WORLD

[Wilhelm, the last Crown Prince of the German Empire.] Two black and white prints of photographs: one a portrait of him, the other a view of Hechingen Castle; each with Typed Note Signed by him on the reverse.

Author: 
Wilhelm, the last Crown Prince of the German Empire [Crown Prince of Prussia; Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst] (1882-1951), son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, great-grandson of Queen Victoria
Wilhelm
Publication details: 
The portrait dated from 'Hechingen, Zezember [sic] 1949'. The other photograph without date or
£250.00
Wilhelm

Both in black and white, and in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Half-length portrait. 10 x 14 cm. A Seated Wilhelm, grey-haired and tight-lipped, with hands joined in front of him, wearing suit and tie and light-grey tweed jacket. On reverse, a typed note addressed to 'Mr. James Dandy / England.', and dated from 'Hechingen, Zezember 1949': 'Herzlichen Dank für Ihr liebes Paket, es hat mich sehr gefreut. / Beste Wünsche u. Grüse'. TWO: View of Hechingen Castle. 8.5 x 13 cm. Typed message on reverse, also signed by him: ‘Herzlichen Dank für das freundliche Gedenken zu Weihnachten.

[Lady Clementine Churchill and the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund.] Facsimile of a signed autograph letter by the wife of Sir Winston Churchill, a circular to thank contributors to the fund.

Author: 
Lady Clementine Churchill (1885-1977), wife of Sir Winston Churchill; Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund
Publication details: 
Facsimile of letter dated November 1941 and on 10 Downing Street letterhead.
£50.00

According to her entry in the Oxford DNB: ' Also in 1941 she embarked upon what became the most substantial public work she ever undertook when she became chairman of the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund. Of the £9,000,000 collected in Britain to help the USSR, ‘Mrs Churchill's Fund’, as it was popularly known, raised £6,700,000. In March–May 1945, at the invitation of the Russian Red Cross, she visited Russia to inspect many of the institutions equipped or otherwise helped by her fund.

[Eleanor Roosevelt: the wife of the President's wartime visit to Britain.] Post Office Telegram from Mrs Roosevelt, thanking Vice-Chancellor Sir David Ross for hospitality of Oxford University.

Author: 
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), wife of 32nd President of United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt [Sir David Ross (1877-1971), Provost of Oriel, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University]
Roosevelt
Publication details: 
Post Office Telegram sent from Manchester. With Oxford office stamp, 9 November 1942.
£120.00
Roosevelt

Towards the end of 1942, with America having been at war with the Axis powers for a year to Britain’s three, Eleanor Roosevelt accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth to travel to Britain in order to ‘study the British home front effort and visit US troops stationed there. [...] she spent almost a month inspecting factories, shipyards, hospitals, schools, bomb shelters, distribution centers, Red Cross clubs, evacuee centers and military installations in England, Scotland and Ireland’ (Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, Columbian College).

[Randolph Churchill [Major Randolph Spencer-Churchill], only son of Winston Churchill.] Typed Letter Signed to V. H. Collins, invoking his father’s name in support of his use of the word ‘EGALITARIAN’.

Author: 
Randolph Churchill, only son of Winston Churchill [Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer-Churchill] (1911-1968), writer, soldier, and Conservative Member of Parliament [Vere Henry Collins, author]
Publication details: 
7 July 1953. Oving House, Oving, Nr. Aylesbury, Bucks, on cancelled letterhead of 12 Catherine Place, London SW1.
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘Randoph S. Churchill. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. After apologising for the delayed response he administers an effective put-down: ‘I do not pretend to be an expert in these mattes, but I have never heard the word EQUALITARIAN used in ordinary talk. EGALITARIAN, on the other hand, I have heard used by a wide variety of people who speak good English, including Sir Winston Churchill.

[Lord Buxton, Governor-General of South Africa [Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton), Liberal politician].] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking Bernard Piffard for copies of the ‘West Herts Radical’, which he hopes will prove effective.

