through, with over 170 documents to explore, the opportunity of finding little-known information or unravelling early questions of lineage and heritable rights is indeed great! Dalquharran Castle: In the spring of 1819 Thomas Francis Kennedy (1788-1879) of Dalquharran Castle and Dunure, Ayr, (Whig aristocrat and commissioner of woods, forests, land revenues, works and buildings), succeeded his estranged father to the encumbered Ayrshire estates. The principal properties were the Dalquharran Castle near Dailly, and the coastal estate of Dunure, situated between Dalquharran and Ayr. He died at Dalquharran in 1879 and was succeeded by his only child, Francis Thomas Romilly Kennedy (1842-1892). At great expense Francis Thomas Romilly Kennedy made expansions to the mansion, leaving the Kennedy family almost bankrupt. Recent studies suggest that external construction work was finally finished in the summer of 1890, relating this to a note made by Kennedy on documents bearing this date, and existing records regarding the exterior paving and roofing work being completed. The family is known to have left Dalquharran for alternative lodgings, and by 1890 they had leased the castle and its lands as a hunting and fishing estate. The castle had several tenants over the next 45 years, whilst staying in the hands of the Kennedy family. Eventually, the castle and the estate were put up for auction. It was bought by a Timber Merchant from Troon, who set about stripping the timber from the estate and who leased the castle to the Scottish Youth Hostel Association. Dalquharran remained a youth hostel until the Second World War, when the Langside School for the Deaf, evacuated from Glasgow, moved in. During the war, the Castle and lands were sold to one John Stewart, a produce merchant from Girvan, who later moved into Dalquharran with his family, and farmed the estate. The Stewart family co-habited the house with friends, but still the house proved too large and expensive to maintain, and was abandoned. The castle was inhabited as recently as 1967, but was unroofed to allow the then owners to avoid payment of high tax rates. It is now a ruin, with only the masonry shell remaining intact. The Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of documents which required to be signeted, but these have since disappeared and the Society is now an independent, non-regulatory association of solicitors. The Society maintains the Category A listed Signet Library, part of the Parliament House complex in Edinburgh, and members of the Society are entitled to the postnominal letters, WS. Wills/Testaments and Inheritance (Scotland): Heritable property, also known as immoveable or 'heritage' property and real estate, included land and buildings. Up to 1868 real estate was automatically inherited by the eldest son (the law of primogeniture) or daughter if there was no son unless there had been a specific disposition or bequest. The law of primogeniture applied to heritage until 1964. This meant that an eldest son might not appear named in the will. Likewise, a wife, who would automatically get the widow's part, may not be mentioned. The right to inherit was established by Retours of Services of Heirs or by a Trust Disposition and Settlement ('deed of settlement'). The actual register of the transfer or other change in ownership was recorded in Sasines. Manuscript‎

‎British Government Official Act of Parliament‎

‎Manuscript Edict - Tolls for Road Building‎

‎London, 1736. Official Act of Parliament issued by the British Government, to explain and amend a previous act for the repairing and enlarging of county roads in the environs of Rochester in Medway and Maidstone in Kent. Folio. 5 pages, with two woodcuts engravings, one being the national arms of King George II. Printed in 1736 by John Baskett, Printer to the King, on three leafs, laid paper, measuring approximately 19 x 28,5 cm. Minor loss to bottom left margin, unobtrusive to text, otherwise in very good condition, beautifully preserved, clean and bright. The present document suggests the government's plans and support toward the development of the town of Maidstone, exempting road builders, farmers, gardeners and town residents of road tolls and carriage duties previously payable, and presumably, still applicable elsewhere. At the Westminster Parliament 14 January 1734, King George II instituted "An Act for repairing and enlarging the Road" from Rochester to Maidstone, and others in Kent, by charging tolls and cargo taxes. The act was extended on 15 January 1735, and amended in 1736, the details of which are described herein. [During the English Civil War, the Battle of Maidstone took place in 1648, resulting in a victory for the Parliamentarians. Andrew Broughton, who was Mayor of Maidstone in 1649 declared the death sentence on Charles I, and today a plaque in Maidstone Town Centre memorialises Broughton as "Mayor and Regicide". Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the cloth industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman and his son invented wove paper (Whatman paper) at Turkey Mill from 1740, an important development in the history of printing which took place only four years after the making of this document.] Excerpts from the document: "An act to explain and amend an Act passed in the first year of the Reign of His present Majesty...for repairing and enlarging the road leading from the House called The Sign of the Bells, in the Parish of St. Margaret un Rochester, to Maidstone, and other Roads therein mentioned in the County of Kent." "... several persons, carriages, matters, and things are exempted and discharged from the payment of the several Tolls and Duties to be taken at the several Gates and Turnpikes to be erected by virtue of the said Act..." "... after the twenty fifth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and thirty six, no person or persons shall be charged... any tolls or duties... who shall pass... with any Carriage carrying any stones, gravel, or other materials, for repairing roads or highways, or any dung, sand, grit or mould for manuring of lands or gardens, nor any horses, waggons, wasns, carts or other carriages carrying undried hops from the hop-grounds to the kilns... in or about Maidstone... nor for carriages carrying hay or fodder to be laid up in the houses, hut-houses, barns or stables of the several inhabitants..." "And it be further enacted... so much of the highway or pass-road leading from Rochester to the town of Maidstone, as lies between a place called The Lady Taylor's White Gate... and the way-post now standing at the north end of the said town..." End excerpts.‎

‎De NAVARRO, J.M.‎

‎Prehistoric Routes Between Northern Europe and Italy Defined by the Amber Trade. - 12‎

‎Author: J. M. de Navarro Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1925. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: Well illustrated with in-text sketch maps, as well as a large fold out colour map which identifies amber from the bronze age and the early iron age uncovered in central Europe, the author describes the tremendous influence of amber on communications from the North Sea to the Baltic. The author presents a neatly outlined study of the Central routes, the Western routes, and the those in the East, drawing on the expertise of men such as Gottlieb Schumacher, and concluding with a proposed timeline of excavation and trade. The ancient trade route now known as "The Amber Road", is thoroughly examined from an archaeological standpoint, and makes links between civilizations, ultimately showing that pre-historic trade shaped the histories of the continent by the contact it induced among them. For example, the graves and antiquities of the Aunjetitz [Unetice] people settled along the Elbe river, contained antiquities of amber, most likely sourced in Jutland [the Cimbrian Peninsula] to the north. 8vo. 28 pages, plus a fold out color map for illustration. Map measures approximately 63,5 x 39 cm. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the introduction: "Apart from a few stray references we have no written records concerning Central Europe and its inhabitants before the time of Caesar and Tacitus... this report shows that the study of prehistoric amber finds, and their distribution, casts no little light on the human geography of that region during the second and the last millenium of the pre-Christian era. ...In prehistoric archaeology, concerned as it primarily is with the more material aspects of civilization, the study of trade relations is of peculiar importance..." End Excerpt. Amber is fossilized tree resin (not sap), which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times, and valued from antiquity to the present as a precious gemstone. The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade. As an important raw material, sometimes dubbed "the gold of the north", amber was transported from the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts overland by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to Italy, Greece, the Black Sea, Syria and Egypt thousands of years ago, and long after.‎

