LEONARD

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Dear Hyman’ and signed ‘C. B. Oldman.’ He begins by thanking him for his ‘kind congratulations’ (on his promotion to at the British Museum, following the retirement of Sir Henry Thomas): ‘I have been laid up with a bad cold over Christmas otherwise I should have written before’. Hyman’s latest catalogue interested him very much, and he hopes that ‘the fact that I don’t buy much nowadays will not deter you from sending me future issues.

1p, 4to. On lightly aged and somewhat creased paper. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘Leonard Hyman, Esq.’ and signed ‘Clarence Raybould’. He has received his Catalogue No. 87 and is sorry to learn of his ‘impending retirement from your business’. ‘The world is always the poor when someone of your integrity decides he has had enough of the intrigues of present-day life!’ He wishes him ‘a happy period of quieter days’: ‘I myself cease to bulk of my work in June of this present year, when I terminate a long association with the Senior Orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music.

Fox agreed to the film on condition that von Stroheim was limited to shooting 85,000 feet of film (around an hour and a half of screen time). The studio was pleased when he brought it in on time (he tied a thread around lead actor James Dunn’s genitals, and tugged on it every time he wanted him to show emotion) and on budget, but a screening left them appalled at the morbid content. Von Stroheim was sacked and the film was rewritten and renamed ‘Hello, Sister!’, with three-quarters of the original retained. It was a flop and von Stroheim chose never to direct again.

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. Russell's papers are in the Harry Ransom Center at Texas. 1p, 4to. Aged and worn, with creasing and closed tear along left edge. Folded one. Carrying a neat and controlled signature, ‘Leonard Russell.’ He has ‘just come across’ the books Wilson lent him, ‘buried under a mass of books and papers’, and apologises. He ends by asking how Wilson’s ‘Notes from a Bookshop’ are going. ‘Copy as soon as you like.’ Wilson has ticked across the two paragraphs to signify action taken.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Cond, / I have pleasure in sending you my signature. As you will see, it is quite an ordinary one. / Yours very truly / William Plomer’. The signature is in fact rather stylish in an understated way, and the underlining has two small curls in it. In ink on otherwise-blank reverse, by someone who misread the signature: 'William Ploms'. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Sixteen lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Stylized signature: ‘L A G Strong.’ He replies to her letter by saying that he is ‘delighted’ that she enjoys reading his books, ‘and I very much appreciate your kindness in taking the trouble to write and tell me so’. He hopes that she will continue to read his work, and that it will ‘never disappoint’ her. ‘Nothing is more encouraging to a writer than to know that he has numbers of friends, whom he has never seen, but who are following what he does with interest and pleasure.’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, and that of his brothers the architect Leonard Scott Stokes and the inventor of the ‘Stokes Gun’ Sir Wilfred Scott Stokes. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Signed ‘Adrian Stokes’. He has added the word ‘at’ above the letterhead, indicating that the residence is not his (it is in fact the house that his brother Leonard designed for himself).

2pp, 12mo. On aged and creased paper, with two torn spike holes resulting in loss of a few letters of text. Date stamp on reverse. The recipient is not named, but is presumably the BBC producer Terence Dudley (1919-1988). Writing three months before his death, Strong begins the letter: 'My dear Terence, | How very kind of you! I [d]on't have any dignity in such matters! and I'd love to have a go, whether live or recorded.

9pp, 8vo. Complete carbon typescript. On nine leaves, stapled together. Title at head of first page: 'THE BOAT THAT MOOED.' Fry's signature in blue ink at top left of first page: 'Christopher Fry:'. Fry has cut down the story by deleting and removing a passage. The lower part of the leaf carrying the sixth page of the story has been cut away, and the original seventh page has been removed, hence the typescript pagination 1-6, 8-10 has been amended in manuscript to 1-9. A lighthearted faux-naive story, replete with symbolism. Begins: 'Tom Crunch lived on a boat. All round the boat was water.

