LESTER

[Percy Nash, film director; his nephew Bournemouth artist Eustace Nash.] Two synopses (one signed) of Percy Nash's review 'The Charm', with text of anti-Labour and pro-Churchill song. With watercolour of backdrop and covering letter by Eustace Nash.

Author: 
Percy Nash (1869-1958), film director; his nephew the Bournemouth artist and cartoonist Eustace Nash (1886-1969)
Publication details: 
Second synopsis dated to 1951. Eustace Nash's letter dated 8 December 1952, on his and his brother's firm's letterhead , as 'Nash & Co. Studios Artists for Advertisers' ('Partners: | L. F. N. Nash | E. P. E. Nash'), 8 Albert Road, Bournemouth.
£250.00

An interesting period piece. Two synopses of Percy Nash's review 'The Charm', the second dated by him to 1951, and with reference to the nationalisation of the coal industry. Together with the typescript of a song from the play about the 'Man of Might' Winston Churchill, and the Labour Party, who 'Have sullied the Fair name | of dear old England'. Also present is a watercolour drawing by Percy Nash's nephew the Bournemouth artist Eustace Nash of the intended backdrop to the first act of the review, together with an ALS discussing his ideas for the design of the piece.

['Harry Lester and his Hayseeds', variety performers.] McGlennon's Hill Billy Song Book [lyrics of 63 songs, with photograph of Lester's band on cover and feature on him inside].

Author: 
Harry Lester and his Hayseeds [Harold Worth Lester (1895-1993), American variety performer resident in England [Felix McGlennon, music publisher; hillbilly music]
Publication details: 
Felix McGlennon Ltd, Printers and Publishers, 9 City Garden Row, City Road, London, N.1.
£220.00

For information on Lester see his obituary in the Independent, 4 July 1993, which states that with his band he 'cheered up England during the blacked-out Forties'. 12pp., 4to. Stapled. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Cover text printed in red, with black and white 14.5 x 19 cm photograph of 'Harry Lester and his Hayseeds'. P.3 carries an article on 'Harry Lester', with photograph.

[Tania Long of the New York Times writes from wartime London on 'queue psychology' in Britain and America.] Typed Letter Signed ('Tania Long Daniell') to Punch editor E. V. Knox, in connection with an article being commissioned from him.

Author: 
Tania Long [Tania Long Daniell] (1913-1998), American journalist and war correspondent [E. V. Knox [Edmund George Valpy Knox] (1881-1971, 'Evoe'), editor of Punch]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the London bureau of the New York Times, Savoy Hotel, London WC2. 24 May 1943.
£250.00

Long's obituary in the New York Times, 6 September 1998, describes her as 'war correspondent for The New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times who covered the London blitz and the Nuremburg trials' and 'one of only a few women who were correspondents in World War II'. She had joined the New York Herald Tribune's London bureau in 1941, and subsequently married Raymond Daniell, chief of the New York Times's London bureau, joining that newspaper as a reporter in February 1942.

[ Howard Saunders, ornithologist. ] Autograph Letter Signed to E. L. Arnold, asking for more particulars about the piratical-looking birds' referred to in his 'Indian Hills', and explaining that gulls and terns are his 'speciality'.

Author: 
Howard Saunders (1835-1907), ornithologist [ E. L. Arnold [ Edwin Lester Linden Arnold ] (1857-1935), author ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 7 Radnor Place, Gloucester Square, W. [ London ] 18 December 1881.
£56.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Forty-eight lines of text. Arnold's 'On the Indian Hills, or Coffee-Planting in Southern India' had been published in London earlier in the year, and Saunders writes that '[a]s an ornithologist' he has been 'much interested by the numerous allusions to the birds observed [...] but most of all by your remarks on the outward voyage (pp.101-3) on the gulls &c of the Red Sea'.

[ John George Wood, naturalist and microscopist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. G. Wood') to 'Lester' [ Edwin Lester Arnold ], containing warm reminiscences.

Author: 
J. G. Wood [ John George Wood ] (1827-1889), naturalist and microscopist [ E. L. Arnold [ Edwin Lester Linden Arnold ] (1857-1935), author, son of Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904) ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Freeman Lodge, St. Peters, Kent. 14 December 1885.
£120.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn. Forty lines of text. He has been 'looking out for the review in the D[aily]. T[elegraph]. but never a review at all I seen. [sic] I suppose that these politics &c, squeeze out any matter which can bide its time'. He recalls their previous meeting: 'last time was on a Sunday morning, when Theodore & I trotted from Belvedere to Sidcup [...] he, like you, has been following his father's footsteps, & has made somewhat of a name in economic edntomology'.

[Printed 'Hire Script' of the world's longest-running musical.] The Fantasticks. Book and Lyrics by Tom Jones. Music by Harvey Schmidt.

Author: 
Tom Jones (b.1928) and Havery Lester Schmidt (b.1929) ['The Fantasticks', the world's longest-running musical, which ran for a total of 42 years and 17,162 performances off Broadway]
Publication details: 
Frank Music Company Ltd, 13 St George Street, Hanover Square, W1.
£80.00

v + 83pp. In grey printed wraps. Printed on rectos only and comb-bound. On aged and worn paper, with stamps of the Hire Library of Messrs Chappell & Co. Ltd, 50 New Bond Street. With pencil markings and annotations. Loosely inserted is an 'On Loan' receipt to 'Mr. T. Dickinson, 12A, York Mews, London, N.W.5.' The first English production of the play was at the Apollo Theatre, London, opening on 7 September 1961. It ran for 44 performances.

Syndicate content