COLLIN

[Lord Harmsworth, press baron.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Harmsworth’) to journalist Collin Brooks, praising his assessment of ‘R’ - his brother Viscount Rothermere - in his memoir ‘Devil’s Decade’.

Author: 
Lord Harmsworth [Cecil Bisshop Harmsworth (1869-1948), 1st Baron Harmsworth], Fleet Street press baron, brother of Viscounts Northcliffe and Rothermere [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist]
Publication details: 
4 April 1948; on letterhead of ‘The Field’, 8 Stratton Street London.
£45.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Minor staple marks at top right. Writing shortly before his death, he thanks him for sending an inscribed copy of his book ‘Devil’s Decade’, which he enjoyed ‘enormously’.

[Mabel Constanduros [Mabel Tilling], radio comedienne.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Mabel Constanduros') to Fleet Street editor Collin Brooks

Author: 
Mabel Constanduros (1880-1957, born Mabel Tilling), radio comedienne, actress and screenwriter [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist and Fleet Street editor; Collie Knox (1899-1977), journalist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 9 Wetherby Gardens, S.W.5. [London] 13 December 1946.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight damp staining. Addressed to 'Mr Brooks'. She is sending 'the script for you. It can, of course, be knocked about how you like. It is just a peg on which to hang things.' She reports that 'Collie' (i.e. Collie Knox) was pleased with Brooks's message, 'and sent most cordial ones back to you'. She concludes: 'We had an extremely pleasant lunch, and I shall look forward very much to meeting you again'.

[Collie Knox, the Daily Mail's 'star writer', bemoans his sacking from his £4000 a year job.] Typed Letter Signed ('Collie') with Autograph postscript, to Fleet Street editor Collin Brooks, discussing the circumstances of his dismissal.

Author: 
Collie Knox [Columb Thomas Knox] (1899-1977), popular BBC broadcaster and Daily Mail journalist [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist and Fleet Street editor]
Publication details: 
Whin Cottage, Beechy Leees, Otford, near Sevenoaks, Kent. (On cancelled letterhead of the Daily Mail, London.) 23 January 1941.
£130.00

See Knox's obituary, Times, 4 May 1977 (which refers to 'some passages at arms' he had at the BBC with Sir John Reith). 3pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor staining from paperclip. An interesting glimpse into the world of Fleet Street 'big salaries' during the war period. He begins: 'My dear Collin Brooks, | A letter such as yours, from a man such as yourself for whom I have so strong a personal, and professional, regard comes as a gleam of blue in a darkish sky.' He proceeds to bemoan his sacking by the Daily Mail: 'Yes, it is a bad business.

[Sidney Dark, journalist and author.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Sidney Dark') to Collin Brooks, editor of 'Truth', regarding an article he was asked to write at a 'very alcoholic Savage lunch'. With copy of Brooks's waggish response.

Author: 
Sidney Dark [Sidney Ernest Dark] (1874-1947), journalist, critic and voluminous author, editor of the Church Times [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), Fleet Street editor]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Lane End Cottage, Sonning, Berkshire. 4 May [1947].
£35.00

ONE: ALS from Dark to Brooks. The handwriting is quite atrocious, and the present transcription is at points tentative. Dark begins by recalling that at 'the delightful & very alcoholic Savage lunch' (i.e. lunch at the Savage Club), Brooks 'suggested that I should write an article for Truth. Perhaps because of the super-abundant alcoholic I have clean forgotten what the article was to he about. If you haven't & still want it, I might be able to write it.' The penultimate sentence is, to this cataloguer at least, indecipherable, apart from the words 'of course in a public sense'.

[Seán MacEntee, Fianna Fáil politician and Tánaiste.] Typed Letter Signed ('Seán MacEntee') to T. J. Hickey, editor of 'The Statist', commending an article on Hilaire Belloc by Collin Brooks. With Autograph Note Signed from Hickey to Brooks.

Author: 
Seán MacEntee [Seán Mac an tSaoi] (1889-1984), Irish Fianna Fáil politician, Tánaiste [Thomas J. Hickey; Collin Brooks (1893-1959), Fleet Street journalist; Hilaire Belloc; Easter Rising, 1916]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Oifig an Aire Airgeadais, (Office of the Minister for Finance) Baile Átha Cliath. (Dublin). 27 July 1953.
£220.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with punch holes at margin. MacEntee begins his letter to Hickey: 'In the tribute which “The Statist” pays to the late Hilaire Belloc a reference is made to his essay on usury. I read this some time ago but cannot recall the title of the volume in which it appeared. I should be grateful, indeed, if you would be kind enough to make good the lacuna by supplying the missing title.' He congratulates Hickey 'on the article itself'.

[Sir Shane Leslie, diplomat, author and Winston Churchill's cousin.] Four Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Shane Leslie'), three to the journalist Collin Brooks and the other a letter of condolence to Brooks's widow. With TLS from Brooks to Leslie.

Author: 
Sir Shane Leslie [Sir John Randolph Leslie] (1885-1971), Irish diplomat, author and first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), Fleet Street journalist]
Publication details: 
Three from London addresses: The Shamrock Club, 28 Hertford Street; 38 Knightsbridge Court, Sloane Street; letterhead of 5 Morpeth Mansions. One from Glaslough, County Monaghan, Eire [Ireland]. 1945 (2), 1948, 1959.
£220.00

The four letters are in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Each 1p., 12mo. The first three letters are written to Brooks, as editor of 'Truth'; the fourth is a letter of condolence to Brooks's wife. In the first letter (14 April 1945) he apologises for the delay in sending in a review: 'I have been two months out of the country and nothing could be forwarded.' He adds: 'I wish I saw more of Charles Webster.

