ALBUM, MAINLY OF IRISH INTEREST - A collection of autograph letters, clipped signatures etc. by Daniel O'Connell, John O'Connell, William O'Brien, Thomas Henry Huxley, Disraeli, Tennyson, Ruskin, etc. Please see the full description below.

ALBUM, MAINLY OF IRISH INTEREST - A collection of c.50 autograph letters and clipped signatures, the letters variously mounted on hinges or secured by silk ribbons or loosely-inserted, the clipped signatures laid down; together with c.40 photographed portraits, laid down, including (in the order in which they appear in the album):

1) Daniel O'CONNELL (1775-1847).  A clipped signature of Daniel O'Connell ("Ever most affectionately, Daniel O'Connell"), beneath a photographed portrait of O'Connell after a painting, with an envelope addressed and signed by the same on the opposite leaf, inscribed, "London, September [illegible word] 1831, Lord Cloncurry, Maretimo [House, Blackrock], Daniel O'Connell, Dublin", with a red "Free" postmark, all laid down.

2) John O'CONNELL (1810-58, son of Daniel O'Connell).  A 3-page autograph letter, signed, dated "London May 30, 1846", stating, "My dear Sir, I have not been able to succeed in the Committee on the Coroner's Bill - the very great majority of the Committee being entirely opposed to any such Clause ... John O'Brien will I suppose be over. Indeed, it is indispensable that he should come over for Friday, as all our forces will be wanting immediately ... Will you my dear Sir mention that the Coercion Bill will assuredly come on, on the Monday following, & on Friday we shall have to resist some preparatory moves - and on Saturday take counsel together. Believe me my dear Sir that nothing could give me greater or sincerer pleasure than to be of use in any way to you or the Citizens of Limerick & that I am with much esteem very faithfully yours, John O'Connell," with the recipient's name at the foot, "The Worshipful the Mayor of [illegible word, but possibly Limerick]", secured by a ribbon.

3) Benjamin DISRAELI (1804-81).  A "mourning" envelope (bordered in black) inscribed and signed by Disraeli, "Leopold de Rothschild Esq., Piccadilly Terrace. Disraeli", opposite a photographed portrait of Disraeli.

4) Alfred, Lord TENNYSON, 1st Baron Tennyson (1809-92).  A one-page autograph letter, signed, on paper blind-stamped "Farringford, Freshwater, Isle of Wight", dated "Oct 7th 1874", stating, "Dear Mr [?]Paul, Knowles has sent me the original M.S. [H]e had [?]missed out a sentence & I in [?]inserting it find I made a mistake in a word. Put [?]'Mask' for 'King' & 'peaceful' for 'quiet'. Ever yours, [signed with Tennyson's monogram]", with a note in a different hand added beneath, "Please forward 2 copies of the last Vol. here, & one to Barrington Simeon, Swainston. C.W.", laid down, opposite a photographed portrait of Tennyson. The recipient of the letter may be Charles Kegan Paul (1828-1902) who was employed in 1874 by Henry S. King of Smith Elder, Tennyson's publisher. In 1877, Kegan Paul went on to purchase the company and re-named it C. Kegan Paul & Co. We have been unable to identify the poetical or dramatic work to which the letter refers.

5) George PEABODY (1795-1869).  A one-page, typically philanthropic, autograph letter, signed, undated, stating, "My dear Mr [?]Bryan, You say that you have some of my money left. Please therefore give it to any deserving poor person, Very Truly Yours, George Peabody," mounted on a hinge, opposite a photographed portrait of Peabody, the financier and philanthropist.

6) William Smith O'BRIEN (1803-64).  Two 8-page autograph letters, signed; the first, dated August 9, 1845, inscribed at the top "Private" and "Cahermoyle" [i.e. Cahermoyle House, Co. Limerick], opening, "My [?]Dear Sir, I feel it extremely difficult to offer any opinion upon the questions respecting which you have paid me the compliment of soliciting my advice and must therefore ask you not to allow my name to be brought forward in Connexion with it ... [with further extensive passages which are only partly legible, although the general sense is recoverable]"; the second, dated May 8, 1846, inscribed at the top "Private" and "Prison", opening, "My Dear Sir, It affords me no small gratification to find that I have not been deserted by my own Constituents, as I have been abandoned by those in whose support I had every right to calculate ... I am glad to find that the people of Limerick are true to their Cause and are disposed to act in a manner worthy of their ancient fame. Do not allow my comfort or convenience to enter into consideration for a single moment. There is such a thing as Civil Courage as well as military [illegible word] ... [he proceeds to describe his imprisonment in passages which are only partly legible, although the general sense is recoverable, until concluding on a rousing note:] ... I am in excellent health, & in high spirits in [?]respect to myself but sadly disappointed with the Conduct of others - Hurrah then for Limerick! Yours [?]truly, William O'Brien"; secured by a ribbon, opposite a photographed portrait of O'Brien.

