Military & Naval

22-1. “Rear Admiral of the Blue.”

Monumental mezzotint portrait of “Sir Horatio Nelson, K.B. / Rear Admiral of the Blue,” one  of naval history’s foremost figures. C. 1798. Print 16¾ x 25½, in frame 23½ x 32. By noted  artist L(emuel) F. Abbott. Printed by W(illiam S.) Barnard, (London). In period frame -  probably its original - with double gilt-beaded border on black wood. Print rendered in rich  warm mahogany tones, depicting the mariner standing on a small rock, perilously lapped by  waves, the flames of Copenhagen lighting up the night sky behind him. Capturing the naval  hero in the aftermath of his victory over the French and Spanish fleets in 1797 - but loss of his  right arm. His exploits covered the map of a world in turmoil as the eighteenth became the  nineteenth century, fighting at Malta, the Nile, Naples, Copenhagen, Corsica (where he lost  sight in one eye), then pursuing the French to the West Indies and back. In the fabled contest  of his warship Victory and the French Redoutable, Nelson ran out of luck: as his men  completed annihilation of the enemy fleet, he was hit by a sharp-shooter’s musket ball.  Nelson’s final victory established British naval supremacy for over a century; Trafalgar Square  is named for the battle. Handsomely rematted on acid-free cream, with matching beveled mat,  lustrous hairline gold-leaf rule, under TruVue Conservation Clear glass. Slightly trimmed four  sides, just touching bottom flourish of cartouche at bottom and apparently removing  publisher’s address, but 3/8” border other three sides, and all edges visible within frame. Edge  tears at top expertly repaired, the several lacking fragments backed with acid-free paper;  probably lightly cleaned by conservator around bottom portion, else about very good, and  strikingly impressive, its antique frame adding to effect. Frame lacking scattered fine raised  beads, mostly at bottom horizontal, perhaps where subject to admiring touches of visitors to  the manor, else structurally and cosmetically fine. The frame alone a worthy item. Very rare.  One example in British Museum. No examples located by WorldCat, nor by  TheEuropeanLibrary.org, portal to 48 National Libraries of Europe. $1200-1600 

22-2. Selling a Used Schooner.

Letter of the fascinating Geo. W. Heard, Ipswich, (Mass.), Mar. 18, 1830, 7½ x 9¾, 2 pp., to  Capt. Aaron P. Lord, care of J.A. Roberts, Norfolk, Va. Pres. of Dane Mfg. Co., a Mass. cotton  mill, Heard writes, “...Respecting selling the Roman, I there mentioned that I thought  she...would fetch $2600, or...exchanged for $23(00) or (2)400 cash, & another vessel...$2600  cash...is the least I could afford to sell her for...I am not informed how much she may have  been injured when ashore, nor how her cables & sails may be at this time, nor can I tell  anything about the vessel you are offered... Still if you are certain you could sell her, for  instance at auction...you will no doubt recollect that fishing built vessels are in no demand at  present, & of but little value, especially of that size, & of that age, unless she has always been  fishing ...I have priced from Baltimore...corn was, white 32[¢], yellow 33¾, at  Alexandria...32¾....” Integral address-leaf, ms. “25.” Internal tear on blank portion where  opened, break but no separation at one fold, some wear, else about V.G. Heard is found in a  substantial literature: six years earlier, he co-founded a lace factory; via his brother traveling  in China, he imported crêpe and silk (as well as “tea and insects”!). Heard is mentioned in a  history of Mount Holyoke College, the first women’s school in America to offer college-level  education. Quite separately, in 1857 he became the first American to climb Mt. Blanc twice.  Before the age of 21, his son headed a tea house bearing the family name during the Opium  Wars in China, later becoming the first civilian to enter Japan - and to go up the Yangtse  River. Modern research accompanies. $150-200

22-3. “The Hottest of the Fight” in Manila.