‎GATHORNE-HARDY, G.M.‎

‎A Recent Journey to Northern Labrador - 03‎

‎Title: A Recent Journey to Northern Labrador. Author: G. M. Gathorne-Hardy Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1922. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: An important account, this represents the first recorded discussion on Labrador's ancient multi-tiered rectangular stone structures, which at the time were known to few very people and had no certain historical connection. Some 62 years after this discussion and the author's first observations, his theories of their makers were finally scientifically confirmed, the formations now being known to have been built by prehistoric Thule Neo-Eskimo people. To resolve this archaeological question which they themselves drew attention to for the first time, the Gathorne-Hardy cousins, Geoffrey a Norse expert, and Robert a young enthusiast of archaeology, ventured together to Sculpin Island in the Nain region of Newfoundland to investigate firsthand. They proposed that the stone structures were either built by the Norse or by Norse-influenced Inuit, and would return for further digging and investigation in 1932. The Gathorne-Hardys' notable work piqued the interest of others who subsequently investigated the relics, Tanner in 1941, Wenner in 1947, and Matthews in 1971 who believed that construction was most likely effected by Inuit who had been influenced by the 16th century European visitors. Not until 1984 was the long-standing question finally answered, when a number of sites between Hamilton Inlet and Okak containing multi-tiered and single tiered rectangular stone structures, and also individual structures, were mapped, tested and excavated. Drilled slate and nephrite endblades, and tool fragments indicated that the rectangular structures were built and occupied by prehistoric Neoeskim groups. Sod house villages dating to the precontact and early contact Neoeskimo period were also visited by Kaplan. Two sod house forms probably in use between the lst and 17th centuries were identified and chalcoal sanples from the structures are being dated. 8vo. 17 pages including two sketch maps, plus photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the text: "... keenly interested in archaeology, it was an archaeological problem which I proposed primarily to investigate... there are very few who have seen it at all, and fewer still to whom it can be said to be at all well known." "... To give an idea of the inaccessibility even of such a place as Nain, I may mention the experience of a Newfoundland canoeman, who accompanied Mr. Hesketh Prichard and myself in 1910...." "... With Eskimo remains, however I was only indirectly concerned, as something likely to throw light on the main problem which I was anxious to investigate. This was that of the Tunnit, an extinct race, said to be of non-Eskimo origin, remains of whose stone buildings were alleged to exist on various islands off the Labrador Coast..." "... I did not myself believe that these ruins could have anything to do with the earliest voyages described in the sagas, but... when the Greenland colony fell on evil times, as it did before its final extinction in the early fifteenth century, some venturous spirits might have tried to find a more desirable home in the lands discovered by their predecessors." "... On adjacent highlands we found the graves... Perhaps a richer mine for objects... found in the turf walls and floors of old houses... Robert... discovered a good many old stone weapons...the ground was plentifully littered with flakes... several implements... things not typical of the local culture... also unusual implements of bone and walrus ivory..." End Excerpt. Geoffrey Malcolm Gathorne-Hardy (1878-1972) was an English soldier, writer and Norse specialist. He fought in the Boer War, losing a finger. Called to the Bar in 1903, he was in Norway in 1905, when the country gained independence, and he learned Norwegian as well as some Danish and Icelandic. In 1910 he travelled with H. Hesketh Prichard from Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador to Indian House Lake on George River, and contributed a chapter on fishing to Prichard's Through Trackless Labrador (1911). In 1920, he made a second journey to northern Labrador, this time with his cousin Robert Gathorne-Hardy, which is described in the present volume. During the First World War he had a foot amputated, was mentioned in despatches, and awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre (Belgium). From 1921 to 1966 he wrote and published several books. Robert "Bob" Gathorne-Hardy (1902-1973) was an English garden writer. Though he also wrote fiction (Lacebury Manor, Other Seas) and some bibliographical works, he is best known for his books on plants that he researched while growing in his garden, or about plants that he collected in different parts of the world. He also had a keen interest and knowledge of archaeology, which was the reason for accompanying his cousin Geoffrey on the expedition to northern Labrador in 1920. Sculpin Island is an island in Newfoundland and Labrador, situated between Badger's Quay and Pool's Island.‎

‎MILL, Hugh Robert‎

‎Speeches at the Unveiling of the Shackleton Memorial‎

‎Title: Speeches at the Unveiling of the Shackleton Memorial. Author: MILL, Hugh Robert. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1932. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: This is a fascinating report on the Memorial held for an acclaimed hero and visionary explorer. At the Invitation of the Memorial Committee, the company assembled in the Hall of the Royal Geographical Society at 3:00 PM on Saturday the 9th January 1932. These are the proceedings of this meeting. Excerpt from the text: "Twenty-three years ago today, on 9 January 1909, Shackleton stood on the summit of the ice-cap 400 miles nearer the heart of the Antarctic than any predecessor, though still 100 miles from his hoped-for goal. Weary, hungry, cold, and disappointed he yet tingled for triumph in the greatness of his achievement..." End Excerpt. 8 pages, including a frontis illustration of the Shackleton memorial. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, 1874-1922 was the famous British Antarctic explorer. The first of his voyages to Antarctica was made as a member of the expedition (1901-4) of Robert F. Scott. Shackleton was invalided home in 1903, but the experience gained on the Scott expedition aided him greatly as commander of a south polar expedition (1907-9). In the course of this expedition Mt. Erebus was ascended, the south magnetic pole was located, and the polar plateau was crossed to a point less than 100 miles from the South Pole. The scientific results of the expedition were of vast importance. Knighted in 1909, Shackleton published that year an account of his expedition, The Heart of the Antarctic. As commander of a transantarctic expedition, he set out in 1914, planning to enter the Weddell Sea and cross on foot over the south polar region to the Ross Sea, a distance of c.2,000 mi (3,200 km). When his ship Endurance was crushed in the ice in October 1915, he led his party some 180 miles to safety at Elephant Island; from there Shackleton with five companions in a lifeboat made a voyage of c.800 mi (1,290 km) through wild seas, then crossed rugged, glaciated South Georgia Island to reach (May, 1916) a whaling station on its north coast. Shackleton rescued his Elephant Island party and later returned to the Weddell Sea to pick up others left there earlier in the expedition. His South (1919) is an account of the whole expedition. In 1921 Shackleton sailed on the Quest to study Enderby Land but died on ship and was buried on South Georgia Island.‎

