MANUSCRIPT

2pp, 4to. She begins by apologising for the tardy response to his letter, explaining: 'During these past months we have been very busy and I have found it almost impossible to find time for writing private letters beyond those to my immediate family.' She apologises for the fact that she was 'just going out when I met you in London last November. I did not then realise that you had come especially to see me.' The letter ends: 'Your tour of Canada and The States must have been extremely interesting.'

3pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. A long and entertaining letter, beginning: 'Dear Mr. Fry, | Probably late in 1949, in a New York City duplex living room, two married couples lay prone on the floor, fanned out around a single copy of “The Lady's Not for Burning”, the better to read aloud all its colorful roles. The couples were Alfred Drake (with whom I had played the previous season in my first Broadway play), his wife, my writer husband [i.e. Robert Presnell Jr] and I.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to 'B. Nicholson, Esq., | Brooks's, | St. James's Street, S.W.1.' (Nicholson was the son of Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville-West.) She begins by thanking him for his 'kind letter and charming gift of your drawings of St. Nectaire', adding: 'as an author my vanity is flattered by your appreciation of “Romanesque France”'. She is glad she has helped 'a certain number of people in getting to know some of the beauties of France', but feels 'something of a fraud about the book as without the help of my friend Mr.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering to one edge. Reads: 'Lieut: Colonel Sir Fleetwood Edwards begs to thank Miss Hogarth for her letter of the 22nd. Inst. and to return the enclosed letter, which The Queen did not desire to keep, as Her Majesty has the one which she intended to retain.'

The recipient Simon Nicholson was a colonial civil servant and a neighbour of Lugard at Tallboys in Abinger Hammer. He and his wife Molly were a cultured couple, and were friends of Edith Wharton and Bernard Berenson. The four letters are in good condition, lightly aged and worn, and each is 2pp, 12mo. Each folded once. The first three are signed 'Lugard' and the last, to Molly Nicholson, 'Fred Lugard'. In the first letter (23 September 1940), after expressing pleasure at seeing Nicholson again and having 'a talk', he begs him 'not to postpone your week-end here.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. Endorsed on reverse of second leaf. At the time of writing Molesworth was serving as First Commissioner of Works in Lord Aberdeen's coalition government. (In the year of his death Aberdeen would appoint him Colonial Secretary.) The letter begins: 'My dear Merivale | Last November I moved for the enclosed return and since then I have spoken to ]Pal?] [i.e. Viscount Palmerston?] about it who promised that it should be made.

1p, 8vo. Text clear and complete, on heavily chipped and worn thin paper, with loss to extremities. An unusual and revealing letter, in which Rothenstein gives his own jokey suggestion of how Horder should approach a biographical entry he has been asked to write, begins: 'My dear Horder – of course you will do it! “Mr W. R.

Both 1p, 4to, and in good condition, lightly aged and folded once. Both letters addressed to Hodes at Beit Rosenberg, Keron Heyesod Street, Herzlia-on-Sea, Israel. The subject of the letters is Centre 42, the touring arts group Wesker formed to bring culture to the masses on his release from prison, following a sentence for civil disobedience with the Committee of 100 in opposition to nuclear weapons. The group moved to the Roundhouse in London in 1964.

1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and lightly creased. Folded twice. The letter begins: 'Dear Bernard, | You probably know that I have just returned from Cuba and it was an exciting trip. | Unfortunately, one of the most depressing things was their very bad theatre; this is particularly because it is new and has no tradition, but also, to a great extent, due to their intolerable isolation.' Although there is little that they can do, Wesker promised to 'send as many plays and books' as he can.

Seventeen lines of text, on both sides of a piece of grey card. In good condition. Written in felt-tip pen, and difficult to decipher in places, as for example the Paris address and name of recipient. Begins: 'Surprise, surprise, dear [?], it is no longer true that I have not answered a single letter. Dear Nadia was so popular a person that I am still struggling with an Everest of condolences, and this far happier event has given me a momentary pause in my labours'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-creased grey paper. Addressed to 'Dear Prof Brunbaugh'. He explains that Brunbaugh's letter of 19 September 'went into a large collective envelope marked “For attention”', adding 'You can guess what that means. It is lucky ever to have come out.' He has 'made a copy of a short poem' for Brunbaugh, and hopes that he will go and see him when he next comes to Ireland.

2pp, 12mo. Creased and worn. Folded once. She explains that she and her husband and daughter are on the way to Rome, where they will stay at the Hotel Molaro for six days, and expresses the hope that 'we may have the pleasure of seeing you & Mr. Story during that time, if you are at home'. She admits that she feels 'a considerable hesitation about letting any of our friends in Rome know of our coming', as they are 'so overdone with “forestieri” at this time of year'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The slightest loss to margin at one edge. Good bold signature. Reads: 'Dear Sir | Enclosed please find p. o – o [i.e. postal order?] & stamps in settlement of enclosed | Yrs faithfully | Cecil Aldin'.

8pp, 12mo. On two attached bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight damage to margin of first leaf. Folded once. A long letter, closely and neatly written in English, responding to 'objections' to his 'Épilogue 1. Les impérialistes au pouvoir: 1895-1914' (1926), giving his evaluation of 'the Edwardian years' in English history, and contrasting his 'spirit' in the study Victorian England with that of Lytton Strachey.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. A white label has been stuck over the letter's salutation, but MacWhirter writes the name of the recipient at the end of the letter: 'W. Agnew Esq'. He cannot express the pleasure he felt on receiving Agnew's letter.