Three Spanish-American War stereoscopic views: “”The Hottest of the Fight, Battle of Manila, May 1, 1898,” pub. by B.W. Kilburn,  Littleton, N.H., 1898. A vivid tableau, the outpouring of smoke rivaling scenes of Fort Sumter. Fine. • “Dewey with his Sword - ‘The Gift  of the Nation...in memory of the victory at Manila Bay, May 1, 1898.’” Keystone, 1899. Very fine. Consecutively numbered with  following: • “Benediction by Cardinal Gibbons - Presentation of the Sword to Adm. Dewey, Washington, Oct. 3, 1899.” Text on verso.  Some dust toning, edge waterstaining at top poles of this stereo, but satisfactory. It is scarcely remembered today that just forty years  later, Manila was attacked in the same wave that devastated Pearl Harbor. $40-60 (3 pcs.) 

22-4. First Brooklyn Soldier to Volunteer.

Post-Civil War typewritten statement with ornately printed logo of 13th Regt., N.G.S.N.Y. - evidently a 30-day unit. N.d. but judged c.  1895, 7¾ x 9¼. Signed by Col. Robert B. Clark and Adjt. Wm. Augustus McKee. “This is to certify that David Smith of ‘B’ Co., 13th  Regt. of the City of Brooklyn, N.Y.S. National Guard, did and was the first, on the 28th of Apr., 1861, to volunteer and superintend the  rebuilding of the Rail Road Bridges and other public works between Annapolis and Annapolis Junction, which were destroyed by Rebel  Sympathizers in the early part of the War of the Rebellion.” Evidently first composed in Brooklyn, Sept. 23, 1861, and typed and signed  years later. Breaks at fold, blank torn portion at lower left repaired with tape on verso, edge fragment torn but present, somewhat  browned, else satisfactory. $45-65

22-5. The Admiral of the Fleet who Resembled King George.

A.L.S. of (Sir) Charles E. Madden, one of Britain’s most distinguished naval heroes. Madden was Commander of the Dreadnought, and  member of the committee which produced its design; Chief of Staff of British Fleet during Battle of Jutland, in command of Grand Fleet  1917-18, and postwar Admiral of the Fleet, highest post in the British Navy. On his light blue stationery, steel-engraved in royal blue.  Sussex, Mar. 15, (19)32, 7 x 10½, 1 full p. To Greenway. “...I am not wearing an epaulette in the photograph, but a shoulder cord,  supporting an aguilette, which when worn on the right shoulder denotes that the wearer is an A.D.C. to His Majesty the King. I was at  the time the First and Principal Naval A.D.C. to H.M. King George V. You are quite right - two epaulettes are worn & with them the  shoulder cord is dispensed with & the aguilette is suspended from the right epaulette....” Original folds, else fine. • Envelope in his  hand. Opened across top, but stamp sound. • 21-column-inch obituary from N.Y. Times, 1935. “55 Years with Navy - Resembled King  George - Many Countries Honored Him...(He) looked so much like King George he was often mistaken for him...On one occasion when  the King was expected to visit the fleet, Sir Charles’ approach was greeted by playing of the national anthem, while a guard of honor  gave him the royal salute...He could trace his lineage to Maine More, the great King of Ireland, who reigned c. 300 A.D. He entered the  Royal Navy when he was 13 years old...(Madden) hoisted his flag in the first Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet...Credited with  suggesting the depth-charge to hunt German submarines...Sir Charles’ motto was, ‘He is stronger who conquers himself’....” $120-150  (3 pcs.) 

22-6. Alluding to British Depredations in Africa.

