BALLET

[Dame Margot Fonteyn, prima ballerina.] Autograph Signature to printed programme of a performance by the Sadler’s Wells Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Author: 
Dame Margot Fonteyn [stage name of Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias, née Hookham (1919-1991)], prima ballerina assoluta with the Royal Ballet [previously Sadler’s Wells Ballet], London
Fonteyn
Publication details: 
‘Saturday Evening, 22nd November, 1947’. Sadler’s Wells Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden [London]. ‘Printed by Finden Brown & Co, Ltd., Varndell Street, London N.W.1’.
£80.00
Fonteyn

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The programme is 8pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with minor rust to staples. The cover consists of the royal crest printed in red, and the rest in black: ‘ROYAL OPERA HOUSE / COVENT GARDEN’ above the crest, and ‘THE SADLER’S WELLS / BALLET / 1947’ below it. At an angle across the centre of the page, in blue ink, is the large signature ‘Margot Fonteyn’.

[Cyril Beaumont, dance historian.] Seven Autograph Letters Signed and seven Typed Letters Signed to publisher Philip Dosse, regarding reviews in ?Dance and Dancers?, payment, ill health, and his memoir ?Bookseller at the Ballet?.

Author: 
Cyril Beaumont [Cyril William Beaumont] (1891-1976), dance historian [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher of arts magazines including ?Dance and Dancers?]
Publication details: 
Between 13 January 1972 and 13 January 1976. Each of the fourteen items on his letterhead, 68 Bedford Court Mansions, Bedford Avenue, WC1.
£220.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ?Death of a Bookman? by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ?Books and Bookmen? at the time of Dosse?s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present material is in good condition, lightly aged. A total of 18pp, 12mo (nine pages apiece in autograph and typed).

[Cyril Beaumont, dance historian.] Signed Autograph Inscription to Philip Dosse, publisher of 'Books and Bookmen', on fly-leaf of his 'Bookseller at the Ballet'. With printed prospectus for the book.

Author: 
Cyril Beaumont [Cyril William Beaumont] (1891-1976), dance historian [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher of arts magazines including ?Dance and Dancers?]
Publication details: 
Inscription dated by Beaumont 6 November 1975. Printed prospectus ('Publication November 75'), 'To Cyril Beaumont / 68 Bedford Court Mansions, Bedford Avenue / London, WC1B 3AD'.
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ?Death of a Bookman? by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ?Books and Bookmen? at the time of Dosse?s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present material is in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Autograph inscription. Flyleaf and half-title of 'A Bookseller at the Ballet' have been neatly extracted, and are both in good condition.

[Arnold Haskell; dance critic] Autograph Contribution (extracted) to an Album with individuals writing on the subject Happiness, Signed Arnold L. Haskell.

Author: 
Arnold Haskell [ Arnold Lionel David Haskell (1903–1980), dance critic ].
Publication details: 
No place given, Sept. 1941.
£80.00

Album Page (extracted), 20.5 x 16cm, very good condition. A full page in his smallish neat hand. He starts by saying some general words about Happiness concluding It is something far more than the immediate reaction to a piece of very good news. He can recall many such moments, including family life, firendship, etc., but one stands out. He goes on to describe in evocative style The most vivid moment of all [...] in the Australian bush. I sat in the shade of a large blue gum tree. The glare of the hot summer sun was broken up by the l;eaves and formed a pattern all around me.

[Noel Streatfeild, children's writer and author.] Typed Letter Signed to W. J. MacQueen-Pope - 'the horse's mouth as regards theatre history' - with queries for her 'book on ballet' relating to theatres in the Haymarket.

Author: 
Noel Streatfeild [Mary Noel Streatfeild] (1895-1986), children's writer and author [W. J. MacQueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
24 January 1958. On letterhead of 51A Elizabeth Street, Eaton Square, SW1 [London].
£65.00

1p, 4to. In fair condition, on aged and creased paper. The letter begins: 'Dear Mr. MacQueen Pope, | Please forgive me for bothering you, but you are I know, the horse's mouth as regards theatre history.' She explains that she is 'in the throes of a book on ballet' for her publishers William Collins, and she asks him to help her with 'a problem in the section on early ballet in England'. The problem concerns 'the King's Theatre Haymarket' and 'the Italian Opera House'. She gives a facts and dates, asking 'was it all one and the same theatre?

[Dame Margot Fonteyn, ballerina.] Typed Letter Signed to 'Mr. Duncan' [the bookseller Barry Duncan], regarding a playbill.

Author: 
Dame Margot Fonteyn [stage name of Margaret Evelyn Hookham, later de Arias] (1919-1991), ballerina [Barry Duncan (1909-1985), theatre historian and bookseller]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. 11 January 1947.
£40.00

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. She sends her thanks for 'the playbill': 'You know already how much I liked it, as I remember admiring it when I was in the shop.' She will 'value it highly' and will thank him personally: 'you may be sure I shall be looking in again one of these days'.

