Autograph Album

comprising c.116 letters in the album together with additional free franks and cut signatures, also another c.32 letters loose in an envelope, including autograph letters signed by:
British politicians: C.J. Fox, George Canning, Robert Peel (1st Bt and 3rd Bt), the 7th Earl of Elgin (to Marquess Wellesley, on diplomatic affairs, 8 pages, Constantinople, 10 May 1800), John Cartwright, Lord Rosebery, A. Bonar Law, Lord Milner, Stanley Baldwin, Lord Ripon 
Indian affairs: Marquess Wellesley (3 letters, one to Henry Addington as Prime Minister, on military successes against the Marathas by various officers including his brother, the future Duke of Wellington, of whom he records his "glorious and splendid victories at Assaye, & on the plains of Argaum, & with the entire ruin of Scindiahs French Troops & powerful artillery in the Dekan", 5 pages, Barrackpore, 31 December 1803), Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington (on Indian politics at the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Maratha War, 3 pages, 23 April 1803), Castlereagh (to Marquess Wellesely, 3 July 1804), Lord Valentia (Lucknow, 1803), and Sir James Brooke, Raja of Sarawak
French politicians: Prince Talleyrand, Henri Grégoire, Marquis de Pastoret
Writers: William Wordsworth (with thanks for "the interesting Relique of my Ancestor", 4 pages, 18 June 1840), Walter Scott, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Thomas Moore, Robert Southey, Samuel Rogers, S.T. Coleridge (1 page, 9 July 1833), Sydney Smith, Harriet Martineau, Jane Porter, Maria Edgeworth, Lucy Aikin, Joanna Baillie, Amelia Opie (2 letters), Charles Dickens (1 page), Henry Hallam, Arthur Sullivan, Frederick Treves (2 letters)
Scientists: Alexander von Humboldt, Michael Faraday, John Leslie ("...I think your idea of deducing the place of the absolute zero from the expansion of hydrogen gas very ingenious...", 4 pages, Edinburgh, 9 December 1828), Georges Cuvier (manuscript fragment of Règne Animal, 1 page), Robert Brown (botanist), Johann Spurzheim, Sir George Sinclair, Charles Babbage
Explorers: John Franklin (2 letters), Sir Richard Collinson, Sir Edward Parry,
Military: Basil Hall, W. Sidney Smith, Sir Charles Napier, Sir H.R. Popham, Lord Cornwallis (to Lord Mornington, Dublin Castle, 18 March 1799)
Artists: Thomas Lawrence, John Martin (2 letters), Pierre-Jean David d'Angers (to M. Pentland, written with his left hand following an injury, returning a proof in plaster, 1 page, 8vo, n.d., integral address leaf)
Church leaders: W.B. Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon (2 letters)

the album with 139 numbered pages, maroon morocco gilt, three leaves of album looose, one letter loose,occasional creasing to letters, split at upper joint

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

An exceptionally rich and varied collection of letters by prominent individuals of the nineteenth century. This album was compiled by a member of the Beaumont family of Whitley Hall, Whitley Beaumont, Yorkshire, in large part from family correspondence. Many of the Victorian letters were written to Henry Frederick Beaumont (1833-1913), a Liberal MP, while many of the earlier letters are to his maternal grandfather Sir George Cayley, Bt (1773-1857).