Unusual A.L.S. of Adm. F(rancis) W. Kennedy, commander of H.M.S. Indomitable in Battle of Jutland, bombarding the Dardanelles  and sinking the German battle cruiser Blucher. Kennedy’s ship towed home the damaged H.M.S. Lion. On steel-engraved lettersheet  “Royal Naval Club, Portsmouth,” Sept. 10, (19)36, 5¼ x 6¾, 3 pp. To Greenway. “...I have only been photographed in working uniform,  or what we call Monkey Jacket. Never was I taken in a Full Dress Uniform. No, it is not true I was wounded in the Great War - but in  Africa, in I think 1895 or 1896 - where I was one of those employed tak(ing) charge of parts of [East] Africa - not by Peaceful  Penetration - but just about in the same way the Italians have been civilizing Abyssinia - to the horror of some of our English & other  people...I know a good deal of our past methods & laugh at my English friends &c. for their peculiar ways...Your Countrymen, aye &  women too, have always been my friends, whenever I’ve met them. I’ve only been lucky enough to actually visit the USA - in Oregon -  years ago.” Very fine. • With envelope in his hand. Pencil notes in Greenway’s hand, “A most unusual letter admitting English land  grabbing by one of her foremost World War Admirals....” Kennedy’s reference is certainly to British East Africa, later renamed Kenya  Protectorate, homeland of current Pres. Stamp removed. • Obituary from a N.Y. newspaper, 1939. $100-130 (3 pcs.) 

22-7. Anchors Away - with Link to Old Ironsides.

Intriguing artifact of the early American Navy: corrected draft of A.L.S. entirely in hand of Nath(anie)l Cushing, a Massachusetts iron  master specializing in anchors, and partner in the successor to Barstow’s Forge, dating to colonial times. Probably Pembroke, Mass.;  undated but possibly late 1794, docketed “Sent to Tench Coxe concerning Continental anchors”; Coxe was Commissioner of the  Revenue 1792-1801, earlier a delegate to the Continental Congress, and a controversial figure in the Revolution, arrested on Royalist  suspicions. (It was Coxe who in 1788 wrote, “Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Congress have no power to disarm the  militia. Their swords and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American....”) 8 x 12½, 1 p. “Agreeable  to my Contract for about six tons of the Small anchors for the Frigate, I was to deliver them at a wharf where a vessel of about sixty tons  could take them. There is such a wharf at the North river Bridge within three miles of my works, but it would be less expence for  government to have them delivered in Boston as the inspector will have to go thirty miles to inspect them & the freight is very high out  of that river. I will deliver them in Boston for $2.50 per ton which Gen. Jackson & others think it best. The anchors will be down next  week & I wish an answer to this immediately. If I hear nothing from you I shall run the risk to deliver. Your Friend....” Another letter  from Cushing to Coxe on anchors appears in The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. More significantly, there is a possibility that the  “Frigate” referred to here is the U.S.S. Constitution: one and probably two letters from Coxe to Cushing, both 1794, are recorded in A  Most Fortunate Ship: A Narrative History of Old Ironsides, Martin, p. 390 (copy accompanies). Today the world’s oldest commissioned  naval vessel afloat, the Constitution was authorized by the Naval Act of 1794, its keel laid in Boston on Nov. 1 of that year. It would  seem that anchors would be required in the early stage of building such a ship. Its copper bolts and breasthooks were made by Paul  Revere, to whom several 1794 letters from Tench Coxe are also found. Ironic large pictorial watermark of Miss Britannia(?) beneath  crown, holding olive leaf and sceptre. Edges somewhat brittle, some fine chipping but no loss of text; pleasing rich cream patina with  orange marginal toning, penned in dark brown, and good plus. Cushing’s account books are preserved in the Baker Library, Harvard  Business School, and his papers at Winterthur. $275-375 

22-8. Sinking Four German Warships off the Coast of South America.

