AUTOGRAPH

[Robert Lynd, Irish journalist and essayist at whose house James Joyce held his wedding reception.] Typescript, with Autograph Emendations in pencil, of the commencement of Chapter 7, ‘Kinsale’, of his 1912 book ‘Rambles in Ireland’.

Author: 
Robert Lynd [Robert Wilson Lynd] (1879-1949), Irish journalist and essayist, husband of the poet Sylvia Lynd (1888-1952), at whose house James Joyce held his wedding reception
Publication details: 
Circa 1912.
£650.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. ‘Rambles in Ireland’ was published in 1912, with illustrations by Jack B. Yeats. On one side each of four 4to leaves of aged and worn paper. The first leaf carries a covering page on which is the typed word ‘KINSALE’; above this Lynd has written in pencil: ‘26 / Rambles in Ireland / (By Robert Lynd) / Chapter VII’. The three pages which follow carry the text: title and 21 lines on the first, and twenty-five lines apiece on the second and third.

[Robert Lynd, Irish journalist and essayist at whose house James Joyce held his wedding reception.] Part of Corrected Autograph Draft of essay on ‘the Irish comic spirit’and ‘the Irish tradition’ in literature.

Author: 
Robert Lynd [Robert Wilson Lynd] (1879-1949), Irish journalist and essayist, husband of the poet Sylvia Lynd (1888-1952), at whose house James Joyce held his wedding reception
Publication details: 
No date, but published in the Irish Book Lover (London and Dublin), vol. 13, 1922.
£650.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Unsigned, but in Lynd’s hand and from the Lynd family papers. 6pp, 4to, on six leaves of ruled paper, twenty-six lines to a page. In fair condition, lightly aged, with dog-eared corners. Lynd’s handwriting is execrable, and he employs a number of abbreviations of common words, such as ‘and’, ‘the’, ‘of’. Begins: ‘[...] found expression in literature. / As I have suggested, however, it is in the art of conversation rather than the art of literature that the Irish comic spirit has found its fullest expression.

[Oscar I, King of Norway and Sweden.] Part of document, with Autograph Signature (‘Oscar’), date and large embossed seal under paper.

Author: 
Oscar I, King of Sweden and Norway (born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte; lived 1799-1859; reigned 1844-1859)
Oscar
Publication details: 
'Stockholms Slott [Stockholm Castle] den 6 Maj 1847.'
£56.00
Oscar

On 22 x 14 cm piece of laid paper, cut from the foot of a document. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with tiny closed tear to one edge. Folded three times. At head, in the kings hand: ‘[...] terrattelse lander. Stockholms Slott den 6 Maj 1847. / Oscar’. Directly beneath the firm, clear signature, is the embossed circular seal, under paper, 6 cm in diameter, with motto ‘OSCAR SVER NOR GOTH OCH W KONUNG / RATT OCH SANNING’.

[‘Good old-timers’: Naomi Jacob, writer and actress, to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope.] Seven Typed Letters Signed (three ‘Mickie’), with copies of two replies, discussing Marie Lloyd, Bernard Dillon, Julian Wylie, Ivor Novello, ENSA, BBC.

Author: 
Naomi Jacob [Naomi Eleanor Clare Jacob, pseudonym ‘Ellington Gray’] (1884-1964), lesbian writer and actress [W. J. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
Six of her letters, dating from between 1951 and 1956; all from Casa Micki, Gardone Riviera, Lago di Garda, Italy. The seventh letter dated 24 June [1945]; from Italy, with ‘ENSA Entertainments. / C/o Welfare, 6th. Brit. Armde. Div. / C. M. F.’
£250.00

An entertaining and characteristic correspondence. See both their entries in the Oxford DNB. The nine items (seven by Jacob and two by Macqueen-Pope) are in fair overall condition, with all text clear and complete, on lightly aged and creased paper, with slight rust-staining from paperclips, and minor wear to edges. All folded for envelopes. The first seven of the nine following entries are NJ’s letters (the last four of which are addressed to ‘My dear Popie’), the last two the copies of MP’s. ONE: 24 June [1945]. ‘ENSA Entertainments. / C/o Welfare, 6th. Brit. Armde. Div. / C. M.

[Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford.] Autograph Signature ('Margot Oxford') to Copy of Typed Letter to the Editor of The Times, regarding the plans of the University of London with regard to the preservation of Torrington Square, Bloomsbury.

Author: 
Margot Asquith [Emma Margaret Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, née Tennant] (1864-1945), wife of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, author and socialite [University of London; Birkbeck]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [Circa 1935.]
£120.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, long 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Headed ‘TORRINGTON SQUARE. / To the EDITOR of The TIMES’. Whether the letter was published or not, and if so whether it appeared in its entirety, is unclear. Clearly a carbon, but with her characteristic signature at end in black ink ‘Margot Oxford’. The forty-seven-line text has four autograph emendations.

[Nicholas Murray Butler, American diplomat, winner of Nobel Peace Prize, President of Columbia University.] Typed Letter Signed to Sir Willoughby Dickinson, discussing ‘the work of the World Alliance’, in which he is ‘greatly interested’.

Author: 
Nicholas Murray Butler (1862-1947), American diplomat and educator, winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, President of Columbia University [ Sir Willoughby Hyett Dickinson, British politician; Carnegie]
Publication details: 
22 June 1926; on his letterhead as 'Directeur' of 'Dotation Carnegie pour la Paix Internationale', Paris.
£150.00

Butler had been Taft’s running mate in the 1912 United States presidential election. Such was his standing in the US that The New York Times printed his Christmas greeting to the nation every year. He shared the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize with Jane Addams. The present item is not untainted by the pompous circumloctions what one critic described as Butler’s ‘interminable miasmas of guff’. 2pp, 4to. On aged and creased paper, with slight damage to extremities but with text completely intact. Signed ‘Nicholas Murray Butler’.

[Joseph Jekyll, Regency politician and wit.] Autograph Letter Signed to George Agar-Ellis, on missing the 'Academy Dinner' by dining with the king; and manuscript copy of pun-laden account of ‘Bazaar in Mr Penn’s Garden for Charing Cross Hospital’.

Author: 
Joseph Jekyll (1754-1837), Welsh lawyer, Whig politician and wit, Master in Chancery and Solicitor-General to the Prince of Wales [George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover]
Publication details: 
Letter written on 'Sunday Morning'
£100.00

The first item is fairly witty, while the second exhibits the sort of ‘excruciating puns’ for which Jekyll is, according to his entry in the Oxford DNB, largely remembered. See also Agar-Ellis’s entry in the same work. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Letter of ‘Sunday Morning’ to ‘Dear Ellis’. 2pp, 12mo. Signed ‘Joseph Jekyll’. Folded twice. Minuted by recipient at head of first page: ‘May 1825 / Jekyll’.

[‘There never was a better father and never one more loved’: Lord Napier while British Ambassador to the Netherlands.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'the Honble. George Elliott', praising his father the Second Earl of Minto on his death..

Author: 
Lord Napier [Francis Napier (1819-1898), 10th Lord Napier of Merchistoun and 1st Baron Ettrick, acting Viceroy of India [Admiral Sir George Elliott (1784-1863), son of the Second Earl of Minto]
Publication details: 
8 August 1859. The Hague [Holland].
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with slight discoloration along central fold. Large bold signature ‘Napier’. Addressed to ‘The Honble. George Elliott’, with salutation to ‘My dear Elliott’. As he does not know where Elliott’s sister Lady Dunfermline is ‘residing at this moment’, he is placing in Elliott’s hands ‘for transmission’ a letter from the wife of the Turkish ambassador at the Hague. He expresses to Elliott’s family his sympathy at the loss of their father.

[Margareta Blank, secretary to the Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.] Typed Note Signed (‘M. Blank.’), in English, regarding von Ribbentrop autographing a photograph, while German Ambassador to London.

