Search results

Author, Title, Summary	Subject	Price
Hannen Swaffer [Frederic Charles Hannen Swaffer] (1879-1962), Fleet Street journalist and spiritualist [Walter James Macqueen-Pope, theatre historian; Belle Bilton, music hall artiste [Lady Dunlo]] [Hannen Swaffer, Fleet Street journalist and spiritualist.] Typed Letter Signed to theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope, with carbon of the reply, regarding the music hall artiste Belle Bilton, who became Lady Dunlo. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. From the Macqueen-Pope papers. Each item in good condition, lightly aged, with creasing and rust staining to one corner from a paperclip. ONE: Swaffer to MP. TLS, signed ‘Swaff’. 1p, 4to. ‘Dear Popey, / Do you know anything about this woman? [From the...		£45.00
Helena Millais [stage name of Helena Catherine Marriott] (1886-1970), Britain's first recorded broadcast comedian, actress and writer. [‘Britain's first recorded broadcast comedian’.] Autograph Letter Signed and Typed Letter Signed from Helena Millais to W. Macqueen-Pope, with printed press release for her show ‘Songs and Laughter’. From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) On 20 October 1922 Millais broadcast on 2LO radio, becoming the first comedian on what was later to become the BBC. In a performance on 21 November 1922 she became the third entertainer to appear on the week-old BBC. All three...		£150.00
John Vickers, theatre photographer [W. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian and press agent for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane] [John Vickers, theatre photographer.] Duplicated Typed set of terms for ‘THEATRE PHOTOGRAPHY’, on his letterhead. From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) A nice piece of theatre and photographic ephemera. Vickers has five items in the National Portrait Gallery, which provides the following information: ‘John Vickers began his career by working as assistant to photographer Angus...		£180.00
Julian Herbage [Julian Livingstone Herbage] (1904-1976), English musicologist and BBC broadcaster [Ambrose Gauntlett (1889-1978), gamba player and continuo cellist] [Julian Herbage, musicologist and BBC broadcaster.] Typed Letter Signed to gamba player Ambrose Gauntlett, regarding broadcast titled ‘Foundations of Music’, in which Gauntlett is taking part. See the two men’s obituaries in The Times. 1p, 12mo. With thin mourning border. On aged and creased paper, with nicks and closed tears to edges, and slight loss at one corner. Folded twice. He is enclosing a programme for ‘Foundations of Music / Tuesday, March 26th’, ‘in which you are taking...		£35.00
Sherborne Academy, Ransam House, Sherborne, Dorset; John Kidd (c.1834-1891), Principal; William Charles Macready (1793-1873), distinguished actor [Sherborne Academy, Ransam House, Sherborne, Dorset (John Kidd, Principal).] Printed card, with lithographic illustration of the building, and details of masters, terms and those to whom references may be sent (including the actor W. C. Macready). A nice piece of Sherborne ephemera, in unusually good condition. Between 1855 and 1860 Ransam House had been used to board boys from Sherborne School. ‘The Sherborne Academy’ to which the present card refers was run by John Kidd (c.1834-1891), FRAS, MCP, at Ransam between the end of 1861 and...		£100.00
Sir Claude Phillips (1846-1924), first Keeper of the Wallace Collection, art critic of the Daily Telegraph [Albert Curtis Clark (1859-1937), Corpus Christi Professor of Latin at Oxford?] [‘Reeking of the dungheap’: Sir Claude Phillips, first Keeper of the Wallace Collection.] Anonymous original manuscript poem in Latin, with English translation in same hand, attacking him as a ‘lustful’ user of ‘language planted with dirty refuse'. The circumstances surrounding this extraordinary original composition in Latin verse are obscure. See Phillips’s entry in the Oxford DNB, which notes that there was ‘an air of Proust’ about him, and quotes Oliver Brown’s description of him as ‘a stout man, immaculately dressed and heavily...		£100.00
The Bengal-Nagpur Railway Company, Limited [Sir Samuel Hoare, Chairman; Robert Miller, Managing Director; British India; the Raj] [Railways in British India.] Printed account of ‘Proceedings at the Fortieth Ordinary General Meeting of the Proprietors in the Bengal-Nagpur Railway Company, Limited, [...] Sir Samuel Hoare, Bart., in the Chair’. The Bengal Nagpur Railway Company was formed in 1887 and continued until 1952, when it merged with the East Indian Railway Company to form the Eastern Railway. The present item is 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. Printed in small type, in double column. In good condition, lightly aged, with one central...		£80.00
Theodore Hook [Theodore Edward Hook] (1788-1841), author, wit and hoaxer, accountant-general and treasurer of Mauritius, 1813-1817 [Theodore Hook, wit and hoaxer.] Autograph Letter Signed, to ‘Barker’, explaining the circumstances that free him to accept a dinner invitation. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, on an 11 x 14 cm piece of paper cut down from 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with minor traces of glue from mount adhering to the blank reverse. The letter reads: ‘My dear Barker / I shall be most happy to join your agreeable party - Croker...		£45.00
William Westall (1781-1850), ARA, artist and engraver, who in his youth travelled to Australia as artist on Matthew Flinders’ HMS Investigator [Clara Angela Macirone (1821-1895), pianist and composer] [William Westall, artist and engraver.] Autograph Letter in the third person to ‘Miss Macirone’ [the composer Clara Angela Macirone], anticipating ‘the greatest pleasure’ in attending her morning concert. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Begins: ‘Mr. Westall presents his compliments to Miss Macirone & begs to assure her how very much obliged to her he feels for the honor she has done him in sending him two tickets...		£50.00
C. B. Fry [Charles Burgess Fry] (1872-1956), one of the greatest of English cricketers, sportsman, scholar, journalist [‘The Ultimate All-Rounder’: C. B. Fry, one of the greatest of English cricketers.] Autograph Signature from Typed Letter written as Honorary Director of the training ship Mercury.. See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he has ‘strong claims to be regarded as the greatest sporting all-rounder of his or any era since’. (Neville Cardus counted him ‘among the most fully developed and representative Englishmen of his period’.) It also seems that in 1920 he was...		£35.00