Autograph Notebook by Frederick Leman Whelen, containing biographical matter, some on the Stage Society. Including lists of individuals (some Jewish) with whom Whelen was interned at Fort de Romainville and Drancy, Paris, during the Second World War.

Small 4to, 140 pp. Paginated by Whelen. Notebook of good laid paper, in boards covered in patterned paper, with the word 'BIOGRAPHICAL' in faded red manuscript at head of front cover. Text neatly written and clear and complete. Good: internally sound and tight on lightly-aged paper; in worn and chipped boards. The flyleaf is dated 1939, with Whelen's addresses given as the Royal Societies Club, St James's St, and 5 Place de la Taconnerie, Geneva. These addresses have been crossed out and replaced by the Reform Club in Pall Mall, and with a final address of 14 Linden Gardens, Kensington, 'from Dec. 1949'. Whelen was interned in Paris during the Second World War, and p.139 of the notebook is headed '1940 Dec.', and gives the names, and a few details, of Whelen's '5 Companions in a small room' at the Nazi transit camp Fort de Romainville, all five having Jewish surnames. Tipped in on the following pages are ten pieces of paper, of various sizes, carrying the names and some details of individuals with whom Whelen was interned at Fort de Romainville and Drancy. A few entries are apparently made by the individuals themselves, for example, '91 Jacques Goldenberg Pharmacien a Paris | Palestinienne' and 'SOLOMONS CHARLES MONTAGUE | 884 - Room 19-2 | 65 years 4 months | 14-3-76 | 47 years same address Paris | Femme francaise | fils francais'. One list (4to, 1 p) of thirty (mostly English) names, with numbers and dates of birth, is docketed 'Names of Fellow Internees over 65 yrs of age at Drancy in 1941'. Another list of nine English names, with numbers and ages, is headed 'Bloc 4. Escalier 12 Chambre'. Another list of ten English names is headed 'Ward 4 Room 13/2 MEN 65 yrs'. The rest of the notebook is a mishmash of mainly reminiscent matter, with the first thirteen pages consisting of a string of phrases of personal significance, apparently for working up into an autobiography. The first page opens: 'The signed door at Grooms, signed during World War. | Bath. The scratchings on the window panes at Citizen House. | Wirral to St. Helen's, Sunday, The Hearse and the deaf Widow. | The Orient Express. Sofia-Geneva. Bulgarian war Minister. The trousers. Garnett.' Further on: 'Bertrand Russell. Copenhagen, Amsterdam. Croydon & Hackney Town Hall.' And also: 'The lost Caxton Print. David Mills and the Max Beerbohm Cartoon of Zangwill. | B. Fo. Sir Oswald Mosley. Albert Hall. "Yes, Master Mosley, you may leave the room."' Around five pages relate to the Stage Society. These include a note headed 'S.S. Mrs. Warren's Profession. 1902', describing the difficulty Whelen and the Society had in staging Shaw's play ('3 Hotels & 2 Picture Galleries | One picture gallery after agreeing & after I had had tickets printed, withdrew consent. | The Banqueting Hall of a Hotel agreed and later withdrew its consent.') Given are the names of the cast of that performance '5/6 1. 1902', and of the cast of the 'S.S. 1st perf. 26.11.1899 Sunday', as well as of the fourteen names of the 'S.S. Managing Committee 1902/3.' Two pages, headed 'Stage Society', begin 'Founded 1899. 50 Programmes 37 English plays 25 Foreign plays } 1899/1909.' There follow a breakdown by nationality of the foreign authors, a list of the 'First plays produced', and another list of four 'Censored' plays. Elsewhere in the volume are a note and cutting relating to the Chelsea Singers ('Soprano. Winifred Whelen'); a reminiscence of a visit in 1931 to Whelen's Paris flat of a group of 'English schoolboys and school girls', together with a transcript of a letter to Whelen by the group's leader David Eldridge; a reminiscence of 'a meeting in Knaresborough'; an entry relating to Whelen's foundation of the Nomad Society; a list of signatures from Whelen's 'first Birthday Book'; brief monetary details of the time Whelen 'Lived with Grant Richards at 12 Barton St Westminster'. Also included is a transcription of a letter (6 June 1936) to Whelen from Sidney Webb, concerning a visit, led by Whelen, by a party from the League of Nations Union to the Soviet Union in 1936. The names of those in the party are among the brief details given regarding the visit. Also a transcript of a letter (29 July 1919) to Whelen from J. T. Green; notes relating to Whelen's three visits to North America; a list of names of authors whose books were 'Ex dono Auctorum', apparently to Whelen. The last ten pages of the volume carry a list, in double column, of names of men and women, many of them notable (Belloc, Synge, Lady Gladstone, Havelock Ellis), possibly acquaintances of Whelen's.