Lauriston Leonard Batten studied at Trinity College, Cambridge (see his entry in Alum. Cantab.). He was admitted at the Inner Temple in 1882 and called to the bar four years later. KC, 1905. Bencher, 1914. The present collection is from the papers of his colleague on the Oxford Circuit, Sir Richard Harington (1861-1931), 12th baronet, who was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. Called to the Bar in 1886, he practised on the Oxford Circuit before taking up an appointment as a Puisne Judge in the High Court of Justice at Fort William in Bengal in 1899.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. He announces that he has been nominated for the Presidency of the Medico-Chirurgical Society by the Council, and supposes that he will be elected 'according to custom'.

The Biblewomen & Nurses Mission was founded as the London Bible and Domestic Female Mission in 1857, with the aim of bringing religious education to the poor. See the account of the founder Ellen Henrietta Ranyard (1810-1879) in the Oxford DNB. In 1868, Ranyard expanded the organisation to include the nursing of the sick poor in their own homes, in response to what the 'Biblewomen' saw of the sick, and three years later the Mission began to receive support from the Mercers Company. After Ranyard's death she was succeeded as Hon.

Both items scarce, with no copies showing up on OCLC WorldCat. ONE: 'Weathers | Poetry and Watercolors by Charles E. Wadsworth'. [4] + 41 + [1]pp, 4to. With seven full-page reproductions of watercolours. Ring-bound in cream covers, with title printed on front cover in brown. Text printed on rectos only. In good condition, bumped at head of spine, with a little marking to covers. Inscribed on fly-leaf: 'For Christopher to enjoy | from | Waddy and Jeannie | Cranberry Isles | Maine, U.S.A.' Colophon gives short biography of Wadsworth, with an even shorter one of his brother Geoffrey C.

2 x 20 cm slip of paper, cut from an autograph album (written on reverse: 'Prince & Princess Fleming of Denmark.'). In good condition, lightly aged. The two entries written neatly one above the other: 'Chico Marx 9654 [Joadene?] dr. Beverly Hills. | Sam Marx 927 N. Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills, Cal.'

1p., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Closely written in red ink. He begins by thanking him for being 'awfully sweet & kind' in writing, before going on to deal with the state of his health, it having been 'a difficult time, especially as I became so ill – but at the moment things aren't too bad'. The results of 'all the horrible tests' in hospital have 'come out first class', and the 'weird symtoms [sic] have now been proved to have been caused by yet another of those unknown viruses which first of all attacked my guts & then my brain'.

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.

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. The main topic of the letter is Marshall's work preparing his book 'Prepare to shed them now. The Ballads of George R. Sims' (London: Hutchinson, 1968). A long and characteristic letter. After references to their meeting at the British Museum and to 'that excellent bookseller, Mr Wallace of The Guild Hall Bookshop' ('he showed me a selection of the Dagonet Ballads – nothing like as good as the copy you saw'), he turns to a 'Sims letter' which Spilstead sent him: 'I cant at the moment date it.

Much of Tessa Adams's paper on Toni Wolff in 'The Feminine Case: Jung, Aesthetics and Creative Process', ed. Adams and Duncan (2003), concerns the 'remarkable woman' Irene Champernowne and her relations with Wolff and Jung, with a discussion of Champernowne's Withymead Therapeutic Centre in Oxfordshire, which operated from 1942 to the late 1960s.

1p., 12mo. Heavily aged and worn, with closed tear along fold line at head, and remains of mount on reverse. Horner's note, on the upper part of the paper, reads: 'Dear Sir | Be so good as admit Mr Phillips to the privileges of the Reading Room at the British Museum - | Yours faithfully | Leonard Horner | University of London | 11 Feby 1830'. Beneath this Ellis has written: 'My Dear Sir | Mr. Phillips can be admitted at the Age of Eighteen, but is not eligible for our Reading Room at present | Ever faithfully Yours | H. Ellis | L. Horner Esqr'.

First proposed by Thomas Horner in 1802, the Regent's Canal was incorporated by John Nash in 1811 in his plans for the development of Regent's Park. Hugely-successful in the nineteenth century despite the rise of the railways, it fell into decline in the early twentieth, but is now firmly established as an amenity of London. The seven items in the present collection are in good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Items ONE to FOUR are printed circulars from Snee, transmitting copies 'of the Resolutions this day passed at the General Assembly of Proprietors of the Regent's Canal'.