Author: 
Margareta Blank, Secretary to Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893-1946), Nazi Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1938 to 1945 [Fascist Germany; Nazi Party; Second World War; Louis B. Frewer; Rhodes House, Oxford]
Publication details: 
1 July 1937. On letterhead, with embossed Nazi eagle, of ‘Der Deutsche Botschafter’, Carlton House Terrace, London.
£150.00

Blank was with von Ribbentrop from 1935 to the fall of the Reich. She testified regarding her boss’s ‘admiration and veneration for Adolf Hitler’ on Day 93 of the Nuremberg Trial. The recipient Louis B. Frewer, Superintendent of Rhodes House Library, Oxford, was a collector of autographs. 1p, long 8vo. On brittle and creased paper, with chipping and closed tears to edges, and traces of mount on reverse. The letter carries an embossed Nazi eagle at top left. Headed ‘SEKRETARIAT.’ and addressed to ‘Louis B. Frewer, Esq. / “Tal-y-Fan” / Highfield Avenue / Oxford’.

[John Oxenford, playwright, translator and theatre critic of The Times.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the editor of the Athenaeum], expressing thanks for a ‘very handsome and prominent notice’ of the ‘German Tales’ he has written with C. A. Feiling.

Author: 
John Oxenford (1812-1877), playwright, translator and theatre critic of The Times, promoter of Schopenhauer and Richard Wagner [the Athenaeum, London; C. A. Feiling]
Publication details: 
10 December 1844. 12 Birchin Lane [London].
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On brittle, discoloured paper, cropped at foot. Signed (‘J. Oxenford’). The recipient is not named, but is clearly the editor of the Athenaeum. Reads: ‘Sir/- / In the name of Mr. C. A. Feiling and myself, I beg leave to thank you for the very handsome and prominent notice of our “German Tales” which appeared in the Athenaeum of the 30th. ult. - You will confer a further obligation by letting the gentleman who wrote the article [know] how much we feel indebted to his kindness.’

[John Pye, line engraver.] Autograph Letter Signed, offering the artist William Carpenter his vote ‘at the forthcoming election for Sec[re]t[ar]y of the Artists’ Annuity Fund'.

Author: 
John Pye (1782-1874), line engraver, praised by Turner, promoter of professional associations and co-operative movements [William Carpenter (1818-1899), painter; Artists’ Annuity Fund, London]
Pye
Publication details: 
21 June 1839. 42 Cirencester Place, Fitzroy Square. [London]
£180.00
Pye

Pye was an active figure in nineteenth-century British art. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB he was the engravers’ ‘best spokesman’, hoping ‘to raise the fortunes, status, and public profile of engravers by means of professional association and co-operation’. He was the author of a number of works, including 'Patronage of British Art' (1845). His collection of prints after Turner was acquired by the British Museum in 1869, and the proofs of Turner's ‘Liber Studiorum’ followed in 1870. His notebooks are in British Library.

[‘One like me who spends half his life wandering about’: Hilaire Belloc, poet and author.] Two Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter signed in his name, to Col. Oldham of Wellington, regarding his stay with him while giving a lecture.

Author: 
Hilaire Belloc [Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc] (1870-1953), poet and author [Col. F. H. L. Oldham of Overley Hall, near Wellington]
Hilaire Belloc
Publication details: 
ONE: ALS, 5 October 1922; on letterhead of Kings Land, Shipley, Horsham. TWO: TLS, 11 October 1922; on lettehead of the Reform Club, Pall Mall, S.W.1. [London] THREE: ALS, 15 October 1922; on letterhead of Crosby Hall, Blundellsands, Liverpool.
£165.00
Hilaire Belloc

See Belloc’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is Colonel Frederick Hugh Langston Oldham (1876-1965), D.S.O., D.L., of Overley Hall near Wellington. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: ALS, 5 October 1922. 1p, 4to. With mourning border. Folded twice. Giving details of the train from Paddington he is proposing to take to Wellington for ‘[t]he lecture’ on 13 October. ‘It is most kind of you to have asked me to stay with you & I am much looking forward to it.’ TWO: TL, 11 October 1922. 1p, 8vo. Folded twice. The signature ‘H.