Superb A.L.S. of British Adm. A(rchibald) P. Stoddart, Commander of H.M.S. Carnarvon at battle off the Falkland Islands, Dec. 1914,  when four German cruisers were sunk. On his stationery steel-engraved in grey “...N. Cornwall,” Aug. 27, 1935, 4¼ x 7, 2 full pp. To  Rev. Cornelius Greenway. “...My station when the war commenced was in the mid Atlantic, round the Canary and Cape to C(ape) Verde  Islands, and when Adm. Cradock went into the Pacific, in Oct. 1914, I was moved on to the East Coast of South America. When Adm.  Sturdee came out with Invincible and Inflexible, we all went on to the Falkland Islands arriving there on 7th Dec. Adm. von Spee and  his ship turned up next morning, and after a chase we sunk the Scharnhorst, Gneusenau...and Nurnburg. The Dresden succeeded in  getting away, but was sunk later on, when the various German ships about the world were sunk. I was ordered home, and thus finished  my War Service...The Carnarvon was my Flagship. I left her off the Coast of Brazil May 1915 & returned home in H.M.S. Liverpool.” •  With entry clipped by Greenway from a biographical directory, 1939 N.Y Times obituary, and internal envelope, bearing notations in  Greenway’s hand. Old blind clip depression, else very fine. Greenway had a talent for eliciting wartime accounts from his distinguished  correspondents. Ironically, in the 1920s, Stoddart’s beloved Carnarvon was broken for scrap – in Germany. $100-130 (4 pcs.) 

22-9. Commander of the Indomitable and Renown.

A.L.S. of British Adm. Sir Michael Hodges, Chelsea, London, July 20, 1937, 5¼ x 7, 2 pp. Signed twice, once at conclusion, and with  rank across top. To Greenway. Serving in the Boer War, Hodges was Naval Attaché in Paris at outbreak of World War I. He commanded  the famed Grand Fleet flagship battlecruisers H.M.S. Indomitable and Renown; postwar Commander-in-Chief of Atlantic Fleet.  Awarded Companion of Order of the Rising Sun by Japan in 1917. “I was going through a lot of old papers the other day & to my shame,  amongst them, I found your letter of about a year ago, which asked for my photograph. I am so very sorry that I should have overlooked  & forgotten like this but I hope you may still like to have the photograph...You appear to have got together a wonderful collection & I  shall be proud to think that mine is included.” Most of Greenway’s signed photographs were separated from the accompanying letters  by Parke-Bernet, the Madison Avenue predecessor of Sothebys, for their unforgettable Greenway sales of the 1970s. Minor toning at  upper right, blind clip depression, else very fine. With biographical entry clipped by Greenway from period directory. $75-100 (2 pcs.) 

22-10. Began Naval Career at Age 13.

A.L.S. of (Admiral Sir) John Kelly, World War I British Capt. of warships H.M.S. Dublin, Devonshire, and Weymouth, ranging from the  Dardanelles to the Arctic, and the Princess Royal; postwar Commander-in-Chief of Atlantic Fleet. Here writing on his letterhead as  “Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet,” with steel-engraved red and black standard. “C/o G.P.O., London,” Aug. 29, (19)32, 5½ x 7¼, 1 p.,  concluding on verso. To Greenway. “...I am sending you the reproduction of a drawing by Muirhead Bone for which I was unconsciously  the model [not present]....” Fold at upper left, else about fine. • Printed slip enclosed by Kelly, with his service record, annotated in  pencil by Greenway. • Envelope in Kelly’s hand, sound postage stamp. Toned area from newspaper clipping. • Lengthy obituary from  New York Times, 1936. “Naval Hero...Began Career at 13 - His Record was Brilliant - Commanded Land Force in the South African  Conflict - Won Honors in World War...In 1927, when London forced a showdown in the Egyptian crisis, the battleship Barham, flying  Sir John’s flag as vice admiral, was sent to Alexandria....” $90-120 (4 pcs.) 

22-11. Father of Royal Navy’s Submarine Service.

A.L.S. of (Admiral Sir) R(eginald) H.S. Bacon, the first Capt. - and contributing designer of H.M.S. Dreadnought, one of the most  famous ships in naval history; commanded heavy howitzer brigade in France, commander of Dover patrols 1915-18, awarded gold  medal by U.S. for distinguished service. Bacon was father of the Royal Navy’s Submarine Service, beginning with development of their  earliest subs in 1900. On black-bordered, steel-engraved lettersheet, Primazzina, Spezia (Italy), Jan. 10, (19)30, 4½ x 7, 3 pp., in pastel  blue-grey ink. To Greenway. “I was glad to get your letter and to hear that you consider my biography worthy of the late Lord Fisher.  He was a great man and it was a real responsibility for a novice in biography writing to undertake the preparation of his life...I will be  glad to send you a photo of myself signed as you have asked for it. I am however abroad til next June...A prosperous & happy New  Year.” Extensive biographical notes by Greenway on verso in pencil. Minor handling evidence, else fine. Bacon also “developed one of  the first practical modern periscopes...,” later making “significant contribution to the design of the all-big-gun revolutionary battleship  Dreadnought...”--wikipedia, the then-fastest in the world. Bacon was also a prolific author, from 1897’s Benin: City of Blood, based on  his African experiences, to 1942’s Britain’s Glorious Navy. An important figure in naval history. $130-160 

