Books & Manuscripts

• An Enid Blyton inscribed and signed first edition, first printing copy of her 1954 work for children, The Greatest Book in the World.

Enid Blyton (1897-1968 ) is one of English literature’s best-loved children’s authors, celebrated particularly for The Famous Five, The Secret Seven and the Noddy stories.

Blyton has written beautifully on the title page in black ink: “Rosalind Watson, with my warm thanks for all your help and very best wishes from Enid Blyton”.

The Greatest Book in the World is rare and Blyton inscribed books are highly sought after. This is the only signed copy of the work we have seen.

The book was published by the British & Foreign Bible Society. It features 63 pages and orange and black illustrations by Mabel Peacock.

Blyton wrote the book to celebrate the Bible Society's 150th anniversary. In it Blyton recounts true stories about Bibles from around the world. The book features Blyton’s familiar and much loved cosy tone.

The book measures a large 8.5 x 5.5 inches – perfect for display. Complete with dust jacket, in fair condition. Book in good condition.

Comes with a detailed letter of authenticity from the previous owner. 

Free global delivery. 28-day returns. Certificate of Authenticity and our Lifetime Moneyback Guarantee of Authenticity included. 

• A touching handwritten love letter by one of the most legendary outlaws of the Old West

Frank James (1843 – 1915) was a U.S Civil War Confederate guerrilla and notorious Old West outlaw.

Together with his younger brother Jesse James, he helped established the James-Younger Gang, which robbed banks, trains, and stagecoaches throughout the southern states.

The gang cultivated a reputation as folk heroes, with help from the editor of the Kansas City Times, who published Jesse James' letters and proclaimed him to be a modern-day Robin Hood.

The gang's spree of robberies and murder lasted from 1866 until 1876, when several members were killed or captured during a disastrous raid on the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota.

Frank James retired from his life of crime soon after, but his brother Jesse struggled to adapt to normal life, and formed a new gang which continued to operate for several years.

Following the murder of Jesse by fellow gang member Robert Ford in 1882, Frank James feared for his own life and surrendered to the authorities, stating:

"I have been hunted for twenty-one years, have literally lived in the saddle, have never known a day of perfect peace. It was one long, anxious, inexorable, eternal vigil."

He was tried for his roles in two robberies/murders in Missouri and Alabama, and was acquitted in both cases, before returning to Oklahoma to live with his family.

For the next 30 years Frank James held a variety of jobs, including a shoe salesman, an AT&T telegraph operator and even a ticket taker in a burlesque theatre.

He also gave public lectures on the Old West, invested in Buckskin Bill's Wild West Show, and gave tours of the James family farm, where he eventually passed away in 1915 at the age of 72.

Frank James and Ann Ralston

The story of how Frank James first met Ann Ralston remains somewhat of a mystery.

She was the highly-educated daughter of a wealthy businessman, and was working as a teacher when she suddenly eloped with James in the summer of 1875.

Her parents received a letter which read simply "Dear Mother: I am married and going West. Annie Reynolds", and were distraught at her disappearance.

It wasn't until several months later that they discovered their new son-in-law was one of the country's most wanted men.

In 1876 Ann's father arranged for a New York newspaper article about the marriage, to ensure his family was not linked to the criminal gang

"The James brothers, who are, with the Younger boys, creating so much stir just now, have had a love scrape, or at least one of them has. But this love affair is different from all other love affairs. No one who knows anything of the career of the James brothers would expect them to woo, win and marry like other people...

"Mr. Ralston has had no connection or communication with the train robbers whatever. His daughter he has not seen since she left home, a year and one month ago.

"If she is alive she will not write home, lest her letters should guide the officers to her husband's retreat. If she was dead Frank James would have notified her parents. So they can only rest patiently in the uncertainty of perhaps seeing their daughter again."

Ralston never returned home, but despite the dramatic nature of their courtship and Frank's life of crime, they maintained a happy and stable marriage.

They had a son, Robert Franklin James, and following Frank's surrender and subsequent acquittal for murder in 1883, they remained together until his death in 1915.

Ann Ralston James lived out the rest of her days on the James family farm, before passing away in 1944, and the couple's ashes were buried together at Hill Park Cemetery in Jackson County, Missouri.

The letter

The letter, dated July 7, 1883, was written by James to his wife whilst incarcerated in jail in Gallatin, Missouri.

He was awaiting trial for murder and robbery of the Rock Island Line train at Winston, Missouri, in which the train engineer William Westfall and a passenger Frank McMillan were killed.

Having spent a year in custody, James' trial began on August 20, and lasted just three days, before the jury returned a resounding verdict of 'not guilty'.

The tender love letter reveals James to be both highly romantic and highly literate.

Although he lived much of his life as a violent outlaw, he had been raised as a preacher's son surrounded by books, and during his youth developed a love for the works of Shakespeare.

James was said to always carry a book in his saddle bag, even when he was on the run from the law, and he shared this passion for literature with Ann throughout their 40-year marriage.

