B.

[‘Mr Flotsam and Mr Jetsam’ (musical duo B. C. Collingwood and Malcom McEachern).] Autograph Signature, with stylized self-portrait, of ‘Flotsam’ (Bentley Collingwood Hilliam), tenor, pianist and songwriter.

Author: 
‘Mr Flotsam and Mr Jetsam’ [Bentley Collingwood Hilliam [born Smailes] (1890-1968), English tenor, pianist and songwriter, and Malcolm McEachern (1883-1945), Australian bass]
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£50.00

‘Mr Flotsam and Mr Jetsam’ are regarded as precursors of Flanders and Swan. The present item is on a 14 x 13 cm leaf torn from an album. The high-acidity paper is discoloured, otherwise in good condition, with no chipping or wear. Entirely blank on both sides apart from the autograph ‘Flotsam’, with diagonal flourish, beneath a highly stylized and simplified portrait of flotsam seated at his piano. A nice and unusual item. See Image

E. B. Pusey [Edward Bouverie Pusey], Oxford Professor of Hebrew and leading figure in the Oxford Movement. ANS

Author: 
E. B. Pusey [Edward Bouverie Pusey] (1800-1882), Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford and leading figure in the Oxford Movement
Publication details: 
No date. On cancelled embossed letterhead of Christ Church, Oxford.
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, on both sides of a 9 x 10.5 cm piece of paper. Aged and worn, with a corner cut away, but the text complete.Nineteen lines in a close and difficult hand. Addressed to 'My dear Mgnr [i.e. Monsignor]' and signed 'E B Pusey'. Interpretation of Pusey's execrable handwriting is challenging. He appears to be ‘lecturing on the Psalms’, and may be requesting ‘combined lectures’.

[Alice Delysia [stage name of Alice Henriette Lapize], French actress and singer who moved to England and worked with C. B. Cochran and Noel Coward.] Autograph Signature on publicity photograph by Janet Jevons of London.

Author: 
Alice Delysia [stage name of Alice Henriette Lapize] (1889-1979), French actress and singer at the Moulin Rouge, who worked in England with C. B. Cochran and Noel Coward [Janet Jevons of London]
Alice Delysia
Publication details: 
Without date. At bottom right of image: ‘Portrait by Janet Jevons, 19/20 New Bond Street, W.1.’
£35.00
Alice Delysia

8.5 x 14 cm glossy publicity photograph on post card. In good condition, lightly aged. Inscribed across the bottom of the image: ‘Souvenirs / Alice Delysia’. A soft-toned head and shoulders image in black and white, of a smiling Delysia, eyebrows plucked, lips made up, and short hair Marcell-waved. See Image.

[Charles Isaac Elton,and B. F. C. Costelloe; Markets.] Printed work, inscribed by Elton to William Bliss.] ‘Royal Commission on Market Rights and Tolls. Report on Charters and Records relating to the History of Fairs and Markets [UK]'.’

Author: 
Charles Isaac Elton (1839-1900), lawyer, antiquary and Conservative politician, and B. F. C. Costelloe, Assistant Commissioner [William Bliss]
Publication details: 
Drophead title with printed date at foot of page '1/89', i.e. January 1890. [London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.] Inscription by Elton dated 14 January 1890.
£600.00

Rare: The BL has a copy (not annotated) and there's a copy on JISC at Reading, with the entry stating that consists of 104pp, rather than the 231pp of the present copy. See Elton’s entry in the Oxford DNB. He first served as a Conservative MP for Somerset in 1884-5, and the present item was composed during his second term, 1886-92. No title-leaf: drop-head title. At foot of first page: ‘A 55729. 30.?1/89. Wt. 6590,’. Introductory section credited on p.30 to 'Charles Elton. / B. F. C. Costelloe, / Assistant Commissioner.' Folio, 231pp.

