Hornseys - the gallery

03/06/2026

An unexpected insight into nineteenth-century legal reform.

This autograph letter from Baron von Bunsen, the distinguished Prussian diplomat and ambassador in London, records his efforts to gather expert English legal opinion on the reform of Prussian divorce law.

Writing to the eminent judge Sir John Taylor Coleridge, Bunsen explains that he has received from the King of Prussia:

"a very important, but equally difficult enterprise ... as to the reform of our divorce law"

and wishes to better understand the state and practical operation of English matrimonial legislation.

Far from being a routine social note, the letter offers a fascinating glimpse into the exchange of legal ideas between Britain and continental Europe during the nineteenth century.

Bunsen's correspondence also places him among some of the most influential intellectual and political circles of Victorian Britain, with references to the Archbishop of York, Oxford, Cambridge and the Arnold family of Fox How.

This remarkable survival connecting diplomacy, legal history and international reform is now available on our website priced at £250.

03/06/2026

A remarkable Boer War letter written on the eve of departure for South Africa.

This autograph letter, dated 25 February 1900 and signed by Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Somerset Barttelot of the Royal Sussex Regiment, was written from Stopham House, Pulborough just weeks before embarkation.

Barttelot thanks the recipient for good wishes regarding “our going to the war in South Africa” and records that he expected to sail from Southampton aboard the RMS Tintagel Castle, one of the troopships carrying men and supplies to the Boer War.

The letter also refers to the farewell given to local volunteers and notes that “Harrison at Chichester is to take charge of the Company during my absence”, providing a fascinating glimpse into the practical realities of mobilisation in Sussex during the conflict.

Most poignantly, Barttelot would die in South Africa later that same year, giving this letter the character of a final farewell before active service.

Now available on our website.

03/06/2026

One of the most controversial figures in the history of the Jack the Ripper investigation.

An autograph letter signed by Sir Charles Warren, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police during the Whitechapel murders of 1888, written from his residence at 10 Wellington Crescent, Ramsgate, on 1 December 1901.

Warren remains inseparably linked with the Ripper case and, in particular, the famous Goulston Street Graffito. On the night of the "Double Event", a bloodstained fragment of Catherine Eddowes's apron was discovered beneath a chalk message in Goulston Street. Fearing anti-Jewish unrest in the East End, Warren authorised the removal of the writing before it could be photographed—a decision still debated by historians and Ripper researchers more than a century later.

Beyond the Whitechapel murders, Warren enjoyed a remarkable career as a Royal Engineer, explorer, archaeologist, colonial administrator and Boer War general, later becoming associated with the controversial Battle of Spion Kop.

This 1901 letter, addressed to Hendry of the 1st Battalion, concerns the presentation of shooting prizes and provides a fascinating link to one of Victorian Britain's most famous and controversial public figures.

Now available on our website priced at £275:

https://hornseys.com/product/autograph-letter-signed-charles-warren-to-hendry-of-the-1st-battalion-the-buffs-1st-december-1901/

02/06/2026

❄️ A remarkable survival from Victorian Hull.

This apparently unrecorded programme for Hengler’s Grand Cirque, Anlaby Road, is dated 17 October 1882 and documents one of the most ambitious entertainments of its day: A Carnival on the Ice.

Far more than a circus programme, it records a spectacular nine-scene production transforming the arena into a brilliantly illuminated winter landscape. Audiences were treated to a Skating Cotillion, Procession of Sledges, Zoological Curiosities, Punch & Judy, Fancy and Scientific Skating, trained animals, comic interludes, and a dramatic finale entitled “The Snow Storm.”

The programme offers a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of Victorian popular entertainment, when circus proprietors increasingly combined equestrian performance, theatre, music, scenic illusion and spectacle to create immersive experiences on an unprecedented scale.

Printed in Hull by Plaxton, Foster & Co. of Whitefriargate and surviving in remarkably good condition, it appears to be an unrecorded example of one of Hengler’s most intriguing productions.

A wonderful piece of circus history, skating history, and Hull history all in one. Available now on our website priced at £395.

