PRESS

[Charles Williams inscribes a book to his wife Michal.] Divorce. [With copy of Autograph Letter from Neil Tyler to playwright Christopher Fry, regarding the circumstances of his acquisition of the book.]

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century English verse drama; Sambhu Nath Roy
Publication details: 
Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, London, 1920. [Letter from Sycamore Farm, Alphamstone, Bures, Suffolk, 1982.]
£150.00

120pp, 12mo. No dustwrapper. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, tight in lightly-worn green cloth with dulled gilt. Inscribed by Williams in pencil on front free endpaper: 'For Michal'. A collection of around fifty poems, including five addressed to the author's wife: 'To Michal: After a Vigil'. 'To Michal: On Forgiveness', 'To Michal: On Brushing her Hair', 'To Michal meditating a new Costume', 'To Michal: On Disputing outside Church'. Accompanying the volume is an Autograph Letter Signed from 'Neil' to 'Dear Christopher and Dear Phyl', i.e. Christopher Fry and his wife Phyllis.

[Charles Wadsworth inscribes Rampant Lions Press book with his illustrations to poems on Robert Frost to Christopher Fry, also signed by author.] Seed Leaves | Homage to R. F. | Poetry by Richard Wilbur | Prints by Charles Wadsworth.

Author: 
Richard Wilbur; Charles Wadsworth; Richard R. Godine, Publisher, Boston; Will Carter, Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge [Christopher Fry; Robert Frost]
Publication details: 
David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston. [No 44 of '160 copies only designed and printed by Will Carter at the Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge, England'] 1974.
£150.00

Beautiful stitched pamphlet, with three gorgeous colour natural history prints by Wadsworth, comprising frontispiece and one other full-page print, and double-page print incorporating the words of the title. Near fine. Text unpaginated, printed on eleven pages, over eight leaves of green laid paper. Numbered 44 on the colophon, which carries the device of the Rampant Lions Press, and is signed 'Richard Wilbur' and 'Charles E.

[Robert Lax inscribes a copy of his first book to the playwright Christopher Fry and his wife, 'merely to think of whom gladdens the heart & makes the countenance shine'.] The Circus of the Sun. [Signed by Lax and illustrator Emil Antonucci.]

Author: 
Robert Lax (1915-2000), American poet, friend of Thomas Merton; Emil Antonucci (1929-2006), artist, illustrator and proprietor of the Journeyman Press, New York [Christopher Fry]
Publication details: 
New York: Journeyman Books, 1959.
£380.00

[55]pp, 8vo. Number 448 of 500 copies, with colophon signed by 'Robert Lax' and illustrator 'Emil Antonucci'. In quarter binding of spine in plain black cloth and paper boards on which are printed circus photographs by Charles Harbutt. Nice inscription on front free endpaper: 'For Mr & Mrs Chistopher Fry, merely to think of whom gladdens the heart & makes the countenance shine, | Robert Lax'. Lacking the original plain glassine dustwrapper. In good condition, apart from a 6 cm horizontal cut or rub mark to the front board, which is not overly obtrusive.

[Christopher Fry, playwright.] Two items from his papers: an American first edition of his play 'A Yard of Sun', together with proof leaves of a later printing of the play, entirely reset.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century verse drama
Publication details: 
First edition: O.U.P. [Oxford University Press], New York. 1970. Proofs undated and without publishing details. [New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc. 1998?]
£450.00

The two items are from the playwright's own papers. FIRST EDITION: [8] + 113pp, 8vo. A good tight copy in lightly-aged brown cloth and price-clipped cream dustwrapper with attractive design by Edward Blakeney in brown and black on front cover, and slight chipping to bottom edge at back. Label with English price on back of dustwrapper. No autograph interpolations. PROOFS: 96pp, 8vo. Duplicated printed pages, each page on a separate leaf. Paginated 1-96.

[Richard Carlile writes from Dorchester Gaol following his conviction for blasphemous libel.] Original number of Carlile's 'The Republican', as issued from press in original blue covers, containing various pieces relating to his imprisonment.