‎WARD, F. Kingdon‎

‎Through Western Yunnan - 09‎

‎Title: Through Western Yunnan. [With Color Map] Author: F. Kingdom Ward Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1922. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: Renowned plant collector and explorer Francis Kingdon Ward describes a journey made in 1921 from Lashio in British Burma (Myanmar), to Kunlong, through a Yunnan valley he describes as, "thinly populated... poor... well cultivated, and [with] astonishing quantities of opium hidden away in the remoter nooks." Moving onward to ascend the Mekong Divide, he passed guarded villages and fascinating cities, crossed mountain ranges and valleys, and through regions well known for its brigands, along the way remarking on the people, commerce, geography and of course the flora. In the environs of Yungpeh, he describes well-wooded ranges sparsely populated but for a few tribes such as the Lao-p'ang which the Chinese accused of being prolific robbers. Finally reaching his destination in Sichuan - the early seventeenth century Muli Dasi monastery, home to the great lama - which still today serves as home for the Living Buddha of Muli, who holds the highest status in Tibetan religious culture. Ward would make this his residence for the following five months. Perched above the Litang river, it was the largest of three Buddhist monasteries in the area. He remarks on the Moso [Mosuo], a minority people among the region's seventeen ethnic groups, and on the breathtaking scenery of virgin forests and hundreds of soaring 900 peaks. 8vo. 21 pages, plus a fold-out color map measuring approximately 30 x 22cm, and photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpts from the text: "A journey from Lashio, the terminus of the Northern Shan States railway in British Burma, to Muli over the Szechwan border took me through some of the less-known parts of Yunna, and it is of the unfamiliar route that I write..." "Climbing the range in front of us we reached a pass of 11,260 feet above sea-level, and from the summit obtained a fine view of Chinese Tibet... below was the Yungning lake, a vivid sapphire... a small rock crowned by a white monastery, the peaceful home of the high lama..." "... we resumed our journey to Muli... to a village called Lichiangtze... june 7 we reached the monastery of Muli, above the Litang river, or Li Chu, as it is called here, and I was given quarters in the house of the cobbler." "Amongst the three or four Europeans who have passed through Muli on their travels are Mr. [Edvard] Amundsen the missionary, General H. R. Davies, and Mr. R. F. Johnston; but I venture to think that not one of them received the welcome accorded to me in 1921 at the hands of the grand lama... I had reached my destination...." End Excerpt. Francis "Frank" Kingdon-Ward (1885-1958) was a highly respected English botanist, explorer, plant collector and author. In 1913 he explored and collected in Yunnan and Tibet, and in the following year he made the first of his many visits to north Burma. He made some 22 expeditions over a period of nearly fifty years, exploring Tibet, North Western China, Burma (Myanmar) and Assam (now part of North Eastern India). In Burma he also conducted forestry research with native botanist Chit Ko Ko. Travelling in the mountains and valleys of Burma and adjacent areas, he traversed the unexplored country on the Burma-Tibet frontier in 1922, 1926 and again in 1930-31. He became one of the most important plant hunters in Asia and Southeast Asia in the mid-20th century, making a substantial contribution to botanical science. Muli lies on the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, just north of the famous lake of Lugu. Until 1953 it was a Gelugpa Buddhist kingdom. The monastery at old Muli [Mili], is situated 120 km north of the county seat, in what is now the Muli Tibetan Autonomous County. It once housed more than 700 monks. It was originally built in the early Qing dynasty, took 12 years to build and was completed in the 17th year of the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor, around 1600. Present day Muli little has changed very little since Ward's visit - aside from the practice of robbery and pillage, that is. It has officially been open to tourism only for a few years, at the turn of our century. Ward's journey was contemporay to that of Austrian-American explorer and botanist Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884-1962) who also studied the flora, peoples and languages of southwest China, mainly in Yunnan, from 1922-1949.‎

‎BUXTON, L.H. Dudley‎

‎Present Conditions in Inner Mongolia - 06‎

‎Title: Present Conditions in Inner Mongolia. Author: L. H. Dudley Buxton Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Pre-Dates Book! Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: Buxton's journey into Mongolia took place during the Mongolian Revolution which had begun in 1921, and which in 1923 would end Chinese occupation over Mongolia and expel the Russian White Guards. The civil war created disorganization and delay with rail travel and on the trade routes, causing alternate planning now and then, but also revealing to Buxton the political relations between Mongolia, Russia and China which were effecting consequential changes to the area. As one who was deeply captivated by the history of human races migrating, coexisting and eventually integrating with one another, there could not have been a more opportune time for his journey, in spite of the unsettled conditions surrounding him. The journey began at Kalgan (Zhangjiakou). As Buxton enters regions of Mongolia not yet penetrated by the Chinese agriculturalist, he describes the Mongol ways of life, with much appreciation for their fortitude, and holding special respect for their ability to travel long distances by camel. He describes temporary travel encampments, small remote villages consisting of yurts, and pastoral plains housing herd of Mongolian ponies. In other regions he describes the rapid encroachment of Chinese farmers, and Chinese traders who are quick to follow suit. A substantial immigration of Arabic speaking Chinese Muslim groups who claimed to come from as far as Samarkand was taking place at the time, and causing great uneasiness among the Mongols who did not trust these particular foreigners. Learned on the subject, Buxton presents a most captivating perspective on the ebb and flow of humanity which had taken place for many hundred years over the stretch of country between the Great Wall of China and the Gobi Desert. He discusses Chinese influence in Mongolian culture, achieved through trading outposts in particular, at times the traders and agriculturists moving towards the ambiguous boundaries of the desert, and at times being pushed back by the pastoral inhabitants of Mongolia. He concludes with a theory of imminent decline of Mongolian tradition, and predicting a dynastic northern expansion into Mongolia. The report pre-dates the Buxton's books, "The Eastern Road", which was published in 1924, and "The peoples of Asia" published in 1925. 8vo. 21 pages, plus photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the text: "The region described in this report was known to the Chinese as the Country of Long Grass. It lay just beyond the Wall on the great trade route from Kalgan to Urga... it was my good fortune to ride through a small part of the land at a particularly interesting time. When I left Peking, Wu Pei Fu and Chang Tsao Lin had just started to fight, and as I went down the pass leading to Kalgon on his return, I met scattered bands who had decided after the manner of Chinese soldiery that for the time being, at least, they were better employed as civilians. ..." "Our purpose in visiting the Grass Lands... if possible to see something of the Mongols themselves... To all those of us whose fortune it has been to gallop with these wild horsemen across the plains, to sit round an argul fire in their felt tents, and to watch lambs being folded in the evening... want to go back there again." "A number of Mongols are always to be met with on the road in charge of the caravans... their dark blue tents near the road soon after leaving Sinhwa, but did not meet a more permanent settlement till we came to Chahar-hara... the first big truly Mongol settlement..." "The caravans pass and disappear between the hills, and the only human things are the little villages of the Mongols." "The struggle to my mind almost resolves itself into a study of the position of the boundary between the agricultural civilization, proudly called by the Chinese the Middle Kingdom, and the barbarian pastoral nomads, to describe whom the Chinese expended all the vituperation..." "The great mobility of the nomads and the stability of the tillers of the earth..." "The Mongol, even though there may be rumours of brigands on the road, prefers the old-time custom and sleeps outside..." "The revolution of 1911, which removed the yoke of the Manchus and at the same time their protecting influence, is possibly the most important political fact for Inner Mongolia." "Lamaism is entirely dominant, although some of the old shamanist rites still survive... traditional magic forms and ceremonies... Sheeps and goats are sacrificed... two-thirds of the adult male population become lamas and take vows of celibacy." End Excerpt. Leonard Halford Dudley Buxton (1890-1939) was an anthropologist and professor who carried out work in India, China, the USA, Mesopotamia and in Malta. In 1912 he obtained a distinction in the Diploma in Anthropology at Oxford University. He subsequently taught physical anthropology there. In 1913 he was appointed Demonstrator in Physical Anthropology and undertook fieldwork in Cyprus, under the auspices of the Archaeological Expedition of the British Association. Buxton undertook some craniometrics and was, for example, involved in examining archaeological material from Crete and Mesopotamia, although his interest was more in general ethnology and in recording the patterns of human anatomy and race from around the world. One of his students was American anthropologist Henry Field, whom he accompanied on an expedition to Iraq. Buxton was a member of the Department of Anatomy, and in 1922 was appointed Lecturer in Physical Anthropology. In 1927 he became the first Reader in Physical Anthropology at Oxford. For many years Buxton worked closely with British anthropologist Beatrice Blackwood who ran the Pitt Rivers Museum, until he died suddenly of pneumonia.‎

