RADIO

[Lawrence Sail, British poet.] Small archive of twenty-seven items, including seventeen printed poetry keepsakes, copies of three of his collections (two with signature of the poet Patric Dickinson), an Autograph Letter Signed, Autograph Cards Signed

Author: 
Lawrence Sail (b. 1942), contemporary British Poet [Patric Dickinson (1914-1994), poet, and his mistress Sarah Emmeline Hamilton]
Sail
Publication details: 
Between 1984 and 2018. Several from Devon (Tiverton and Exeter).
£1,500.00
Sail

From the papers of Sarah Emmeline Hamilton, whose extensive collection of letters from her lover the poet Patric Hamilton is offered separately. Sail is a widely-respected poet. He has presented the BBC Radio 3 programme 'Poetry Now' and 'Time for Verse' on BBC Radio 4.

['I write it as rapidly as I can, with my head full of Marcel': Pamela Hansford Johnson, writer and playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed to V. H. Collins, discussing her Proust-inspired BBC radio play 'Madame de Charlus'.

Author: 
Pamela Hansford Johnson [married name Pamela Helen Hansford Snow, Lady Snow] (1912-1981), writer and playwright, wife of the novelist C. P. Snow [Vere Henry Collins, author]
Publication details: 
31 December 1954. On letterhead of Nethergate House, Clare, Suffolk.
£56.00

An interesting letter, in which Johnson discusses her writing practice. See her entry and that of her husband in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. 2pp, 12mo. 27 lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight rust spotting from a paperclip. Folded twice for postage. On the topic of ‘Madame de Charlus’, one of the ‘Six Proust Reconstructions’ - plays by Johnson inspired by the work of Marcel Proust - just broadcast on the BBC Third Programme, she thanks him for his ‘most kind & pleasing letter’.

[C. E. M. Joad, popular philospher and member of the BBC ‘Brains Trust’.] Autograph Letter Signed, in pencil to V. H. Collins, complimenting him on his book [‘The Choice of Words’].

Author: 
C. E. M. Joad [Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad] (1891-1952), popular philosopher and radio personality on the BBC programme ‘The Brains Trust’ [Vere Henry Collins, author]
Publication details: 
[25 July 1952.] On cropped letterhead ‘The Hills and Bridgefoot Farm / From C. E. M. Joad, The Hills, Stedham, Midhurst / Manager: / John Hill / Bridgefoot’.
£65.00

A poignant letter, written during Joad's final illness (he died on 9 April 1953). Joad’s entry in the Oxford DNB ends with this assessment: ‘Cyril Joad was an outstanding educator, a tireless proponent of ‘progressive’ causes, and one of the best-known broadcasters of the 1940s.’ The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler, and the letter concerns his 1952 book 'The Choice of Words'. 2pp, 4to. Aged and discoloured, and cropped at the head with loss of a line of text. Folded once for postage. Date given in ink at head, presumably by Collins.

[Spike Milligan, influential British comedian, originator of 'The Goon Show'.] Good bold Autograph Signature, on a leaf from an album.

Author: 
Spike Milligan [Terence Alan Milligan] (1918-2002), British comedian, originator of the BBC radio series 'The Goon Show', in which he performed with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine
Spike Milligan
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£35.00
Spike Milligan

See his entry, and those of Sellers, Secombe and Bentine, in the Oxford DNB. On 11.5 x 10 cm leaf of light-blue paper, extracted from an album. In good condition, lightly aged, with short crease to one corner. Nothing else is written on either side of the leaf, apart from the large spidery signature 'Spike Milligan'. See Image.

[Kenneth Horne, much-loved comedian whose BBC radio series included 'Round the Horne'.] Autograph Note Signed, cut from a letter, regarding Frank Muir, pronunciation and a taxi to the Savoy.

Author: 
Kenneth Horne (1907-1969), much-loved comedian with three BBC radio series ‘Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh’ (1944–54), ‘Beyond Our Ken’ (1958–64) and ‘Round the Horne’ (1965–68) [Frank Muir (1920-1998)]
Horne
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£35.00
Horne

See Horne and Muir's entries in the Oxford DNB. On one side of 8.5 x 20.5 piece of paper cut from the conclusion of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. With fold from postage. Good firm signature. Reads: 'Re above from Frank Muir, I pronounced the name to my taxi-driver and had no difficulty. After he had taken me to the Savoy I came back here and had a marvellous meal / Kenneth Horne'. See image.