Author: 
Richard Carlile (1790-1843), publisher and writer, leader of the Rotunda Radicals, disciple of Tom Paine, lover of Elizabeth Sharples (1803-1852), suffragist
Publication details: 
[The Republican, London.] 18 January 1822. No. 3. Vol. V. Printed and Published by R. Carlile, 55, Fleet Street.
£280.00

A nice artefact, a number of Carlile's celebrated radical journal 'The Republican' (espousing not only republicanism but also atheism, abolitionism and birth control) as it appeared from the press. For information on Carlile - described by E. P. Thompson as a 'Showman of Free Thought' - and his 'moral wife' the suffragist Eliza Sharples, see their entries in the Oxford DNB. For publishing various 'blasphemous' works by Thomas Paine, Carlile was fined £1500 and sentenced to three years in Dorchester Gaol.

[Alan Hadfield, sculptor and author.] Inscribed copy of his pamphlet 'An Essay on Bernard Shaw (being an account of one man's approach to our Anglo-Irish dramatist)'; with conclusion of Autograph Letter Signed to playwright Christopher Fry.

Author: 
Alan Hadfield (b.1904), sculptor and children's author under name 'Robin Dale', proprietor of the Northern Lights Press, Harrowgate [and latterly Devon] [Christopher Fry, playwright]
Publication details: 
Pamphlet by the Northern Lights Press, Devon, undated, but with inscription dated February 1975. Conclusion of ALS without date or place.
£50.00

Both items in good condition, lightly aged. PAMPHLET: 12pp, 8vo. Stapled in green wraps, printed on both sides of covers, and with drawing of Shaw by Hadfield, dated 1974, on front cover. Containing a few autograph emendations. Inscribed on front cover: 'To Christopher Fry, | from | Alan Hadfield, | Greetings! | Feby 1975'. A quirky and highly personal response to Shaw, combining anecdote, reminiscence and original poetry.

[Charles B. Wilder, Boston abolitionist.] Printed pamphlet: 'An Inquiry into the Causes of Frequent Changes in the Ministry, and the Diminished Power of the Churches to hold the People in the House of God.'

Author: 
C. B. Wilder [Charles B. Wilder, Boston abolitionist and Superintendent of Contrabands] [Beacon Press, Boston; Thomas Todd, Printer; Congregational House]
Publication details: 
Boston: Beacon Press: Thomas Todd, Printer, Congregational House, Room 25, 1881.
£50.00

[2] + 16pp, 8vo. In wraps on the front cover of which is printed the title-page, with a 'Note' by Wilder on the reverse. Sixteen pages of text with drop-head title: 'Churches and Ministers Considered'. In poor condition, aged and worn. Wilder's note explains his motive for writing: 'I am nearly four-score years of age - my life covering almost three generations. My opportunities for observation in city and country, North, South, East, and West, have been abundant.

[Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge.] Printers' dummy for the author of 'Root & Sky. Poetry from the plays of Christopher Fry. Compiled and arranged by Charles E. and Jean G. Wadsworth. Collagraph-intaglios designed and printed by Charles E. Wadsworth.

Author: 
Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge; Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright; Charles E. Wadsworth and Jean G. Wadsworth; Will Carter and Sebastian Carter
Publication details: 
Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge. [Circa 1975.]
£1,500.00

A very nice artefact relating to a beautiful Rampant Lions production, published in 1975. Printers' dummy, produced to indicate the intended layout of the book, consisting of duplicated typed leaves, with emendations and printing instructions in manuscript, showing the intended arrangement of the 125 pages of letterpress (and including an alternative version of p.78), with eleven illustrations loosely interleaved. In good condition, lightly aged and worn.

[Charles Harold Herford, literary scholar, editor of Ben Jonson, professor in Wales and in Manchester.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'C H Herford') to 'Armstrong', regarding an 'indiscretion' and 'more timid & more cruel' proposals.

Author: 
C. H. Herford [Charles Harold Herford] (1853-1931), Manchester-born literary scholar, editor of Ben Jonson with Percy and Evelyn Simpson, professor in Wales and Manchester
Publication details: 
25 and 26 September 1914. Each on letterhead of 5 Parkfield Road, Didsbury, Manchester.
£35.00

Both in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: 2pp, 12mo. He 'must bear the entire blame' for 'an indiscretion', and is 'exceedingly sorry'. 'Nothing was said between us in regard to the giving or withholding of addresses, & I had not at that time considered the point.

[Rudyard Kipling: American fine printing of 'Britain's Favourite Poem'.] If.

Author: 
Rudyard Kipling; The Pinkham Press, Boston, Mass.; Robert S. Pinkham
Publication details: 
Colophon: 'PINKHAM PRESS | CHRISTMAS | 1937'. [The Pinkham Press, 286 Congress Street, Boston, Mass.]
£100.00

[12]pp, 16mo. Tastefully printed in brown and black, and stitched into grey-green wraps, on the cover of which is the word 'If' in large gold print, enclosed in a brown rectangle. In good condition, lightly aged. Colophon on reverse of title, and on facing page a note with facsimile signatures of 'Robert S.

[UK Parliament: the first Secret Session in House of Lords, 1916.] Twenty-seven items from papers of N. D. Bosworth Smith of Privy Council Office, including draft Order in Council, correspondence from Lords Crewe, Lansdowne, Morley, Haldane, Milner.

Author: 
UK Parliament: the first Secret Sessions, 1916 [House of Lords; Secret Sittings; N. D. Bosworth Smith of Privy Council Office; Lords Crewe, Lansdowne, Morley, Haldane, Milner, Duke of Devonshire
Publication details: 
Privy Council Office and other locations in London and elsewhere in Great Britain. 20 to 25 April 1916.
£1,350.00

An interesting collection of material relating to the preparations for the historic first Secret Session in the House of Lords, from the papers of Neville Digby Bosworth Smith (1886-1964) of the Privy Council Office. The material dates from the five days preceding 25 April 1916, when the House of Lords having voted in favour of the measure, it held a secret session to debate a motion regarding conscription following the passing of the Military Services Act 1916. (For a contemporary account of the parallel proceedings in the other house, see Sir C. P.

[Sir William Hunter, Scottish historian, statistician and Indian civil servant.] Autograph Presentation Inscription, with Signature ('W W Hunter').

Author: 
Sir William Hunter [Sir William Wilson Hunter] (1840-1900), Scottish historian, statistician, Indian civil servant and editor of the Imperial Gazetteer of India and Oxford 'Rulers of India' series
Publication details: 
Oaken Holt. 1895.
£20.00

On 12mo leaf, intended to be inserted in a book. In good condition lightly aged and worn. Centred on the page the inscription reads: 'With the author's kind remembrances. | W W Hunter. | Oaken Holt. | 1895.' The reverse is blank.

[Christopher Fry: 'The Dark is Light Enough', Corrected Proofs.] Revise Proofs of the first edition of 'The Dark is Light Enough' (Oxford University Press), with Autograph Emendations.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright [Oxford University Press]
Publication details: 
[London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1954.] Red ink stamp at foot of first page: '15 APR 1954 | REVISE'.
£650.00

103pp, 8vo. Revises of the text of the play (and not the prelims) in unbound signatures. In fair condition, lightly aged. Red ink stamp at foot of pp.1 and 40: '15 APR 1954 | REVISE'. Numerous autograph emendations, nearly all minor and relating to accidentals, but with five verbal changes, of which the following two are the most significant. Printed on p.9: 'KASSEL. Well, Bella, does she seem to be in trouble? | BELLA. She says the only trouble is us who trouble ourselves.' amended in autograph to 'KASSEL. Well, Bella, where has she been/ | BELLA.

[Chiswick Press, London.] Small printed pamphlet: 'A List of Typographical and Bibliographical Works by Chas. T. Jacobi | Managing Partner of the Chiswick Press'.

Author: 
'Chas. T. Jacobi, Managing Partner of the Chiswick Press' [Charles Whittingham and Co., London publishers and printers]
Publication details: 
London: At the Chiswick Press | Tooks Court, Chancery Lane'. [Colophon: 'Chiswick Press: Charles Whittingham and Co. Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London.'] No date [1909].
£120.00

[16]pp, 16mo (11.5 x 7.5 cm). Stitched unpaginated pamphlet, tastefully printed with decorative headpiece to title, and the Press's celebrated device to the colophon. A frail survival, aged, worn and spotted, with one corner of last leaf dogeared. At foot of title-page: 'Any volume will be sent on receipt of Postal Order in advance.' Following the title-page are two pages with a history of 'The Chiswick Press. | Founded 1789.' Then a full-page advertisement for 'A Practical Treatise on the Art of Typography', with a full page containing 'Some Press Opinions'.

[A. H. Bullen [Arthur Henry Bullen], Elizabethan scholar, proprietor of the Shakespeare Head Press.] Autograph Letter Signed ('A. H. Bullen'), making arrangements for a meeting with F. A. H. Eyles of the Observer.

Author: 
A. H. Bullen [Arthur Henry Bullen] (1857-1920), Elizabethan scholar, editor and publisher, proprietor of the Shakespeare Head Press [F. A. H. Eyles of the Observer]
Publication details: 
26 November 1915; The Old George Inn, 77 Borough High Street, London, on letterhead of the Shakespeare Head Press, Stratford-upon-Avon.
£35.00

1p, 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. He thanks him for his letter of the previous day, and looks forward to seeing him on the Monday 'at the “Shakespeare Head Press” about 11.20 (and afterwards to the pleasure of your company at lunch)'. With the envelope, addressed to 'F. A. H. Eyles, Esq. | “The Observer” Office, | Newton Street, | High Holborn, W.C'.

[Walter Starkie, Irish author, Hispanic and Romany scholar.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to Christopher Fry regarding Spanish translation, W. B. Yeats and Abbey Theatre; with five letters from Geoffrey Cumberlege of OUP, two from G. W. S. Hopkins.

Author: 
Walter Starkie (1894-1976), Irish author, Hispanic and Romany scholar; Geoffrey Cumberlege (1891–1979); Gerard Walter Sturgis Hopkins (1892-1961) [Christopher Fry (1907-2005); Oxford University Press]
Publication details: 
All items dating from 1955. Two of Starkie's three letters from Madrid, the other on letterhead of the Athenaeum, London. Seven letters on letterheads of the Oxford University Press, London.
£500.00

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.

[Rolando Pieraccini, Italian sculptor, author and publisher ('Eurographica').] 43 Typed Letters Signed to playwright Christopher Fry, regarding the publication of signed limited editions of his works.

Author: 
Rolando Pieraccini [Roland Pieraccini], Italian sculptor and publisher ('Eurographica'), settled in Finland [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright]
Publication details: 
Earlier letters on letterheads of his Helsinki publishing house Eurographica; later letters on his personal Helsinki letterhead. Between 1984 and 1996.
£800.00

43 letters in 8vo and 12mo, making a total of 44 pp. Signed 'Rolando Pieraccini' and (latterly) 'Rolando'. Thirteen of the letters (1984-1986; all 8vo) on 'Eurographica' letterhead, the others (1986-1996; 27 in 12mo and 3 in 8vo) on Pieraccini's personal letterhead. Also present is a carbon copy of a two-page letter from Pieraccini to Penny Eckley of Oxford University Press, regarding copyright matters. The collection in good condition, lightly-aged.

[Jon Stallworthy, literary critic and poet.] Typed Letter Signed ('Jon') to the playwright Christopher Fry, praising Fry's 'screen-play for the film of Genesis', which John Bell of the Oxford University Press had wanted to publish.