‎KOCH, Lauge‎

‎Preliminary Report on the Results of the Danish Bicentury Expedition to North Greenland - 08‎

‎Title: Preliminary Report on The Results of the Danish Bicentenary Expedition to North Greenland. Author: Lauge Koch Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: As contemporary as can be, this Arctic report was presented in England while its author, celebrated and accomplished explorer Lauge Koch, was still in Greenland tirelessly charting regions yet unknown - the northernmost extremities of Peary Land. From the Danish Arctic Station at Disko, Greenland, Koch dispatched this detailed progress report of the Bicentenary Jubilee Expedition, which began in 1921 and would continue until 1923. Polar ice pack blockades, shortage of food, an especially hazardous climb of an ice-cap glacier, crossing fissures, even infections and fever were overcome by the party of four, who, already at this point in the expedition, had achieved so much. Loch's report continues with scientific works completed and a history of the Peary Channel. Together with three Eskimos, Koch conducted and survived a strenuous 200-day sledge journey along the north coast of Greenland, well within the Arctic Circle, around Peary Land and back across the Inland Ice. Over the period of some 50 years, Koch led 24 Danish expeditions to Greenland, and on this particular journey, one of his earliest, Koch discovered a depression which in his opinion was the one that Robert Peary in 1892 had mistaken for a channel. As well, his observations of the interior of Independence Bay led to considerable cartographic changes when compared with the Peter Freuchen map of 1912. The sledge journey began at the headquarters at Robertson Bay in Inglefield Land, travelling passed Humboldt Bay, then via Fort Conger in Canada to Nyeboe Land, to De Long Fiord, into Independence Fjord and returning over the inland ice. The results of his charting were published as the "Atlas of North Greenland" containing 24 maps. 8vo. 14 pages, plus 2 full page sketch maps for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpts from the text: "In 1921 Denmark celebrated the Bicentenary of her last colonization in Greenland, and in the same year supremacy in the whole of Greenland was conceded to Demark by the other nations interested. Thus it seemed to become a national duty... the investigations and surveys of the last remaining portions of the coast, the section from De Long Fiord to Cape Bridgman, the most remote and inaccessible part of Peary Land." "At last we reached the summit... All Peary Land was laid bare before us like an enormous map... Like a flash it struck me: This the Peary Channel. This must be the great depression seen by Peary twenty-eight years ago...the big frozen lake... the land leading from the Polar Sea to the head of Independence Fiord. Peary thus was fully justified in believing that this depression meant a channel, and it is most admirable to see the approximate correctness with which he indicates its course." "... the Eskimo had contracted an itch-like disease by which we gradually all became infected... At the settlements the disease lasted throughout the whole summer, and several persons died from its attacks." "Abreast of the Victoria Fiord we met with an abundance of fissures... we went southwards towards the great depression behind Sherard Osborn Fiord and Warming Land, where in 1917 the second Thule expedition started on the desperate race for life across the inland which caused the death of Dr. Th. Wulff." "... we expected to find a depôt placed here by the Eskimo, but, as we learned later, the disease amongst the Eskimo had rendered this impossible. We now had only ten dogs left... The situation was most serious...The Petermann Glacier is in bad repute... Now we had no choice; we had to cross it... Men and dogs tied together... We had four dogs left, which meant life for four days." End Excerpt. Lauge Koch (1892-1964) was a Danish geologist and Arctic explorer, who made twenty-four (24) Danish government expeditions to Greenland, his work spanning almost half a century and beginning in 1913. He was the renowned leader of Greenland expeditions, and, the unfortunate central of attention in the Lauge Koch Controversy, an international and intra-national conflict. Amongst his other contributions to the sciences, in the mid-1930s Koch established a network of field stations and traveling huts in Central East Greenland. This establishment of a permanent infrastructure in the field caused a change in the whole culture and organization of Danish Arctic exploration. Koch was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the American Geographical Society in 1924, and its Daly Medal in 1930. In 1927 he was awarded the Patron's Gold Medal of the British Royal Geographical Society for his work in Greenland. Of the Danish Bicentenary Expedition to North Greenland, Koch stated, "This expedition completed the mapping of the north coast; and the only portion of the Greenland coast not travelled by a Dane at that time, i.e., the northern coast of Peary Land, was traversed." (Koch I 927)‎