Here's the text in full:

My dear wife,

Your dear letter of the 1st was handed to me not exceeding an hour ago. It arrived here on the third, at least it is as marked. Now I sent foreword .. in this manner. There are very few men in this world that care anything for their wives, that they naturally suppose that all men are alike.

How badly they are deceived. If there is anything on this earth that is half as dear to me as my wife I have failed to find it. You are everything to me and the only living human being that has ever possessed my whole love, my entire confidence, the only one that ever will and I feel as that love and confidence will never be abused.

I have lived as I think to see all my fondest hopes realised. Long years ago I hoped and prayed that god would give me a true woman for my wife and i feel as if he has done so and anyone who has had a chance for happiness in this belief is more fortunate than the possessor of a thousand worlds.

I am trying to pass the time reading and writing - I regret that I am deprived of your beauty and I am writing to suffer that I have no visitors as told you in last.

Enclosed I send you an editorial from the trenchant pen of Rob M Yast that I think a grand effort.

I suppose you remember the circumstances of Jarvis shooting Englehart. Yast talks of love and forgiveness & Jarvis has shown that he possessed both - as also has Yast. He’s shown himself to be a true friend of me and mine.

Yast seems a man of most liberal whims. I dare say nine out of every ten would say that they would not forgive Jarvis for what he has done. Yet if it is the means of reclaiming the human I don't think he will ever regret it.

Regarding mamma, this may not be interesting to you but it has been to me. I had a letter from ma today, she feels disappointed as you did not visit...

I supposed it was useless to ask you again so will end further requests. I also had one further service. she also sends her kindness in regards to you and asked why you did not write. Please write her and let her know I will write Monday again.

When you write, write me care of Sherriff - I don’t think he will read them.

He has not opened any of my letters for a long time and if he should that would be better than not to get them so long after they’re written. I will kiss you both good night - write often your loving Ben/ f**k it is raining hard at this time.

James autographs the letter as 'Ben', a protective alias that he used when writing to his loved ones.

The single page letter, with text on both sides, measures 203 by 126mm, with fold creases and bleeding of ink in some sections.

A remarkable piece of history, which offers a personal insight into one of the Old West's most legendary figures.

• An incredibly rare unpublished work by J.K.Rowling
• A personal Horoscope with a hand drawn natal chart for Jack David Buchanan, born 19 February 1994, 5.01 p.m.

Unpublished illustrations and writings by J.K. Rowling are incredibly rare and offer a wonderful insight into the creative mind behind Harry Potter.

This incredible piece of Rowling memorabilia provides a fascinating example of her prose.

On white paper, with double-sided typescript on yellow card providing a detailed interpretative reading, including of the sun sign, ascendant, ruling planets, significant conjunctions and oppositions, and their effect on character, personal strengths, possible careers, emotional and erotic characteristics, and compatibility with other signs, and a cover illustration depicting the chart's key astrological symbols in pen, ink, and coloured pencil laid down on bright blue coloured card.

Comprising 12 loose pages in a plastic folder. In excellent, mint condition.

"Born the cusp of Aquarius and Pisces. He will enjoy school, perhaps be accident-prone, (like all Pisces) could be prone to alcoholism, and (perhaps like us all) may well fall in love with someone totally incompatible.

The chart apparently suggests that the boy will have great literary talent ("...the planet of fantasy and imagination meets a sign frequently associated with bookishness...")

Rowling wonders whether his "ability to weave a good yarn" could perhaps bring fame and fortune, before deciding that becoming a film director would better suit his talents.

Apparently wishing for some small slice of fame for herself, J.K. Rowling wonders if the boy would perhaps at least mention her in his Oscar acceptance speech ("...This peculiar woman my mother knows predicted I would be standing before you today ... of course, my parents laughed at the time...") ...Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays... (Professor Trelawny)

It is possible to detect in this short piece some of the characteristics that were shortly to bring Rowling's prose such extraordinary success: a great and varied sense of humour, flights of fancy underpinned by an internal logic, and - of course - a mingling of the everyday world with the strange and magical.

The horoscopes show Rowling to have a detailed technical knowledge of Western astrology.

She is at ease explaining the significance of having one's Moon in the First House but peppers her interpretations with quotations and wryly amusing comparisons.

In general the astrologers that she cites tend to be popular rather than academic.

Rowling's knowledge of astrology has undoubtedly played into the Harry Potter books.

Harry himself is a Leo (sharing his birthday with J.K. Rowling herself), whilst the meticulous worrier Hermione is naturally a Virgo.

An important influence on Harry in the first book is Firenze the centaur, a star-gazer who helps and teaches him before his first encounter with Voldemort.

Sybill Trelawney, Professor of Divination, makes an appearance in later books; she is considered by many a fraud (and is a fine satire of New Age fortune tellers) but her predictions frequently come true in unexpected ways.

On a deeper level, an issue that goes to the heart of astrology is the apparent conflict between free will and fate, and this is one of the central themes of the Harry Potter series.

NB: Please note copyright remains with J.K. Rowling and no permission is granted for reproduction

• A pair of handwritten letters by one of the most influential writers of the 19th century.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), known more commonly by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was a renowned English writer, mathematician and photographer.