Author: 
Jon Stallworthy [Jon Howie Stallworthy] (1935-2014), literary critic and poet, Oxford University Professor of English [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright; John Bell; Oxford University Press]
Publication details: 
Wolfson College, Oxford; 8 February 2001.
£120.00

1p, 8vo. In good condition. Folded twice. With secretarial note in blue pencil, recording response by 'C.F.' The letter concerns Fry's screenplay for the 1966 film 'The Bible: In the Beginning...', produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Huston, which recounts the first 22 chapters of the Book of Genesis. Stallworthy wonders whether Fry remembers 'that, “in the dark backward and abyss of time”, the OUP wanted to publish your screen-play for the film of Genesis, but the film company's lawyers wouldn't allow it.

[Rita Spurr, poet.] Autograph Letter Signed to playwright Christopher Fry, with copy of her Guild Press poetry pamphlet 'Footprint in Snow', and New Year card with photographic print.

Author: 
Rita Spurr, Manchester poet and social worker [John Hoffman, proprietor of the Poetry Guild, Holymoorside, Chesterfield, whose imprint was The Guild Press; Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright]
Publication details: 
Letter: Flat 4, 7 Netherhall Gardens, Hampstead [London]; 31 December 1954. Pamphlet (in 'The Guild Poets' series): The Guild Press, Holymoorside, Chesterfield; August 1954. New Year card for 1954 / 1955.
£120.00

Three items (letter, photographic card, and pamphlet), all in good condition. ONE: ALS. 31 December 1954. 1p, 8vo. Signed '(Mrs.) Rita Spurr.' and addressed to 'Dear Mr. Christopher Fry'. She begins by thanking him 'for the very great pleasure & stimulus' which she derived 'during the year that is passed' from his play 'The Dark is Light Enough'.

R. V. Williams and the Mourne Press.] Signed ('Richard Rowley.') and inscribed ('R. V. Williams') copy of 'The Big Grey Man | A Legend of Mourne', with 'Illustrations after woodcuts by Lady Mabel Annesley'.

Author: 
'Richard Rowley' [pseudonym of the Ulster poet Richard Valentine Williams (1877-1947), proprietor of the Mourne Press]; Lady Mabel Annesley (1881-1959), illustrator and artist
Publication details: 
[Newcastle, Co. Down.] 'Published by the Mourne Press for the author.' [Slug on last page: 'BANBRIDGE CHRONICLE PRESS'.]
£320.00

[12]pp, landscape folio. Sewn with red thread. The words 'The Big Grey Man' on cover and title-page in red ink, rest of pamphlet in black ink. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. A 48-line poem, in eight six-line stanzas, spread over three rectos, signed at end 'Richard Rowley.' Inscribed on title-page: 'Mrs. Brown. | With best wishes for Christmas | from | Mr. & Mrs. R. V. Williams. | 1942.' Six bucolic illustrations reproduced from woodcuts by Annesley, including one on cover. Colophon on recto of last leaf, with printers' slug on otherwise-blank reverse.

[Engraving by John Pye, from drawing by Robert Balmanno, printed by John Johnson (of the Lee Priory Press).] Engraving of 'Cenotaph erected at Stoke Park, to the Memory of the Poet Gray.' With text including the 'Inscriptions on the Cenotaph'.

Author: 
John Johnson (1777-1848), typographer and printer (at the Lee Priory Press of Sir Egerton Brydges); Robert Balmanno (1780-1861), connoisseur; John Pye (1782-1874), engraver; Thomas Gray
Publication details: 
'Johnson, Typ.' 1818.
£200.00

On 34 x 27 cm unwatermarked laid paper. Dimensions of plate 34 x 23 cm. Dimensions of print 5.1 x 7.4 cm. Dimensions of print and text 15 x 7.4 cm. In fair condition, lightly aged, spotted and creased, with stub from album adhering to one margin. This is an early state of a print of which the British Library has a copy (acquired in 1867) of the undated third state, dated to 1820, carrying only four lines of text rather than the substantial amount present here. The present copy has, engraved in small letters immediately beneath the print: 'Robt. Balmanno delt. 1818. Jno.

[Home Secretary prepares Press for Ministry of Information on eve of World War Two.] 'Private and Confidential' typescript of 'Meeting between the Secretary of State for Home Affairs [Sir Samuel Hoare] and the Newspaper Proprietors Association etc.'

