VIENNESE

[Dr Innocenz Grafe [Dr I. Grafe], Viennese art historian; Rembrandt.] Typed Letter Signed, asking art historian Giles Robertson, on behalf of Prof. Otto Benesch and his publishers Phaidon, if he will assist with ‘stylistic revision’

Author: 
Dr Innocenz Grafe [Dr I. Grafe], Viennese art historian, translator and book editor, primarily with the London firm Phaidon [Giles Henry Robertson (1913-1987), Italian Renaissance expert]
Publication details: 
11 May 1954. On letterhead of Phaidon Press Ltd, Publishers, 3 Cromwell Place, London SW7.
£80.00

Grafe’s putative intelligence work during the war is referenced in Helen Fry’s ‘The Walls Have Ears | The Greatest Intelligence Operation of World War II’ (2019). He worked as translator and editor from as early as 1950 (for Phaidon) and 1986 (for Thames and Hudson). Nigel Spivey, in his ‘Phaidon 1923-98’ (1999), describes how, during the ‘Harvey Miller period’ at the firm, ‘Steady editorial continuity within the workforce at Cromwell Place was provided by an ex-Viennese scholar called Innocenz Grafe (who for a perhaps obvious reason preferred to be known as simply ‘Dr G.’ ’.

[ Douglas Woodruff and Dr Max Bindermann ] Typed Letter Signed from Woodruff to Bindermann, defending the Tablet's position on the Hungary; with typed article by Bindermann on the Habsburgs and Fascist Fatherland Front; and autograph notes by him.

Author: 
Douglas Woodruff (1897-1978), editor of 'The Tablet', London Roman Catholic newspaper; Dr Max Bindermann, Viennese lawyer and socialist, an emigré in London
Publication details: 
Woodruff's letter on letterhead of The Tablet, London. 6 November 1939. Bindermann's article undated (but in response to one in the Tablet, 11 November 1939). Some notes dated 27 February 1940.
£180.00

The three items in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. ONE: TLS by 'Douglas Woodruff'. 1p., 4to. The letter begins testily: 'Dear Sir, | I was rather puzzled to receive your letter in the form of a carbon copy. As you may imagine, we are not fond of letters that are circulated. I have now read it in Truth, although presumably the opening paragraph refers to the Tablet.

Katalog 1: Autographen.

Author: 
Christian M. Nebehay, Austrian dealer in autographs
Publication details: 
Wien 1. (Vienna, Austria) Annagasse 18. [1950s?]
£50.00

Quarto: 40 pp. In original printed wraps, decorated with various facsimiles. Facsimiles in text, and portrait of Beethoven on rear inner wrap. Good, on browned paper. Sections on painters, writers, poets, architects, sculptors, musicians. Nods towards the American market, with some entries in English and Dollar conversions. Together with Nebehay's attractive bifoliate trade card, carrying a photograph of his premises.

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