22-12. Napoleon’s Irish Marshal - and the Swiss Regiment.

L.S. of Duc de Feltre, the title given to Henri J.G. Clarke, Napoleon’s Marshal (member of first Cabinet) and private secretary. Of Irish  descent, Clarke was “one of the most influential and charismatic Franco-Irish generals in the French army during the Napoleonic  period”--wikipedia. On lettersheet as War Minister, “Bureau de l’Infanterie,” Paris, Aug. 6, 1816, 8 x 12, signed “Le M’al D. de Feltre.”  In French. To Baron D’Hogguet, Col.-Commandant of a brigade of the Swiss Confederation, informing him that the King [Louis XVIII]  has named him Col. of the 1st Swiss Regt. of the Royal Guard. Large watermark of crown. Original quarter folds, minor handling, four  blind circular impressions, likely of a seal on the Marshal’s desk, else fine and attractive. Upon Napoleon’s abdication in 1814, de Feltre  remained loyal to the King, was reappointed Minister of War, and created Marshal of France. $175-250 

22-13. The Equal of Napoleon Himself.

L.S. of (Marquis Laurent de) Gouvion St. Cyr, Napoleon’s War Minister, succeeding de Feltre (see above lot) who died in 1818. Paris,  June 29, 1818, on lettersheet with swash typography, 8 x 12. In French. To Col. Trobriand, advising that the King [Louis XVIII] has  named him one of the 30 Colonels for whom Louis has reserved half the vacant positions in the Royal Corps of General Staff. “...You  should see in this special dispensation a sign of the confidence of His Majesty in your zeal for his service....” Original quarter folds,  minor handling, light staining at bottom portion, else fine. Fighting under Napoleon in Germany, Italy, and Russia, St. Cyr was created  Marshal for his 1812 victory at Polotsk, once a powerful principality of some 100,000 people, the region once again under strain in  today’s news. Though “Napoleon commented that St. Cyr had no match in all of the marshalate and was the equal of Napoleon himself  in defence,” St. Cyr resigned his post in Nov. of the year of this document--wikipedia. He is mentioned in Joseph Conrad’s “The Duel.”  Suitable for display. $150-225

22-14. Mussolini and the King.

Impressive D.S. of both Mussolini and Vittorio Emanuele III, as rapidly rising Fascist Prime Minister and King, respectively, 1928, 9½  x 14½. Both signed boldly, the King especially expansively. By now, Mussolini - at the King’s invitation - had taken over “a number of  ministries himself, changed electoral law to assure Fascist control of government, (and) suppressed all opposition parties and  newspapers”--Webster’s Biographical. The King ruled from 1900 to 1946, seeing his authority evaporate as Mussolini ushered in a  totalitarian state. Purple date stamp at top; filing stamp on verso. Uniform pale cream toning, minor wear, else fine. $300-375 

22-15. The U.S. Navy’s Only Two Flying Aces in Viet Nam.

Dramatic color 8 x 10 signed by “Lt. Randy Cunningham, ‘Mig Ace’” and “...Lt. J.G. Bill Driscoll, ‘Mig Ace,’” showing them posed atop  jet fighter, canopies open. Cunningham became a U.S. Sen., later imprisoned; Driscoll awarded Navy Cross. The pair were the only  Navy aces in the Viet Nam War. Light edge yellowing, else exc. Riveting for display. $65-85 

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