['George' Strube, Daily Express political cartoonist.] Two Typed Letters Signed (both '”George” STRUBE') to journalist Collin Brooks, regarding the the photographic reproduction of a picture. With copy of a letter from Brooks.

Author: 
'George' Strube [Sidney Conrad Strube] (1891-1956), Daily Express political cartoonist, receiving the highest salary in Fleet Street Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist, editor of Sunday Dispatch]
Publication details: 
On (different) letterheads of the Daily Express, Fleet Street, London. 18 April and 9 May 1947.
£35.00

Both 1p., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with paperclip stain to first letter. Unusual signature, in block capitals. Both addressed to Brooks at the Savage Club, with both salutations to 'Collin'. ONE: 18 April 1947. Begins: 'My dear Collin, | I consulted my firend in the Process Department here and he said that a half-tone block would not be very successful, as there is a dash of colour in the picture and the half-tone would not bring it out very well. He thought that a photograph on a piece of Matt bromide paper would look much better and not spoil the detail of the drawing.

[Lord Beaverbrook responds to Collin Brooks's appeal for a job.] Two telegrams ('Maxwell Beaverbrook' and 'Max'), one in reply to Brooks's appeal on loss of editorship of Truth, with copy letter from publisher Ronald Staples.

Author: 
Lord Beaverbrook [Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook] (1879-1964), Fleet Street press baron [Collin Brooks, journalist and editor; Ronald Staples, publisher of the magazine 'Truth']
Publication details: 
Four items from 1952, the other from 1950.
£80.00

Five documents. The two telegrams are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn; the other items are in good condition. A photocopy of a typed page from Brooks's diary explains the context in entertaining fashion: '”Staggerer number one,” whispered Dick Swiveller over my shoulder this morning when on my office desk I found a letter from Ronald Staples giving me a twelve month's statutory notice of dismissal from the editorship of Truth.' He explains that the magazine is losing money, and criticises Staples's plans. 'However – here's a how-de-do!

[C. E. M. Joad, philosopher, member of 'The Brains Trust' BBC radio panel, and convicted railway fare dodger.] Typed Letter Signed to Collin Brooks, editor of the Sunday Dispatch, outlining a proposed article on 'Nazi rule in Germany'.

Author: 
C. E. M. Joad [Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad] (1891-1953), English philosopher and radio broadcaster, whose career ended in disgrace [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), ournalist and Fleet Street editor]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 4 Easrt Heath Road, Hampstead, N.W.3. [London] 25 September 1939.
£50.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed 'Cyril Joad'. Written in the same month as Britain and France had declared war, the letter begins: 'I don't know whether you are still running the Sunday Dispatch, but if you are, how about an article on the philosophy which underlies the Nazi rule in Germany?

[Mary Endicott Carnegie, American socialite, daughter of William Crowninshield Endicott and wife of Joseph Chamberlain.] Two Autograph Letters Signed ('Mary E. Carnegie') to journalist Collin Brooks

Author: 
Mary Endicott Carnegie (1864-1957), daughter of William Crowninshield Endicott and wife of Joseph Chamberlain [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist]
Publication details: 
Both on letterhead of 41 Lennox Gardens, S.W.1. 28 December 1950 and 4 January 1951.
£90.00

Mary Endicott Carnegie was the daughter of William Crowninshield Endicott (1826-1900), Secretary of War in Grover Cleveland's first administration. She married the British politician Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) in 1888 and moved to England. After Chamberlain's death she married William Hartley Carnegie (1859-1936), Sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey and Chaplain to the House of Commons. She was painted by Sir J. E. Millais and John Singer Sargent.

[Sir Harold Harmsworth, editor of 'The Field', to journalist Collin Brooks.] Typed Letter Signed ('Harold Harmsworth.') to Brooks, regarding his 'accurate picture of Rothermere' and 'that photograph of Northcliffe with Cecil Rhodes'.

Author: 
Sir Harold Harmsworth (1897-1952), editor of the Field, member of a leading Fleet Street family including Viscount Rothermere
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 8 Stratton Street, W.1. [London] 8 April 1948.
£40.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two punch-holes in margin. He has been reading Brooks's book ('Devil's Decade: Portraits of the Nineteen-Thirties') 'during a few days' holiday in Norfolk', and finds it 'excellent': Brooks has 'drawn a very accurate picture of Rothermere'. He proposes a time for them to 'meet again and have lunch'. He wonders whether Brooks 'ever came across that photograph of Northcliffe with Cecil Rhodes which I remember you mentioned you thought you had somewhere or other', asks for a sight of it.

[Anne de Vere Chamberlain, widow of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.] Typed Letter Signed ('Anne Chamberlain') to journalist Collin Brooks, regarding his editorship of 'Truth' and the possibility of a meeting.

Author: 
Anne de Vere Chamberlain [née Cole] (1883-1967) wife of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), proponent of Appeasement of Nazi Germany [Collin Brooks (), journalist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead 8 Chester Square, S.W.1 [London]. 15 October 1954.
£50.00

Anne Chamberlain stood before the crowds on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with her husband and the members of the royal family, following his return with the 'piece of paper', 30 September 1938. 1p., 12mo. On blue paper. In fair condition, worn and lightly-creased, with a couple of staple-marks at head. The salutation and valediction are written in flowing autograph: 'Dear Mr. Brooks' and 'Yours sincerely | With all kind remembrances | Anne Chamberlain'.

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