Author: 
Lord Buxton, Governor-General of South Africa during the Great War [Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton (1853-1934), Liberal politician] [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), microscopist and entomologist]
Publication details: 
1 April 1890; on embossed letterhead of 14 Eaton Place, S.W. [London]
£65.00

Buxton was a popular Governor-General who formed an effective partnership with Botha. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to ‘B Piffard Esq’ and signed ‘Sydney Buxton’. He is obliged for the ‘copies of the “West Herts Radical”’, and is glad to hear that Piffard is ‘able to circulate such a large number in your Division’. He hopes it will have ‘a satisfactory effect on the next Election’.

[Janet Beverdige, wife of Sir William Beveridge, ‘Architect of the Welfare State’.] Typed Letter Signed to V. H. Collins, regarding her sister’s death, her book on the Beveridge Plan, Sir William’s punctiliousness and ‘the kilt’.

Author: 
Janet Beveridge [born Janet Thomson Philip, later Janet Mair] (1876-1959), second cousin and wife of Sir William Beveridge (1879-1963), ‘Architect of the Welfare State’ [Vere Henry Collins, author]
Publication details: 
20 September 1954; on letterhead of Staverton House, 104 Woodstock Road, Oxford.
£120.00

See Sir William Beveridge’s entry in the Oxford DNB: 'An overbearing and temperamental Scotswoman, Mrs Mair had come to the school [the LSE] with Beveridge in 1919 (having been his secretary and aide during the war) and was highly unpopular with many of the school's professors. Throughout the 1930s there were complaints about the ‘Beveridge–Mair dictatorship’ and a general sense of relief when Beveridge decided to leave the school to accept the mastership of University College, Oxford, in 1937.' 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with one dog-eared corner. Folded twice for postage.

[Ernest Bevin, Labour Party politician, Minister of Labour in Churchill’s wartime coalition.] Typed Letter Signed to Sir David Ross

Author: 
Ernest Bevin (1881-1961), Labour Party politician, Minister of Labour in Churchill’s wartime coalition [Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971), Scottish philosopher, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford]
Publication details: 
17 May 1940. On embossed letterhead of the Ministry of Labour and National Service, Montagu House, Whitehall S.W.1 [London]
£56.00

See the entries for Bevin and Ross in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘Sir David Ross, K.B.E., LL.D.’ and signed ‘Ernest Bevin’. Begins: ‘Dear Sir David, / In connection with my general plans I wish as soon as possible to make definite proposals concerning the Fair Wages Clause.’ He understands that ‘discussions between the T.U.C.

[Author of the first million-seller: Hall Caine, the most popular novelist of his day.] Autograph List of Corrections ‘With Sir Hall Caine’s Compts’, to [Daily Telegraph propaganda?] articles entitled ‘Downfall of a Nation’ (revolutionary Russia).

Author: 
Hall Caine [Sir Hall Caine; Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine] (1853-1931), the most popular novelist of his day, author of ‘The Eternal City’, the first million-seller, with strong Isle of Man connections
Hall Caine
Publication details: 
No date or place. (Circa 1917)
£320.00
Hall Caine

See the description of Caine’s political views in his entry in the Oxford DNB. He began as a communist, but became a Christian Socialist, and a supporter of the Liberal Party on the mainland of Britain (he was a member of the Isle of Man House of Keys from 1901 to 1908) and a follower of the Church of England. The present item would appear to relate to the ‘impassioned propaganda’ that Caine published in the Daily Telegraph from September 1914 (ODNB). It is 1p, 4to.

[Bruce Bairnsfather [Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather], cartoonist who created the First World War Fragments from France characters Old Bill, Bert and Alf.] Autograph Signature, with that of the baritone Kennerley Rumford (Clara Butt's husband).