A total of 50 items, all but the three earliest of Strong's letters held together with a brass stud. The collection in good overall condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Strong's 24 letters total 37pp., with the early letters signed 'L A G Strong' and the later ones 'Leonard', and occasional variant signatures in between ('Leonard Strong', 'LAGS'). The copies of Greenwood's 26 letters (two in autograph, the rest typed) total 32pp. An interesting correspondence, in which Strong responds with tact and patience to his inexperienced correspondent's proposals and actions.

1p., 4to. On shiny art paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with one dogeared corner. On letterhead which covers half of the page, with photograph of the pair, and text in red and black ('Presenting Comdey Cartoons and "Fashions from Rags" Dress Designing Extraordinary! Two or Three Entirely Different Comdey Spots if required introducing Monologues, Conjuring Numbers, etc. Evening Dress when required. | Special Clowning and Conjuring Act for the Children. | Road Show, Production, Panto, Variety or C.P.' The letter offers for sale 'a lot of old John Dick's "Penny" Plays'.

On one side of 9 x 11 cm piece of paper. In good condition, on lightly-spotted paper. Reads: 'I shall keep your clever little ode. Congratulations and good wishes. | Len. Harvey. | Cruiser & Heavyweight Champion | Jan. 1934.'

In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The poem (24 lines in six stanzas) is written out on the letterhead 'Leam, | Leamington'. 1p., 12mo, with the blank second leaf of the bifolium tipped-in onto an 8vo leaf.

The collection consists of four items. All four in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight creasing. ONE: Typed Memorandum. 3pp., foolscap 8vo. Signed over a stamp by Campbell, and witnessed by Florence Campbell of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Campbell agrees to teach Langsford 'how to prepare the photographic paper called "Gelatino-chloride glossy printing-out paper" by the same formula and process as he uses and put him in the way to start and carry on a business for himself'.

2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper, with small hole through both leaves at top inner corner. Beneath the signature the faint stamp of the St. James's Budget, 15 Dorset Street, EC. Raven-Hill points out that the Pall Mall Budget had only the right to use his drawings 'in that paper', and that he holds 'the entire copyright of all my drawings that appeared' in that magazine. 'If you want any of mine you could of course get the blocks from them & we could come to some arrangement about using them'.

Both items printed on pink paper, with similar cover designs by Arnold Riches. Both in fair condition, aged and worn. The song sheet is a bifolium, 4pp, 4to, It dates from before 1939, when, following Ridgeway's death, the Player's Theatre moved to the Arts Theatre from King Street. The front page advertises performances 'Every Night (Except Sundays)', with 'THE ARTISTES' listed over twelve lines, and including 'Alec (Laneworthy-Figg) Clunes', Peter Ustinov, Bernard Miles and 'Leonard Sachs (Chairman)'.

Whaite was first cousin twice removed of his more famous namesake. He was himself an excellent artist and teacher, and there is a large collection of his work at the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester. 2pp., 8vo. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. The testimonial begins: 'Mr. H. C. Whaite has been on my Staff as visiting Art Master since January 1929, and I am very glad to write in support of his application for an Inspectorship of Art. Mr. Whaite has had wide experience of Art teaching, and has done remarkably successful work here with boys of 14 to 18 years of age.

12mo, 10 pp. Text clear and complete. On aged and worn paper, with pin holes and a spike hole. Includes list of the 'Board of Management for 1907', accounts, 'Statement of Accounts, December 21st, 1901, to December 20th, 1906. Compiled by Mr. J. M. Longley, Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance and General Purposes Committee.' Also 'Report Presented at the Half-Yearly General Court, 27th Dec., 1906.' The 'Result of Poll', 'December Election, 1906', by Courtney, contains lists naming 'Successful Candidates' and 'Unsuccessful Candidates'.

4to, 2 pp. Sixteen lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He congratulates her on her 'success in the Saturday Westminster Essay Competition'. He is grateful to her for 'guessing that I should be interested in this work of yours after having plied my scalpel upon your novel "The Sword of Love".' He regrets that 'for many a long year' he has 'done no general reviewing outside the publisher's office. There the flood of MSS. that poured in furnished effectual occupation.