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. In reply to a letter by Hodes he writes that he is 'happy to hear that Beethoven's Missa Solemnis has made such a deep impact on you which it should make on every listener'. He feels 'very much privileged indeed for having been granted the possibility to present this work for the first time in Israel', and hopes 'to have occasion to perform that great piece there again as well as others which will be important and good to hear'.

1p, 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly creased and worn. Folded once. Reads: 'Dear Capt [How?], | I am expecting you to morrow Thursday at Princes Restaurant 1.30 pm | Yrs vy sincerely | A H Savage Landor.' Endorsed in pencil on reverse: 'author of IN THE FORBIDDEN LAND. | EXPLORER TO TIBET. | IMPRISONED | TORTURED | DECEASED'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Conventionally-presented printed notice, in copperplate with mourning border, with address and date at foot. Reads: 'Mrs. Neville Chamberlain is deeply grateful for the wonderful messages and letters which she has received and she sends you her heartfelt thanks for your sympathy.' At the head of the notice is the ANS: 'Thank you Sir Egerton so much. I [?] you are right in what you say about my husband's efforts & work. & I like to have your sympathy. | Anne Chamberlain'.

Two pages, 8vo, bifolium, closed tear on fold, sl. darkeing at edge, mainly good condition, third page with brief biography of Say in French in another hand, adding presumably about his correspondent (?) that "[Say] se consacra a l'economie politique. Comme Smith, il combattit les prohibitions, les imports de consummation [...]". Fourth page has the correspondent's address in Say's hand, and is docketed with name and date. Text of letter: He initially thanks Smith for his letter to him "qui eleve une question interessante sur le produit qui varie le moins envaleur.

Paper, 13 x 6cm, upper edge sl ragged from detachment from larger page, good condition.

1p, 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, and folded several times. The main text reads: 'Gentn | By inserting the following correct [last word underlined] Statement of Benefits at the Liverpool Theatre (this season) in your next Mirror you'll particularly oblige your most obt. Servt. | Edwd. Murray'. Beneath this is a list of the names of 15 individuals, with the amount of money made by each one's benefit, coming to a total of £2665. The list begins with 'Miss Murray £263' and ends with 'Mr Simmons 101'. The penultimate entry is for 'Mr Wild (Prompter) 103'.

Good clear signature on one side of slip of paper, an irregular rectangle roughly 1.5 x 12.5 cm. In fair condition, aged and worn, with traces of mount on reverse. Reads: 'Your's [sic] most affectionately | James Hogg'.

1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight wear at head repaired on reverse with archival tape. The context of the letter is explained in Fawcett's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'In September 1829 Fawcett was superseded in the management of Covent Garden […] the theatre in which he had been a main prop for thirty-nine years. With a salary of £100 a year allowed him as treasurer and trustee of the Covent Garden Theatrical Fund he retired to a cottage at Botley, near Southampton.' The letter begins: 'Some weeks back I enclos'd you a draft for £10 intended for the Widow Paulo.

Postcard with printed stamp. In good condition, on aged paper. Address by her to 'Miss Johnson [identified in pencil as Isa Johnson] | 23 Weltje Road | Hammersmith | London - W'. The card reads: 'My thanks for your letter - I am sorry I did not see you to speak to the other day. I hate leaving here in next few days it has done me such a lot of good.'

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The letter casts an interesting sidelight on the practicalities of the late-Victorian theatre. He begins by explaining that he is sending back a wig he made for him, which was 'an admirable one in every way', and asking that he make him 'one like it for America & to bestow your best skill on it as it is of great importance to me'. He instructs him to 'make the wig a shade darker, something of the color it is dyed behind, & put a little natural white hair on the temples each side'.

2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn. Folded twice. The letter begins: 'When my Eugenic play “The Blindness of Virtue” was first produced at the Little Theatre two years ago [i.e. in 1912] (about which Dr Saleeby [i.e. eugenicist Caleb Saleeby (1878-1940)] wrote very kindly & in great agreement in the P. M. G) you were kind enough to send a member of your staff to see me for a talk.' He explains that since that time he has had the play 'in the United States & Canada where it is still running & I have many more things to say about it & those places'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'My very dear Friend, | I lack words to express my real gratitude for your heartfelt kindness to so young a fellow as your devoted comrade, here writing'. He hopes for an opportunity to show proof of his 'profound and hearty friendship'. He ends with renewed thanks, and 'sincere loves [sic] to your good Wife and dear self'.

Both items are 2pp, 12mo, and bifoliums. Both in good condition, lightly aged, and each folded once. The second has rust marks to margin from a paperclip. Given the sunbject-matter, the recipient may be a relation of the actress Mrs William Barry (1739-1771), whose maiden name was Osborne. ONE: 17 August 1769; on Park Road letterhead. Signed 'Ch. Fechter.' He begins by announcing: 'I have, by no means, altered my mind; but have been – and am still – strolling about the country'.

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Written in a clear and attractive hand. The recipient is not named. Begins: 'My dear & ever-honoured Friend! | Some business of great importance kept me nine days absent from this Capital. At my return I found your most obliging Letter of the 7th. instant, & was exceedingly delighted with your Kindness. You are indeed a matchless Nobleman.' He asks if the recipient is acquainted with Prince Charles of [Cunandia?], adding: 'I swear you knew the strangest varlet that ever was. It is pity.

Fourteen items, including three letters from Starkie and seven letters from the Oxford University Press – five of them from Geoffrey Cumberlege and two from G. W. S. Hopkins – and copies of two letters from Cumberlege to Fry's agent Emanuel Wax, and a copy of a letter from the OUP to Starkie. All dating from 1955. The collection is in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The three Starkie letters are all in autograph, and total 7pp. The first two are written from Madrid, and the last from the Athenaeum in Pall Mall.