Author: 
Sir Samuel Hoare [Viscount Templewood]; Newspaper Proprietors Association [Ministry of Information; E. C. Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere; Daily Mail; Lord Burnham; Daily Telegraph; Fleet Street]
Publication details: 
'Home Office, Whitehall, S.W.1. [London] | Wednesday, 29th March, 1939.' '(Transcript from the Shorthand Notes of Treasury Reporter)'.
£650.00

Secret duplicated Home Office document, no other copy of which has been discovered (none on OCLC WorldCat, for example) and no reference to the meeting found.

[Charles Williams, C. S. Lewis.] Proof Copy: 'Arthurian Torso Containing the Posthumous Fragment of The Figure of Arthur by Charles William and a Commentary on the Arthurian Poems of Charles Williams by C. S. Lewis Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford'

Author: 
Charles Williams, C. S. Lewis [The Inklings, Oxford University; J. R. R. Tolkien]
Publication details: 
London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press. 1948.
£1,500.00

[8] + 200pp, 8vo. In light-brown wraps with title repeated on front cover. Worn, on aged paper, with the upper back few leaves dogeared, and spotting at foot of first few leaves. The present proof must in some regard differ from the published version, whose various listings on COPAC give it 200pp, rather than the 199pp here. Lewis's two-page 'Introductory' concludes with a vivid picture of the Inklings: 'The first two chapters had been read aloud by the author to Professor Tolkien and myself.

[David Gentleman illustrates the University Press in 'its quincentenary year'.] Copy of 'The Oxford Almanack | For the Year of our Lord God MDCCCCLXXVIII [1978]', with fine large coloured illustration of 'The University Press'.

Author: 
David Gentleman (b.1930), English illustrator taught by Edward Bawden and John Nash [Vivian Ridler, Printer to the University; Oxford University Press]
Publication details: 
1978. 'Printed at the University Press, Oxford, by Vivian Ridler, Printer to the University, and published by the Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6DP.'
£180.00

Printed on one side of a 75 x 56 cm piece of thick wove paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with short closed tearing to edges and two light vertical fold lines. The lower part of the page carries the almanack, flanked on the right by a list of the 'University Officers', and on the left by the 'Heads of Colleges'. The upper part of the page carries a fine 31 x 44 cm aerial view, in colours, of 'THE UNIVERSITY PRESS | From a drawing by David Gentleman for its quincentenary year', A nice item, now uncommon.

[Sir Joseph Prestwich writes to his successor in the Chair of Geology at Oxford, Alexander Henry Green.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Joseph Prestwich') to 'Professor Green', regarding the plates of his book 'Geology'.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Prestwich (1812-1896), geologist [Alexander Henry Green (1832-1896), Prestwich's successor as Oxford Professor of Geology]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Darent-Hulme, Shoreham, Sevenoaks. 1 May 1889.
£220.00

The previous year Green had succeeded Prestwich in the Chair of Geology at Oxford. In the same year the second volume of Prestwich's 'Geology' was published for the University by the Clarendon Press, the first volume having appeared in 1886. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. The subject of the letter is 'the plates of “Geology”', with Prestwich writing that his 'only object is to make the book useful in as many ways as possible.

[Admiral Beatty, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet, thanks the U.S. Sixth Battle Squadron for their help in 'bringing about the greatest naval victory in history'.] Pamphlet: '“Comrades of the Mist” | Admiral Beatty's Message to U.S. Squadron'.

Author: 
[Earl Beatty [Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty] (1871-1936), distinguished Royal Navy officer]
Publication details: 
'Reprinted from “The Times,” London, Wednesday, 18 December 1918.' London: Chiswick Press. [1918]
£220.00

An attractive Chiswick Press item (on the firm's own paper), possibly printed for Beatty himself. No other copy traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC. 3pp., 12mo. Printer's slug at foot of otherwise-blank reverse of second leaf. On laid paper with 'Chiswick Press' watermark. Aged and worn, with pin-hole through top inner corner of both leaves, and light staining at foot of first page. Reprinting a speech thanking the US Atlantic Fleet 'again, again, and again for the great part the Sixth Battle Squadron has played in bringing about the greatest naval victory in history'.