[Jack Rosenthal, playwright and television dramatist (including eight years on ‘Coronation Street’.] Two photographs of Rosenthal while teaching the residential writer course at Fen Farm, Suffolk, each with signed caption by organizer Sally Worboyes

Author: 
Jack Rosenthal [Jack Morris Rosenthal] (1931-2004), playwright and television dramatist (including eight years on ‘Coronation Street’), husband of actress Maureen Lipman [Sally Worboyes, Fen Farm]
Rosenthal
Publication details: 
1992. Fen Farm, Suffolk.
£75.00
Rosenthal

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The two items are from the papers of Sally Worboyes, organiser of the residential arts courses at her home, Fen Farm in Suffolk, who has provided a signed caption on the reverse of both of the prints. Both colour prints. ONE: 23 x 16 cm photograph, in Landscape. Slightly creased at corners. A relaxed Rosenthal, in plaid shirt, jeans and trainers, seated on the steps of a farm outhouse, with five students and Warboyes grouped around him. On the reverse: ‘Jack Rosenthal / with his students / Sally Worboyes’.

[Alan Plater, playwright and television dramatist (Z-Cars and the Beiderbecke series).] Three photographs of Plater with students at the residential writing course at Fen Farm in Suffolk, each with signed caption by organizer Sally Warboyes.

Author: 
Alan Plater [Alan Frederick Plater] (1935-2010), playwright and television dramatist (Z-Cars and the Beiderbecke series) [Sally Worboyes, Fen Farm, Suffolk]
Alan Plater
Publication details: 
No date (1990s). Fen Farm, Suffolk.
£75.00
Alan Plater

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The three items are from the papers of Sally Worboyes, organiser of the residential arts courses at her home, Fen Farm in Suffolk, who has provided a signed caption on the reverse of each of the prints. All three in good condition. ONE and TWO: Black and white photographs, both 12 x 17 cm. ONE is in portrait, and shows Plater seated at a country table, in shirtsleeves, jeans and trainers, looking over with concentration and expressively spread hands. On back: ‘Alan Plater at my home. / Sally Worboyes’. TWO is in landscape.

[George du Maurier, novelist and Punch cartoonist, creator of ‘Svengali’.] Autograph Signature and valediction cut from letter.

Author: 
George du Maurier [George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier] (1834-1896), novelist and Punch cartoonist, creator of the character ‘Svengali’ in his novel ‘Trilby’; grandfather of Daphne du Maurier
Geo du Maurier
Publication details: 
26 April 1886. No place.
£25.00
Geo du Maurier

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On rectangular slip of paper, roughly 11 x 3 cm, cut from the end of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged, slightly spotted and laid down along one edge on thicker piece of paper. In an elegant calligraphic hand he writes: ‘Believe me / Yours truly / Geo du Maurier / Apr. 26, 83’. The ‘eo’ of the ‘Geo’ of the signature is presented as a stylish squiggle, looking a little like a ‘W’. See image.

[Arun Manilal Gandhi, peace activist and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.] Three Typed Letters Signed to the playwright Christopher Fry, concerning his contribution to a book to be titled ‘World Without Violence’.

Author: 
Arun Manilal Gandhi (born April 14, 1934), peace activist, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi [Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi], founder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence [Christopher Fry, playwright]
Publication details: 
5 October and 15 November 1993, and 24 March 1994. All three on letterhead of the M. K. Institute for Nonviolence, Christian Brothers University, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
£90.00

As a pacifist of Quaker stock the recipient Christopher Fry would have been sympathetic to Gandhi’s goals. See Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, lightly aged and with slight creasing along one edge. All three 1p, 4to, and signed ‘Arun Gandhi’ and folded twice. ONE: 6 October 1993. He thanks him for his ‘positive response’ to the invitation to ‘contribute a statement for our forthcoming book WORLD WITHOUT VIOLENCE’, to be published to commemorate his grandfather’s 125th birthday. He concludes with details of an extended deadline. TWO: 15 November 1994.

['Bert Thomas', British political cartoonist.] Copy of his book 'Close-ups Through a childs eyes / by Bert Thomas', with label bearing autograph inscription.

