OLIVE

[Frederic Vanson, Essex poet, journalist and lecturer.] 19 letters (12 in autograph and 7 typed), to the playwright Christopher Fry, with draft introduction by Fry to a proposed poetry collection by Vanson, and typescript of three of Vanson's poems.

Author: 
Frederic Vanson (1919-1993), Essex poet, journalist and lecturer, wife of the painter Olive Bentley [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright]
Publication details: 
Between May 1971 and November 1986 (two undated). All from 24 Morley Grove, Harlow, Essex.
£400.00

An interesting and sprightly correspondence, mainly concerned with the practicalities of the vocation of a minor provincial poet. See David Gaskin’s obituary of Vanson, Independent, 27 July 1993, and Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. A second slice of Vanson material from the Christopher Fry papers (the other collection is offered separately). The collection consists of twenty-one items: nineteen letters from Vanson to Fry, a one-page typescript of three of Vanson’s poems, and a draft of an introduction by Fry to a proposed collection of poems by Vanson.

[Frederic Vanson, Essex poet and journalist; his wife the painter Olive Bentley.] Eight Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed from Vanson to playwright Christopher Fry, collection of poetry typescripts, and ALS to Fry from Bentley.

Author: 
Frederic Vanson (1919-1993), Essex poet and and journalist; his wife the painter Olive Bentley [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright]
Publication details: 
Correspondence dating from between 29 December 1983 and 12 January 1993. Letters of 1983 and 1984 from 24 Morley Grove, Harlow (Essex); the rest from 178 Elm Tree Avenue, Walton on the Naze (Essex).
£400.00

See David Gaskin’s obituary of Vanson, Independent, 27 July 1993, and Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, with one leaf of poetry typescript creased. Vanson’s eight Autograph Letters Signed date from between 29 December 1983 and 12 January 1993. total 11pp, 8vo, and 2pp, 12mo. One of the letters is lacking all but the last (signed) page; the others are complete. Vanson’s Typed Letter Signed is 1p, 8vo. It is undated, but dated by Fry to 14 August (no year, but from the context written in 1992). The nine letters are all signed ‘Frederic’.

[Frederic Vanson, Essex poet and journalist.] Scarce poetry pamphlet 'Essex Images', with signed Autograph Inscription to Christopher Fry; introduction by John Graham, and illustrations by Graham, Gwen Dymond, David Lee, Olive Bentley, Alan Burgess.

Author: 
[Frederic Vanson (1919-1993), Essex poet, journalist and lecturer; John Graham; Gwen Dymond; David Lee; Olive Bentley; Alan Burgess [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright]
Publication details: 
John Graham Fine Arts, Essex; 1984..On back cover: 'This edition is printed at 19 The Rows, Harlow. February 1984.'
£100.00

Scarce: the only copy located on WorldCat and COPAC at the Tate Library, London. Unpaginated stapled and duplicated pamphlet: 16pp, 4to. Cover illustration by John Graham. No wraps called for. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. In Vanson's autograph, at top right of cover: 'For Christopher - | affectionately | Frederic | 3.

[William J. Thoms; Princess Olive] Autograph Letter Signed William J. Thoms to Doyne Bell, antiquarian, sometime employee in the Royal Household, about Princess Olive, the impostor.

Author: 
William J. Thoms [William John Thoms (1803 -1885), writer credited with coining the term folklore in 1846. Thoms's investigation of folklore & myth led to a later career debunking longevity myths]
Publication details: 
40 St George's Square, SW, 19 Jan. 1877.
£56.00

Three pages, bifolium, black-bordered, good condition. Text: Do you know a Mr Tobin who is writing a Life of the Duke of Kent. | I have here a cool & curious Letter asking me to lend him my 'two volumes of Mm Serres Memoirs of HRH' & speaks of the value of her views upon the matter [as?] 'that lady was versed in the history of that period' [phrase underlined].

Autograph 'Copy Letter to the King from the Princess Olive', with petition, by Royal imposter Olivia Serres, signed by her 'Olive Princess of Cumberland'

Author: 
Olivia Serres [née Wilmot] (1772-1834), English Royal imposter, claiming the title Princess Olive of Cumberrland [King William IV; Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland]
Publication details: 
Petition dated from London. February 1833.
£850.00

23pp., foolscap 8vo. On six bifoliums of laid paper with 1833 Britannia watermark of Gilling & Alllford. Good, on lightly aged and worn paper. Folded into the customary packet, and docketed on reverse of last leaf 'Copy Letter to the King from the Princess Olive'. The document was written shortly before Serres' death, and does not appear to have been published.

[The first two issues, in original wraps.] The Cape Illustrated Magazine. [The second volume iIncluding the first printing of 'In a Far-Off World' by 'Miss Olive Schreiner'.

Author: 
Prof. J. Gill, editor; Miss Olive Schreiner; J. D. Ensor; Lennox Riddoch; Ruth Mitchell; W. Hammond Tooke; C. F. Tobias; C. Wilson-Moore; T. E. Fuller; Grant Allen; Paul Tennant; Dennis Edwards
Publication details: 
Printed and published by Dennis Edwards & Co., 19, Long-street, Cape Town [South Africa]. September 1890 (vol.1, no.1) and October 1890 (vol.1, no.2).
£350.00

Both 4to, in identical green printed wraps. Both issues in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight chipping and wear to wraps. Same illustration of two women looking out from the deck of a ship on front wrap of both issues, and same advertisements on inside covers and back. The first issue has 'SPECIMEN.' stamped in red on the front. First issue: frontispiece and 50pp., preceded by four pages of advertisements and leaf carrying an address to the public from the publishers, and succeeded by leaf whose recto is headed 'Gardening for September' and whose verso is headed 'New Books.

Part of Autograph Letter Signed ('Olive Mackirdy') from the Anglo-Indian journalist and philanthropist Olive Christian Malvery, discussing her efforts to raise money for the building of shelters in London for homeless women.

Author: 
Olive Mackirdy [née Olive Christian Malvery] (1877-1914), Anglo-Indian journalist and philanthropist, who raised money for two shelters for homeless women in London
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated (but written after her marriage in 1904).
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. The final leaf of the letter only. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. A poignant letter, given its author's early death. Regarding 'the Shelter' Mackirdy writes that 'Lady Brassey the Duchess of St Albans Lady Radnor & others have been giving big dinner parties etc for me & I only go in order to meet people who will help with the Shelter. I am not very strong and have such heavy work that now I find I simply cannot indulge my own tastes & enjoy my firends if I am going to do definite work.

Printed programme of a concert by Albert Sammons, 'Assisted by Olive Goff (Soprano) | Gerald Moore (Pianist)', with cover photograph of Sammons signed by him, and containing an advertisement for Columbia New Process Records.

Author: 
Albert Sammons [Albert Edward Sammons] (1886-1957), English violinist and composer [L. G. Sharpe, Haymarket; Olive Goff, soprano; Gerald Moore, pianist; Columbia New Process Records]
Publication details: 
'Programme and Book of Words SIXPENCE. L. G. SHARPE, 25, Haymarket, S.W.1.' Undated.
£65.00

8pp., 12mo. On shiny art paper. On aged paper, with the two staples rusted. Sammons has signed over the cover portrait of him by 'Haile, Bognor', 'Sincerely Yrs | Albert Sammons'. Including texts by Mary E. Coleridge, Lord Lytton and Sir Rabindranath Tagore. Central opening carries an advertisement stating that 'ALBERT SAMMONS Records ONLY for COLUMBIA Records', with list of eight 'Recent ALBERT SAMMONS Records'.

Scrapbook containing a hundred tickets from twenty-seven London theatres of the 1920s, with illustrations of actors.

Author: 
R. J. Olive [London theatres of the 1920s; theatrical ephemera]
Publication details: 
London: for performances dating from between 1922 and 1927.
£95.00

On fifty-seven pages, in a notebook of forty leaves (eighty pages). Dimensions: 20 x 16 cm. In red card covers with 'THEATRES' in manuscript on front. Pages aged and ruckled, with a little damp staining at rear (not affecting any of the ephemera) and a small amount of loss to a corner of the rear cover, but in fair condition overall. The first page, signed 'R. J. Olive', with title 'London Theatres'.

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