TERENCE

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.

See his entry in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. A year before these letters Hodgkinson had become an assistant keeper in the Department of Architecture and Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert, where his first task had been to organize the display of the Hildburgh collection of English medieval alabasters. Also in 1946 Robertson had begun his long career at Edinburgh University, having worked through the war at Bletchley Park, before joining the unit assigned to track down works of art looted by the Nazis.

On one side of a 12mo a piece of grey-green paper; creased, worn and torn at the bottom. A fifteen-line poem in five three-line stanzas, titled ‘REST’. At end: ‘JOHN GAWSWORTH’. Proof directions in pencil to convert a full-stop at the end of the fourth stanza to a comma. While the poet's attempt at direct simplicity verges on triteness, one should recall that he served manfully in the RAF: ‘Beneath the oaks the soldiers lie / Staring at the open sky / Drowsily, lazily. / Like England is this plot of green / But in the mountains all unseen / The guns’ complaint affects the scene.

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. The occasion of the article was the forthcoming premiere of Rattigan’s play ‘The Sleeping Prince’, Olivier’s production of which, at the Phoenix Theatre in London, opened on 5 November 1953. The movie rights were bought by Marilyn Monroe, and the Hollywood film appeared in 1957 as ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’, with Olivier reprising his stage role, and Rattigan also writing the filmscript. See the entries on the Oliviers and Macqueen-Pope in the Oxford DNB. Interest in Beauchamp’s novels has grown in recent years.

Williams, who has an entry in the Oxford DNB, became a close friend of Spalding and her sister Anne after lodging with their parents during the Second World War. The present item is a transcription, made and printed out around the 1980s, of the 1961 radio programme, on one side each of 34 numbered pieces of A4 paper, loosely gathered by a black plastic spine.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, with light dabs of glue from mount on reverse. On 11.5 x 9 cm card with rounded edges. Clearly in response to a request for an autograph, he writes: 'For Louis Frewen / with all good wishes / from / Anthony Asquith / December 1931'.

2pp, 12mo. On aged and creased paper, with two torn spike holes resulting in loss of a few letters of text. Date stamp on reverse. The recipient is not named, but is presumably the BBC producer Terence Dudley (1919-1988). Writing three months before his death, Strong begins the letter: 'My dear Terence, | How very kind of you! I [d]on't have any dignity in such matters! and I'd love to have a go, whether live or recorded.

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.

On nine loose 12mo leaves torn from an album. In fair condition, on aged and browned paper. Wrapped by Gawsworth in a larger piece of paper, on the front of which he has written in pencil the presentation inscription: 'Kenilworth | love | from | His King | J R | 16 Feb. 1967', with the following in blue ink over the 'J R': 'Abdicated | Juan R'. 'Marlow Hill' was Gawsworth's fourth collection, self-published by his Richards Press in 1941. Three of the nine leaves carry layouts of the book's title-page and prelims, with pencil notes 'Pubd 15 Oct 1941' and '33 lines to page'.

9pp., 8vo. In fair condition, on nine leaves of worn and creased paper, the first leaf white, the others green. Minor emendations throughout. The poem is in five sections: 'The Exhortation' (beginning: 'In the crook of my arm | Rest again, nest again.