[Claud Cockburn, well-connected communist journalist.] Two Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, publisher of ?Books and Bookmen?, one giving plans for reviewing Jessica Mitford's 'damn good book' 'Fine Old Conflict'.

An interesting correspondence, with one editor showing his experience in discussing the reviews he is writing for another. See Cockburn's entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ?Death of a Bookman? by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ?Books and Bookmen? at the time of Dosse?s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The three items are ruckled and stained from water damage, with smudging of the signature (?Claud Cockburn? in each case) and autograph text on all three. Each 1p, 8vo, and all three folded for postage. ONE: TLS, 15 March [1977]. The letter concerns Jessica Mitford?s book ?Fine Old Conflict?. He finds to his distress that a letter he wrote to Dosse on 28 January ?somehow got mixed up with some incoming mail, and thus was never posted. / In the meantime I have, from Michael Joseph, a copy of Jessica Mitford?s book, saying that she asked them to send it to me, so that I might review it for Books and Bookmen. / This I shall be delighted to do.? The follows discussing the requirements, noting ?that it?s hard for the Editor to give an exact length without having a chance to weigh, so to say, the interest of the piece?. In his view Mitford?s work ?is the kind of book which can be treated in so many differing ways and at so many different lengths depending, for example, on how far she goes in putting it in the context of the period (or periods) it covers. It?s a damn good book, and so I?d like to give it all space possible.? He ends regarding ?payment rates?, noting a recent telephone conversation with ?Janet Montefiore who reviews (in your November issue) at my request my book Union Power. She chanced to mention that she hadn?t yet been paid for it and I promised to draw your attention to the matter.? TWO: TLS, no date. He apologises for ?delay in delivery? and ?badly under-corrected misprints?, both of which are the result of ?the mishap to my wrist which prevented my typing earlier, and to the subsequent failure of typist to deliver the goods in Dublin on time - so I had to type it myself after all?. THREE: ALS, no date. Written ?in great haste to catch first [post]?. He is enclosing corrected proofs, explaining that he has made one change ?so as to avoid costly re-set of paragraph - which is already ?full.??.