ALBUM – SUFFRAGE, POLITICIANS & THE ARTS Album containing over 200 autograph letters and c...

ALBUM – SUFFRAGE, POLITICIANS & THE ARTS Album containing over 200 autograph letters and cut signatures, many responding to Mr Thompson's request for an autograph, including: Two typed letters signed ('Christabel Pankhurst'), to Mrs Staley, the first commenting on Mr McCurdy's opposition to the Women's Enfranchisement Bill ('...quite unsatisfactory...') and talking about their militant campaign ('...marvellously successful... To it we owe the new life which has come into the suffrage movement... These people who know nothing about the early history of the movement are not qualified to say whether or no militant methods are right or expedient... There is to be a pause in militancy...'), the second affirming the duty of an MP to represent the wishes of his constituency, on WSPU headed paper, 3 pages, dust-staining, 4to (238 x 190mm.), Clement's Inn, Strand, 4 and 11 February 1910; together with various Politicians, Nobility and Clergy: (John Bright ('...May I ask you to tell me what are the trains with Saloon Carriages which run thro' to Manchester? I find no note of these in Bradshaw...'), Campbell Bannerman ('...I have much pleasure in complying with your request...'), Labouchere (giving advice on collecting autographs), Arthur Henderson (declining an invitation), trade unionist and Fabian Will Crooks, Ben Tillett, Annie Besant, James Martineau, C.H. Spurgeon (with sermon notes), Jowett, miniature sermon given by Dr Ryland written out by his granddaughter, Randolph S. Churchill (reserving a compartment on the Irish mail that evening for Lady Churchill '...travelling alone to Ireland...'), etc.; The Arts: Arthur Conan Doyle ('Sorry but impossible' on a visiting card), Marie Corelli, Walter Besant, Quiller-Couch, Hall Caine, William Powell Frith ('...I think the Derby Day is one of my best...'), Thomas Sidney Cooper, B.W. Leader, Luke Fildes, Harry Furniss (with caricature), Linley Sambourne (with dragon motif), John Tenniel, Hugh Walpole, Baroness Orczy (TLS '...My Scarlet Pimpernel would not be of any use to you in the talk which you are preparing... As a matter of fact Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel is an entirely fictitious character...'), etc.; Science and Exploration: Henry M. Stanley (sending compliments), Thomas Edison ('Yes, Edison' on Thompson's returned letter), Joseph Lister, John Lubbock, etc.; Various cut signatures, some signed quotations or on compliments slips: Theodore Roosevelt (on White House card with accompanying photographic portrait postcard), Florence Nightingale, Robert Stephenson, Asquith, Gladstone, Ripon, Russell, Randolph S. Churchill, Lloyd George, Rider Haggard, Thomas Huxley, Jerome K. Jerome, Rudyard Kipling (with secretarial letter thanking him for his payment), Alma Tadema, Lord Leighton, William Booth (on Salvation Army receipt), George du Maurier (with sketch of a dog's head), Ellen Terry, Lillie Langtry, Weedon Grossmith, W.S. Gilbert, etc., 29 leaves, dust-staining, marks and small tears, original calf gilt, worn, upper cover and first leaf detached, spine loose with losses, folio (360 x 260mm.), [late nineteenth-/early twentieth-century] Footnotes: This wide-ranging collection was begun as a teenager by Ralph L. Thompson of Northampton (b.1875), who became a prominent member of the Northamptonshire Baptist Union and on the board of the Northampton Town & County Benefit Building Society, precursor of the Nationwide. He was inspired by his elder brother, Frank Thompson, chief clerk in the booking office at Euston Station, who began collecting the many written requests for rail bookings and information that he received during the course of his job. Ralph expanded the collection by writing to the eminent people of the day, from politicians and clergy to artists and writers. Many were only too pleased to send their autograph for his collection, although some it transpires required a small fee for their time. The two impassioned letters from Christabel Pankhurst are to his friend Mrs Staley. Provenance: Ralph L. Thompson (b.1875); his great nephew Canon John Nurser (1929-2020, eminent theologian and Church of England priest); thence by descent to the present owner. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: • • Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing