BERT

[Bruce Bairnsfather [Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather], cartoonist who created the First World War Fragments from France characters Old Bill, Bert and Alf.] Autograph Signature, with that of the baritone Kennerley Rumford (Clara Butt's husband).

Author: 
Bruce Bairnsfather [Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather] (1887-1959), cartoonist who created the First World War Fragments from France characters Old Bill, Bert and Alf, published in 'The Bystander'
Bruce Bairnsfather
Publication details: 
Without date or place [circa 1920].
£45.00
Bruce Bairnsfather

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A bold, untidy and yet stylish signature, in exactly the state one would hope to find Bairnfather moniker. It gives the impression of having been sent post-haste from the trenches, scrawled in pencil on a piece of vertically-ruled paper torn out of a notebook, ruckled and grubby, and laid down on an unruckled and clean 15.5 x 9.5 cm leaf with rounded edges, torn from an autograph album. The signature ‘Bruce / Bairnsfather’ is across the head of the landscape page, with a jagged line (intended for the flourish?) by Bairnsfather across the foot.

['Bert Thomas', British political cartoonist.] Copy of his book 'Close-ups Through a childs eyes / by Bert Thomas', with label bearing autograph inscription.

Author: 
‘Bert Thomas’ [Herbert Samuel Thomas MBE (1883-1966)], British political cartoonist who contributed to Punch magazine and created British propaganda posters during the two world wars
'Bert Thomas'
Publication details: 
No date (circa 1943). 'A Tuck Book / Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd / Copyright Printed in England'.
£120.00
'Bert Thomas'

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A scarce item: no copy in the British Library and the only copies on COPAC at Cambridge and the V & A. In fair condition, lightly aged and with slight creasing to outer edge of front cover, on which a label has been laid down, carrying an inscription (repaired at one corner with archival tape) by Thomas: ‘From one child to another - Love and I cant thank you enough for everything - I’ll look forward to Janiuary - Muh love I’ll writer later’. A stapled pamphlet in brown card wraps. 16pp, landscape 8vo.

[Flatbush Motor Corps, National League for Woman's Service, New York.] Programme of entertainment in aid of the Corps, including 'Houdini | The World's Greatest Mystifier' and 'The Celebrated Creator of the Jazz Dance Craze' Bert Kelly.

Author: 
Flatbush Motor Corps, National League for Woman's Service, New York [Harry Houdini; Bert Kelly's Famous Band; Red Cross]
Publication details: 
[Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York.] Flatbush Theatre, Church and Flatbush Avenues. 9 December 1918.
£220.00

[40]pp., small 4to. Stapled in brown printed wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Title from cover, where it is printed in blue, enclosed in a border of US flags, with clutch of four flags (UK Red Ensign, Cuban, French, US) in blue and red at head. Filled with advertisements, including an illustrated full-page one inside the front cover for 'Dodge Brothers | Convertible Car'.

[ Herman Finck, composer and conductor. ] Material from his widow's papers relating to his death, including 73 signatures of individuals at his funeral service, including Tommy Handley and William Luff; obituaries; fumeral cards, order of service.

Author: 
Herman Finck [ born Hermann Van Der Vinck ] (1872-1939), composer and conductor [ Tommy Handley; Bert Thomas; Charles Prentice; Rex Palmer; Percy Greenbank; William Luff ]
Publication details: 
London. 1939.
£320.00

On his death Finck was described by the Daily Mirror as 'one of the world's greatest writers of light music'. His 'In the Shadows' was one of the last songs played on RMS Titanic before it went down. The collection is in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Items One and Two are in an envelope addressed to Mrs Finck at 122 Finchley Road, with note by her: 'Funeral Cards & names of people at Service'. ONE: Collection of 73 signatures of people attending Finck's funeral service. 5pp., folio. Mostly in pencil. With calling card of 'Mr. Stanley F. Galpin'.

[Bert Thomas, cartoonist.] Print of Thomas's celebrated ' "Arf a mo' Kaiser!' First World War cartoon of an English Tommy lighting his pipe, on the front of a brown-paper envelope addressed by Thomas to Suffolk artist William Henry Booth.

Author: 
Bert Thomas (1883-1966), Welsh cartoonist associated with 'Punch' [William Henry Booth (1861-1928), Suffolk artist]
Bert Thomas
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [1918.] Green halfpenny George V postage stamp, with postmark of 'S.W.' beneath the two uprights of a triangle (no base).
£120.00
Bert Thomas

The envelope is 27.5 x 12.5 cm, and the cartoon is printed lengthwise (around 15cm long including caption) on the front in brown ink, with facsimile signature. In good condition, lightly-aged and worn, with the flap of the apparently-empty envelope gummed back into place. The stamp is attached in its customary place, with the address in Thomas's autograph beneath it: 'Wm. Booth Esq | The Rosery | Cambridge Rd. | Felixstowe'. Thomas's original cartoon had been drawn in ten minutes for the Weekly Dispatch 'Smokes for Tommy' campaign.

[Mimeographed pamphlet.] No Right to a Hearing. The Deportation Proceedings Against Bert Bensen. By Bert Bensen.

Author: 
Bert Bensen, American psychology lecturer and supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Publication details: 
'Published by: Friends of Bert Bensen, Top Flat, 127, King Henry's Road, London NW3'. February 1965.
£120.00

16pp., 4to, with additional yellow cover leaf carrying title, with 'Introduction' on reverse. In good condition, on aged and worn paper, with slight damage to the fore-edge of the cover leaf. Neat ownership inscription of John H. Shaw. According to the introduction 'Bert Bensen's account of his attempts to stay in Britain - and of the determination of two successive Home Secretaries that he shall not - reads like something out of Kafka. The Sense of unreality that permeates the Bensen affair should not be allowed to hide the serious questions it raises. Why was Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Walter'), in German, to 'Mein lieber Bert!'

Author: 
Walter Koschatzky (1921-2003), German art critic
Publication details: 
28 March 1939; on his letterhead as 'Direktor der Cöpenicker Boden Akt. Ges. Wolfsgarten u. der Erkner Berliner Vorort-Terrainges. mbH.'
£75.00

4to, 4 pp. Bifolium. 59 lines of text. Clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper, with 4.5 cm closed tears to the outer edge of central horizontal fold to both leaves. A large part of the letter would appear to concern washing machines, including a reference to a new one on the American market, called the 'Waterflex'. A few lines in English at end: 'Many thanks for your Birthday-carte. Sorry year it arrived 1 month to [sic] late.' Sends love to 'Dorothy', and reference in text to 'Kajitan': 'Das wird Dir bestimmt Freude machen. Das ist alles viel besser als die Politik.

Four Autograph Letters Signed by Florrie Cockle (one signed 'Florrie Cockle (soon Iggulden)' and another 'Willie and Florrie'); one Autograph Letter Signed ('Birt') by Birt Cockle; all to their sisters Kate and Maggie.

Author: 
Florrie Cockle and Albert ('Birt') Cockle [Willie Iggulden; Boer War; South Africa]
Publication details: 
East London, South Africa; 1898 and 1899.
£150.00

Very good, on aged and lightly creased paper. Six long letters to family in England written during a turbulent period in South African history. Affectionate, chatty, and written from a lower-middle-class point of view (Florrie: 'we always have an h[ou]r., when I change my dress for the afternoon after dinner'). Mostly dealing with family matters. Letter One (from 'Florrie', 4 September 1898, 'P.O. East London, South Africa', 4to: 4 pp): tells an amusing story about Birt, a cart and a goat. Letter Two (from 'Florrie', 11 September 1898, address as Letter One, 4to: 2 pp).

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