[ Horace Annesley Vachell, English author. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Horace Vachell') to theatre historian Barry Duncan, including anecdote about his naked brother under the 'luncheon table'. With carbon copies of two letters from Duncan.

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, aged and worn. He begins with regard to a change of address ('Widcombe Manor - where I was overhoused and understaffed - is for sale.'), and continues with reference to a booklet ('I chuckled over the illustrations'),as well as his book 'An Impending Sword' (written 'in the naughty nineties, long before I met Dot Boucicault, whose experiences were then unknwon to me'), and the Princess Royal. He concludes: 'I never heard the yarn of the man who stripped himself. I can cap it. My brother, Arthur, vanished from the luncheon table. He was found stark naked under the table. When my mother asked him to explain, he replied: "Nobody took any notice of ME!"' Vachell has added in autograph: 'He was six years old'. An autograph postscript reads: 'I have a tolerably clean bill of health'. Also present are carbons of two letters from Duncan, dated 16 and 18 July 1953. The first (1p., 4to) poses the questions to which Vachell's letter responds; the second (5pp., 4to) is a chatty attempt at initiating a correspondence. Both letters refer to Duncan's work on writing 'a complete history of the London "St. James's Theatre"'.