‎RODD, Francis‎

‎A Journey in Air - 08‎

‎Title: A Journey in Aïr. Author: Francis Rodd Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Pre-Dates Book! Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: Visiting the geographically breathtaking and ecological diverse Aïr Massif within the Sahara Desert, only five years after the devastation of French-Tuareg battle which annihilated numerous villages, Rodd provides an enlightening first-hand account of the Tuareg people groups, including the dominant Kel Owey. With the Cortier map in hand (the first map made of the Aïr, in 1912), and at times accompanied by a local guide, Rodd navigates through the vast mountain corridors and plains. He comes to previously thriving towns which had since been reduced to struggling villages, and also to newly emerging settlements. In the latter he learns a great deal about Tuareg custom including courting and marriage, child rearing, raiding practices, ongoing slavery, food preparation, construction of grass huts and stone houses, hunting which led to the extinction of the lion of Aïr, and more. A fascinating history of their origin also unfolds as he travels. Rodd's is a primary source account of previously unexplored places in Aïr, featuring an excellent and detailed account of the oasis village of Aouderas and some inhabitants whom he came to know well during his stay over the entire rainy season. References are made to Heinrich Barth, who had travelled through Northern Aïr in 1850, as Rodd follows Barth's route for part of his expedition. A lovely colour map illustrates his own route through mountains, plateaus, valleys and deserts, a most exciting journey. Rodd published the full account of this expedition in 1926, his book title being foreshadowed to in this paper, "People of the Veil: Being an Account of the Habits, Organisation and History of the Wandering Tuareg Tribes which Inhabit the Mountains of Aïr or Asben in the Central Sahara." 8vo. 22 pages, plus a fold-out colour map and photographic plate for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the text: "Aïr, apart from the fact that it is a comparatively unknown country, especially in England, is of particular interest to the traveller for two reasons. In the first place, it is a volcanic area of considerable extent in the Central Sahara, inhabited by an exceedingly interesting people, the Tuareg, or the people of the Veil; and in the second it occupies a prominent position on one of the oldest trade and cultural roads in the world...." "Between Kano and the south of Aïr we followed much the same road as Barth in 1850-1, but in the opposite direction... The country has been much deserted since the days when it was known as the "Granary of Aïr, subject to the Tuareg of the mountains, whose sultans ruled in Gamram, Jajiduna, Tademari, and Demmili, towns now either totally abandoned or reduced to small villages..." "T'in Wana and Eghalguen are two of a number of watering-points in this massif. The former is a ravine... arched sides carved with T'ifinagh inscriptions, the peculiar writing of the Tuareg, the use of which is almost extinct in Aïr." "The Tuareg in North Africa are divided into various groups... But they have no name for the totality of their people other than Kel Tagilmus, the People of the Veil." "... the Tuareg fall into very distinct categories of noble tribes, called Imajeghan, and seville tribes called Imghad, in addition, of course, to the slaves which they still possess, though the practice is forbidden; that is to say, there is no traffic in human beings, but master and slave continue to regard each other by mutual consent in the light of their original relationships." "Like most nomads, they are thieves and raiders by choice... they are poor... as tough as any race there is in the world. They can travel 120 miles twenty-four hours on one camel, and suffer the extremes of heat and cold alike... They never lose their temper..." "A Tuareg woman enjoys great freedom before her marriage, and has love affairs of a most romantic description. A man and girl will ride long distances to meet one another, and at no time are they subjected to censure or surveillance... children are admirably brought up..." "Auderas [Aouderas], especially famous for the magnificent grove of date palms, and the little village of Towar...Barth here records seeing a plough yoked to two slaves being used. The plough is not known in Aïr now." "The Kel T'intaghoda were Holy men, but that did not prevent them about the massacre of Barth's expedition on three occasions, when he camped here here..." End Excerpt. Major General Francis James Rennell Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell KBE CB JP (1895-1978) was the second but eldest surviving son of the diplomat James Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell. Fluent in no less than four languages, during the First World War he was an intelligence officer in France, Italy, North Africa, Egypt, Libya, Palestine and Syria. He then made two great expeditions into the central Sahara (1922 and 1927). The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif (Tuareg: Ayar; Hausa: Eastern Azbin, Western Abzin) is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara Desert. The town of Agadez in the heart of the Tuareg country is the capital of Aïr. Much of the Tuareg population of Aïr until recently led a nomadic life, relying essentially on camel and goats from which they take milk, meat and skins used in the production of local handicrafts. Most sedentary populations were either dependents of higher caste Tuareg pastoralists or the Ikelan (Bouzou in Hausa / Bella in Songhai), former slaves and captives of the Tuareg from Hausa and other southern peoples. These peoples were settled in northern oases, to tend the date palm plantations held by the noble clans. In 1591 came under rule of the traditional polity of the Tuareg Sultanate of Aïr, and remained so until it was conquered by the French in 1900. The emergence of the French weakened the Tuareg Kels and provoked both infighting and resistance to colonialism. From the 1880s, Toubu raids increased. During an uprising against the French in December 1916, led by Tuareg chief Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen on his way to the siege of Agadez, many towns were destroyed. When the French retook Agadez in December 1917 a brutal punitive expedition through the Aïr left many formerly populous places abandoned, razed by Kaosen and the French successively.‎

‎GREGORY, Prof. J.W.‎

‎Suess's Classification of Eurasian Mountains - 06‎

‎Title: Suess's Classification of Eurasian Mountains. Author: GREGORY, Professor J. W. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1915. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: Overview of the contemporary (early 20th century) classification of the Eurasian Mountain systems and geologist and Alp expert, Professor Eduard Seuss' revised system. Features Seuss' explanations of the 'Primitive Nucleus;' the 'Altaid Zone;' the 'Posthumous Altaids' and the 'Marginal Arcs of Eurasia.' Proceeded by a discussion of the validity of the classification including remarks relating to the value of the mountain classification; the correlation of Europe and Asia; and the relations of the mountains of north-eastern Siberia. Excerpt from the text: "The traditional view of the arrangement of the mountains of Eurasia represents the Continent as traversed from the Pyrenees to Java in the south-east and to Bering Strait in the north-east by a connected series of mountain chains, which includes the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, and Balkan Mountains in Europe, the Caucasus, the chief mountains of Persia and Afghanistan, the Himalaya and various adjacent chains, the western mountains of Burma, and the disrupted chain represented by the islands along the south-western coast of Sumatra..." End Excerpt. 17 pages, including 1 full-page sketch map. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Eduard Suess was a geologist, professor of geoplogy at the University of Vienna, and expert on the geography of the Alps. He is responsible for discovering two of the Earth's major now-lost geographical features, the supercontinent Gondwana (proposed 1861) and the Tethys Ocean. He developed views on the connection between Africa and Europe; eventually he came to the conclusion that the Alps to the north were once at the bottom of an ocean, of which the Mediterranean was a remnant. While not quite correct (mostly because plate tectonics had not yet been discovered, he used the earlier geosyncline theory), this is close enough to the truth that he is credited with discovering the Tethys Ocean, which he named in 1893. His other major discovery was that the glossopteris fern was found in fossils in South America, Africa, and India (as well as Antarctica, though Suess did not know this). His explanation was that the three lands were once connected into a supercontinent, which he named Gondwanaland, again not quite correct: Suess believed that the oceans flooded the spaces currently between those lands, when in fact the lands drifted apart. Still, it is similar enough to what is currently believed that his naming has stayed. Suess is considered one of the early practitioners of ecology. He published a comprehensive synthesis of his ideas in 1885-1901, entitled Das Antlitz der Erde (translated as "The Face of the Earth"), which was a popular textbook for many years. In this work Suess also introduced the concept of the biosphere, which was later extended by Vladimir I. Vernadsky in 1926. In his writing he did not explicity define the term.‎