02/06/2026

Another fascinating piece of Victorian entertainment ephemera recently catalogued: an apparently unrecorded programme for Barnard’s Alhambra Palace of Varieties, Hull, dating from the late nineteenth century.

Printed on both sides, the programme offers a wonderful snapshot of the music-hall world, featuring ballad singers, comic entertainers, aerial performers, a drawing-room séance act, popular songs, and perhaps most remarkably, Mons. Reihlac appearing “in his den of Six Polar Bears”.

The reverse doubles as a song sheet, printing the words to popular favourites including White Wings, while also advertising forthcoming attractions and a prize competition.

Ephemeral items such as this were intended to be read, folded, pocketed and discarded, making surviving examples exceptionally scarce. Despite extensive searching, we have been unable to trace another copy institutionally, and it appears to be unrecorded.

This wonderful survival from the golden age of the British music hall is now available on our website.

29/05/2026

A fascinating autograph letter by Lady Charlotte Canning, written from Simla on 20 May 1860.

As the wife of Lord Canning, the first Viceroy of India, Charlotte Canning became the first Vicereine of India and remains one of the most important female observers of the British Raj.

This unpublished letter contains references to illness in Simla, severe weather in the Himalayan hill stations, the “extraordinary outrage at Mauree” in which a European official was reportedly flogged by natives, and political troubles in one of the neighbouring hill states.

An unusually rich and historically revealing manuscript offering a glimpse into the social and political world of British India only a few years after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Now available on our website priced at £495:

https://hornseys.com/product/canning-lady-charlotte-1817-1861-autograph-letter-signed-c-canning-to-mr-bowring-simla-20-may-1860/

29/05/2026

A scarce and highly evocative piece of T. E. Lawrence ephemera.

Issued by The Leicester Galleries, London, this exhibition notice announces the February 1927 exhibition of the original paintings, drawings and woodcuts created for the legendary Cranwell (Subscribers’) Edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Printed in 1926 in a total edition of just 211 copies, the Cranwell Edition remains one of the great achievements of twentieth-century private press publishing. This notice links directly to the exhibition of works by Augustus John, Eric Kennington, Paul Nash, William Roberts, Frank Dobson and William Rothenstein prepared for that extraordinary publication.

A fascinating survival from the immediate aftermath of Lawrence’s masterpiece and an uncommon piece of Lawrence of Arabia history.

Now available on our website priced at £900:

https://hornseys.com/product/t-e-lawrence-seven-pillars-of-wisdom-cranwell-edition-exhibition-notice-1927/

29/05/2026

A fascinating piece of Lawrence of Arabia history now available.

This scarce 1927 exhibition catalogue was produced for the Leicester Galleries exhibition of paintings, pastels, drawings and woodcuts illustrating T. E. Lawrence's monumental work 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom'. The exhibition featured works by Eric Kennington, Augustus John, Paul Nash, William Roberts and other leading British artists associated with Lawrence and the Arab Revolt.

The catalogue includes prefaces by both Bernard Shaw and T. E. Lawrence, together with a contemporary advertisement for Revolt in the Desert, published just weeks later.

An uncommon and highly desirable item linking Lawrence of Arabia, modern British art, and one of the most celebrated books of the twentieth century.

£295

https://hornseys.com/product/t-e-lawrence-seven-pillars-of-wisdom-exhibition-catalogue-1927-leicester-galleries/

26/05/2026

Medieval King Arthur manuscript could fetch £2m at auction

Book containing early versions of the Merlin and Grail legends has remained in private hands for 700 years

23/05/2026

A superb signed photographic postcard portrait of Sir Winston Churchill, boldly signed in blue fountain pen ink and originating from the celebrated Steve Forbes Churchill Collection.

We are also fortunate to hold a substantial group of additional Forbes Churchill material, including items from the noted Robert P. Hastings collection together with original correspondence between Hastings, theGrolier Club and renowned autograph dealer Kenneth W. Rendell concerning Churchill collecting and exhibition material.

An exceptional piece of twentieth-century political and autograph history with outstanding provenance and remarkable display appeal.

Now available on our website priced at £1950