[Lord Beaverbrook responds to Collin Brooks's appeal for a job.] Two telegrams ('Maxwell Beaverbrook' and 'Max'), one in reply to Brooks's appeal on loss of editorship of Truth, with copy letter from publisher Ronald Staples.

Author: 
Lord Beaverbrook [Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook] (1879-1964), Fleet Street press baron [Collin Brooks, journalist and editor; Ronald Staples, publisher of the magazine 'Truth']
Publication details: 
Four items from 1952, the other from 1950.
£80.00

Five documents. The two telegrams are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn; the other items are in good condition. A photocopy of a typed page from Brooks's diary explains the context in entertaining fashion: '”Staggerer number one,” whispered Dick Swiveller over my shoulder this morning when on my office desk I found a letter from Ronald Staples giving me a twelve month's statutory notice of dismissal from the editorship of Truth.' He explains that the magazine is losing money, and criticises Staples's plans. 'However – here's a how-de-do!

[Hall Caine's brother Ralph threatens Lord Northcliffe's Amalgamated Press with legal action for 'stealing my idea' on popular publishing.] Two Typed Letters Signed from 'Ralph' to his 'Papa & mama', with his Typed 'complete [solicitors'] statement'.

Author: 
Ralph Hall Caine (1865-1939), Isle of Man author and journalist; brother of novelist Hall Caine [Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe; Sir Harold Harmsworth; Amalgamated Press]
Publication details: 
Letters on letterhead of 2 Tudor Street, London E.C. [Amalgamated Press Ltd offices] 15 March and 18 April 1907. Statement without place or date.
£120.00

The three items are in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: TLS, 15 March 1907. 4pp., 4to. He is sending a copy (i.e. Item Three below) of 'a complete statement of what has taken place up to date. In fact it is the actual statement I placed before my Solicitor this afternoon […] Of course this is what we might have expected from these people, and it does not come as a very great surprise. | It is a direct attempt to get out of their obligations, as they have done before, as they can get this new man, and have got him – at something like £500 a year without an interest'.

[Sir Harold Harmsworth, editor of 'The Field', to journalist Collin Brooks.] Typed Letter Signed ('Harold Harmsworth.') to Brooks, regarding his 'accurate picture of Rothermere' and 'that photograph of Northcliffe with Cecil Rhodes'.

Author: 
Sir Harold Harmsworth (1897-1952), editor of the Field, member of a leading Fleet Street family including Viscount Rothermere
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 8 Stratton Street, W.1. [London] 8 April 1948.
£40.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two punch-holes in margin. He has been reading Brooks's book ('Devil's Decade: Portraits of the Nineteen-Thirties') 'during a few days' holiday in Norfolk', and finds it 'excellent': Brooks has 'drawn a very accurate picture of Rothermere'. He proposes a time for them to 'meet again and have lunch'. He wonders whether Brooks 'ever came across that photograph of Northcliffe with Cecil Rhodes which I remember you mentioned you thought you had somewhere or other', asks for a sight of it.

[ London Press Club and James Nicol Dunn.] Presentation volume on Dunn's departure for South Africa during the Boer War, in luxury leather binding, with full-page calligraphic address by 'L.J.S.', signed by more than 150 Fleet Street figures.

Author: 
London Press Club [ James Nicol Dunn (1856-1919), editor of Morning Post; Harry Levy-Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham (1862-1933), Fleet Street press baron; Harry Lawson, Lord Burnham; Hannen Swaffer ]
Publication details: 
[ The London Press Club. 1911. ]
£320.00

In a luxury binding: navy-blue straight-grain morocco covers, watered silk endpapers, internal gilt dentelles and leather hinges. Initial calligraphic address by 'L.J.S.' mounted in card frame, followed by 14pp.of signatures (numbering in excess of 150), on the rectos of 14 pieces of gilt-edged card. In good condition, with slight wear to corners and at head and tail of spine.

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