‎SKRINE, C. P.‎

‎The Alps of Qungar - 11‎

‎Title: The Alps of Qungur. Author: SKRINE, C. P. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1925. Pre-Dates Book. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: Skrine's narrative describes his attempts to conduct a survey of the unexplored eastern face of the Qungur massif and particularly its offshoot in the Shiwakte Mountains, in the Qaratash valley - at the suggestion of Sir Aurel Stein, first to cross the Buramsal Pass and follow the Qaratash river to its debouchure 36 miles due south of Kashgar. Initially following Stein's route, Skrine proceeded, in 1922, from Strinigar to Kashgar through Gilgit, Hunza, Mintaka Pass and Takqurghan on a journey of two and a quarter years. He then explored the Qungur peaks, and made tours to Yarkand, Khotan and Keriya. Provides a fascinating insight into the lives of the indigenous Qirghiz; the glaciology of the region and reconnaissance notes on the Torbashi, Ghorumde and Kaying glaciers; botany of the meadows at Kaying Bashi and a survey of the Shiwakte group of mountains. Skrine considered his surveying to be little more than an amateur attempt but Major Kenneth Mason, cartographer working for the Survey of Indian authorities, compiled the topographical material into a map of the Qungur Massif area, details of the outcome outlined here. In addition, notes on plants collected. Accompanied by a spectacular, large, fold-out colour map and equally captivating panoramic photography. Pre-dates the author's book, "Chinese Central Asia", first published in 1926; 27 pages. Plus black and white plates, one of which is a fold-out panorama, and fodl-out color map, measuring 12 inches x 14 inches. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition.‎

‎De Velez Bracho‎

‎Broadside - Dos Vistas De Toros - Bullfighting - Text in Spanish‎

‎Seville, 1843. Uncommon original broadside for two bullfights taking place at the Seville Plaza 16-17 April 1843, with very detailed programme details and a beautiful steel cut engraving which illustrates the sport in its traditional form - the matador being mounted. Printed by De Velez Bracho. Text is in Spanish. Folio. Single leaf measuring approximately 28,5 x 39 cm. Mounting paper to left margin, unobtrusive to text, otherwise in very good condition, clean and bright. "Con el Correspondiente Permiso Se Egecutarán Dos Vistas de Toros en los tardes del Domingo 16 y Lunes 17 del presente mes de Abril La Plaza será mandada y presidida por la Autoridad competente" [With permission two bullfighting events will take place in the afternoons of Sunday the 16th and Monday the 17th of April this year The Plaza will be directed and chaired by the competent authority] Especially interesting about this document is the woodcut illustration of a matador de toros (bullfighter) mounted on horseback while lancing his behemoth opponent. From ancient times to mid-nineteenth century, a bullfighter was mounted on a highly trained horse; while mounted he confronted and killed the bull. With skilled capework, a man on foot aided the horseman in positioning the bull. The capeman, in his precarious proximity to the bull, began to draw more attention from the crowd however, and the modern style corrida de toros (running of bulls) subsequently took shape, the bullfighter being face to face at ground level with the raging bull. The two famous and accredited matadors are named, including D. Francisco Taviel de Andrade, who had been performing at the Seville bull ring since 1832 (the same year in which he purchased land from the famous bullfighter Fernando Concha y Sierra; and Senior Conde del Aguila who bred his own cattle in his "ganaderia, and who may be a nobleman associated with the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso. Spectator fees ranged from 28 rs to 6 rs, be they watching from the "barandillas de piedra" (stone railings), the Balcones de sol (sun balconies), etc. [Spanish-style bullfighting today is in fact reverse to the traditional sport depicted on this broadside, each matador now being on foot and having as assistants two mounted picadores (lancers on horseback), as well as others on foot in the ring with him.] Construction of the circular Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla began in 1749. Situated on Baratillo hill, it replaced an even earlier rectangular bullfighting building, and it continues to host one of the world's most popular bullfighting festivals including the Feria de Abril, and the most challenging of competitions. From 1786-88 under the reign of Carlos [Charles] III of Spain, bullfighting was prohibited. Bullfighting is normally fatal for the bull, and it is dangerous for the matador. Activism against bullfighting has existed in Spain since the beginning of the early nineteenth century, when a group of intellectuals, pertaining to the Generation of 98, embarked on a dual crusade against the popularity of bullfighting and Flamenco music, dismissing them as "non-European" elements of Spanish culture which were to blame for the country's social and economic backwardness. More recently, bullfighting has come under increasing attack over concern for animal welfare. Separatist and nationalist sentiment in Catalonia has played a key role in the region-wide ban ofthe practice, which is strongly associated to Spanish national identity. Galician and Basque nationalism have also expressed abolitionist stances on the basis of identity politics, although in the case of the latter this has been somewhat mooted by the fact that bullfighting is at the heart of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona. Animal welfare concerns are perhaps the prime driver of anti-bullfighting outside of Spain, although rejection of traditionalism and criollo elitism may also play a role in Latin America, explaining why such activism is so closely associated to leftist or far-leftist positions in Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.‎

‎WATKINS, Henry George‎

‎Obituary - Henry George Watkins - 10‎

‎Title: OBITUARY: Henry George Watkins. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1932. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: This is the obituary for the Henry George Watkins (Jan 29, 1907 - Aug 20, 1932), arctic explorer, who was only 25 years of age when he died, drowning in an unfortunate kayaking accident in lake Fjord in 1932, while leading his fourth Northern Expedition. His arctic mission was to discover a northern air-route between North America and Europe. He traveled both in Labrador and in Greenland and climbed the highest mountain in Greenland. Henry George Watkins wrote a book on the British Arctic Air Route Expedition which contained a detailed account of the expedition, based near Angmagssalik on the east coast of Greenland, its sledge and boat trips, two across the icecap, three northward, studies of climate, geology, ornithology, mapping with the aid of airplane, the attempt to climb Mt. Forel, notes on the art of kayaking. The appendices including report on flying work, list of plants collected, field notes on birds, sledging rations, geology, climate studies, etc. He would perish in Greenland before the book could be published, but it was indeed published later that same year. 8 pages. Plus a full-page photographic plate of Watkins, leaving for Angmagssalik on the Gertrud Rask on July 14th, 1932. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition.‎

