[ Privately-printed keepsake playlet by Mary Hyde about Colonel Ralph Isham and the purchase of the Malahide Papers of James Boswell, with signed inscription by the author. ] Levée at Fifty-Third Street.

Author: 
Mary Hyde [ Viscountess Eccles (1912-2003), book collector and philanthropist ]; Brooke Crutchley, Printer to the University of Cambridge [ Colonel Ralph Isham; James Boswell; Samuel Johnson ]
Publication details: 
Printed in Great Britain at the University Printing House, Cambridge (Brooke Crutchley, University Printer). 1972 [ inscription dated 1971 ].
£150.00
SKU: 18434

19 + [1]pp., 4to. Nicely-printed, and saddle-stitched and placed in grey paper wraps with tasteful white label on cover with title printed in red. Inscribed inside front cover 'For Desmond + Dorothy - | with love from | the Playwright | Christmas | 1971'. The playlet is an amusing representation of a single night at the 1946-1949 high point of excitement over the discovery of the Malahide Papers ('During three years the incidents described here were repeated several times a week.'), and features among others Isham himself, his cleaner 'Mrs. Neville', 'Betty Houghton' and a priggish 'Publisher'. It is set at Isham's residence, in the ''Living room of apartment 3 A, 116 East 53rd Street'. It is preceded by a two-page introduction by 'MARY HYDE | Four Oaks Farm | For the New Year | 1972'. Scarce: no copies at the British Library or Bodleian, and the only copies on COPAC at Cambridge and Manchester.