British History | a collection of 113 letters and documents bound in three volumes, 16th-18th century

British History

A large collection of 113 numbered letters and documents by historical figures, 16th-18th century, including by:

Volume One

James VI and I (letter signed, as King of Scotland, 1 page, folio, 1586)

Charles I (document signed, 12 May 1633, papered seal)

Prince Rupert of the Rhine (letter signed, to the Master of Trinity House, concerning the "accident of burning those vesselles in the river neare St Katherines", 1 page, folio, 29 May 1672, seal repair) 

James, Duke of Ormonde (letter signed, to Prince Rupert, 1 page, folio, 28 March 1644)

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, 1629

Richard Cromwell (and 12 others), document signed, Dublin, 10 September 1642

James, Marquess of Montrose

Robert Hammond, as Governor of the Isle of Wight (document signed, granting permission of Lord Seymour to visit Charles when imprisoned at Carisbrooke Castle, 1 page, 6 October 1648)

Charles II (letter signed, with autograph subscription, to Baron de Serteville, 1 pages, folio, 31 October 1652)

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (autograph letter signed, 2 pages, 14 February 1678)

William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (3 February 1638)

James II (document signed, also signed by eight others)

James Stuart, "the Old Pretender" (letter signed ("Jacobus R"), to Pope Benedict XIV, 3 May 1747)

Louise, Countess of Albany, wife of the Young Pretender (autograph letter signed)

Henry Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York

William Cavendish, Earl of Devonshire

Edward Gorges (6 May 1620)

George Heriot

Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke (7 March 1620)

Dudley Carleton (25 July 1624)

Lord Dungarvan

Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex (7 August 1623)

Sir John Danvers, the Regicide

Richard Nym

John, Viscount Dundee

George Monck, Duke of Albemarle (15 December 1668)

Christopher Wren (letter signed, also signed by three others, 10 May 1716)

Simon, Lord Lovat, 25 June 1730

James, Duke of Hamilton, 28 March 1639

Thomas, Lord Clifford

Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick (24 May 1588)

Sir Robert Murray

Charles, Duke of Shrewsbury

Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford

John, Marquess of Tweeddale (autograph letter signed, to Queen Anne, 18 May 1704)

John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough

Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (autograph letter signed)

Sidney Godolphin (autograph letter signed, to John Evelyn, 8 June 1711)

George Fleetwood, the Regicide, and three others (to Oliver Cromwell, Dublin, December 1654)

William, Earl of Craven and seven other privy councillors, 1682

Sir Robert Eyre

Volume Two

George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, BROTHER OF ANNE BOLEYN (document signed, 1 February 1532)

Robert Catesby, INSTIGATOR OF THE GUNPOWDER PLOT, document signed, also signed by three others, grant of land to John Price of itemised land in Lapworth, Warwickshire, 15 May 1594

Walter Milday

William Russell

Henry Lord Sinclair

Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland (cut signature, 4 June 1564)

John Rainolds

Sir Julius Caesar

Thomas, Earl of Ossory

Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex

John, Duke of Lauderdale

Roert Carey, later Earl of Monmouth

Fulke Greville

Sir Francis Rous, and four others, 20 September 1645

Sir William Morice

Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury

Antony a Wood, autograph letter signed, to Sir William Dugdale, on Ralph Sheldon's manuscripts, 17 November 1684

John Flamsteed

John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll

John, Earl of Mar

George Monck, Duke of Albemarle

John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough

John Montague, 4th Earl of Sandwich

Volume Three

Charles II (pardon for Sir John Banks, countersigned by Arlington, 16 August 1672)

Louise, Duchess of Portsmouth

James II, as Duke of York

Edward Sackville, Earl of Dorset (autograph letter signed, on the purchase of portrait jewels for the King to give the Venetian Ambassadors, 6 June 1696)

Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington

Henry, Earl of Arlington

Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex

George Digby, Earl of Bristol

Algernon, Earl of Northumberland, and four others

All mounted in three volumes, mostly alongside portrait prints, many with pencil notes, volumes one and two in matching olive morocco gilt lettered cornerpieces (JC), inside dentelles, silk endpapers, slipcases; the third volume in blue morocco gilt with the principal contents lettered in gilt on upper cover; with a typescript list of contents of volumes 1-2 loosely inserted (4 pages)

AN EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION, INCLUDING SOME LETTERS WITH FINE CONTENT AND SOME EXCEPTIONALLY RARE SIGNATURES.

PROVENANCE:

Edgar A. Guest, poet (1881-1959), bookplate; Du Mouchelles, Detroit, 12 February 2011, lot 1001