Rare Book & Collectors' Sale 1st & 2nd October 2025

57 Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 494. Select Poetry Dublin Interest Manuscript: A folio Volume of Poems, Select Poetry, with some news cuttings etc., in a fine copperplate hand, with many blank pages, cont. hf. crimson mor. with mor. label. As a m/ss., w.a.f. * Includes loose page containing rough copies of “Burlesque Poems”, later copied into the volume, one from“John” addressed to R.W. [RichardWogan] Talbot, MP for Co. Dublin, urging him to bestir himself and go to London to oppose the government’s bill imposing fresh taxes; the second, evidently Talbot’s reply, addressed to John Roberts Esqr of Old Connaught; both composed on St Valentine’s Day and signed “Anthony Valentine”, and much more. (1) €200 - €300 496. Duke of Wellington Manuscript: Letter written and signed by the Duke of Wellington, dated London, 17 August 1844, to the Archbishop of York (Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt), arranging for the visit to Oxford of the Prince of Prussia* and continuing to Nuneham Park, Oxfordshire, which the archbishop had inherited on the death of his cousin the 3rd Earl Harcourt. As a m/ss., w.a.f. (1) *Wilhelm I, later King of Prussia and the first Emperor of Germany – grandfather of “the Kaiser” of WorldWar I fame. €180 - €220 498. Bookplates: A collection of approx. 35 Bookplates , mostly Irish, include. Lady Gregory, Westport House, Egerton Castle, Rich. Copinger, John Bradley, Maurice Craig, John Congreve & others, some 18th Century examples, as a coll., w.a.f. (1) €150 - €200 500. Early 18th Century Land Settlement in Co. Carlow Co. Carlow Manuscript: A deed (paper) dated 17th November 1725 of John Cliffe of New Ross esq., Anthony Cliffe of Dungulph, and John Tench of Bryanstown, trustees of Richard Vigors of Old Leighlin, Co. “Catherlough”. A deed of 5 January 1722/3 had empowered the trustees to raise money out of Vigor’s lands to provide for his younger children after his death. The lands are listed in detail. Vigors died intestate leaving four younger children: John, Eliner, Thomas and Margaret. The trustees now direct £500 a piece to be given to them by their mother Mrs. Jan Vigors, who is administering her late husband’s estate. As a m/ss., w.a.f. (1) €180 - €220 495. South Africa Diary of a Belfast-born Policeman 1905-1907 Manuscript: “Diary during my time in Ngamiland (2 years 8 months & 6 days). A. Hatton Cpl of Orderlies B.P.* Police, British Bechuanaland.” Fine modern half-calf binding of green morocco with spine title and supralibros of Letts’s Diary for 1902. Printed endpapers and maps. 188 pp, interleaved with blotting-paper. 10 Jan. 1905 – 16 Sept. 1907. *Bechuanaland Protectorate, now the Republic of Botswana. This is no official report-book but a personal narrative in which the writer describes, often in detail, his journey from Mafeking to Lake Ngami (which took a whole month), his years in charge of the police station at Rakops, and his eventual return to Mafeking. He says little of his police-work, which was evidently routine, but writes absorbingly about the hazards of the climate, the people he meets, and the perpetual shooting of “game”. What makes this work of particular interest and importance is that it is not written by a senior officer or official, but by a corporal - Alexander Hatton was the son of a Belfast linen lapper. The diary may have been compiled for his family. As a manuscript. Important. (1) €400 - €600 497. Support for the Duke of Wellington in an hour of need, 1832 [Wellington (Duke of)] Contemporary transcript of an address to the Duke of Wellington from “the Merchants, Bankers, Traders & others of the City of Westminster” deploring the recent assault on the Duke by “misguided & lawless mob,” especially on a day of national pride and gratitude to your Grace” (the battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815). Followed by 12 pages of names written in double columns. With draft reply, unsigned but in Wellington’s hand, thanking them for their support, blaming the unrest on “the speeches of Gentlemen of Influence and the Publications of a Licentious Press”, and warning of the disastrous consequences of political unrest as recently seen elsewhere (the June 1832 Paris uprising, source of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables). Undated (paper watermarked 1831 and 1828). Foolscap, 24 pp (3 blank). Wellington was at this time wildly unpopular owing to his opposition to the reform bill introduced by Lord John Russell radically extending the franchise, and his determined efforts to prevent it passing through the House of Lords. His residence at Apsley House was targeted by a mob of demonstrators on 27 April 1831 and again on 12 October, leaving his windows smashed. In June 1832 he had iron shutters installed to prevent further damage, but by this time the bill had already passed into law (when the new parliament assembled, Wellington remarked sniffily: “I never saw so many shocking bad hats in my life”.) (1) €350 - €420