Autograph Note Signed and Framed with Photograph

Autograph note (3 1/2'" x 4 1/2" ) to bookseller James Westell (who because of his intimate friendship with the four-time Prime Minister was known as 'The Gladstonian Bookseller") together with an original photograph (3 1/2" x 4 7/8") of Gladstone by Marion & Co., both displayed within a somewhat worn 10" x 17" contemporary frame (rustic wooden back strengthened with silicone; faint foxing to photograph). Gladstone writes 'Dear Sir, I wrote to you last week about Alastor, In Memoriam, and certain first editions of Carlyle. I should much like to hear by Sat, or Sunday at least as to the last named, whether they carry any and what special market value. Yours faithfully, W Gladstone' I hope you have taken the books for binding. Hawarden Sept 4 '79 I expect to be in town on the 11th' The 'Grand Old Man' assembled a 32,000-volume library during his lifetime which he donated to form the core of St. Deiniol's Library (Britain's only Prime Ministerial Library and now known as Gladstone's Library) in his residence at Hawarden, Wales. Gladstone's son acknowledged the closeness of Gladstone and Westell's 40-year friendship by personally inviting Westell to the funeral of the GOM.…