[Francis Durbridge, dramatist, creator of the BBC radio detective ‘Paul Temple’.] Part of Typed Letter, with Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Francis Durbridge [Francis Henry Durbridge] (1912-1998), English dramatist and author, creator of the BBC radio detective 'Paul Temple'
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£35.00

There were around thirty ‘Paul Temple’ radio serials between 1938 and 1968, along with four films, a dozen books, a television series and a newspaper cartoon strip. Despite obituaries in the major British newspapers Durbridge has not been granted an entry in the Oxford DNB. On 14 x 5.5 cm piece of light-blue laid paper, cut from a typed letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Good clear signature. Reads ‘Thank you for your nice poem - / Best wishes to Dave. / Francis Durbridge’.

[Marghanita Laski, novelist, journalist and radio personality.] Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’, explaining her reasons for postponing future reviewing.

Author: 
Marghanita Laski [née Esther Pearl Laski] (1915-1988), novelist, journalist and radio personality [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’]
Publication details: 
15 December 1973; on letterhead of Capo di Monte, Windmill Hill, London NW3 (with upside-down letterhead of Les Forges de Montgaillard, 11 Mouthoumet).
£56.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present item is 1p, small 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded.. Signed ‘Marghanita Laski’. She had no fears about the cheque for £50 he has sent: ‘I knew it would turn up.’ She thanks him for offering her ‘some reviewing.

[Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of radio: family correspondence.] 40 items to governess Millicent Goodsir ('Miss Unger') from Marconi's second wife Cristina [née Bezzi Scali], her mother and daughter: letters and cards in English, inscribed photographs.

Author: 
[Guglielmo Marconi [Marquis of Marconi] (1874-1937), inventor of radio, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics; his second wife Maria Cristina Bezzi-Scali, their daughter Elettra Giovanelli
Publication details: 
Most from 11 Via Condotti, Rome. 1914-1968.
£250.00

Forty items, in good condition, lightly aged and worn, with some of the photographs with evidence on reverse of having been mounted. Millicent Goodsir [née Unger] (1885-1983) was governess to Christina Bezzi Scali (1900-1994), daughter of Francesco, Count Bezzi Scali and his wife Anna (1879-1968). In 1927 Cristina became Marconi's second wife. Their only child was Maria Elettra Elena Anna Marconi (b.1930), who would marry Prince Carlo Giovannelli (1942-2016).

[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.] Carbon of Typed BBC script of ‘2nd Broadcast’ in the series ‘Theatre Songs and Stories / by / W. Macqueen-Pope’, on the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Author: 
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and its historian, W. Macqueen-Pope [Walter James Macqueen-Pope] (1888-1960) [BBC Radio]
Publication details: 
Undated, but shortly after the death of Ivor Novello on 6 March 1951. [BBC Radio, London.]
£120.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. His entry in the Oxford DNB describes how, in the 1950s, he was ‘in demand as a lecturer on the theatrical subjects he loved, and he appeared often in the same capacity on radio and on television. Ironically he regarded these two forms of public entertainment, and television in particular, as representing a serious threat to the survival of theatre, about which he cared passionately’.

[‘Suzette Tarri’, music hall comedienne.] Typed Letter Signed to P. W. Kerby and Typed Letter (signed on her behalf by her husband David Jenkins) to ‘Mr. Horsfield’, regarding bookings, with Autograph Letter Signed to W. Macqueen-Pope from Jenkins.

Author: 
Suzette Tarri [stage name of Ada Barbara Harriett Tarry (1881-1955), music hall and 'radio comedienne'; her husband and accompanist David Edmund Jenkins [W. Macqueen-Pope, theatre historian]
Publication details: 
ONE (ST to Kerby): 23 January 1944; her Southgate letterhead. TWO (ST to Horsfield): 29 March [no year]. THREE (Jenkins to Macqueen-Pope): 23 June 1950; different Southgate letterhead.
£100.00

From the papers of theatre historian Walter James Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960). (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) The three items are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Her two letters are pinned together. The letter to Kerby has the large and firm signature ‘Suzette Tarri’; the letter to Horsfield is evidently signed ‘Suzette Terri’ on her behalf by her husband. ONE (ST to P. W. Kerby): 23 January 1944. Letterhead of ‘“Suda” / 25 Manor Drive, Southgate, N. 14’ (‘SUZETTE TARRI / RADIO COMEDIENNE / WITH / DAVID JENKINS / THE POPULAR PIANIST-VOCALIST’). 1p, 4to.

