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LEWIS CARROLL TO REV J.W. BURGON 9. CARROLL, Lewis PHANTASMAGORIA And Other Poems MacMillan, 1869. First edition, first issue. 8vo. Original blue cloth with gilt vignettes and lettering. All edges gilt. Inscribed by Carroll on the half title “Rev J. W. Burgon with the Author’s kind regards Jan, 1869”. A very good copy indeed, a little tanned to the spine with some wear to spine ends. [39706] £4,750 Carroll noted in his diary on 7th January 1869 that he “called on Macmillan and sent off 28 copies of Phantasmagoria”, which were inscribed for close family, friends and colleagues at Oxford. The recipient of this copy, John William Burgon, was a contemporary of Dodgson’s at Oxford, being a fellow Oxford clergyman and the vicar at St Mary’s. LEWIS CARROLL TO REV H.A. BARCLAY 10. [CARROLL, Lewis] DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge NOTES BY AN OXFORD CHI- EL James Parker and Co., 1874. First collected edition. Publisher’s green cloth titled in gilt to the upper cover. Issued with the collective title page and contents leaf. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed on the front pastedown, “H. A. Barclay with the Author’s sincere regards Ap. 27 1875”. Two later notes of provenance are written on the free endpaper. All edges gilt. A near fine copy, with a little wear to the spine ends, else clean and bright. [39705] £4,500 A rare collection of Dodgson’s famous ‘Oxford Squibs’, good natured satires, usually of a local political nature disguised in the sort of ‘nonsense’ writing popularised in the author’s fiction writ - ings. The first section, The New Method of Evaluation as Applied to π , for instance is not part of Dodgson’s noted work on number theory, but a comment on religion within the Oxford University with such reasoning as, “let H=High Church, and L=Low Church, then the geometric mean = √HL: call this ‘B’ (Broad Church). .˙. HL=B 2 ” The other parts comprise, The Dynamics of a Particle; Facts, Figures, and Fancies; The New Belfry, of Christ Church Oxford; The Vision of the Three T’s; The Black Cheque, A Fable. The pamphlets were published individually between 1865 and 1874 and collected here for the first time. Presentation copies are rare with only two others offered at auction in the last forty years. The recipient of this copy, the Reverend Henry Alexander Barclay, was a life-long friend of Dodgson’s, having been at Christ Church with him, and Dodgson would often visit him in Brighton during the summer.
BYRON AND SYKES TO THE ABDYS 7. [BYRON, Robert & SYKES, Christopher]; WAUGHBURTON, Richard INNOCENCE AND DESIGN Macmillan, 1935. First edition. Original green embossed cloth with gilt titles in (supplied) dustwrapper designed by Sykes. Authors’ presentation copy, inscribed on the front end paper by both authors to Diane and Robert Abdy. From Robert Byron, “To Diane and Bertie from Richard Waughburton 4 July 1935”, and from Christopher Sykes, “With many thanks for loan of character, though everyone thinks it’s Sachie.” Illustrated throughout in line by Sykes. A very good copy, with a little wear to the spine ends and back panel, in a very good dustwrapper indeed, which shows a little wear to the corners. [31260] £2,250 A fine association. Sir Robert Abdy was close friends with Byron and Sykes and their circle includ - ing Evelyn Waugh, Nancy Mitford, and Gertrude Stein. The principal character of the novel, Sir Constantine Bruce, is based on Abdy, as Sykes alludes to in his presentation inscription. He is described as “a man of keen aesthetic sensibility... disinclined, in fact positively unable to live in ugliness”, rather like Abdy who was an antique collector who sought to surround himself with beautiful objects. Bruce, like Abdy, has a keen interest in architec- ture and journeys to the Middle-East in search of the Moslem principals of chromatic architecture which he plans to use in his redesign of his Scottish estate. Comedy ensues as Bruce’s naivety embroils him with the Military Intelligence. Byron and Sykes wrote the book whilst in Persia (Byron gathering material for The Road to Oxia- na), and one can see strains of Sykes in the horseplay passages interspersed with essays by Byron on Islamic architecture and Persian national character. Presentation copies by Robert Byron are rarely encountered in commerce.
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