As Carroll he wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871), and the epic poem The Hunting of the Snark (1876), all of which are classic examples of the literary nonsense genre.

To date his works have sold millions of copies around the world, and have inspired countless adaptations on the stage and screen.

Dodgson was also a highly skilled amateur photographer, who took up the new art form during the 1850s and established his own studio, creating an estimated 3,000 photographs during his life.

In January 1877 Dodgson began a correspondence with Edward T. Draper, an agent for the Royal Marines and a fellow amateur photographer.

Draper sent Dodgson several photographs, including some of his 13-year-old daughter Dolly, telling him she was a fan of his books.

Dodgson then wrote in return to Dolly Draper, and struck up a friendship with the family.

These two handwritten letters are part of that correspondence.

Dodgson's first letter, dated February 5, 1877, included a photograph of himself and poked fun at his famous 'alter ego' of Lewis Carroll:

"Here is the portrait of the man I told you about. He is no relation of mine (but I have known him all my life)—at least, if he is a relation, I don’t know what sort of relation you would call him—He is about the same age as I am, but he certainly isn’t my brother, nor any kind of cousin."

The four-page letter is written across two adjoining sheets, and measures 3.25 x 5.25". In fine condition, with a rusty paperclip mark on the top of the front page.

In the second letter, dated April 12, 1877, Dodgson mentions sending Draper and her family copies of his most famous books, and also includes a piece of nonsense wordplay typical of his work:

"I think the only way to prevent you all forgetting me again…is to send each a copy of some one of my 3 books…I’ll tell you what I was thinking of sending…—For Jessie, Alice’s Adventures…for Roger, the Snark…& for you, the Looking-glass…

"With these helps, you may perhaps remember me for a while, but it will give a far better chance if you would put me in among your Modern History dates…—And then if even Roger says ‘Why, I don’t believe you care a fig for Mr. Dodgson,’ you can say ‘Ah, but I care a date for him!’"

The three page letter is written on two adjoining sheets, measuring 4.5 x 7", and is in fine condition. Dodgson's signature at the bottom of the letter has been clipped, and replaced with a facsimile.

Both letters are written in Dodgson's trademark violet ink, an unusual colour which he used for the majority of his correspondence throughout his life.

Additionally, the second letter is contained in its original folder from Walter Benjamin Autographs, the renowned US autograph dealership established in 1887.

Benjamin is recognized as playing a significant role is the development of the autograph collecting hobby in the late 19^th and early 20^th century, and the company continued to trade for 121 years.

Later typed copies of both the letters are also included.

• A sheet of handwritten song lyrics from the Queen of Pop

Madonna (1958 -) is one of the most iconic figures in pop music history.

Known simply as the "Queen of Pop", Madonna is renowned for pushing creative boundaries and the ability to continually reinvent herself as a performer.

Over a career spanning 35 years, Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide, making her the world's most successful female artist.

She is also the highest-grossing solo touring artist of all time, with ticket sales of more than $1 billion since 1990.

Alongside her music career, Madonna has enjoyed a successful career as an actress, starring in 16 feature films and winning a Golden Globe for her role as Eva Peron in the 1996 musical Evita.

Madonna's music continues to influence generations of female artists, and she remains a cultural icon to millions of fans around the world.

The document

These lyrics for an unreleased song were handwritten by Madonna in blue ballpoint pen.

The 22-line manuscript originate from the personal collection of Darlene Lutz, Madonna's long-time friend who served as her personal art consultant for many years.

The page of lined yellow paper measures 8.5" x 11", and is in good condition.

• A fascinating document by of one of the most significant French artists of the 20^th century.

Paul Signac (1863-1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who developed the style of Pointilism along with George Seurat.

Signac worked alongside many of the greatest artists of the era, including Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Camille Pissarro and Odilon Redon, and shared a close friendship with Vincent van Gough.

In 1884 Signac was one of the four founding members of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, an association which hosted major exhibitions and set important artistic trends for more than three decades.

He also wrote several important works on the theory of art, and throughout his life served as both an inspiration and a patron to younger artists.

This four page manuscript features a series of pencil drawings and sketches, along with lengthy annotations in French which offer an insight into Paul Signac's artistic process.

The rough illustrations on page one of the manuscript include notes referring to colours and background scenery of a possible future work:

"Opposite a white palace, with pink line, harmony in pink, with green blinds… Communal Palace.. retouching Gozzoli virgin fresco…blue background…"

The second page features four individual sketches, with figures and religious imagery such as a virgin and an angel. These scenes are accompanied by notes, which read in part:

"The small virgin in white,…right wall with chorus, landscape with sun, white, pink…a clown scene with the dog and cat under the bed...the chapel of St. Martin…"

The third page include a lengthy annotation which reads in part "...the dry aspect that the murals research and the shapes can achieve…", along with a quick line sketch which is developed more fully on the fourth page.

This second version of the sketch depicts a small cottage on a shoreline, with a large cliff face rising up behind it.

Signac had a love of sailing, spending many summers throughout his life exploring the French coast, and the shorelines in the South of France – perhaps including this very scene - were amongst his most popular subjects.