7) John BRIGHT (1811-89).  A one-page autograph letter, signed, dated "Rochdale, Dec. 8, '89", stating, "Dear Sir, The receipt of this note will show you that I have complied with your request. I am yrs. [?]truly, John Bright," with the name and Limerick address of the recipient added below, laid down, opposite a photographed portrait of Bright. Bright, a Radical and Liberal statesman, was also renowned as a great orator and is credited with coining the phrases "The Mother of Parliaments" and "flogging a dead horse".

8) Thomas Henry HUXLEY (1825-95).  A 2-page autograph letter in purple ink, signed, dated "4 Marlborough Place, N.W., Oct. 8, 1877", stating, "Sir, I have much pleasure in enclosing a copy of the [?]maker to which you refer. The models of which you speak are I suppose those made by M. Auzoux in Paris [i.e. anatomical models]. I have never seen any of English make and I do not know that Auzoux has any English agent ...", secured by a ribbon, opposite a photographed portrait of Huxley, who was popularly known as "Darwin's Bulldog" and is credited with coining the term "agnostic". 

9) John RUSKIN (1819-1900).  A one-page autograph letter, signed, on paper headed "Brantwood, Coniston, Lancashire", undated, stating, "Dear [?]Ellie, Here's your cheque - and I expect to get a book or two out of you yet! before I'm bankrupt. - Meantime, can you send me, by tomorrow's post or Monday at latest - any book containing any [?]sort of biography of Bishop Sewell - an account of him fairly given? From your affectionate (and incorrigible), J.R.", laid down, with a photographed portrait of Ruskin opposite.

10) Alec WAUGH (1898-1981).  A one-page autograph letter, signed, on pink paper headed "35a Cheyne Place, SW3", undated, stating, "Dear Miss Littledale, Cricket is my favourite game. It is the oldest and most English; the hardest to master; and the most leisured; its setting is the pleasantest. It provides the greatest opportunity for the development of friendship, Yours, Alec Waugh", laid down. Alec Waugh was a novelist and the elder brother of Evelyn Waugh.

The album also includes a (largely-illegible) receipt dated 5 September 1705 for "One thousand seven hundred pounds" signed "Cha: Fox"; a photographed portrait of William Gladstone, laid down; a 4-page autograph letter, dated August 8, 1857, from Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk, who, following the resignation of John O'Connell, became Member of Parliament for Limerick between 1851 and 1852, the letter addressed to "Mr [?]Meehan", loosely-inserted (stained); a note on mourning paper inscribed, "The autograph of Father Thomas Burke, O.P. Commonly known as 'Father Tom' though he don't [sic] like it one bit", laid down, opposite a photographed portrait of him; a 2-page autograph letter, signed, from Alexander William Kinglake, opposite a photographed portrait of him, the letter secured by a ribbon; a photographed portrait of Cardinal Newman, with a 4-page autograph letter opposite headed "Archbishop's House, Westminster" and dated "May 23 1873", but with an illegible signature and not, apparently, in the hand of Cardinal Newman; the last 2-pages of an autograph letter, signed, probably from John Crichton Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, reputed to be the richest man in the world in his lifetime, including a "rough copy" of his own 6-stanza religious poem or hymn, opposite a photographed portrait and a clipped signature, the part-letter secured behind two ribbons; a 4-page autograph letter, signed, from George Whyte-Melville, opposite a photographed portrait, the letter secured by a ribbon; a photographed portrait of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury ("Lord Salisbury") with a clipped signature beneath; a photographed portrait of Professor John Tyndall, Irish physicist, with his clipped signature beneath; a one-page autograph letter from Edmund Yates, novelist, opposite his photographed portrait; a photographed portrait of Hugh Childers, Liberal statesman and Chancellor of the Exchequer, with his clipped signature beneath; a photographed portrait of Robert Lowe, M.P., with his clipped signature beneath; a 2-page autograph letter, signed, from Father Theobald Mathew, Irish priest and teetotalist reformer ("My dear Mr Ryan, With the most sincere pleasure, I accept the invitation to a Soire, of my beloved Friends, the Teetotallers of Limerick ..."), mounted on a hinge, with his clipped signature opposite and with another on the following page beneath a portrait; a photographed portrait of Judge William Keogh, with his clipped signature beneath; a 2-page autograph letter, signed, from Isaac Butt, Irish barrister and nationalist ("... I believe we will return Parnell for the County ..."), secured by a ribbon, with his photographed portrait opposite; a one-page autograph letter, signed, undated, sent from Dublin Castle, from Henry Labouchère, to an un-named recipient ("... I can only say that I am very sensible of the services which you have rendered to the Country by yr. conduct as Mayor of Limerick ..."), with various other photographed portraits, clipped signatures, etc., relating principally to Irish politicians and clergy.

Contained in a late 19th-century red morocco album gilt, gilt edges (lightly rubbed and scuffed, with some light staining), 4to (238 x 198mm). Provenance: May Harris (old signature on the front free endpaper).