Author: 
‘Bert Thomas’ [Herbert Samuel Thomas MBE (1883-1966)], British political cartoonist who contributed to Punch magazine and created British propaganda posters during the two world wars
'Bert Thomas'
Publication details: 
No date (circa 1943). 'A Tuck Book / Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd / Copyright Printed in England'.
£120.00
'Bert Thomas'

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A scarce item: no copy in the British Library and the only copies on COPAC at Cambridge and the V & A. In fair condition, lightly aged and with slight creasing to outer edge of front cover, on which a label has been laid down, carrying an inscription (repaired at one corner with archival tape) by Thomas: ‘From one child to another - Love and I cant thank you enough for everything - I’ll look forward to Janiuary - Muh love I’ll writer later’. A stapled pamphlet in brown card wraps. 16pp, landscape 8vo.

[Adrian Stokes, RA, English landscape artist.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Adrian Stokes’), thanking ‘Mrs. Terrell’ for her congratulations on his election as an Associate of the Royal Academy.

Author: 
Adrian Stokes [Charles Adrian Scott Stokes] (1854-1935), RA, English landscape artist, husband of Marianne Stokes, part of St Ives artists’ colony, brother of Leonard Stokes and Sir Wilfred Stokes
Publication details: 
8 May 1910. On letterhead of Littleshaw, Woldingham, Surrey.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, and that of his brothers the architect Leonard Scott Stokes and the inventor of the ‘Stokes Gun’ Sir Wilfred Scott Stokes. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Signed ‘Adrian Stokes’. He has added the word ‘at’ above the letterhead, indicating that the residence is not his (it is in fact the house that his brother Leonard designed for himself).

[W. C. R. Watson, English botanist.] Two Autograph Cards Signed (both ‘W. Watson’), concerning botanical matters, one to F. O. Whitaker of Plumstead, and the other to C. G. Grinling of Woolwich.

Author: 
W. C. R. Watson [William Charles Richard Watson; William Watson] (1885-1954), English botanist, author of ‘Handbook of the Rubi of Great Britain and Ireland‘ (1958)
Publication details: 
TO GRINLING: No date (postmark of 6 September 1921); “The Meadows”, Saham Toney, Watton, Norfolk. TO WHITAKER: No date (postmark of 16 September 1929); 245 Southlands Rd, Bickley, Kent.
£50.00

Note to be confused with the Kew curator William Watson (1858-1925). Both cards are plain: the first with a self-printed stamp and the second with stamp affixed. Both in fair condition, lightly aged. ONE (to Grinling): He identifies the fungi he sent, adding a comment on bacteoles of mallow. Ends in the hope of attending ‘the Epping Forest foray this year’. TWO (to Whitaker). The previous Saturday he noted ‘Pyrus torminalis in the old rough lane between fences nearly opposite the Bull Inn on Shooters Hill (? Jack Wood Lane)’.

[The growing First World War pensions crisis discussed by a member of the government.] Autograph Letter Signed from William Hayes Fisher [the future Lord Downham] to Willoughby Hyett Dickinson, discussing the problem ‘full of difficulty’.

Author: 
William Hayes Fisher [Lord Downham] (1853-1920), Conservative politician, President of Local Government Board and Minister of Information in Lloyd George's War Cabinet [Sir Willoughby Hyett Dickinson]
Publication details: 
25 October 1915. 13 Buckingham Palace Gardens, S.W. [London.]
£90.00

See Fisher’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Earlier in 1915 he had joined the Asquith government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board, and he would retain this post until June of 1917, when Lloyd George would promote him to the cabinet as President of the Local Government Board. The recipient Willoughby Hyett Dickinson (1859-1943), later an influential proponent of the League of Nations, began his career as a Liberal MP. He was knighted in 1918, and elevated to the peerage as Baron Dickinson of Painswick in 1930, the same year in which he joined the Labour Party.

[‘Our Government will stand in a sad position amongst the nations’: Sir Edward Fry on non-ratification of the London Declaration concerning the Laws of Naval War.] Autograph Letter Signed to W. H. Dickinson, on the ‘disgrace’ that would result.

