Manuscript from Christian White Rare Books Ltd.

London: Charles Wilson, 1839. Extensively illustrated Midshipman's log book of a return voyage from England to Madras with drawings of an albatross-shoot, whale-ships burning oil, a mirage at sea and a sequence of coastal views including St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Folio-sized manuscript which has been copied by its author from the original document into a printed skeleton… Read more about this item

Providence: Unpublished, 1890. Oblong sketchbook bound in black roan (26x17cm) with 'C H Springer' in gilt lettering to the upper cover; rubbing to extremities. All edges gilt; marbled endpapers. An unfinished pencil sketch precedes a sequence of 32 drawings, mostly in pen and ink wash, many with hand-drawn frames and clearly taken from a variety of sources, a few… Read more about this item

Mediterranean, 1814. Napoleonic War manuscript ship's log for a British warship in the Mediterranean that would be used shortly afterwards to transport convicts to New South Wales (1819) and Van Diemen's Land (1821) in Australia. The folio-sized ship's log comprises two disbound sections of a notebook of a junior British naval officer's training logbook from 1814. Manuscript title… Read more about this item

England?: N/A, 1800. Early manuscript copy - apparently English in origin - of a French novel of diabolic seduction that has inspired everyone from Jacques Lacan to Jonny Depp. Small quarto (16.5x20.5cm) bound in (likely) English full sheep, rubbed with some loss close to outer hinges but boards remain well attached. No decoration apart from a gilt roll to… Read more about this item

1823. Beautiful presentation volume by an infatuated Oxford undergraduate (shortly afterwards President of the Union) following his cousin's winter wedding at the British Ambassador's Residence in Paris. Small oblong volume with matching slipcase (13.5x11.5cm) The manuscript book has olive green printed paper overlay, the upper cover with a hand-coloured floral design; the backstrip is missing but the integrity of… Read more about this item

London: Unpublished, 1772. A letter sent on behalf of Thomas Chippendale that fills in a gap in the known sequence of correspondence between the master cabinet maker and one of his most important clients, Sir Rowland Winn, of Nostell Priory. Bifolium on 'L V Gerrevink' watermarked paper. Conjugate address leaf 'To Sir Rowland Winn Bar[one]t at Nostell near Pontefract… Read more about this item

Glasgow, Cambridge & London: Various, 1927. Alexander Todd's personal archive including school prizes from Glasgow schooldays, his Nobel Prize lecture and dozens of retained copies of his papers and speeches. Alexander R Todd (1907-1997) was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the synthesis of nucleotides - the groundwork for Watson and Crick's elucidation of… Read more about this item

Chalfont St Peter: Unpublished, 1908. A volume of love poetry written by a young Liberal politician who had fallen head over heels with the glamorous, newly single opera singer, renowned for her performances in Gilbert and Sullivan operas. A note laid into the volume reveals that it featured on BBC Antiques Road Show in February 2007. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Beautiful,… Read more about this item

Cornwall, England: Unpublished, 1686. A remarkable manuscript (c200,000 words) that begins in London just before the 1688 Revolution and charts its author's return to his Cornish village where he pleads for the right to remain in communion with both 'Episcopal and Presbiterial' congregations. Over 300 pages the manuscript plots Rowse's efforts to assuage both conscience and Cornish neighbours. Shot… Read more about this item

France: Unpublished, 1664. Rededicated - and perhaps presented - to King Charles II by the author's nephew, a manuscript meditation on Psalm 101, unpublished in this form and written as an antidote against the plague. Small quarto (horizontal chainlines & foolscap watermark) bound in contemporary calf with raised bands to the spine and gilt decoration. Three blank endpapers precede… Read more about this item

Coventry: Unpublished, 1942. Second World War Midlands-based study of the history of gas in warfare and the best ways to counter and deal with its renewed use over Britain. Small notebook (10x16cm) bound in grey cloth covered card, contained within an anonymous black folder. Author's signature on the front pastedown: 'A F Wilson 8 Stychedale Ave, Coventry'. Opposite an… Read more about this item

England, 1701. Manuscript translation by an English lawyer determined to inject his enthusiasm for Lucretius into this work by a 17th century Swiss natural philosopher - completing his English makeover with marginal references to Milton's Paradise Lost. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Quarto in modern half tan calf over marbled boards; an eighteenth century presentation inscription from the actor/ playwright George… Read more about this item

Kent: Unpublished Manuscript, 1829. Mock epic narrative poem describing an ill-fated journey by boat, stage-coach and on foot from Sheerness to a concert in Chatham and the 'inconsideration' that blighted their return journey. Thin, maroon-coloured roan covered wrappers, rubbing to spine and corners; white tape reinforcement along gutter to verso of wrapper. 18 pages of text, 21 lines per… Read more about this item

London: G Bell & Sons, 1971. Autograph manuscript, typescript, corrected proofs and supportive letters from Sir John Betjeman to the author of this memoir of Papa Stour who met her during a visit to the island and helped see the book through to publication. Stella Shepherd and her husband Dennis who illustrated her book moved to Papa Stour in… Read more about this item

1960. Remarkable collection of Tibetan Sherpa art collected, and possibly commissioned, by a member of Sir Edward Hillary's 'Silver Hut' expedition to Mount Makulu in the Himalayas, including an image of the mountaineers scaling the peak. This collection is introduced by its owner, an unidentified member of Hillary's 1960 expedition (possibly George Lowe), in a two page pencilled text… Read more about this item

Los Angeles & London: Unpublished, 1986. Remarkably extensive Eliott Kastner archive of the production of Pierce Brosnan's first leading role in which he played a French anthropologist in New York who discovers a group of urban nomads who are not who they seem. The pile of documents sits 10 inches thick and comprises, in brief: Production - Central Files… Read more about this item

Paris: 'Chez la veuve Etienne libraire Rue St. Tarquer, vis a vis la rue du Plastre' manuscript facsimile title page, 1747. Fair copy in French from the 1740s of much of Rollin's Histoire Ancienne together with an original continuation of the work up to the present day: 'De L'histoire depuis. J.[esus] C[hrist]' which deals with 'Le Royaume d'Angleterre' and… Read more about this item

Liverpool: Unpublished, 1867. Manuscript records from one of the world's oldest architectural societies containing hundreds of signatures of leading members including the architect of the Walker Art Gallery. Quarto manuscript book, half green morocco over marbled boards, stationer's ticket of 'Joseph A D Watts... Liverpool' on marbled front endpaper with details for reordering. Red morocco label to upper… Read more about this item

Wiltshire and London: Unpublished, 1822. No Binding. Near Fine. [4] 'Dutch turnip', 'Windsor Beans' and 'Negro dwarf kidney beans': a bill from a London nursery - 'Seedsman' - for supplying vegetable seeds to the lawyer John Thomas Batt to be planted at his country home, New Hall, near Salisbury in Wiltshire. Quarto sized bifolium with printed bill-head on… Read more about this item

Wishaw, Scotland: Unpublished, 1925. No Binding. Very Good. Stirring 1925 manuscript speech to Scottish veterans made by Britain's commander on the western front in which he urged Scotland's soldiers to look after each other in peacetime - 'the hardest battle of their lives' - even as they readied themselves for the moment 'when storm and peril once more… Read more about this item