Author: 
Bruce Bairnsfather [Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather] (1887-1959), cartoonist who created the First World War Fragments from France characters Old Bill, Bert and Alf, published in 'The Bystander'
Bruce Bairnsfather
Publication details: 
Without date or place [circa 1920].
£45.00
Bruce Bairnsfather

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A bold, untidy and yet stylish signature, in exactly the state one would hope to find Bairnfather moniker. It gives the impression of having been sent post-haste from the trenches, scrawled in pencil on a piece of vertically-ruled paper torn out of a notebook, ruckled and grubby, and laid down on an unruckled and clean 15.5 x 9.5 cm leaf with rounded edges, torn from an autograph album. The signature ‘Bruce / Bairnsfather’ is across the head of the landscape page, with a jagged line (intended for the flourish?) by Bairnsfather across the foot.

[Oriel College, Oxford.] Four printed items of ephemera from the papers of college fellow Sir William David Ross: three reports for the academic years ending 1918, 1921 and 1922, and a prospectus for the sexcentenary volume of Richards and Shadwell.

Author: 
Oriel College, University of Oxford [Sir W. D. Ross [Sir William David Ross] (1877-1971), Vice-Chancellor and philosopher]
Publication details: 
The three reports: [Oriel College, Oxford] 1918 [with stamp of 'The Treasury'], 1921 and 1922. The prospectus by Basil Blackwell, Oxford, [1921].
£280.00

Four scarce pieces of ephemera: no other copies of them traced on either JISC or WorldCat. See Ross’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The three reports give lists of college persons, with general and particular news. Items Two to Four in good condition, lightly aged and creased; Item One as described below. ONE: ‘ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD / 1917-1918’. Signed in type by ‘L. L. P.’ [i.e. Langford Lovell Price, retiring treasurer] and dated 31 July 1918. 7pp, 12mo. On two bifoliums of thin war-economy paper, glued together.

[Churchill was ‘monstrously-unjust’: Lord Elibank and Sir Dudley North exchange complaints.] Seven Signed Letters (six Typed, one in Autograph) from North, telling 'the whole story' of his wartime dismissal, and a signed copy of a reply by Elibank.

Author: 
Admiral Sir Dudley North [Dudley Burton Napier North] (1881-1961); Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Cecil Murray (1879-1962), 3rd Viscount Elibank [Sir Winston Churchill]
Publication details: 
Elibank’s letters between 1954 and 1957. Six on letterheads: Netherbury House, Netherbury, Nr. Bridport, Dorset (four); H. M. Yacht Victoria & Albert (one); The Lodge, Parnham, Beaminster, Dorset (one). Copy of Elibank's letter: 8 September 1955.
£950.00

A highly-interesting correspondence of some historical significance, in which North tells ‘the whole story’ as he sees it of his controversial wartime dismissal, to one of his leading supporters in the attempt to clear his name. A marked antipathy to Churchill is shown on both sides, with added attacks by Elibank on Earl Mountbatten and Montgomery of Alamein.

[World War One: ‘The Guns of August’, 1914.] Silver gelatin negative photostatic print of typed British Government ‘Aide Mémoire’ on the German Army and Belgian neutrality, including copy of note by German Foreign Minister Gottlieb von Jagow.

Author: 
[World War One: 'The Guns of August', 1914] Sir Edward Goschen (1847-1924), British Ambassador in Berlin [Gottlieb von Jagow (1863-1935), German Foreign Minister]
Aide Mémoire
Publication details: 
A photographic copy (made in the 1920s or contemporary?) of: ONE: Goschen's 'Aide Mémoire' dated 'BERLIN, August 4, 1914.' TWO: Von Jagow's manuscript note, 'Berlin, den 5. 8 1914.' [5 August 1914]
£450.00
Aide Mémoire

Silver gelatin negative photostatic print of two documents: 3pp, 4to (i.e. each of the three pages on 19.5 x 24 cm. leaf). The first page of Goschen’s two-page ‘Aide Mémoire’ on a separate leaf, and the second page and von Jagow’s note on different leaves of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. N.B. The entire item is a photostatic copy. Reproduced at the head and down the left margin of the first page of Goschen’s text are manuscript notes in German (including at top left: A15930 pr. 4. August 1914 pm. / Von Sir E.

[William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury during the Second World War.] Typed Letter Signed to the ?Vice-Chancellor? [of Oxford University, Sir David Ross], regarding a visit and the possibility of ?dining in Hall?.