‎FIRTH, Raymond‎

‎The Coastal People of Kelantan and Trengganu, Malaysia - 05/06‎

‎Title: The Coastal People of Kelantan and Trengganu, Malaya. Author: FIRTH, Raymond Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1943. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: This is an exceptional report on the coastal people of Kelantan and Trengganu, Malaya, accompanied by spectacular plates for illustration. It also outlines aspects of the Fishing Industry concerning economics of the industry in Two Malay States (Kelantan and Trengganu); the structure and set-up of a Sample Fishing Community; the planning and communal organization of fishing Activities, methods of fishing, types of fish, level of skill and resources used, as well as the high role of women as middle men in the community amongst other aspects. This pre-dates Firth's all-important book - Malay Fisherman. Their Peasant Economy, first published in 1946. A very detailed study of all aspects of the peasant fishing economy in Malaya, including an exceptional analysis of a variety of aspects in the community of the coast of Kelantan, Malaysia. The author was one of the first to primarily study these amazing communities, and provide valuable crucial insight. A fabulous primary resource! 13 pages, including a sketch map. Plus a few black and white photographic plates. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Kelantan is situated in central Malay Peninsula, Malaysia, on the South China Sea. It is bordered on the North by Thailand. The capital is Kota Baru. It is drained by the Kelantan River which flows into the South China Sea. The people are mainly Malay, but there is a small Chinese minority. Kelantan became a protectorate of Great Britain in 1909. Terengganu or Trengganu is also situated in Malaysia, central Malay Peninsula, on the South China Sea. The capital is Kuala Terengganu. he population is mainly Malay. According to the terms of the Anglo-Siamese treaty of 1909, Terengganu became a British protectorate.‎

‎Anonymous‎

‎Prospectus - First General List of African Names‎

‎Title: First General List of African Names. Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1921. Notes & Condition: Issued Society's Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, this is the first glossary of its kind, a foremost register of placenames in Africa as spelled and pronounced in English, also providing alternatively applied names, former names, and corrections to popular but erroneous names often used and even printed on maps of the day. In several instances, the traditional names are printed in the region's language - Arabic, Egyptian or Amharic script, for example. Also including French, Italian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, and other variations, this remains an excellent primary reference work for today's geographers, historians, and collectors alike. 8vo. 8 pages, string-tied. Complete and in very good condition.‎

‎Anonymous‎

‎Rare Victorian Vellum Manuscript - Firearms Patent with Large Wax Seal Issued to American Inventor‎

‎"For Improvements in Fire-Arms" [England], 25 July 1872. Manuscript Victorian patent document on vellum, folded and docketed, a rare and excellent example of a patent of invention for a guns, granted to William Edward Blake of New York City. Large printed document completed in manuscript and measuring approximately 76 x 51 cm, with original blue paper revenue stamp for five pounds, and a double-sided yellow wax seal measuring 16 cm in diameter. Small perforation at fold, age-toning to verso, otherwise in very good and original condition, a lovely and bright document, as issued, with a scarce large Victorian wax seal in its original round tin case. A round black tin container houses the massive double-sided yellow wax seal, diameter 16 cm (6.25 inches), attached to the document by original red plaited cords, one side being the Great Seal of the Realm, the other being Queen Victoria seated on a fully caparisoned royal horse. Diminutive fissures to sides of seal, otherwise in very good original condition, with vivid and crisp wax impression. The Commissioners of Patents' Journal, September 1872 issue, records this patent, no. 2224, being granted provisional protection for six months, as also stated in the document itself. Rare official patent document for an invention for "improvements in fire-arms" valid for fourteen years and issued to William Edward Blake, an inventor from New York City. Patent number 2224 was valid in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Wight, with the condition that the specified stamp duty payments were remitted at the times specified, one hundred pounds being payable in the seventh year after the initial patent issue date, for example. Excerpt from the patent: "... Whereas William Edward Blake of the City of New York, United States of America, hath by his petition humbly represented to Us that he is in possession of an Invention for Improvements in Firearms, which the inventor believes will be of great public utility, that he is the first and true inventor thereof... that the same is not in use by any other..." End Excerpt In the following year, 1873 William Edward Blake would receive at least one patent from the United States Patent Office, "for improvements to gun-stocks and spades, patent number 135,624." Blake described this dual-purposed instrument to be especially useful to American soldiers, in particular the Corps of Royal Sappers, Miners, and Engineers, by reducing the weight and number of tools carried over long distances. In essence he devised a two-in-one gun and spade by affixing a small shovel to the gun-stock which served dually as the shoulder rest when firing. It is conceivable that the present patent, valid in the United Kingdom, was for the same apparatus. Little is revealed about Mr. Blake in the present document, apart from his American citizenship and skill in manufacturing firearms for improved efficiency. Further research, however, may find the inventor to be a relation or even a partner of other Blake family gun makers. For example, John Henry Blake, was the manufacturer of a bolt action 7-shot revolving magazine sporting rifle, which was similar to a military type tested by an Ordnance Board of Governor's Island, New York, in July 1891. Blake, P. & E. W. of New Haven, Connecticut, manufactured Model 1821 muskets; the two partners are believed to have been the nephews of Eli Whitney Sr., and also to have been the trustees of the Whitney Armory from 1823 until Eli Whitney Jr. came of age in 1842. And earlier, the firm French, Blake and Kinsley, musket makers, secured a contract for 4,000 stand of arms on 20 October 1808, having delivered at least 2,175 units by 7 October 1812. The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom (prior to the Treaty of Union the Great Seal of England, then until the Union of 1801 the Great Seal of Great Britain) is a seal that is used to symbolize the Sovereign's approval of important state documents. Sealing wax is melted in a metal mould or matrix and impressed into a wax figure that is attached by cord or ribbon to documents that the monarch wishes to make official. Queen Victoria had to select four different Great Seal designs during the sixty-three years of her reign. England's patent law began to be criticized in the 1850s, for obstructing research and benefiting the few at the expense of public good. According to historian Adrian Johns, the campaign "remains to this day the strongest ever undertaken against intellectual property", coming close to abolishing patents altogether. Despite much public debate, the system wasn't abolished, though it was reformed with the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852. This simplified the procedure for obtaining patents, reduced fees and created one office for the entire United Kingdom, instead of different systems for England and Wales and Scotland. Around the same time, however, an anti-patent movement began to take shape, and would continue until the early 1870s, spirred by inventors, entrepreneurs, and radical laissez-faire economists. Prominent activists included Isambard Kingdom Brunel, William Robert Grove, William Armstrong and Robert A. MacFie. A new sequence for numbering patents also began in October 1852. Patents applied for between October and December 1852 were numbered from 1-1211. For each subsequent year patents were numbered in annual sequences beginning with the number 1. This system was in place until 1915. Manuscript‎

