Graham York Rare Books

Don Juan Jose de Austria, Count of Onate, (1629-1679).
AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED D.JUAN. NAPLES 22ND NOVEMBER 1647, COUNTERSIGNED GREGORIO DEL...ADDRESSED IN GREGORIO'S HAND "AL CARDENAL MATTERY, ROMA, DEL SR. DON JUAN DE AUSTRIA". One sheet folded, address on verso, with Don Juan's seal. Very formal letter discussing the receipt of two letters from Mattery, one welcoming him to Naples, the other discussing some soldiers from his battalion who went to Rome and how his Eminence prevented the French from joining with them. Ł2,000.00
Juan Jose was the son of King Philip IV of Spain. He received a princely education and a large income and obtained his first military command in 1647 when he was sent to Naples to crush an uprising, which he is discussing here. It would seem that the restoration of Royal authority was due rather to the exhaustion of the insurgents and the follies of their French leader, Henry the Duke of Guise, than to the forces of Don Juan. He served as Prime Minister for Spain between 1677 and 1679.

Lucy Gaster.
THE ROLE OF THE STUDENTS AND INTELLECTUALS IN THE OPPOSITION TO FRANCO. 1961, three page typed article, foolscap, printed on one side only, many corrections in the type, many manuscript corrections in pencil and ball-point, signed at foot L.G. Holes punched for filing, edges crumpled, one short closed tear. Ł300.00
Sold with:- CONFERENCE D'EUROPE OCCIDENTALE POUR L'AMNESTIE AUX IMPRISONNES ET EXILES POLITIQUES ESPAGNOLS. LES 25 ET 26 MARS 1961, DANS LES SALONS DE L'HOTEL CONTINENTAL, A PARIS. Four page quarto pamphlet, edges browned and crumpled, with a loosely inserted APPEAL FOR AMNESTY IN SPAIN, one page foolscap, typed and copied letter from the Hon. Secretary, Eileen Turner, headed in pencil SPECIMEN LETTER TO ALL 650 MPS, stapled with a one page folio typed and copied sheet, foolscap, TRANSLATION FROM THE SPANISH OF A LETTER TO THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, LONDON, FROM SPANISH POLITICAL PRISONERS. Edges chipped and browned.

RICHARD FORD'S WORKING NOTES

D. Agustin Duran. (Compiler and Editor).
ROMANCERO DE ROMANCES. CABALLERESCOS E HISTORICOS. ANTERIORES AL SIGLO XVIII, QUE CONTIENE LOS DE AMOR, LOS DE LA TABLA REDONDA, LOS DE CARLO MAGNO Y LOS DOCE PARES, LOS DE BERNARDO DEL CARPIO, DEL CID CAMPEADOR, DE LOS INFANTES DE LARA, &C. PARTE II. 1832, Madrid, Imprenta de Don Eusebio Aguado, Volume 5, Part II only, pp247, together with over 50 pages of manuscript notes by Richard Ford, half calf over marbled boards, with the bookplate of Richard Ford on the paste-down. Hinges weak but holding, spine and boards slightly faded, contents good. Ł2750.00
Richard Ford (1796-1858), Hispanophile, traveller, critic, art connoisseur, author of The Hand-Book for Travellers in Spain, wrote extensively for the Quarterly Review, the Westminster Review and the Edinburgh Review.
A note in ink in Ford's hand on the endpaper reads, "There are a few MS notes & material, at the end, which were jotted down while I was preparing to review Lockhart's Sp Ballads in the Edinburgh & Westminster. R.F."
Many pearls of wisdom from Ford's pen including "To judge fairly of translation it is necessary to have the original near us. The great difficulty is to perceive fidelity in the copy, with the freedom & unconstrained flow of the original".
"Men are born poets, they are taught to be mathematicians. The earliest poets are the best, they have the widest range and the first choice of beautiful ideas and poetic expression".

FIRST WORLD WAR ON ACTIVE SERVICE

Gerald (Retter?).
AUTOGRAPH LETTER. ENVELOPE MARKED "ON ACTIVE SERVICE" AND STAMPED "CENSORED", ADDRESSED TO MRS RETTER, OTTERY ST. MARY. Four pages quarto written in ink on one side only, dated 12.3.17. "B. Coy. Regiment as usual, Expeditionary Force Mesopotamia". A rather moving document describing some of the awful conditions endured, yet selflessly hoping "this will find you & all in the best of Health possible". Somewhat crumpled and folded, but a survivor. Ł115.00
"Dear Uncle and Aunt...we were in a lot of the work from 18th Dec. till the 3rd February and the last date was a very hot day with us and the enemy, we went over the top taking three lines of the Turkish trenches and held them well but sorry to say our casualties was very heavy, t'was only a matter of luck in going through alright with the shrapnel and 'live stock' we went through and in their trenches they knew the range so well with the guns and made it like 'fair hell'...".
"Glad to say we have been relieved & come back to ******* (censored in ink) about 50 miles from Kut."
The Indian Army, including a number of British units (initially of the Regular Army but soon joined by Territorials), supplied the "British" fighting forces ordered to Mesopotamia. This army had suffered under-investment for years, and it was evident in the quality of equipment and in training. Guns, shells, small arms and ammunition - always in short supply - were often museum pieces or considered not good enough for the Western Front. The Army command also failed to realise the difficulties of supplying an army that moved further upstream from the Gulf. There were never enough shallow-draught boats, nor enough mules or camels, to adequately supply the fighting forces that were up to 500 miles away from the port. Conditions in Mesopotamia were appalling. Extremes of temperature (120 degrees F was common); arid desert and regular flooding; flies, mosquitoes and other vermin: all led to shocking levels of sickness and death through disease. Medical arrangements were scant, with wounded men spending up to two weeks on boats before reaching any kind of hospital.
The early successes in the river delta were misleading; more and more troops were sent to Mesopotamia for operations towards Baghdad, which stretched the supply lines to the limit. There was a serious difference of opinion between London, India and the Commander of the force, regarding the role of the army. The former saw it as defensive; the latter two as offensive, with a view to capturing Baghdad. The campaign was muddled, and the advancing army plodded on, until a resounding defeat in November 1915 in front of Ctesiphon led to retreat to Kut-al-Amara. The army in Kut became surrounded and besieged; eventually 9,000 (3,000 British and 6,000 Indian troops) surrendered five months later - the greatest defeat and loss in British military history up to that point.
Following the fall of Kut, the British ordered Major-General Stanley Maude to take command of the British army in Mesopotamia. He introduced new methods, which culminated in a decisive defeat of the Turks in February 1917, and the capture of Baghdad in March 1917.

Henry John Temple; Third Viscount Palmerston.
AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, TO "MY DEAR HOWARD", FROM THE FOREIGN OFFICE, 20TH AUGUST 1834. 1834, 4pp, 4to, signed "Palmerston". Sold with an engraved portrait. A frank and personal letter, probably to Kenneth Alexander Howard, who served in the Peninsula, and later joined the Privy Council, "...till we actually declare war against Carlos...we could not legally turn away a British Merchantman laden with arms for Zumalacarreguy". "They say P. Charles of Naples is deficient in some qualities which Donna Maria might consider essential in a husband, and that the race would not be multiplied by his means". "I cannot believe that Miguel will try his hand again in Portugal but if he does, we shall not give him a second passage out of it". Folded, and with one or two tears but no loss. Ł225.00