NO.

[Squadron Leader Nigel Rose, Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Nigel') to Martin Corden, expressing amazement at the 'cult' of the Spitfire, and discussing the sale of Bentley Priory.

Author: 
Squadron Leader Nigel Rose (1918-2017), Spitfire Pilot with No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Royal Air Force Squadron during the Second World War Battle of Britain [Bentley Priory, Stanmore]
Publication details: 
22 October 2007. With label carrying his Essex address.
£250.00

2pp, folio. In envelope with stamp and postmark, addressed to Corden's Mill Hill address. Letter folded twice, and letter and envelope in good condition. He begins by thanking him for sending 'the inscribed copy of Ken Delve's Story of the Spitfire - a truly excellent book just jam-packed with detail, - he must have done a prodigious amount of research to put it all together'. He is 'bowled over by the extent of [Corden's] munificence'.

[ Ministry of Munitions, First World War: Banbury factory. ] Two post cards, each with printed poem: 'An Appreciation' (of women workers), 'Composed by G. Gilbert, Munition Worker' and 'An Answer to "An Appreciation." By One on “The Other Shift.”'

Author: 
'Mr. G. Gilbert, Munition Worker' and 'One on "The Other Shift"'[ Ministry of Munitions National Filling Factory No. 9, Banbury, Oxfordshire, in the First World War; The Banbury Advertiser ]
Publication details: 
Both dating from the First World War. The 'Answer' published from '"Advertiser" Office, Banbury.' [ Oxfordshire ]
£150.00

Two First World War postcards, with the poems printed in black lengthwise on one side, and 'POST CARD' and the usual arrangement printed on the other side. Neither item with any manuscript text or other additions. Both in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Valuable artefacts, filled with information about the workings of a munitions factory, and reflecting the tensions between the male and female workers. No other copies traced, either in the Imperial War Museum, on OCLC WorldCat, or on COPAC. ONE: Headed 'An Appreciation. | (Copyright.)' At foot: 'Composed by Mr. G.

[The Coronation, 1953.] Plans, sections and elevations, with letters and memoranda, by the Scottish architect Joseph Wilson, ARIBA, for the 'Proposed Coronation Stand' and 'Accommodation' at London booksellers J. & E. Bumpus Ltd., 477 Oxford Street.

Author: 
[The Coronation, 1953.] [Joseph Wilson (b.c.1888), Glasgow architect; J. & E. Bumpus Ltd., 477 Oxford Street, prestigious London bookshop owned by J. G. Wilson [John Gideon Wilson] (1876-1963)]
Publication details: 
Joseph Wilson, 200 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, C2. [J. & E. Bumpus Ltd., 477 Oxford Street, London.] Eleven items, all dating from 1952.
£450.00

For more about Joseph Wilson, ARIBA, FRIAS, see his entry in the Dictionary of Scottish Architects. From the familiar tone of his letters (Items Seven, Ten and Eleven below), there is every indication that he was closely related to his client, J. G. Wilson, proprietor of the prestigious firm of J. & E. Bumpus Ltd, and a man described by Sir Basil Blackwell (in his DNB entry on Wilson) as 'the most famous English [sic] bookseller of his time'. Eleven items, in good condition, lightly aged and worn.

Programme, with signatures, entitled 'The Centenary Meeting of the Reading Lodge of Union No. 414, held at the Masonic Hall, Greyfriars Road, Reading, on Thursday, Twenty-sixth day of October, Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-three.'

Author: 
Reading Lodge of Union No. 414 [Freemasons; Freemasonry; Masonic]
Publication details: 
Printed at The Crown Press. Caxton Street, Reading, by Bradley & Son, Ltd. [1933.]
£85.00

Octavo, 16 pages. In original cream wraps, tied with blue ribbon, and with the insignia of the Lodge printed on the front. Good, if a little aged. Creased where folded in half. With the signatures of seven of the Lodge's members in pencil on front wrap (Bob Bradley, P. H. Crozier, Herbert L. Hawkes and others). From the collection of the pamphlet's printer Robert W. Bradley, who is listed among the Lodge's Officers as 'Organist', and who signs 'Bob Bradley'.

Syndicate content