[Rudolf Nureyev: personal reminiscences of John Phillips.] Privately printed collection of 'Nureyev Notes August 1966', regarding 'Sleeping Beauty' at La Scala, Milan. Inscribed by Phillips to Barbara Reed.

Author: 
John Phillips (1926-2017), flâneur and literary executor of Violet Trefusis (1894-1972; née Keppel), English socialite and author, lover of Vita Sackville-West [Rudolf Nureyev, Russian ballet dancer]
Publication details: 
Privately printed. [Phuket, Thailand; 2009.] Inscription of February 2011.
£250.00

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – only one other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

[Dame Margot Fonteyn, the Royal Ballet and Rudolf Nureyev.] Indexed volume from the editorial office of the magazine 'Ballet Today', containing reviews and photographs of Fonteyn, some with Nureyev, with typed and manuscript annotation.

Author: 
'[Dame Margot Fonteyn, the Royal Ballet and Rudolf Nureyev] Ballet Today', London dance magazine, founded by P. W. Manchesterr [Janet Sinclair]
Publication details: 
'Ballet Today', London. Between 1954 and 1970.
£400.00

Ballet Today was a monthly magazine founded in 1946 by Phyllis Winifred Manchester (1907-1998). In 1951 Manchester settled in New York, leaving four colleagues, one of whom was Janet Sinclair (c.1922-1999), in joint charge of the magazine. The present item is a volume from the editorial office of 'Ballet Today', containing numerous cuttings of photographs and reviews from the magazine, with typed captions and manuscript annotations, also a few photographic prints, laid down over 104pp., 4to, of a scrapbook bound in green cloth.

[ Mona Inglesby and International Ballet. ] Autograph Signatures of Inglesby and 23 members of her International Ballet troupe, including Moira Shearer, Nina Tarakanova, Claudie Léonard Algeranova, Anna Marinova, Joyce Graeme, Rex Reid, Jean Harris.

Author: 
Mona Inglesby (1918-2006), dancer, choreographer, founder of International Ballet [ Moira Shearer, Nina Tarakanova, Claudie Léonard Algeranova, Anna Marinova, Joyce Graeme, Rex Reid, Jean Harris ]
Ballet
Publication details: 
No place. Dated 1942.
£180.00
Ballet

There has been a recent resurgence of interest in Mona Inglesby and her International Ballet (1942-1951). In 2008 Kay Hunter published a study of the troupe, titled 'Ballet in the Blitz'; then in 2012 BBC Radio 4 aired a documentary about Mona Inglesby and International Ballet, titled 'Black-Out Ballet: The Invisible Woman of British Ballet'. The writer of the documentary, Ismene Brown, gave the following explanation of her motives: 'In 2006 an elderly dancer died in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. She was 88, and had once been one of Britain's most recognised ballerinas.

[ Betty Vacani, dance teacher ] Typed Letter Signed "Betty Vacani" to "Mr. Pfister", father of Phrosso Pfister, later rincipal of The London College of Educational Dance Training (later the London College of Dance)

Author: 
Betty Vacani [ Betty Vacani (Elizabeth Joan Hankinson), dancing teacher (1908-2003) ].
Publication details: 
[Headed notepaper] 159 Brompton Road, SW3, 18 April 1939
£45.00

Two pages, 12mo, fold mark, very good condition. "I was so delighted to get a letter from Phrosso this morning, saying that you were going to allow her to take up Dancing as a career when she has finished her Schooling in Paris. |We should be so very pleased to have her as a Student, as she has always shown such intense keenness and enthusiasm as a child in the Classes for her Dancing, that I am sure she will make a success in this very happy and health giving profession.

[ The London College of Educational Dance Training (later the London College of Dance). ] Printed prospectus from 1946, with one letter from the principal Grace Cone, and four from vice-principal Anita Heyworth, to Phrosso Pfister.

Author: 
[ The London College of Dance [ The London College of Educational Dance Training ]; Grace Cone; Anita Heyworth; Phrosso Pfister (1922-2013) ]
Publication details: 
The London College of Educational Dance Training, The Lodge [ Rawdon Hall ], Holyport, near Maidenhead, Berkshire. 1944, 1945 and 1946.
£150.00

The London College of Educational Dance Training opened at Rawdon Hall in 1944, merged with Middlesex University in 1994, and shut in 2003. Grace Cone, the first principal, retired in 1966, and was replaced by her vice-principal Anita Heyworth. Heyworth retired in 1973 and was replaced by Phrosso Pfister. Pfister had become a student at the college in 1945, following war service with the SOE in Egypt and Italy, and had become a staff member in 1949. The present collection of five items is from Pfister's papers.

[ William John Charles Pitcher Wilhelm, costume designer.] Illustrations of costumes for the Empire Theatre ballet 'The Press' (1898), each representing a Fleet Street newspaper.

Author: 
[ William John Charles Pitcher Wilhelm (1858-1925), costume and theatre designer; Empire Theatre, London; Leopold Wenzel; Katti Lanner; Dame Adeline Genée (1878-1970), ballet dancer; Fleet Street ]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [ Ballet performed at the Empire Theatre, London in 1898.]
£50.00

In black and white on 34 x 23 cm shiny art paper. Possibly extracted from an unnamed periodical. Lightly aged and worn, and ruckled from being laid down on paper backing. Tiny chip lost at foot. Sixteen female figures are shown, in costumes representing newspapers from the 'Daily Mail' to 'The Sketch', and including 'Mdlle. Zangfretta as Fashion', around a central representation of a scene from the ballet, featuring Adeline Genée as the Liberty of the Press.

[ Caryl Brahms, ballet critic. ] Autograph Note Signed ('With thanks | Caryl Brahms'), acknowledging payment to London bookseller Barry Duncan.

Author: 
Caryl Brahms [ Doris Caroline Abrahams ] (1901-1982), English author and theatre and ballet critic
Publication details: 
3 Cambridge Gate, London NW1. 29 June 1955.
£28.00

1p. 4to. Enclosing £2 10s 0d, and written out by hand on a piece of aged ruled paper. With acknowledgment by Duncan at bottom right. In stamped and postmarked envelope, addressed by Brahms to Duncan at his London shop, 11 St Martin's Court.

[ Michel Panaieff, Russian ballet dancer. ] Autograph Signature ('Mischa Paniaieff') on photograph.

Author: 
Michel Panaieff (1913-1982), Russian dancer with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and teacher of ballet in America
Publication details: 
On photograph cut from programme for 'the ALHAMBRA Co., Ltd.' [ Blackpool, Lancashire ] Dated by Panaieff to 1936.
£28.00

Black and white photograph of Panaieff in costume and dance pose, cut from a magazine. 15 x 10 cm, with border. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Good firm flourishing signature across the image, reading: 'Mischa Paniaieff | Lancks [sic] | 1936'.

[ 'Baron', society photographer. ] Three family photographs of 'Baron' [ Sterling Henry Nahum ], one with a signed inscripion by him, and a contact sheet of nine shots of his face.

Author: 
'Baron' [ Sterling [ Stirling ] Henry Nahum ] (1906-1956) ], London dance, film and celebrity photographer
Publication details: 
The inscription on the back of the photograph is dated May 1940. The other items undated.
£200.00

Three black and white prints, ranging in size from 12 x 17 cm to 10 x 7.5 cm. The contact sheet is 12.5 x 13 cm. The four items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. One of the three pictures shows a smiling Baron outdoors with a young blonde boy (his son?), who is holding a camera tripd; another shows him standing with his arm on the shoulder of another man (his brother?), both on skis in the snow; and the third shows him in a heavy wool coat, on the steps of a European building, with a man in Slavic costume. The last is inscribed on the reverse: 'May 1940 |

[Sir Kenneth Macmillan, choreographer.] Fourteen photographs of him by the theatre designer Yolanda Sonnabend, taken to assist her in painting her 1991 portrait of him, now in the National Portrait Gallery.

Author: 
Kenneth Macmillan (1929-1992), Scottish ballet dancer and choreographer, artistic director of the Royal Ballet, 1970-1977 [Yolanda Sonnabend (b.1935), theatre designer and portrait painter]
Publication details: 
[London?] The fourteen photographs taken in preparation for Sonnabend's portrait, commissioned in 1991.
£280.00

Thirteen of the fourteen photographs are in black and white, with the largest 21.5 x 15.5 cm (with slight paint staining at edge), another 17.5 x 12.5 cm, and the other nine roughly 12.5 x 9 cm. The other print is a colour polaroid, with paint smudges from Sonnabend's portrait on the white mount. Other than the paint marks to three of the prints, in good condition, although six of the smaller ones have aged due to acid in the paper stock.

[C. W. Beaumont, dance writer, bookseller and publisher.] Typed Letter Signed ('Cyril Beaumont') to 'Mr White', dismissing 'would-be Diaghilevs'.

Author: 
Cyril Beaumont [Cyril William Beaumont; C. W. Beaumont] (1891-1976), dance writer, bookseller and publisher
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'C. W. Beaumont | Bookseller & Publisher | At the Sign of the Harlequins Bat', 75 Charing Cross Road, London WC2. 3 April 1954.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He begins by stating that his book 'contains the details' his correspondent requires, and continues: 'I am sorry to say that I made a little mistake when I was talking to you over the telephone about "Pulcinella". I think I said there was a long description of that ballet in my "Diaghilev Ballet in London", but of course it is the "Complete Book of Ballets".

