Four autograph albums, each 6.5” x 3.5”, with approximately 400 signatures which have been affixed, mostly one to a page, each bound in slate-blue toned cloth over boards, each with a gilt-lettered red leather label on its cover: “Autographs,” “Commons,” “Commons,” and “Peers.”
The book titled “Autographs” contains 54 signatures on 22 sheets including:
(1) Charles Dickens, a 4.25” x 1.75” slip cut from an ALS to his sister, with five complete lines in his hand on the reverse: “which has been promised and which besides improving his prospects very materially will make an addition to his present income to the amount of twenty or thirty pounds a year. Burnett”. Signed “Your affectionate brother, Charles Dickens.” Singer and music teacher Henry Burnett (1811-1893) was married to Dickens’ s sister Fanny (1810-1848). When writing to his sister Fanny, he would refer to her husband as “Burnett.”
(2) Alfred Lord Tennyson, Third Person ALS, 3.5” x 4.5” tipped to page. In full, “Mr. Alfred Tennyson regrets that being pre-engaged he cannot have the pleasure of accepting Mrs. Simpkinson’s invitation. 60 Lincolns Inn Fields.” Addressed by Tennyson, who lived in London at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, on the reverse: “Mrs. Simpkinson, 21 Bedford Place.” Mary Simpkinson (1795-1855) was the wife of Sir John Augustus Francis Simpkinson, one of Queen Victoria’s Counsel, and sister of Lady Jane Franklin.
(3) George III. Ink signature on 3.25” x 2.25” slip cut from a document, “George R.”
(4) George IV. Ink signature on 4” x 2.5” slip cut from manuscript document, “George R.” (5) George Stephenson on 4” x 1” slip clipped from a letter. Known as the “Father of Railways,” Stephenson built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives. There are 44 signatures affixed to ten pages.
The three other books contain 348 free franks, mostly postmarked, on address panels of Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords (“Peers”) in the 1830s, each affixed to a separate sheet, including Prime Ministers Robert Peel (1834), John Russell (1836), and Palmerston and Irish political leader Daniel O’Connell (“The Emancipator”). In fine overall condition. RRAuction COA.
