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Author, Title, Summary Subject Price
[‘A Tommy’; Mesopotamia Campaign, British Army, First World War; Iraq; Indian Army; Ottoman Turks]

[The Campaign in Mesopotamia, British Army, First World War.] Duplicated Typescript, apparently contemporary, of satirical poem by British soldier [by ‘A Tommy’] titled ‘Alphabet of Mesopotamia’.

This poem is said to be an earlier work by ‘A Tommy’, the pseudonymous author of the collection ‘If I Goes West’, published in London by Harrap in 1918. WorldCat has no entries to support a second claim: that the present poem was published in 1917, with the subtitle ‘Verses written by a “Tommy”...

£220.00
Arthur Askey [Arthur Bowden Askey] (1900-1982), comedian and entertainer

[‘Before your very eyes!’ Arthur Askey, comedian and entertainer.] Signed Autograph inscription: ‘Yours Big-Heartedly. / Arthur Askey.’

Dating from what his entry in the Oxford DNB describes as Askey’s ‘prime professional days’: ‘In 1938 Askey joined Powis Pinder's Sunshine concert party at Shanklin, Isle of Wight, where he performed successfully for the next eight years. In 1938 the BBC also engaged him for a new radio show...

Music and Theatre £45.00 Askey
Augustine Birrell (1850-1933), author and Liberal Party politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1907-1916 [A. G. L. Rogers, Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department]

[‘If it isn’t done there will be a Row’: Augustine Birrell, author and Liberal Party politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to A. G. L. Rogers, Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department, concerning a pamphlet which they must ‘concoct’ together.

See Birrell’s entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son of the editor of the economist Thorold Rogers, and written while Rogers was Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department, a position to which he was appointed in November 1891. 1p, foolscap...

£56.00
Ben Weinreb (1912-1999), London bookseller and authority on architecture, first editor of ‘The London Encyclopedia’ [Robert Douwma, printseller; Andrew Block, bookseller]

[Ben Weinreb, London bookseller and editor of ‘The London Encyclopedia’.] Autograph Note Signed [to fellow bookseller Andrew Block] on attractive printed invitation card for the opening of the new ‘Weinreb + Douwma’ print and map shop.

See Nicolas Barker’s appreciative obituary in the Independent, 7 April 1999, which notes that after selling his entire stock to the University of Texas in 1968, ‘He moved his business to the other side of Great Russell Street, and briefly opened another shop, selling prints in partnership with...

Book Trade History £45.00 Weinreb
Cecil Woolf [Cecil James Sidney Woolf] (1927-2019), bookseller and publisher, nephew of Leonard and Virginia Woolf [Andrew Block, London bookseller]

[Cecil Woolf, bookseller and publisher, nephew of Leonard and Virginia Woolf.] Autograph Card Signed to bookseller Andrew Block, regarding his offer of ‘two Thomas Moore letters’.

See his obituary in the Guardian, 26 June 2019. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. Plain postcard, with his letterhead and the following printed at the foot: ‘WANTED. Any...

Book Trade History £56.00 Woolf
Clement Shorter [Clement King Shorter] (1857-1926), author and journalist, editor of the Illustrated London News, founder and editor of the Sketch, the Sphere and the Tatler

[Clement Shorter, author and journalist.] Typed Letter Signed, responding to two letters from Manningham Sayers.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. On aged and worn paper; folded four times. Signed ‘Clement Shorter’. The letter is headed with Sayers’ Totnes address. He begins by explaining that the Sphere’s ‘Children’s Supplement’ has been abandoned due to ‘the high cost of paper’. Turning to Sayers...

£56.00
David Low (1903-1987), London bookseller whose 1973 autobiography ‘With All Faults’ has an introduction by Graham Greene [Andrew Block (1892-1987)]

[David Low, London bookseller.] Typed Card Signed to ‘Dear Rock’ (the bookseller Andrew Block), regarding oriental prints and ‘Teddy’.

In his obituary of Low’s partner Robin Waterfield (Independent, 12 February 2002), James Fergusson describes Low as a ‘Scottish Polish Jewish bouquiniste’. The recipient Andrew Block’s obituary in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in...

Book Trade History £45.00 Low
Duchess of Cleveland [Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Powlett; née Stanhope; also Lady Dalmeny, Lady Harry Vane] (1819-1901), aristocrat, historian, genealogist, mother of Earl of Rosebery, Prime Minister

[Catherine, Duchess of Cleveland, mother of the Prime Minister Lord Rosebery.] Autograph Signature (‘C Clevd.’) to Typed Note urging ‘Dear Jim’ to visit her.

On one side of 19 x 9 cm slip of paper with Osterley Park letterhead with her crested monogram in gold and black. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Somewhat shaky and curiously-antiquated signature. Typed note in capitals. One word and a few minor corrections to text in autograph....

History £45.00 Cleveland
Eliza Lynn Linton (1822-1898), novelist, pioneering woman journalist and anti-feminist [Sir Richard Temple (1826-1902); Harry Arbuthnot Acworth (1849-1933)]

[‘What stirring times these are!’ Eliza Lynn Linton, novelist and pioneering woman journalist.] Autograph Letter Signed, asking Sir Richard Temple to find employment for ‘one of the cream of the Indian Civil Service’, H. A. Acworth.

According to her entry in the Oxford DNB, Eliza Lynn Linton moved to Malvern in 1895. (See also Temple’s Oxford DNB entry.) 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Sixty-six lines of closely-written text. The two leaves of the bifolium have been separated, and re-attached with archival tape; resulting in slight...

£56.00
Elsa Shelley (c.1903-c.1971), Russian-born American dramatist and actress, wife of producer Irving Kaye Davis (1900-1965) [W. J. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian]

[Elsa Shelley, American dramatist and actress.] Two Typed Letters Signed to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, giving and asking for news, and announcing her approaching arrival in England.

See the recipient's entry in the Oxford DNB. Both letters signed ‘Elsa’. ONE (7 December 1951): 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded three times. Thirty-eight lines of text. She received his letter while wishing to contact him, and wonders if this is a coincidence. ‘And my...

Music and Theatre £120.00 shelley