[‘Britain's first recorded broadcast comedian’.] Autograph Letter Signed and Typed Letter Signed from Helena Millais to W. Macqueen-Pope, with printed press release for her show ‘Songs and Laughter’.

Author: 
Helena Millais [stage name of Helena Catherine Marriott] (1886-1970), Britain's first recorded broadcast comedian, actress and writer.
Publication details: 
TLS: 8 August 1957. ALS: 14 August 1959. Both from 5 Riverview Gardens, Barnes, SW13 [London].
£150.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) On 20 October 1922 Millais broadcast on 2LO radio, becoming the first comedian on what was later to become the BBC. In a performance on 21 November 1922 she became the third entertainer to appear on the week-old BBC. All three items in good condition, lightly aged, though the autograph letter has pin holes to a corner, and the typed letter rust from a paperclip. Both letters signed ‘Helena Millais’. ONE: TLS. 3pp, 12mo. Having met him ‘at various C.A.A. evenings, she asks him for advice about several books.

[Sir Oliver Lodge, physicist, inventor and Christian spiritualist.] Typed Letter Signed to Rev. A. H. Sayers, declining to speal to the Monmouth Town League of Nations Union.

Author: 
Sir Oliver Lodge [Oliver Joseph Lodge] (1851-1940), physicist, inventor and Christian Spiritualist [Rev. A. H. Sayers of the Monmouth Town League of Nations Union]
Publication details: 
18 April 1928; on letterhead of Normanton House, Lake, Salisbury.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed ‘To the Rev. A. H. Vayers’, but with the ‘V’ corrected in manuscript to ‘S’. Signed ‘Oliver Lodge’. Reads: ‘My dear Sir, / I am exceedingly busy, and a visit to Monmouth is quite out of the question. There are many others better qualified to speak for The League of Nations Union; and I trust you will have a successfull meeting.’

[W. H. Berry (William Henry Berry), English comic actor and BBC broadcaster.] Two long Autograph Letters Signed to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, full of reminiscence.

Author: 
W. H. Berry [William Henry Berry] (1870-1951), English comic stage actor associated with George Grossmith and George Edwardes, and BBC broadcaster [W. J. Macqueen-Pope, theatre historian]
Publication details: 
30 December 1947; on letterhead of Poplar Cottage, Beltinge Cliffs, Herne Bay. 6 March 1948; from Poplar Cottage.
£180.00

Berry was hugely popular during the Edwardian period and into the First World War. His greatest success was as ‘Mr Meebles’ in ‘The Boy’ (1917). See the recipient’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Both letters signed ‘W. H. Berry’, and the second with long postscript on separate 12mo leaf signed ‘W. H. B’. In fair condition, aged and worn. ONE: 30 December 1947. 4pp, 4to. ‘This letter will be quite a “rat-tat from the past” (as Geo. Graves used to say), & its many a long year since I last saw you - & much has happened since “those were the days” & carriages were at 11.

[‘The rudest man in Britain’ reduced to tears: Gilbert Harding, radio and television personality.] Producer Hugh Burnett's corrected proof of typescript of Harding’s celebrated interview with John Freeman in the BBC TV series 'Face to Face'.

Author: 
Gilbert Harding [Gilbert Charles Harding] (1907-1960), irascible British radio and television personality [John Freeman, interviewer on BBC programme ‘Face to Face’; Hugh Burnett]
Publication details: 
Undated, but BBC interview broadcast on 18 September 1960, and this item prepared for publication in 1964.
£75.00

The present item is producer Hugh Burnett's own copy, from his papers, of the transcript of John Freeman's interview with Harding, broadcast in the groundbreaking BBC television series 'Face to Face' on 18 September 1960, a few weeks before Harding’s death on 16 November 1960. Harding’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that, ‘in radio programmes such as The Brains Trust and Twenty Questions, and on television in What's my Line?, Harding became a great popular figure, especially of television in which he was probably the best-known performer in the country.

[‘Before your very eyes!’ Arthur Askey, comedian and entertainer.] Signed Autograph inscription: ‘Yours Big-Heartedly. / Arthur Askey.’

Author: 
Arthur Askey [Arthur Bowden Askey] (1900-1982), comedian and entertainer
Askey
Publication details: 
1938. No place.
£45.00
Askey

Dating from what his entry in the Oxford DNB describes as Askey’s ‘prime professional days’: ‘In 1938 Askey joined Powis Pinder's Sunshine concert party at Shanklin, Isle of Wight, where he performed successfully for the next eight years. In 1938 the BBC also engaged him for a new radio show called Band Waggon, in which his partner was Richard Murdoch. The show, first broadcast in January 1938, was an enormous success and its innovative style was perhaps Askey's greatest contribution to the entertainment business.’ On one side of a 12.5 x 8.5 cm piece of light-green card.

[Mabel Constandurous, star and writer of BBC radio series ‘The Buggins Family’.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to her agent ‘Miss Booth', discussing the success of her radio work, a fan letter from Compton Mackenzie, future engagements.

Author: 
Mabel Constanduros [Mabel Tilling] (1880-1957), commedienne and playwright, who wrote and starred in the BBC radio series ‘The Buggins Family’
Publication details: 
Neither item dated (but both after 1928). The first without place, the second on letterhead of Belhaven, Cornwall Road, Sutton.
£180.00

According to Barry Took’s entry on Constanduros in the Oxford DNB, ‘The Buggins Family’ was ‘the first radio family’, and she played all six parts, writing and performing in more than 250 episodes between and 1928 and 1948: ‘The popularity of the family was such that the Ministry of Food used Mrs Buggins to broadcast recipes during the Second World War.’Constanduros is also credited with having written more than one hundred plays. The recipient of these two letters, 'Miss Booth', is clearly her agent. Two items, the first in good condition and the second fair, on lightly discoloured paper.

[The Panel, Any Questions (Radio)] Signatures of F.H. Freddie Grisewood, Isobel Barnett, Bronowski and others

Author: 
The Panel. Any Questions? November 25, 1960 Tatworth. Freddie Grisewood, Isobel Barnett, Ralph Wightman, J. Bronowski, A.N. Other and Producer Michael Bowen .
Any questions
Publication details: 
[Tatworth, 25 Nov. 1960]
£100.00
Any questions

Page extracted from autograph album, 15 x 10cm, right edge rough, ow good condition. See image. The inks (green particularly) don't respond well to the camera.

[Christopher Fry discusses Christopher Hassall.] Two-page Typescript, with extensive Autograph Emendations by Fry, of a (BBC radio?) 'programme' by Fry about Christopher Hassall, with a separate Typescript poem (by Hassall?) 'Pilgrim's Way'.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, a leading exponent of verse drama [Christopher Hassall [Christopher Vernon Hassall] (1912-1963), poet and dramatist, biographer of Rupert Brooke
Publication details: 
No place or date, but some time after Hassall's death in 1963, and probably written from Fry's house, The Toft.
£250.00

3pp, 4to, each page on a separate leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. There is no indication that either item was published, nor even that the poem is connected to the 'programme'. (If unpublished the poem may have found its way into Fry's papers from Hassall's.) The 'programme' - with no title or heading - is two pages long (with slight damage from a small staple to corners of both leaves) and complete, being divided into six numbered sections.

[Terence Tiller, poet and radio producer.] Heavily-revised Autograph Draft ['Work-sheet'] of his poem 'Camels', with signed inscription; together with a typescript of the poem, also signed (both signatures 'Terence Rogers Tiller').

Author: 
Terence Rogers Tiller (1916-1987), poet and BBC radio producer, born in Cornwall, educated at Cambridge
Publication details: 
Both items dated May 1965.
£220.00

Tiller's entry in the Oxford DNB explains the background to this poem. In 1939 he 'went to Cairo to teach English literature and history at Fuad I University. During the Second World War he became closely associated with the group surrounding Personal Landscape, a review in the Middle East that had been founded and was edited by Lawrence Durrell, Robin Fedden, and Bernard Spencer'. Two items, both in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Autograph Draft of the poem, in pencil, with numerous deletions, emendations and rubbings-out. 1p, folio.

[Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of radio: family correspondence.] 40 items to governess Millicent Goodsir ('Miss Unger') from Marconi's second wife Cristina [née Bezzi Scali], her mother and daughter: letters and cards in English, inscribed photographs.