Author: 
William Temple (1881-1944), Anglican cleric, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1942-1944 (previously Bishop of Manchester and Archbishop of York) [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971), Scottish philosopher]
Publication details: 
2 June 1942; on letterhead of Lambeth Palace, S.E.1. [London]
£45.00

2pp, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight spotting and single punch hole centred above letterhead. Folded twice. The letter is addressed to 'My dear Vice-Chancellor' without further elaboration, but the item comes from the Ross papers. Temple explains that it has been ?difficult to foresee how this summer could be arranged: the planning of domestic life in two houses under present conditions of staffing is very complicated!? His wife will not be joining him in the visit, as she ?feels obliged to spend that week-end at Canterbury?.

[Sir Edward Grey [Viscount Grey of Fallodon], Foreign Secretary during First World War.] Autograph Letter Signed to the ?Provost? [of Oriel College, Oxford, Sir David Ross], regarding what is probably not ?a matter for the head of a College'.

Author: 
Sir Edward Grey [Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon] (1862-1933), Liberal Party politician, Foreign Secretary for much of the First World War [Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971)]
Publication details: 
30 November 1922; on letterhead of Fallodon, Christon Bank, Northumberland.
£45.00

See the entries for Grey and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Reads: ?My dear Provost / Probably you will not think that the enclosed requires any answer or that it is a matter for the head of a College but as it concerns a member of Oriel I send it on to you / Yours very truly / Grey of Fallodon.?

[Edward Grenfell [Edward Charles Grenfell, 1st Baron St Just], banker and politician.] Autograph Letter Signed, praising ‘Mr Ross’ for the extra work he has undertaken during ‘this unhappy year’, in an attempt to ‘aid your country’s interest'.

Author: 
Edward Grenfell [Edward Charles Grenfell, 1st Baron St Just] (1870-1941), banker and politician [Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971), Scottish philosopher]
Publication details: 
31 December 1915; on letterhead of 22 Old Broad Street, London, E.C.
£50.00

See the entries for Grenfell and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium of light-grey paper. In fair condition, aged and spotted. Folded once for postage. The identity of the recipient is unclear, but the item derives from the papers of Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross], Scottish philosopher and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (see the Oxford DNB).

[Gladys Cooper, star of stage and screen.] Gelatin silver print of Foulsham & Banfield photograph of Gladys Cooper in the play ‘My Lady’s Dress’, with a second photograph of her embracing Dennis Eadie in the same production.

Author: 
Gladys Cooper [Dame Gladys Constance Cooper] (1888-1971), English actress, over seven decades a star of stage and screen; Dennis Eadie (1869-1928), actor; Foulsham & Banfield, London photographers
Cooper
Publication details: 
Label on reverse dates the solo photograph to 27 February 1914, with the stamp of Foulsham & Banfield, 49 Old Bond Street, W. [London]. The photograph of Cooper & Eadie without date or place, but from the same production.
£100.00
Cooper

Edward Knobloch’s play ‘My Lady’s Dress’ (‘in which’, as one newspaper wrote at the time, ‘the heroine’s dream takes her to the foreign [and London] scenes surrounding the manufacture of a costly gown’) premiered at the Royalty Theatre in London in 1914 and was revived several times through the 1920s.

[Second World War Artists' loan scheme, London, between Central Institute of Art and Design and the army.] Mimeographed circular typed letter from T. A. Fennemore to Miss J. Inglis, with receipt, regarding loan of paintings.

Author: 
Central Institute of Art and Design, National Gallery, London (Thomas Acland Fennemore (1902-1959), Director]; Second World War artists' loan scheme [Miss J. Inglis]
Publication details: 
Letter from 'The Central Institute of Art and Design, National Gallery, London. W.C.2. / January 1942.' Receipt of 4 February 1942.
£90.00

An unusual survival, providing details of a little-known Second World War scheme for artists to lend their work to the army for placement in officers’ messes. Three items, in fair condition, lightly-aged. ONE: Mimeographed Typed Circular from ‘T. A. Fennemore. / Director.’, headed ‘The Central Institute of Art and Design, National Gallery, London, W.C.2. / January 1942.’ 1p, 4to. (originally foolscap; a form has been cut away at bottom).

[‘Gray’s Desk on which he wrote the Elegy’: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London auctioneers.] Letters and accounts from Sotheby’s to Mrs Sarah Turpin, relating to the 1915 sale of ‘Letters and Relics’ by Thomas Gray, including priced catalogue entries

Author: 
Thomas Gray (1716-1771), poet, author of 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' [Mary Antrobus; Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London auctioneers; Sarah Turpin, wife of organist Edmund Hart Turpin]
Publication details: 
Eleven items dating from 1914 and 1915. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, Auctioneers, 13 Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.
£450.00

A nice collection of ephemera, relating not only to one of England’s best-loved poets, but also to Sotheby’s auction practice during the Great War. The provenance of the Gray letters put up for auction by Mrs Turpin is given in a New York Times article of 27 June 1915 (‘To sell relics of Thomas Gray; many letters by the poet will also be put up at auction at Sotheby's’), which stated in a report on the forthcoming sale that the letters ‘were transmitted to the present owner, Mrs.

[Sir Charles Trevelyan and the Union of Democratic Control.] Typed Note Signed ('Charles Trevelyan') to E. Dinnage of Cambridge, enclosing a receipt ‘for payment of literature already sent’.

Author: 
Sir Charles Trevelyan [Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet] (1870-1958), Liberal politician, a founder of the anti-First World War group the Union of Democratic Control
Trevelyan
Publication details: 
11 February 1915. On letterhead of The Union of Democratic Control, 37 Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C., London.
£65.00
Trevelyan

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that after his resignation from government in protest against the impending war, ‘Around him he rallied those few brave, independent spirits who shared his views. Together they helped to found the Union of Democratic Control, in A. J. P. Taylor's judgement 'the most formidable Radical body ever to influence British foreign policy' (A. J. P. Taylor, Politicians, Socialism and Historians, 1982, 103). Trevelyan became the union's principal advocate in the Commons.

[Margaret Lloyd George, wife of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George.] Typed Letter with cyclostyled signature, asking Rev. A. H. Sayers of Monmouth to arrange for a collection in his church for the British and Foreign Sailors? Society.

Author: 
Margaret Lloyd George [nee Owen] (1866-1941), Welsh wife of the Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George [Rev. A. H. Sayers of Monmouth; British and Foreign Sailors? Society]
Publication details: 
7 December 1916. On letterhead of 11 Downing Street, London, S.W.
£50.00

See her entry, and those of her husband and their two daughters, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Although Sayers? name and address are given as recipient at the beginning, the letter is clearly a circular, and the signature is cylcostyled.

[Five First World War Royal Navy Admirals.] Autograph Signatures of Bethell, Egerton, Hedworth Meux [Lambton], Berkeley Milne, Doveton Sturdee, cut from various documents.

Author: 
Five First World War Royal Navy Admirals: Bethell, Egerton, Hedworth Meux [Lambton], Berkeley Milne, Doveton Sturdee
Publication details: 
One dated 1912, the others undated.
£100.00

On slips of paper ranging in size from 6.5 x 2 cm to 9 x 4.5 cm. Laid down, three/two , on one side each of two 16 x 12 cm leaves, one white and the other grey, removed from an autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged. They are as follows (autograph text in square brackets). ONE: Sir Alexander Edward Bethell (1855-1932). ?[A E Bethell] / VICE-ADMIRAL COMMANDING / CHANNEL FLEET.? TWO: Sir George Le Clerc Egerton (1852-1940). ?spared. / [G le C Egerton] / ADMIRAL.? THREE: Sir Hedworth Meux [n? Lambton] (1856-1929).

[Lieut. C.A. Macartney; Poet; Book] Poems

Author: 
Lieut. C.A. Macartney
Publication details: 
Erskine Macdonald, First Thousand: June, 1915 ; The William Morris Press Ltd, Forty-Two Albert Streetm Manchester.
£100.00

Text 40pp, with 6 unnumbered pages of advertisements for books, apparently re-bound (judging by the image of the other copy currently on the Net), hf-lea., sl. speckled, one corners sl. damaged, faint foxing first few pages, with decorated endpapers (gold and silver shells), with the bookplate Ex libris C. and G.M. Bonham-Carter. Editor's Note (p.[8]): These poems are the work of a young lieutenant of the New Army. Written for the most part before the war, they reflect it in one instance only : the poem immediately following the introduction and dedication [...].

[Walter H. Page, American ambassador to the United Kingdom during the First World War.] Typed Note Signed to C. Reginald Grundy [editor of 'The Connoisseur'], regretting his inability to attend a meeting at the Mansion House.

Author: 
Walter H. Page [Walter Hines Page] (1855-1918), journalist and publisher, American abassador to United Kingdom during First World War [Cecil Reginald Grundy (1870-1944), editor of 'The Connoisseur']
Publication details: 
22 May 1917; London, on embossed letterhead of the Embassy of the United States of America.
£80.00

1p, 4to. Rather aged, with some wear and discoloration at head and foot, and minor traces of mount on reverse. Four folds. Signed ‘Walter H. Page’ and addressed to ‘C. Reginald Grundy, Esq., / 1, Duke Street, / S. W. 1.’ The note reads: ‘Dear Sir: / I wish it had been possible for me to attend the meeting at the Mansion House to-day to further the establishment of local war museums, but I regret to say that it was impossible. / Yours very truly, / Walter H. Page’.

[Henry Williamson, English author best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'.] 77 pages of typescript from ‘A Fox Under My Cloak’, the fifth novel in the sequence ‘A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight’, with extensive autograph emendations and deletions.

Author: 
Henry Williamson (1895-1977), English novelist best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'
Williamson
Publication details: 
Undated. In envelopes with postmarks of 10 March 1955 (Georgeham) and 15 March 1955 (Barnstaple). The second with his autograph address: 'H. Williamson / Georgeham, N. Devon.'
£950.00
Williamson

Asee image of[339]See Williamson’s entry by his daughter-in-law Anne Williamson in the Oxford DNB, together with her 1995 biography of him. The present tranche of material gives a marvellous insight into the working processes of a fine - perhaps even a great - English writer, in addition to showing the gestation of one of the finest novels of the First World War.

[Admiral Beatty, First Sea Lord.] Autograph Signature (‘David Beatty | Rear-Admiral’) on part of document.

Author: 
Admiral Beatty [Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871-1936)], First Sea Lord, 1919-1927, commander of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916
Beatty
Publication details: 
Dated 21 June 1913. No place.
£50.00
Beatty

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, in which ‘deep professional commitment and mental toughness’ are said to be qualities whose possession he demonstrated ‘heroically’. Beatty’s aggressive tactics at the Battle of Jutland are often contrasted with Jellicoe’s more cautious approach. After the explosion of the Indefatigable and the Queen Mary, with the loss of 1283 officers and men, he came out with the celebrated understatement, ‘There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today’.

[Wilfred Owen, war poet.] Printed ‘Order of Service for the dedication of a memorial to Wilfred Owen 1893-1918’. [with readers including Ted Hughes, Geoffrey Hill, D. J. Enright, Jon Stallworthy, Jill Balcon]

Author: 
[Wilfred Owen (1893-1918), war poet; Rev. Norman Print, Vicar of Dunsden; Catherine Winkworth; John Stallworthy; D. J. Enright; Robert Gittings; Geoffrey Hill; Ted Hughes; Reynolds Stone; Jill Balcon]
Publication details: 
‘All Saints Church Dunsden at 2.30 p.m. on 12 November 1978 Remembrance Sunday’.
£220.00

A nice association with a man widely regarded as the greatest English poet of the First World War, and a scarce item of which not many copies can have been printed, and no other copy has been traced. 4pp, 8vo. Bifolium on laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight creasing at head. Explanatory note on final page begins: ‘The memorial to Wilfred Owen is cut on Portland stone by Michael Harvey from lettering drawn by Reynolds Stone, CBE, RDI. / The graves of Tom and Susan Owen, the poet’s father and mother, and of his sister Mary are in the south-east corner of the churchyard.

[‘I knew the lady well’: General Sir Nevil Macready on Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, her field hospital and marital misadventures.] Autograph Letter Signed to William Toynbee, editor of the diaries of his father, actor William Charles Macready.

Author: 
Sir Nevil Macready [Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready] (1862-1946), World War general, son of William Charles Macready [William Toynbee (1849-1942); Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland (1867-1955)]
Publication details: 
28 August [no year]. On embossed letterhead of Les Sapins, Boulevard Thiers, Fontainebleau S & M’.
£180.00

Macready’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that he destroyed his diary and personal papers after the publication of his memoirs in 1924. If the present gossipy specimen is anything to go by, the loss of this material is most regrettable. (The ODNB entry for his father notes that he dealt with William Charles Macready's ‘copious and uninhibited diaries’ in similar fashion in 1914 - two years after the appearance of Toynbee’s edition.) See also the entry for Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland (1867-1955). 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage.

[Colonel F. E. G. Skey of the Royal Engineers.] Offprint of his obituary by ‘C. F. A.-C.’, with full-page portrait, from the Royal Engineers Journal; together with manuscript map of ‘SKEY TRENCH / near PONT FIXE’ (Battle of Loos, First World War).

Author: 
Colonel F. E. G. Skey [Frederic Edward Guthrie Skey] (1864-1944), first secretary and Treasurer of Institution of Royal Engineers, editor of Royal Engineers Journal [Battle of Loos, First World War]
Publication details: 
Offprint ‘Reprinted from The Royal Engineers Journal - March, 1945’ (London). Undated pencil sketch of Skey Trench, Battle of Loos, 1915.
£80.00

Scarce: no copies on WorldCat or JISC. 2pp, 8vo, paginated 1-2, with photographic portrait of ‘Colonel F. E. G. SKEY’ on art paper facing the first page. In grey wraps with printed title on front cover ‘Memoir / OF / COLONEL F. E. G. SKEY.’ In fair condition, lightly worn and aged, with two vertical creases. Describing Skey’s active career, the obituarist begins by noting that ‘It is not given to everyone to work as late in life as Skey did.’ Skey had been ‘promoted Colonel in 1912 and retirned in March, 1914, having been offered the Secretaryship of the R. E.

[World War One.] Handbill with ornate coloured decorative border, headed ‘ROLL OF HONOUR’, intended for ‘A Record of Friends and Relatives who answered the call of King and Country in the Great War: 1914-1915.’

Author: 
[World War One] Geo. Newnes Limited, London; Hudson & Kearns Limited, lithographic printers
Publication details: 
Circa 1915 or 1916. ‘Published by Geo. Newnes Ltd., Southampton St. Strand [London]’. Printer: ‘Hudson & Kearns, Ltd., London, Litho, London, S.E.’
£100.00

A nice piece of First World War ephemera, from the period of transition from volunteering to conscription. Newnes was a leading British publisher of the period, and the present item may have been inserted in one of its periodicals, which included ‘The Strand Magazine’, ‘Women’s Own’ and ‘John O’London’s Weekly’. It is printed on a leaf of good quality cream 4to wove paper, and was intended for completion. In fair condition, lightly aged, with light wear and creasing to extremities.

[Thomas Balston, publisher, painter and scholar of book production and illustration.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Tyrrell’, regarding the return of an engraving he has had photographed.

Author: 
Thomas Balston (1883-1967), director of publishers Duckworth and Co, painter and scholar of English book production and illustration, recipient of Military Cross, champion of wood engraving
Publication details: 
10 December 1918; on letterhead of Flat 64, 3 Whitehall Court, SW1 [London].
£50.00

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with one dog-eared corner. He writes that he has ‘had the engraving photographed’, and can ‘return it together with the casting’, with ‘very many thanks to you for being so kind as to lend it to me’.

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