autograph letters signed (x 2) to [Thomas] Bass,

The first, 6 October 1911, New Theatre London, 4 pp, 12mo: "I was very pleased to have your letter, and was most interested to read in it something of the inner life of the Manchester working-classes, and to hear the views of one who is in them, but not of them. I think you are quite right to seek recreation in art, as I am sure it does more than anything else to brighten existence, and to relieve one's mind from the drudgery and monotony. It is a great pity there are not more who think like you." He encloses a photograph (not present). The second, 17 April 1913, Theatre Royal Manchester, 4 pp, 12mo: "I am glad to hear that you managed to get round your foreman, and that you were able to come to the theatre on Monday." He agrees to write in his autograph book, but clearly cannot bear to be brought into direct contact with one of the plebs. "Bring it round fairly early on Saturday evening, and ask the stage-door-keeper to send it up to me." Two items,