Author: 
[Guglielmo Marconi [Marquis of Marconi] (1874-1937), inventor of radio, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics; his second wife Maria Cristina Bezzi-Scali, their daughter Elettra Giovanelli
Publication details: 
Most from 11 Via Condotti, Rome. 1914-1968.
£850.00

Forty items, in good condition, lightly aged and worn, with some of the photographs with evidence on reverse of having been mounted. Millicent Goodsir [née Unger] (1885-1983) was governess to Christina Bezzi Scali (1900-1994), daughter of Francesco, Count Bezzi Scali and his wife Anna (1879-1968). In 1927 Cristina became Marconi's second wife. Their only child was Maria Elettra Elena Anna Marconi (b.1930), who would marry Prince Carlo Giovannelli (1942-2016).

[Sir Oliver Lodge, physicist, inventor and spiritualist.] Autograph Signature ('Oliver Lodge') for autograph collector.

Author: 
Sir Oliver Lodge [Oliver Joseph Lodge] (1851-1940), physicist and inventor in the field of radio, and Christian Spiritualist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

The signature 'Oliver Lodge' is firmly written in the bottom of three rectangular panels printed in red, with no other writing on the page, on one side of a 12mo leaf removed from 'The Meredith Birthday Book', the other side featuring quotations from the novelist for 13 to 15 June. In good condition, lightly aged.

[Christopher Fry, playwright.] Fry's own copy of his book 'Can You Find Me: A Family History', with autograph notes, containing correspondence from relatives, photographs, and a typed transcript of a radio interview, with autograph additions by Fry.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright [Oxford University Press]
Publication details: 
Book: Oxford University Press, 1978. Correspondence between 1982 and 1987. Interview [1979].
£750.00

The book is 272pp, 8vo. A good copy, lightly aged, with binding sunned along top, in worn dustwrapper. The volume contains – along with autograph corrections of incidentals – a couple of autograph notes in pencil, one of a minor nature and the other reading: 'Daisy & Charles attended the funeral – March 26 – as recorded in Archibald Marshall's diary'; also one minor emendation in ink. The material inserted in the volume is described below. Accompanying the volume is a long typewritten radio script of an interview between Fry and 'Leslie', with autograph additions in pencil by Fry.

[Mabel Constanduros [Mabel Tilling], radio comedienne.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Mabel Constanduros') to Fleet Street editor Collin Brooks

Author: 
Mabel Constanduros (1880-1957, born Mabel Tilling), radio comedienne, actress and screenwriter [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist and Fleet Street editor; Collie Knox (1899-1977), journalist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 9 Wetherby Gardens, S.W.5. [London] 13 December 1946.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight damp staining. Addressed to 'Mr Brooks'. She is sending 'the script for you. It can, of course, be knocked about how you like. It is just a peg on which to hang things.' She reports that 'Collie' (i.e. Collie Knox) was pleased with Brooks's message, 'and sent most cordial ones back to you'. She concludes: 'We had an extremely pleasant lunch, and I shall look forward very much to meeting you again'.

[C. E. M. Joad, philosopher, member of 'The Brains Trust' BBC radio panel, and convicted railway fare dodger.] Typed Letter Signed to Collin Brooks, editor of the Sunday Dispatch, outlining a proposed article on 'Nazi rule in Germany'.

Author: 
C. E. M. Joad [Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad] (1891-1953), English philosopher and radio broadcaster, whose career ended in disgrace [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), ournalist and Fleet Street editor]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 4 Easrt Heath Road, Hampstead, N.W.3. [London] 25 September 1939.
£50.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed 'Cyril Joad'. Written in the same month as Britain and France had declared war, the letter begins: 'I don't know whether you are still running the Sunday Dispatch, but if you are, how about an article on the philosophy which underlies the Nazi rule in Germany?

[ Arthur Wood, composer of 'The Archers' theme. ] Autograph Note Signed, sending condolences to the widow of composer Herman Finck.

Author: 
Arthur Wood (1875-1953), English composer best-known for 'Barwick Green', the theme to the BBC radio series 'The Archers' [ Herman Finck [ born Hermann Van Der Vinck ] (1872-1939), composer ]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, 20 Arlington Gardens, Chiswick, London. 22 April 1939.
£90.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Finck, | Mrs. Wood and I deeply regret to hear of the Passing of Herman. | Please accept our deepest Sympathy.' The word 'Ans'[wered]' is written at the head. Finck's 'In the Shadows' was one of the last tunes played as RMS Titanic went down.