Signature on card ('Alicia Markova') of the prima ballerina Dame Alicia Markova.

Author: 
Dame Alicia Markova [Lilian Alicia Marks] (1910-2004), Britain's first prima ballerina and in the 1940s the world's highest-paid dancer, discovered by Serge Diaghilev, and partnered by Anton Dolin
Publication details: 
Dated by Markova to 1933.
£25.00

In black ink on 5 x 8 cm card, with rounded edges. In very good condition, lightly aged, with evidence of previous mounting on the marbled reverse. Reads 'Alicia Markova | 1933.'

Two Autograph Letters Signed (one with a drawing) and an Autograph Note Signed from the editor of 'Ballet' magazine Richard Buckle to Dr Erich Adolph Alport, with typed circular from Buckle and Typed Letter Signed to Alport from his secretary.

Author: 
Richard Buckle [Christopher Richard Sandford Buckle; 'Dicky'] (1916-2001),dance critic and editor of 'Ballet' magazine [Dr Erich Adolph Alport (d.1972), art connoisseur and book collector]
Publication details: 
One from Overstrand [Norfolk]; 27 May 1950. The other four on letterheads of 'Ballet', 'Ballet and Opera' and 'Ballet Publications Ltd'. Between 1949 and 1950.
£120.00

The five items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Item One: Autograph Letter Signed (with a crude drawing of Buckle sitting on a rope slung between the printed names of the two magazines). 1p., 4to. On Fleet Street letterhead of 'Ballet Publications Ltd.' Dated by Alport 14 February 1950. The letter concerns an article on the conductor Karl Rankl, and begins: 'Dear Erich | I have just spoken to Harewood [the Earl of Harewood, co-founder with Buckle of 'Opera' magazine].

Five Autograph Letters Signed, in French, from the French artist and designer Jean-Denis Malclès to an unnamed correspondent, regarding the sale of maquettes of costumes of a production of 'Orphée aux Enfers'. With price list of 31 items.

Author: 
Jean-Denis Malclès (1912-2002), French artist, illustrator and costume, set and poster designer for film, theatre, ballet and opera, who worked with Cocteau, Anouilh and others
Publication details: 
The five letters from 152 rue Leon-Maurice Nordmann, Paris. One from 1980 and the other four from 1982.
£280.00

The first four letters are each 1p., 12mo; and the fifth letter is 1p., 4to. The price list, which accompanies the last letter, is 2pp., 4to. All items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. In the first letter (4 May 1980) he replies to his correspondent, thanking him for a letter 'concernant la representation d'Orphée aux Enfers que vous avez vu à Oxford en 1977'.

Scrapbook of material collected on a trip to Scotland for the 1958 Edinburgh International Festival, including letters, programmes, tickets, maps, postcards, newspaper cuttings.

Author: 
The Edinburgh International Festival, 1958 [Victor Conn of Eltham]
Publication details: 
[1958. Items from England and Scotland, collected in 'A Collins Scrap Book'.]
£280.00

Around 140 items, laid down on 53 pp of a contemporary 37 x 25 cm stapled scrapbook. In original red and orange wraps, with 'Edinburgh Festival 1958' in manuscript on front cover. The collection is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with occasional items a little discoloured from mounting. The scrapbook itself is slightly grubby and ruckled. Collected by Victor Conn of Eltham, London, who was presumably responsible for the neat captions to some newspaper cuttings and other items.

Typed Letters Signed (two) to W.G. Raffe, author of "Dictionary of the Dance".

Author: 
Mirabai.
Publication details: 
Brussels6 and 21 Dec. 1949.
£250.00

Srimathi Mirabai, Indian Classical Dancer - "India's Pavlova". One page each, large 4to, good condition, the second has a representation of an Indian dancer cut from corner (present in first), with some additions in Mirabai's hand. (6 Dec.) She gives information about her activities, the tour, her studies, her performances in India and Ceylon, enclosing a photo (not present). (21 Dec.) She gives some idea of the thinking behind the tour, testing whether Indian Classical Dancing would be successful in London and Europe. Her partner has returned to India but she has her eye on another.

Autograph Letter Signed to Ifan Kyrle Fletcher.

Author: 
Serge Leslie.
Publication details: 
Los Angeles, March 1858.
£120.00

Ballet. Fletcher was a bookseller specialising in Performing Arts and founder of the Society for Theatre Research. One page, 4to, chipped, four small tears, fold mark, punch-holes, small hole in centre, but complete and legible. He thanks Fletcher for submitting a print to "us" (Leslie and Niles?) but they decline regretfully, requesting others from the Romantic Period as they occur. "The 'Pas de Quatre' is most beautiful and now graces our walls." He requests an English translation of "Stepanow alphabet les Mouvements du Corps Humain".

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