George's Curios

21/09/2026

Just acquired an exceptional RAF career archive relating to Air Chief Marshal Percy Ronald Gardner Bernard, 5th Earl of Bandon ("Paddy" Bandon).

The collection spans from the Burma Campaign through senior Cold War command appointments and includes a 1945 US Distinguished Flying Cross recommendation describing his leadership during the Akyab and Rangoon operations, a 1960 Far East Air Force visit to India programme with manuscript notes, retirement letters from the Air Ministry and personal correspondence, plus a fascinating memoir by Sir Malin Sorsbie recalling Bandon's humour, flying exploits and wartime experiences.

A remarkable research archive documenting the career of a senior RAF commander from active operations in Burma to Commander-in-Chief Far East Air Force and Commander Allied Air Forces Central Europe.

BUY HERE: https://bit.ly/46Cvm7H

Archive of RAF Air Chief Marshal Earl of Bandon incl 1945 Burma DFC recommendation, 1960 India visit papers, retirement letters and memoir.

20/09/2026

An outstanding collection fresh from the 1920s-30s albums of Cyril A. Munro. Twenty original signatures of famous British and Allied military, naval and scientific figures, including Field Marshals, Admirals of the Fleet, a Victoria Cross recipient and leading First World War commanders. Highlights include Plumer, Robertson, Henry Wilson, Smith-Dorrien, Tyrwhitt, Madden, Gordon Campbell VC, Maurice Sarrail and David Bruce. A fascinating and historically important Great War era collection with collector annotations and provenance.

BUY HERE: https://bit.ly/4hfUbLk

18/09/2026

An exciting recent acquisition: a foundation-period autograph letter from George Johnston (1797-1855), founder of the Ray Society, written during the Society's creation in December 1843. The letter discusses draft rules, council membership, recruitment of supporters, and the crucial role of the "London men" in establishing what became one of Britain's most important natural history publishing societies. It also references botanist Cardale Babington, one of the leading scientific figures involved in the project. Contemporary Ray Society history closely matches the circumstances described in the letter, placing it just weeks before the Society's formal inauguration in February 1844.

BUY HERE: https://bit.ly/4rgpZV8

18/09/2026

A fascinating Regency manuscript archive: four 1822 letters from political journalist Lewis Goldsmith to King's Theatre manager John Ebers, disputing the withdrawal of his customary "Opera Bone" theatre pass. The correspondence touches on newspaper influence, opera culture, social status, Lord Lowther, and the lingering political divisions of the Queen Caroline affair.

BUY HERE https://bit.ly/3V1IQY3

4 ALS on the King's Theatre 'Opera Bone' dispute. Goldsmith defends his paper, readership and status amid post-Queen Caroline tensions.

17/09/2026

A fascinating survivor from the early career of one of the West's most important interpreters of China. This 1846 autograph manuscript by James Legge features a quotation from the Analects of Confucius in Chinese, accompanied by Legge's own English translation, Chinese name, signature, and date. Written at Walsall during his return visit from Hong Kong, the piece predates the monumental translations that would establish his reputation as the leading Victorian sinologist and first Professor of Chinese at Oxford University.

BUY HERE: https://bit.ly/4yJWQUV

Rare 1846 James Legge autograph manuscript quoting Confucius in Chinese and English, signed at Walsall before his famed Oxford career.

17/09/2026

Fresh to stock: a fascinating autograph letter signed by John Thomas Smith from the British Museum Print Room, sent to “Mrs B. West” at Newman Street and shedding rare light on the preparation of the famous West family gallery. Rather than a routine social note, Smith discusses selecting drawings from portfolios, arranging frames in the front parlour, managing the catalogue, and hoping that a visit from Frederick Yeates Hurlstone would help attract the public to the rooms. The letter appears closely connected to the documented exhibitions and sales held at West’s Gallery, 14 Newman Street, following the death of Benjamin West. A wonderful piece of London art-world history with strong British Museum and exhibition provenance.

BUY HERE: https://bit.ly/4h75qFX

16/09/2026

A fascinating autograph note by Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), the famous Victorian scientist known to history as "Darwin's Bulldog". Written from his St John's Wood home at 4 Marlborough Place on 12 January 1879, Huxley politely declines an invitation to dinner from Lord Pollington, Honorary Secretary of the National Union Club. Although brief, the note offers an intriguing glimpse into the social world of one of the nineteenth century's most influential scientific figures.
https://bit.ly/4j7mfmI

15/09/2026

Freshly catalogued: a fascinating 11 July 1838 ALS signed “Wm Molesworth”, written during the final stages of the famous Select Committee on Transportation.

The letter brings together three major political figures of the age: Sir William Molesworth, Lord Howick (later 3rd Earl Grey), and the Duke of Wellington. Molesworth postpones a committee meeting after Howick is required elsewhere by Wellington's Commission on Naval & Military Promotion, while also referring to a draft of the Committee's report that had been circulated the previous day.

An excellent example of Victorian political correspondence, linking penal reform, parliamentary government, military administration, and the debate over convict transportation at a crucial moment in 1838.

BUY HERE: https://bit.ly/470gZdm

11 July 1838 ALS by Wm Molesworth on the Transportation Committee, mentioning Lord Howick and the Duke of Wellington during key reforms.

07/09/2026

A remarkable survivor from the Byron era: an 1824 Genoa expatriate chapel letter signed by Lord Byron’s bankers, his doctor, the British Consul, the U.S. Consul, and the Swiss merchant‑bankers who powered the Mediterranean world.

Even more extraordinary, it’s addressed to Dr John Mackie — whose family personally intersected with Byron’s Swiss exile, dining at Madame de Staël’s Coppet salon and tracking Byron and Polidori in Sophy Mackie’s travel journal.

Signed just one month after Byron’s death, this single sheet captures the entire British expatriate “shadow embassy” in Genoa at the exact moment the news of Missolonghi was breaking across Europe. A dense, elegant snapshot of the Romantic world in motion.

BUY HERE: https://bit.ly/4xDwQu7

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Rare 1824 Genoa expatriate chapel letter signed by Byron’s bankers, doctor, consul and U.S. consul; addressed to Dr John Mackie, linked to Byron’s Swiss circle.

07/09/2026

A remarkable 1881 ALS from Vanity Fair founder Thomas Gibson Bowles, secretly arranging a covert visit for Leslie Ward (“Spy”) to the imprisoned Ritualist clergyman Rev. S. F. Green inside Lancaster Castle. Bowles’s cheeky instruction — “Don’t ask the Prison authorities. I suppose Mr. Green can see whom he pleases.” — shows him trying to slip Spy in under the radar during the height of the Ritualist controversy. A superb piece of Victorian satire, ecclesiastical politics, and behind‑the‑scenes editorial manoeuvring.
BUY HERE: https://bit.ly/3SOjegC

Bowles’s 1881 ALS arranging a covert visit for “Spy” to imprisoned Ritualist Rev. S. F. Green, bypassing prison authority with humour and subversive flair.