‎AUSTIN, Major H. H.‎

‎A Journey from Omdurman to Mombasa viâ Lake Rudolf - 06‎

‎8vo. 22 pages, plus a large folding colour map for illustration. Missing the original spine. Bound with new black spine, otherwise in original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Not to be deceived by such a modest title, Austin's is a most vivid description of a deadly 2,400 mile journey through British Sudan to Kenya, encountering numerous hostile tribes. He recounts repeated instances, in the environs of Lake Rudolf, of expedition members being hunted and speared to death by indigenous tribesmen, of bold night attacks by warriors, and brutal devious killings of travelers wandering from camp. His expedition journal begins to resemble a diary of deaths. The survey party traversed swampy regions of the Nile through Sudan, to reach the magnificent highlands of British East Africa. The perilous overland journey endured not only shortage of food, illness, and dangerous encounters, but a most dramatic loss of 75 per cent of the party of sixty-two, at the hands of previously friendly tribes!‎

‎Manuscript Ledger, Merchant Ship‎

‎Manuscript Ledger from an Eighteent Century Merchant Ship Called 'Dublin', Dated 1-29 January 1755, Naming British Firms Dealing in Fine French Linens and Wine.‎

‎8vo. 2 pages of text written recto and verso on a single leaf watermarked with a fleur-de-lis, measuring approximately 22 x 23 cm. Age-toned, small chips to extremities, otherwise in very good condition for its age and origin. Trading merchandise such as fine Bordeaux wine known as claret, and French linen cloth, to affluent British clients and brokers, the merchant and his vessel have yet to be identified, although this simple document attests to the interests of both middle and upper classes of Great Britain in the eighteenth century. In this period, fine claret was a symbol of wealth and power in England, both in political and religious sectors, subsequently creating a significant revenue source for the Crown. The Bordeaux wine was prominent in both court and church, consumed heavily by high society aristocrats, while playing a central role in the Eucharist. During the 1750s, the French were favouring cotton, calico, and some silk over the traditional wool and linen textiles. French style was defined by elaborate court dress, colourful and rich in decoration, worn by such iconic fashion figures as Marie Antoinette. Britain, however was characterized by a propensity for practicality. Simple and modest, durable and inexpensive fabrics were best suited for the popular outdoor lifestyle and portraiture. The shift in styles in France provided an excellent purchasing opportunity for the English to purchase linen at a desirable cost. The merchant/captain's document begins on January 1st 1755, presumably at the onset of a world voyage, with "Cash to Stock £2000 Received from my Father to Begin the World... [Trade/Voyage?]" Ports of call include Roan [Roan, County Tyrone, Ulster, Northern Ireland], and Nanz [Nantes, France]. Claret and linen are purchased from France, and pure Irish butter brought for trade on consignment. Barrels of beef are also sold on consignment. Sundries and repairs to the ship are further noted. Transactions are dated at the center top of each entry, and tallied in Pounds Sterling to the right. This early document appears to have an interesting American connection as well, as two of the transactions involve Swift & Company, one of these being a purchase of beef. The captain first takes a deposit of £1000 on January 2nd, then charges the company on the 29th for 125 barrels of beef consigned by a Charles Curry. Manuscript‎

‎James, Norman Walker‎

‎Archive of London Artist, Norman Walker James, Featuring a Notable Project Undertaken for Belgian Royalty, a Historic Emblem of the Kingsbury Parade of Shops in London.‎

‎Archive of London Artist, featuring a tribute to king of Belgium; comprises 5 published book dustjackets for notable authors, 2 bookplate designs, 11 heraldic arms of the British monarchy and the Royal Armed Forces, 30 hand-drawn and coloured Oxford coat of arms, 21 unique greeting cards, 7 photographs, and a few other items pertaining to publications and to colleges. Artworks and photographs range in size, the smallest measuring approximately 8 x 11 cm and the largest measuring 20 x 25 cm. With the exception of the greeting cards and bookplates, all other works are mounted to large cardstock leafs measuring approximately 29 x 35 cm. Two series of works are accompanied by typescript descriptions; one is accompanied by a facsimile letter from the College of Arms in London. The lot in very good condition, providing insight into the works of an all but forgotten London-based commercial artist who was active before and during the Second World War. Norman Walker James (1886-1963) was a commercial artist and designer established in London from about 1910-1911. He is listed as a Decorative Designer residing at a boarding house in Kensington, in the 1911 census. Although little-known today, he evidently rose to some acclaim in his trade, as he was selected to design a memorial tablet for Belgian King Albert I. Born in Leicester, he was the son of a congregational minister. The present archive consists of an artist's own retained copies of his work, which form a fascinating portfolio of a man who was notable and active, not long ago from the 1920s into at least the 1940s, and yet seems to be vanished into obscurity. His undertakings and contracts connected him to Belgian royalty, notable publishers, and administrators of renowned college institutions. Especially interesting are the items pertaining to his contribution to a memorial located in the Sint-Maartenskathedraal in Ypres [St Martin's Cathedral re-built in 1930] , including a photograph of the tablet designed by James and accompanied by his design description, two coats of arms printed true-to-size as they would be on the tablet, as well as two rare large press photographs of its unveiling on 21 May 1938. The tablet served to honour Albert I King of Belgium together with the British Armed Forces for the gift of the exquisite rose stained glass window mounted above the south transept door. James designed the nine-foot tall tablet, on which he hand painted the inscription, and which was unveiled by King Leopold III. It featured the coat of arms of Albert I, as well as the Arms of the British Army, the RAF and the Dragoon Guards. Some of James' dustjacket designs retained here include: Commodore Anson's Voyage Into the South Seas and Around the World, by Boyle T. Somerville, published in 1934; The Recollections of Sir Henry Dickens, published in 1934; The Daughters of George III, by Dorothy Margaret Stuart, published in 1939; War & Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1942 (Also with original book boards); The Heart of Jade, by Salvador de Madariaga, published in 1944. Other book and publishing related designs include: Four photographs showing the dedication leafs and front boards of a book issued by Great Britain's Postal Administration to commemorate the tricentennial anniversary of Norway's postal service and to celebrate the two nations' collaboration in a Universal Postal Union; A front wrapper for a 1934 issue of "Paris Salon Illustrated" magazine for artists. On two leafs are mounted 30 hand coloured drawings of heraldic shields, being the Arms of the University of Oxford, and twenty-nine of its colleges or halls, some examples of which include Pembroke College, St. John's College, Jesus College, Queens College, Magdalen College, and Campion Hall. A ticket of R. P. Gossop Limited stamped "Norman James" reveals a connection to the agency. [Reginald Percy Gossop (1876-1951) was a commercial artist specializing in graphic and landscape art, and is best remembered for designing posters for the Underground Group from 1925 to 1932. He started an agency for artists circa 1920. He studied at Birkbeck College in London, then at the Hammersmith School of Art.] Manuscript‎