ALS and a pamphlet by Sir Charles Barry to MP Benjamin Hawes dated 1844

BARRY, Sir Charles. (1795-1860) Autograph letter from the architect regarding the rebuild of the Houses of Parliament, signed to M.P. Benjamin Hawes. Westminster, 6 August 1844.
 
Autograph letter signed (“Charles Barry”), 1 page, on pale blue paper. Written from Westminster and dated 6 August 1844. Minor folds and light handling, with a small area of edge wear, otherwise very good.
 
With: A Description of the New Palace of Westminster. London: W. Warrington & Son, 1848. Slim octavo pamphlet in original printed wrappers. Slight toning and light wear to covers, internally clean; very good.
 
A sharply worded private response by Charles Barry, written while he was actively overseeing the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster. Barry returns “Lord Sudeley’s publication upon ‘the Houses’”, thanking Hawes for the loan, and dismissing it as “a spiteful and disingenuous attack and will therefore prove to be harmless”.
 
The publication referred to can be identified as the printed critique issued by Charles Hanbury-Tracy, who had been appointed a commissioner to examine the competing designs for the new Houses of Parliament, and who later published objections to Barry’s alterations, particularly concerning the House of Lords and royal circulation. The recipient, Benjamin Hawes, was at this date a senior government figure closely involved in public works.
 
The accompanying pamphlet, published in 1848, offers a formal descriptive account of the New Palace of Westminster at the point when Barry’s vision had been largely realised and officially sanctioned. A rare letter and pamphlet relating directly to the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament.