[Cecil King, Fleet Street press baron.] 47 Autograph Cards Signed to the publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’ Philip Dosse, on various topics including the reviews he is writing for him.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, together with those of his uncles and other members of the newspaper dynasty of which he was a member. The recipient Philip Dosse was the proprietor of the London publishers Hansom Books. Beginning in 1950 with ‘Dance and Dancers’, Dosse built up a stable of seven monthly arts magazines, produced from offices in Artillery Mansions, London, the most influential of which were ‘Books and Bookmen’, ‘Plays and Players’ and ‘Films and Filming’. An elusive figure, Dosse certainly merits a full-length study. In an article titled ‘Death of a Bookman’ (Standpoint magazine, October 2018), the last editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’, the novelist Sally Emerson, gives an excellent account of, collapse in 1980 of Hansom books, resulting in the closure of all seven titles and Gosse’s suicide. The present collection is an example of the type of friendly relationship Dosse established with several of his contributors, including Harold Acton, Christina Foyle, Auberon Waugh and Cecil Roberts (whose correspondence with Dosse is offered separately). Apart from five cards with slight damp staining (but with text still legible), the collection is in good condition, lightly aged and creased. Of the 35 legible postmarks: 1 from 1971; 11 from 1972; 2 from 1973; 8 from 1974; 8 from 1975; 2 from 1976; 3 from 1977. The predominant topic is the extensive reviewing that King is engaged in for Dosse’s ‘Books and Bookmen’, with King indicating his interests and views in accepting, rejecting and nominating titles for review (see for example his statements on Lord Thomson of Fleet and the man he attempted to depose as Prime Minister in 1968, Harold Wilson). In addition he provides interesting information regarding his own books, and gives information about other matters (burglary of his home in Ireland, trip to Iran, view of Mrs Thatcher, inflation in Britain). On 14 February 1971 he writes: ‘I gather Corina’s book about Tesco is a bad book about a splendid little man. Would Marjorie Proops be a good idia? [sic] She can write: her fans are Tesco customers: She is a jewess & so should be sympathetic.’ On 28 December 1971: ‘I am not attracted by the Gladwyn book. I know him well and expect this book to be dull.’ On 18 January 1972: ‘Yes, I think Tariq Ali might be interesting, though I don’t see why we should seek to imbibe political wisdom from a Pakistani whose fellow-countrymen do not seem able to manage their own affairs!’ On 3 November 1972: ‘For various reasons the only book of those you list that interests me is the life of Campbell-Bannerman. He started life as Campbell, a wholesale draper, so my connection with Lord Bannerman would be remote at best’. On 5 August 1972: ‘I should like to have a go at the Muggeridge book. I like him so much. I was in London throughout the war & in the middle of the worst air raids. I should expect the Panter-Downes stuff to be good & one could add the Batsford book but I am not keen on ‘If Britain had fallen’. This hypothetical stuff irritates me.’ Also in 1972: ‘Thank you for your kind words & for the pamphlet about Leavis. I am inclined to think both Snow & Leavis second-rate. The Muggeridge book is interesting.’ In 1972, regarding the first volume of his diary (1965-1970): ‘All is not lost. The S. Telegraph is paying a princely sum for the serial rights and several publishers are interested in the book. I don’t think libel was the only consideration in the minds at Sidgwicks [the publishers Sidgwick & Jackson, who had evidently declined the book]’. And later in the year, on the same topic: ‘Thank you for all your kindness & courtesy. Boothby will do a sympathetic review & the advertisement will be a great help. Publication day is to be Nov 30. The Telegraph have not yet told me when they start serialising.’ And on publication, in card of 21 November 1972: I doubted whether the book was worth publishing but it has caused more of an uproar than any book for years & years. The Establishment must indeed feel vulnerable. By damning the book at such length they have ensured a big sale. The 10,000 print sold out in a week & it is now having a 4,000 reprint.’ On 28 February 1973: ‘No, not Hammerskjold - I am out of sympathy with him and all the U.N. I am plodding on slowly with the Bosses but my new book is slowing me up as it requires some reading & much thought’. On 13 October 1974: ‘The latest book you sent me by Stanley Harrison [‘Poor men's guardians: a record of the struggles for a democratic newspaper press, 1763-1973’] is mere Communist propaganda’. On 16 April 1973 he writes, regarding suggestions for reviewers of his book ‘On Ireland’: ‘Thanks for the review of my book. I should like A G. Gardiner but others would be better for Macleod. Meanwhile I am battling with 3 dull Irish books’. And on the same subject, 5 [November] 1973: ‘We are off to Ireland on Sunday to do a TV programme for BBC. It will be about my childhood in Ireland & its to coincide with the publication of my book.’ In 1974, regarding the publicatin of ‘The Labour government, 1964-70: a personal record’, by his bugbear, Harold Wilson: ‘I do not wish to review Wilson’s book. It is long, dull, inaccurate and evasive.’ In the same year he sympathises with Dosse regarding his insomnia, ‘a complaint unknown to me, thank God’. In 1975, regarding rival press baron Lord Thomson of Fleet, proprietor of The Times and the Sunday Times: ‘I was sent a paper-back copy of Roy Thomson’s book. I do not wish to review it as I have no regard for the man & have no wish to say so for publication.’ In the same year he thanks him for sending ‘Minority Report’ for review: ‘It is right up my street.’ A card from May 1975 reads: ‘The book! Paper Money! Sounds just up my street. I should like to have a go at it. / You are hard on Mrs Thatcher - the abolition of school milk was forced on her by the cabinet as part of a policy later abandoned. She was left carrying the cow for a policy which was not hers.’ And regarding the removal of Edward Heath as Conservative leader in 1975: ‘At present we are all agog over the Tory Party election. It is strange that Ted evidently had no idia [sic] of the strong feeling against him in his own party.’ On 20 April 1975 he writes: ‘I am sorry about your rent problem. The whole question of inflation is just being ignored by the present Government - when they are not making it worse.’ On 24 January 1975 he discusses the subject of a suitable ‘Books and Bookmen’ reviewer for the forthcoming second volume of his own memoirs: ‘My book cannot come out till the autumn & is not yet accepted by the publishers. Brian Walden won’t do. What about Andrew Boyle of “World at One” and author of the recent book on Brendan Bracken. He is a friendly acquaintance - or Lady [Rosby?].’ And on the same topic: ‘Thanks for your two letters. I don’t like Snow I don’t trust his judgment but Devlin [the jurist Lord Devlin] is a friend of mine & a man for whom I have a great admiration. Whether favourable or unfavourable he will be fair. The book should reach the publishers this week, but will not be out for months.’ In 1976 he writes from Ireland, following a burglary: ‘We lost possessions but are undamaged - & the thieves did no damage in the house. Rith lost all her jewellery which is naturally very upsetting.’ And from Iran, regarding the postcard’s picture of the Shah Mosque, Isfahan: ‘This mosque is one of the authentic wonders of the world - and there are two others equally impressive. We are very glad we came. It was a long journey out in a jumbo jet - we were full at the end of 362 passengers!’