Author: 
Sir Edward Fry (1827-1918), judge and zoologist, Lord Justice of Appeal [Sir Willoughby Hyett Dickinson [latterly Lord Dickinson] (1859-1943), Liberal and then Labour politician]
Publication details: 
25 February 1911. On letterhead of Failand House, Failand, near Bristol.
£80.00

See Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Dickinson was an influential proponent of the League of Nations. The present item concerns the London Declaration concerning the Laws of Naval War, an international code of maritime law, following on from the second Hague Conference. Great Britain, as the world’s chief naval power, had felt that such a court should be governed by defined principles, and had convened an international concerence in London in 1908. The Declaration that was issued three years later comprised 71 articles. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.

[Sir Frederick Lugard [Lord Lugard], Governor of Hong Kong, Governor-General of Nigeria.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Lugard’) to ‘Dickinson’ (Lord Dickinson), regarding ‘Kenya settlers’ and a matter of ‘British honour’.

Author: 
Sir Frederick Lugard [Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard; Lord Lugard] (1858-1945), soldier, explorer, Governor of Hong Kong, first Governor-General of Nigeria [Sir Willoughby Dickinson]
Publication details: 
5 January 1933. On letterhead of Little Parkhurst, Abinger Common, near Dorking, Surrey.
£100.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Lord Dickinson [Sir Willoughby Dickinson] (1859-1943), was a Liberal and then Labour politician and early advocate of the League of Nations.1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with short nick to one edge. Folded twice. He thanks him for the morning’s note, and is ‘adopting your suggestion to put down a Motion in the Lords’. He hopes that Dickinson will ‘add the weight of your name and influence in a letter to the Times’. He would like ‘the League of Nations Union would take the matter up’.

[Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar, 6th Governor-General of Australia; Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, the first woman elected to a Scottish seat at Westminster.] Autograph Signatures from album.

Author: 
Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar (1860-1934), 6th Governor-General of Australia, 1914 to 1920; Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray (1874-1960), Duchess of Atholl
Novar
Publication details: 
Novar's signature dated by him from Stirling, 14 October 1922.
£180.00
Novar

See their entries in the Oxford DNB. Two Autograph Signatures, on an 11 x 5 cm slip cut from a leaf of an album. In good condition, lightly aged. On one side: ‘Novar / G. G. Australia 1914 - 20. / Stirling 14. 10. 22.’ (The date ‘1914’ is slightly smudged. On the other side ‘Katharine Atholl - Jan. [...]’; and above it, in another hand ‘Duchess of Atholl - Under Secretary for Edu’. See image.

[‘A whole career lies between the quotations’: V. S. Pritchett, English writer and critic.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Victor Pritchett’), submitting his ‘Turgenev’ (i.e. the typescript of his ‘Gentle Barbarian’) to his editor ‘Mr Higgins’.

Author: 
V. S. Pritchett [Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett] (1900-1997), English writer and literary critic
Pritchett
Publication details: 
11 May 1977. On letterhead of 12 Regents Park Terrace, London N.W.1.
£56.00
Pritchett

Pritchett’s ‘The Gentle Barbarian: The Life and Work of Turgenev’ appeared in 1977; the present letter is clearly addressed to his editor at the book’s publishers Chatto & Windus. Pritchett’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes his handwriting as ‘legendarily ugly and difficult to decipher’, but the present example is no worse than an average hand. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Two fold lines. He is sending his ‘Turgenev’, and explains: ‘As you will see I have marked passages from the book in purple crayon, and my own summary bridges in green.

[‘I have no desire to be a marked man’: Lord Simon, Liberal politician.] Two Typed Letters Signed to T. Lloyd Humberstone, on an ‘adverse vote’ at the National Liberal Club, and on prerogative, Parliamentary representation and ‘old Universities’.

Author: 
Lord Simon [John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon] (1873-1954), Liberal Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Chancellor [Thomas Lloyd Humberstone, educationist]
Publication details: 
17 January and 8 November 1948. Both on government letterheads.
£75.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient, the educationist Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957), was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. Both items in fair condition, on lightly aged paper, the second with slight loss along one edge due to removal from mount. Both signed ‘Simon’. ONE: 17 January 1948. 1p, 12mo. Folded once. ‘I do not for a moment believe that the adverse vote carried at a depleted meeting of the General Committee represents the broad view of the Club [clearly the National Liberal Club] as a whole, but I have to take things as I find them.