[Alexander Balmain Bruce [Prof. A. B. Bruce, D.D.], Scottish theologian and minister of the Free Church of Scotland.] Autograph Letter Signed to Rev. Frederic Damstini Cremer, regarding a passage in his 'The Kingdom of God' and Edwin Pinder Barrow.

Author: 
Alexander Balmain Bruce [Prof. A. B. Bruce, D.D.] (1831-1899), Scottish theologian and minister of the Free Church of Scotland [Rev. Frederic Damstini Cremer, Rector of Keighley]
Publication details: 
‘32 Hamilton Park Terrace / Glasgow / 21 May 1892’.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed ‘Revd. F. Damstini Cremer / The Rectory / Keighley / England’. Signed ‘A. B. Bruce’. He begins by confirming that Cremer has has not mistaken his meaning ‘on p. 32 “The Kingdom of God”’, reaffirming over a paragraph what it is he was saying regarding the temptation of Christ. ‘It seems a considerable liberty, but then the Scripture writers do take liberties in their quotations & use of Holy Writ’.

[C. B. Oldman [Cecil Bernard Oldman], bibliographer and musicologist, Principal Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed to the music bookseller Leonard Hyman, regarding his promotion and Hyman’s latest catalogue.

Author: 
C. B. Oldman [Cecil Bernard Oldman] (1894-1969), bibliographer and musicologist, Principal Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum from 1948 to 1959 [Leonard Hyman, music bookseller]
Publication details: 
30 December 1947; on letterhead of 3 Cromwell Road, Kensington, S.W.7 [London].
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Dear Hyman’ and signed ‘C. B. Oldman.’ He begins by thanking him for his ‘kind congratulations’ (on his promotion to at the British Museum, following the retirement of Sir Henry Thomas): ‘I have been laid up with a bad cold over Christmas otherwise I should have written before’. Hyman’s latest catalogue interested him very much, and he hopes that ‘the fact that I don’t buy much nowadays will not deter you from sending me future issues.

[J. B. S. Haldane [John Burdon Stevenson Haldane], geneticist; Robert Edward Stevenson, Hollywood film maker (‘Jane Eyre’, ‘Mary Poppins’).] Autograph Signatures to paper recording a vote at the Cambridge Union, with circular notice of 1927 meeting.

Author: 
J. B. S. Haldane [John Burdon Stevenson Haldane] (1892-1964), geneticist; Robert Edward Stevenson (1905-1986), Hollywood film maker (‘Jane Eyre’, ‘Mary Poppins’), President of the Cambridge Union
J. B. S. Haldane
Publication details: 
Cambridge Union Society notice of meeting on 2 May 1927 ('Easter Term, 1927').
£56.00
J. B. S. Haldane

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. Stevenson was president of the Cambridge Union in 1928. The material is in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Manuscript notice of vote. On one side of a piece of thick 8vo paper, with small nick at one top corner. At the head, one above the other, are the signatures: 'J. B. S. Haldane. / R. E. Stevenson / P. M. [Wright?]'. At the foot of the page, in a fourth hand: 'Ayes. 184. / Noes. 310.' TWO: Duplicated circular of typed notice. 1p, 12mo. Laid down on reverse of leaf carrying Item One. Headed: 'Cambridge Union Society / Easter Term, 1927.

[The Birth of the Scout Movement?: R. B. Haldane and Baden-Powell’s ‘scheme’.] Typed Note with cyclostyled sigature from the future Lord Chancellor Richard Burdon Haldane to ‘General Baden-Powell’, regarding a meeting with Sir Edward Ward.

Author: 
[The Birth of the Scout Movement? R. B. Haldane [Richard Burdon Haldane (1856-1928), 1st Viscount Haldane, Lord Chancellor] [Lord Baden-Powell [Sir Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941)]; the Boy Scouts]
Publication details: 
23 May 1906. On embossed War Office letterhead.
£280.00

‘Scouting for Boys’ did not begin its serialized publication until January 1908, but Baden-Powell’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that it was Haldane, as Secretary for War, who ‘persuaded him that character training should be at the centre of any scheme of boy instruction’, following a ‘major inspection’ of the Boys’ Brigade by him as Vice-President at Glasgow in April 1904. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight creasing and a short closed tear to one edge. Reads: ‘Dictated. / 23rd. May 1906. / Dear General Baden-Powell, / Thank you for your letter.