[Radio Series; corrected typescript ] "Song Writers on Parade" No. IV - Herman Finck

Author: 
[ Herman Finck, composer and conductor ]
Publication details: 
National Empire, 8 June 1934
£180.00

Script, titlepage plus 6pp., folio, folded, very good condition. Converstaional interchange between "Announcer" and Herman Finck with background (and foreground) of Finck's songs, starting with "In the Shadows" and with Finck giving the history of the song. Finck "asks" John Rorke to sing 'The Constant Lover@ and teslls a story about the revue, Then comes Rorke singing "Gilbert the Filbert" with Finck narrative, followed by anecdote about soldiers singing one of his songs. Betty Huntley-Wright then sings "To Make a Man of you".

[ Val Gielgud and Nicholas Vane. ] Unpublished Typescript 'Death Comes to the Hibiscus. A New Play by Val Gielgud and Nicholas Vane'.

Author: 
Val Gielgud (1900-1981), actor, director and author; and 'Nicholas Vane' [ Francis Durbridge (1912-1998), playwright and author ] [ BBC Radio; British Broadcasting Corporation ]
Publication details: 
'Val Gielgud | Broadcasting House [ BBC ], London, W.1.' and 'Nicholas Vane | (Francis Durbridge) | c/o Christopher Mann Ltd, 45, Fountain House, Park Lane, London, W.1.' Undated [ circa 1941 ].
£450.00

149pp., 4to. Carbon copy. On rectos of leaves only, and bound in a buff card folder with metal clasps. Internally in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding. The play centres around 'the "Hibiscus" night-club, one of those London resorts which are alike the despair of Social Reformers and the delight of the Forces when on Leave. It is situated somewhere between Berkeley Square and Dover Street.' The typescript is clearly an actual play and not a radio play, but there is no record of it having been performed on stage.

Three Autograph Letters Signed "J.A. Fleming" (electronic engineer ) to Sir Henry Truman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir John Ambrose Fleming
Publication details: 
November 1915 to February 1916; London.
£250.00

English electronic engineer (1849-1945), inventor of thermionic valve. Widely considered to be 'the founder of electronics'. All three items good though grubby and on slightly discoloured paper. Item three dog-eared and grubby in top left-hand corner. All signed 'J. A. Fleming' and bearing the Society's stamp. ITEM ONE (two pages, quarto, 15 November 1915, University College, Gower St, to Wood, docketed): On the subject of a paper he proposes to give to the Society entitled 'The Organisation of Scientific Research'.

[Sir William Henry Preece, electrical engineer to the Post Office system.] Autograph Letter Signed and Autograph Note Signed (both 'W. H Preece') to Clement Hoult.

Author: 
Sir William Henry Preece (1834-1913), electrical engineer and inventor, a student of Faraday, electrican to the Post Office system [Clement Hoult, Wolverhampton accountant]
Publication details: 
The letter on letterhead of 8 Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster, S.W. [London] 24 April 1902. The note on letterhead of Gothic Lodge, Wimbledon Common. 30 April 1902.
£180.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly aged paper. LETTER: 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. He begins by informing him when he will be arriving in Wolverhampton from Euston, adding that he will be 'very glad' to see Hoult 'and the Chairman at the R[ailway]. S[tation].' He 'will have to go direct to the Agricultural Hall to give directions to my men what to do. Kerr comes down later.' He concludes in the hope that 'Mr Hook from Birmingham will come early also'. NOTE: 1p., 16mo. Mourning border. 'I have not seen a report of my address. Was it printed?'

['Francesca Marton' [Margaret Bellasis], historical novelist.] Typed Letter Signed ('Margaret Bellasis | "Francesca Marton') to 'Mr. Wiener', agreeing to give a talk to his 'Society' and discussing a BBC radio adapation of her work by Lance Sieveking

Author: 
Margaret Bellasis [Margaret Rosa Bellasis], historial novelist under the pseudonym 'Francesca Marton' [Lance Sieveking (1896-1972), English writer and BBC radio and television producer]
Publication details: 
"Pilot's Cottage", 35 Victoria Road, Deal, Kent. 2 March 1968.
£35.00

2pp., 12mo. 36 lines. She begins by accepting an invitation to give a talk to Wiener's 'Society', about which she has 'hears so much'. She is 'honoured to add my name to such a distinguished roll of speakers'. She next explains why she believes radio to be 'infinitely superior to TV'. She next turns to 'Mr. Sieveking's adaptation', which she considers 'very clever, as he had to leave out the descriptions which formed such an important part of the book. He allowed me to see and criticise all his scripts, too. I'm so glad you are liking the result. Isn't the signature-tune pleasing?

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