[Princess Basma bint Talal of Jordan.] Typed Letter Signed to Lady Monckton, thanking her for sending’Comfrey roots’ for her family the ‘Royal Stables’.

Author: 
Princess Basma bint Talal (b.1951), daughter of King Talal and Queen Zein of Jordan, sister of Hussein of Jordan and paternal aunt of the current king Abdullah II [Lady Monckton]
Bint
Publication details: 
21 October 1986. On her royal letterhead.
£150.00
Bint

1p, 4to. Salutation and valediction in the princess’s autograph. Stylized signature with Roman lettering. Addressed to ‘The Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley’ at her estate in Maidstone, Kent. They are all ‘delighted’ with the ‘Comfrey roots’ which she sent as promised, and ‘look forward to seeing the results on the horses’. ‘My niece, Her Royal Highness Princess Alia was also pleased to receive her share for the Royal Stables’. The letter ends with the usual courtesies. See image.

[Lord Hankey [Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey], Secretary of Lloyd George’s War Cabinet.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Hankey’) to T. Lloyd Humberstone, regarding a book he is working on, and pressure to ‘cut out all reference to my diary’.

Author: 
Lord Hankey [Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey] (1877-1963), British civil servant, Secretary of Lloyd George’s War Cabinet [T. Lloyd Humberstone]
Publication details: 
11 June 1954. On letterhead of Highstead, Limpsfield, Surrey.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957) was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. The work referred to in this letter is probably Hankey's 'The Supreme Command', the two volumes of which would be published in 1961. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. He is returning his letter and ‘its interesting enclosure’. Not having had any experience of the Central Office of Information, he is left with the impression ‘that they are not very well informed on questions of Military Organisation’.

[Lady Penelope Balogh [Penelope Gatty], psychotherapist and biographer of Sigmund Freud.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Pen.’) to ‘Mash’[?], regarding her novel.

Author: 
Lady Penelope Balogh [previously Penelope Gatty; born Penelope Tower] (1916-1975), psychotherapist and biographer of Sigmund Freud, wife of Oliver Gatty (1907-1940), chemist and psychical researcher
Publication details: 
6 January 1949. On letterhead of 2 Rawlinson Road, Oxford.
£50.00

2pp, 4to. In fair condition, aged and creased. Folded once.

[Henry Luttrell, wit and poet.] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking Agar Ellis for the gift of one of his books, and discussing the preparing for the press of one of his own.

Author: 
Henry Luttrell [born Henry King] (1768-1851), wit and poet, friend of Sydney Smith, illegitimate son of the , second Earl of Carhampton [Agar Ellis [George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover]]
Publication details: 
18 February [no year, but between 1822 and 1833]. Albany [Piccadilly, London].
£180.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. ‘Many many thanks, my dear Ellis, for the kind present of your book, which, as soon as I am released from a torment of which you have had some experience, - correcting the press, I promise myself much pleasure and instruction in perusing. /As soon as my doggerel is printed, you may rely on having a copy. My best remembrance if you please to Lady Georgiana / Ever faithfully Yours / Henry Luttrell.’ Which of Luttrell’s or Ellis’s books are referred to here is unclear.

[‘There has been such “a run on” me’:] Autograph Letter Signed (‘G. H. Boughton’) to J. P. Broadhurst, editor of ‘The Field’, regarding ‘a Menu Card’ and an illustration from his book with E. A. Abbey, which Broadhurst may wish to use.

Author: 
G. H. Boughton [George Henry Boughton] (1833-1905), RA, English artist and illustrator whose childhood was spent in America [The Royal Academy, London; J. Pendred Broadhurst, editor of 'The Field']
Publication details: 
Undated. On letterhead of West House, Campden Hill, Kensington. [London.]
£40.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The recipient is named as ‘J. Pendred Broadhurst Esq’. Boughton begins by thanking him for his ‘kind note’. He is ‘quite out of photos for the moment - there has been such “a run on” me’. His portrait is not ‘in commerce’. He is enclosing ‘a Menu Card (of a dinner given me by Messrs Harper in New York)’, which has ‘a portrait by Mr L. Alma Tadema R.A. which I think is a little out of the Common. There is also an illustration from our book - (E. A.

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