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A rather astonishing survival: the signal book of the Redoutable, a French ship captured and burnt by the British ship Prince under captain Joseph Peyton and vice admiral Thomas Broderick at the Battle of Lagos. On the 18 August 1759, the Rédoutable, as part of a French fleet intended for an invasion of Great Britain, was engaged by Peyton’s Prince off the Portuguese coast, an action that became known and the Battle of Lagos. The contemporary cover annotation on this signal and logbook dramatically explains both its provenance and condition: ‘Taken from the Rédoutable — burnt by the Prince Capt. Jos. Peyton Com. Vice Adm. Broderick’s was onboard / on the Coast of Portugal - in Augt. 1759’.

In 1759, during the Seven Years War, the ship was part of the fleet assembled at Toulon under French Admiral de la Clue which was destined to reinforce the main French fleet at Brest for the planned invasions of Great Britain. The signal book contains current orders and signals governing the fleet, which consisted of the Oriflamme, Lion, Centaure, Fantasque, Triton, Souverain, Ocean, Guerrier, Temeraire, Fier and Modeste. It details six ordres de marche or sailing formations, six ordres de bataille and one ordre de retraite, in each case a flag being illustrated to denote the formation to be adopted by the twelve ships of the fleet. These must have been copied up before, or at the time of embarkation, and they are followed by Rédoutable’s sailing specifications, with 30 different sails and two tenders. There is a also a log for August 1759, covering the days between the 4th and 14th, including the record on the order on the 8th to pursue a Neapolitan craft ‘venant de Londres chargé de bèjout [bijoux?] pour le comte des anglais’. From Tuesday 14th August, the log is blank, with the following pages ruled but never completed.

Admiral Joseph Peyton (1725–1804) was to become commander of the Mediterranean fleet and saw further service in the Battles of Ushant and Cape St Vincent. The manuscript has remained in the Peyton family by descent.

This manuscript provides a chronology of English history in the form of a list of ennoblements (’Creations’) made in all the reigns from William the Conqueror to Queen Elizabeth I. It was probably written up in the final years of Elizabeth’s reign, with some small later additions at the end, adding three ennoblements made in 1597-8. Each name in the roll is accompanied by a short paragraph, sometimes with some additional biographical detail, followed by an abbreviated account of their arms, usually in italic script. This follows the pattern of numerous other manuscript lists of creations, some of which are illustrated with coats of arms. In this unillustrated version each device is instead described in the abbreviated technical terms essential for all students of heraldry and such knowledge formed the background of historical knowledge for all educated gentlemen of the Elizabethan age.

At the head of each reign a large title in italic script additionally gives a heraldic description of each monarch’s arms. Henry VII’s, for example are described as ‘Fraunce et Angli’ quaterly / Dragon, volante de ore / Grayhounde de Ar’ collere d’or’. The creations themselves provide a detailed list of the most powerful members of society in every reign. They are especially interesting in the Tudor period, when creations of title provided the background of powerbroking between the court and families rising in influence through patronage and economic success. For Henry VIII’s reign we find, among others, the ennoblement of Thomas Boleyn or ‘Bullen’ (father of Anne Boleyn); Thomas Cromwell; Arthur, illegitimate son of Edward IV, and William Parr (brother of Catherine Parr). For the reign of Edward VI we find, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (brother of Jane Seymour) and William Parr (now as Earl of Essex), and for Elizabeth, Robert Dudley and William Cecil.

Two final completed leaves contain a long note on Richard, Earl of Arundel, a list of ‘The nobilite of Englande accordinge to their Creaciones’ [a list of Elizabethan nobility]

Provenance: Sotheran’s, Catalogue of Ancient and Modern Books, 5 (1852), number 348, 12 shillings; Sir Charles George Young (1795–1869) ex dono T. R. Weeton; John Paul Rylands FSA, 1874; Harry Rylands [1847-1922]; J. Lambarde, 1928; Cecil Humphery Smith; Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Research, Canterbury.

An interesting group of receipts for labouring and building work carried in Cumbria, including Kirkoswald, Dolphenby, Skeugh and other named places. Several are for significant amounts received from Sir Philip Musgrave to Thoams Westmorand who oversaw a variety of works: wall building, making a pump, tiling, flagstones, boarding and cutting spiles. Most are from the eighteenth century.

A complete autograph manuscript of one of De Kock’s acutely observed novels of gritty Parisian life. In Le Tourlourou (1837) Marie, a young barmaid, is the object of a strange case of mistaken identity when a letter arrives from a countess seeking ‘l’objet de mes plus chères affections’. Marie assumes the letter refers to her and is thrilled with the possibility of a secret admirer, but when she finds out the Countess is merely asking after an item of lost property, she is distraught and throws herself into the Canal Saint-Martin. She is saved by a young man who has previously tried to gain her affections, and the two are married.
The Oxford Companion to French Literature describes De Kock (1794-1871) as ‘the prolific and immensely popular author of rollicking, risky, or more often frankly coarse, frequently sentimental and fundamentally good-natured novels.’ Certainly prolific, De Kock published over 100 novels, which attained celebrity in translation, especially in American and British editions (of which it has been wryly noted that the prose was much improved by translation). This manuscript certainly gives the impression of rollicking speed in composition — this is not a fair copy, and while there are many deletions and emendations, these seem not to have detained the author for long.

A handsome Romantic reinterpretation of Vignola’s classic Renaissance manual of perspective, Due regole della prospettiva pratica (1582, with many later editions). Elements of Vignola’s diagrams are adapted for the oblong format of the book and often updated with figures and buildings in contemporary style. Bossi, about who we have been able to discover almost nothing beyond this manuscript, also adds a fine sequence of 4 coloured illustrations depicting furniture designs in the French Empire style by Percier and 17 superb monochrome views and interiors, 13 of which are in a sequence with their own decorative title-page ‘Aggiunta di alcune prospettive ricavae da classici autori.’�

Contemporary caricature portraits of the great American millionaires Carnegie, Pierpont-Morgan, Gordon-Bennett, Harjes, Frick and Depew. The drawing was probably intended for reduction and publication in an (unidentified) journal. Rouveyre (1879-1962) was immensely prolific as a caricaturist and maintained friendships and correspondence with important figures such as Apollinaire and Matisse (having met the latter as joint students of the symbolist painter Gustave Moreau).

An eighteenth-century account book of the guild of hatmakers in the city of Antwerp, covering nearly 70 years. The Antwerp hatmakers were an important craft organization with a well-regulated structure. Their accounts were overseen by aldermen, each serving for several years, who recorded income (usually in the the form of entry fines for new members) and expenditure (usually payment for the guilds officials). One of the major expenditures was the payment of the ‘proefmeesters’ who exercised quality control by examining the products of prospective entrants before admitting them to membership.

The accounts provide a detailed record of the names of entrants to the guild and of guild officials. They also provide much incidental detail of the position of the craft within the regional economy, with frequent expenditures recording contact with the neighbouring towns of Brussels, Mechelen and Bruges.

An attractive vernacular mass and prayer book, characteristic of German Catholic devotion of this period, with decorative calligraphic headings and vignettes. The title translates loosely as Little Catholic Prayer Book in which the best morning, evening, mass confession [and] communion prayers as well as the best litanies have been put together with other different prayers, written by me....’