[ John Brumfit, nineteenth-century City of London cigar merchant. ] Autograph account books ('Journal' and 'Cash') from the firm's foundation in 1864, with explanatory letter from the founder's grandson K. F. Brumfit, and trade letterhead.

Author: 
John B. Brumfit, nineteenth-century City of London cigar merchant [ subsequently John Brumfit Ltd
Publication details: 
London [ John B. Brumfit, Cigar Merchant, 86, King William Street, City. ].Journal: 1864-1870. Cash Book, 1864-1872.
£1,500.00

For more than a century the firm of John Brumfit Ltd of the City of London was one of Britain's leading cigar and tobacco merchants, its reputation international. The firm was founded in 1864 by John B. Brumfit, son of Charles Brumfit of No. 1 Pall Mall West. The items offered here are the journal and cash book written out by the founder at the firm's inception, together with two related items (Items Three and Four below).

[Pocahontas; Lyndon B. Johnson [Lyndon Baines Johnson; 'LBJ'], 36th President] Typed Letter Signed, as a senator, regarding a visit to America by 'the rector of St. George's Church at Gravesend' (in England, where Pocahontas is buried).

Author: 
Lyndon B. Johnson [Lyndon Baines Johnson, known as ‘LBJ’] (1908-1973), 36th President of the United States of America; a Democrat who succeeded John F. Kennedy, to whom he had served as Vice-President
Johnson
Publication details: 
24 September 1951. On letterhead of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services [Washington, D.C.].
£450.00
Johnson

The present item is a genuine signature. It has been compared with a number of examples from the 1950s, including one from the same year of 1951, all of which differ, and Johnson is not known to have used an autopen until he became president (in 1968 it was dubbed ‘The Robot That Sits In For The President’ by the National Enquirer). 1p, 4to. On a leaf of wove paper, with US government American eagle watermark. In fair condition, lightly aged, and folded twice for postage. There is some light wear to the left of the signature, having a negligible effect on its final uptick.

[‘There’s a charm about W. B. Corsets’: Edwardian corsetry.] Trade catalogue for ‘Davey Brothers, Corset Specialists, The Drapery Emporium, Faversham [Kent]’, with numerous illustrations of ‘W. B. Nuform’ corsets.

Author: 
Edwardian corsetry [W. B. Corsets; ‘Davey Brothers, Corset Specialists, The Drapery Emporium, Faversham [Kent]’; trade catalogues]
Corsets
Corsets2
Publication details: 
No date [Edwardian or Georgian]. 'Davey Brothers, Corset Specialists, The Drapery Emporium, Faversham [Kent]’
£180.00
Corsets
Corsets2

A nice piece of Edwardian trade ephemera. It would appear that W. B. Corsets were running a franchise scheme, providing suppliers with their catalogue and printing the franchisee's name on the back cover: little is to be discovered about either firm. No other copy traced. Hard to date: the corsets have an Edwardian feel, but some features of the illustrations may suggest a slightly later date. A 12mo stapled pamphlet, consisting of 20 pages on ten leaves of shiny paper: unnumbered front and back leaves, and pages on central eight leaves numbered 1-16.

[B. H. Draper, Baptist hymn writer.] Autograph Letter Signed proposing to the nonconformist bookseller Josiah Conder an edition of Philip Henry’s sermons, from manuscripts, with reference to Sir John Bickerton Williams and John William Cunningham.

