Lot 56
Alexander, Sir James Edward (1803-1885)
Military & personal notebooks & documents
Auction: The Library of General Sir James Alexander | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 31 to 62
Description
Miscellaneous manuscript and printed collection comprising:
Pencil sketch with watercolour captioned ‘Trooper 1st MLC J.E.A. 1824’ (Alexander served in the 1st Madras light cavalry in the early 1820s), single sheet (30.5 x 24.5cm), small tear at foot of sheet, ink staining;
Lined notebook, 4to (23.5 x 19cm), half leather, c. 120 leaves, with notes in neat copperplate hand (by Alexander?) on military theory relating to fortifications, pencil inscription on front pastedown: ‘James Edward Alexander 16th Lancers, Royal Military College [Sandhurst] 1828’;
Volume of Russian printed music, 19th-century, 4to (31.5 x 24.5cm), quarter leather with leather label on upper board ‘Russian National Airs Collected by Jas. Edw. Alexander 16th. Lancers', possibly acquired by Alexander when in the Balkans during the Russo-Turkish War of 1829, paper on boards worn and peeling;
Lined notebook, 4to (21.2 x 19.1cm), purple embossed cloth, c. 100 leaves, mostly blank but with an initial [21] pages of military anecdotes by Alexander and note by him on front free endpaper: ‘This album is intended for anecdotes connected with the Royal Highlanders … J.E.A. Berwick, March 1833’ (Alexander joined the 42nd Highlanders (the Black Watch) in 1832);
Unlined notebook, 4to (23.3 x 19cm), half leather, mostly blank, c. 100 leaves, some leaves at front and back filled with anecdotes from c. 1833-34, pen sketches, records of visits to various people, some loose leaves inserted;
Sixth plate daguerreotype (7 x 8cm) consisting of two oval portraits of Lt. General Sir William Rowan and his wife Lady Rowan, in original leather covered wooden case gilt, the case is dated in 1855, photographer unidentified, Sir William Rowan (1789-1867) was commander of the British forces in Canada (1849-55) with Alexander serving as his aide-de-camp, the portraits may have been taken in Canada shortly before Rowan left for England, case worn and hinges no longer working, with signs of glass deterioration;
2 copies of printed ‘Testimonials of Sir James Edward Alexander’ [1856], printed for Alexander when seeking employment in the army after service in the Crimean War, single sheet folded [3] pages (34.5 x 21cm), both annotated by Alexander with details of his subsequent career;
Documents relating to Alexander's commission as Lieutenant Colonel in the Portuguese army, awarded to him in 1834 after he went to Portugal during the Miguelite War (1832-4);
Three military commissions, lithographed documents signed, two for Edward Mayne Alexander (J.E. Alexander's son) dated 1866 and 1868, and one for Alexander appointing him lieutenant-general in 1877;
Large vellum certificate issued by the Grand Lodge of Scotland (Freemasons) in 1872, granting Alexander a commission as Provincial Grand Master of Scotland;
Lined notebook, tall 8vo (20.8 x 13.5cm), quarter leather, stamped in gilt on upper board ‘Private. Waterloo Papers M. Gen Lord Seaton to Lt. Gen. Sir J.E. Alexander. 1879-80,’ c. 50 leaves of notes on the battle of Waterloo, presumably written by James Colborne, 2nd Baron Seaton (1816-88), whose father served at Waterloo, with loose leaves of notes by Seaton inserted in volume;
Pen sketch on coloured paper, mounted on sheet of linen-backed paper (108 x 27cm), folded, ‘Facsimile of one of the sides of the prostrate obelisk at Alexandria,’ dated Athenaeum Club, 14th June 1875, showing the hieroglyphics of Cleopatra's Needle (Alexander was largely responsible for the preservation and transfer of the obelisk to England in 1877). with sheet of Alexander's notes on translation of the hieroglyphics;
Three albums of newspaper clippings dating from 1830s to c. 1880 pasted onto leaves, 4to (26.8 x 21cm), half leather, consisting of letters to newspapers by Alexander (which are initialled by Alexander) and other related articles by other correspondents, poems, a large number of loose items in volume 3, bindings worn and faded;
Unlined notebook, folio (33 x 20.5cm), quarter leather, undated, c. 60 leaves, containing jokes, bons mots, humorous verse in Alexander's hand, undated;
11 examples of miscellaneous pen sketches and watercolours by Alexander (32)
Provenance
THE LIBRARY OF GENERAL SIR JAMES EDWARD ALEXANDER (1803-1885)