Author: 
B. H. Draper [Bourne Hall Draper] (1775-1843), hymn writer and Baptist minister [Josiah Conder (1789-1855), nonconformist bookseller; John Bickerton Williams; John William Cunningham; Philip Henry]
Publication details: 
‘Coseley, nr Bilstone, Staffordshire. / Dec. 20. 1815.’
£70.00

See his entry in the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, and Conder’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. On the first leaf of a bifolium, the second addressed on the reverse, with postmark, to ‘Mr. Josh. Conder, / Bookseller, / Bucklersbury, / London.’ In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, spiked, folded for postage, and with damage and slight loss to the second leaf from the breaking of the wafer. Begins: ‘Learning lately from my friend Mr. Williams of Shrewsbury, [the future Sir John Bickerton Williams (1792-1855)] that you had engaged with him for his MS.

[William Bodham Donne, Librarian, London Library, Examiner of Plays, Lord Chamberlain’s Office.] Printed offprint of synopsis of Royal Institution talk: ‘On the Works of Chaucer, considered as Historical Illustrations of England in the 14th Century.’

Author: 
W. B. Donne [William Bodham Donne] (1807-1882), journalist, Librarian of the London Library, Examiner of Plays in the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, friend of Edward FitzGerald [Royal Institution]
Publication details: 
'Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, April 25, 1856.' [London.]
£45.00

The present item differs from the version published on pp.248-254 of the ‘Notices of the Proceedings’, vol.2 (1854-1858), and no other copy has been traced. Drophead title: ‘Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, April 25, 1856. / Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bart. D.C.L. F.R.S. Vice-President, in the Chair. / W. B. Donne, Esq. / On the Works of Chaucer, considered as Historical Illustrations of England in the 14th Century.’ 10pp, 16mo, paginated [1]-10. In very good condition, lightly aged. Stabbed as issued, with no wraps, and unopened. Begins: ‘MR.

[Norman Collins, author of ‘London Belongs to Me’.] Typed Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’, regarding a review he has written, and a party in his honour held by the English Centre of P.E.N.

Author: 
Norman Collins [Norman Richard Collins] (1907-1982), author of ‘London Belongs to Me’ and TV executive [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’]
Publication details: 
2 March 1977; on letterhead of ATV House, 17 Great Cumberland Place, London W1.
£56.00

See his 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 present item is 1p, 4to. Signed ‘Norman Collins’. In good condition, lightly aged. He is submitting a review of J. B. Priestley’s ‘Instead of the Trees’, in the hope that it is ‘the kind of thing that you had in mind’.

[‘The Ultimate All-Rounder’: C. B. Fry, one of the greatest of English cricketers.] Autograph Signature from Typed Letter written as Honorary Director of the training ship Mercury..

Author: 
C. B. Fry [Charles Burgess Fry] (1872-1956), one of the greatest of English cricketers, sportsman, scholar, journalist
Fry
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£35.00
Fry

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he has ‘strong claims to be regarded as the greatest sporting all-rounder of his or any era since’. (Neville Cardus counted him ‘among the most fully developed and representative Englishmen of his period’.) It also seems that in 1920 he was offered the chance of becoming king of Albania. His grave at Repton is inscribed: ‘Cricketer, scholar, athlete, Author – The Ultimate All-rounder’.

[Cuala Press, Dublin.] Printed item: number of ‘A Broadside’, limited to 300 copies, with poems by James Stephens and Michael Moran (‘Zozimus’), set to music by Arthur Duff, each with hand-coloured illustration by Victor Brown. From the Lynd archive.

Author: 
Cuala Press, Dublin; James Stephens; Michael Moran (‘Zozimus’); Victor Brown [‘A Broadside’: W. B. Yeats and F. R. Higgins, eds; Arthur Duff, musical ed.; Robert and Sylvia Lynd]
Publication details: 
No. 8 (New Series) August 1935. Cuala Press, Dublin.
£120.00

An attractive item on four unpaginated folio pages, in a bifolium. Uncommon. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, but not folded. Drophead title: ‘No. 8 (New Series) August 1935. / A Broadside / Editors: W. B. Yeats and F. R. Higgins; Musical Editor, Arthur Duff.

[Cuala Press, Dublin.] Printed publication: number of ‘A Broadside’, limited to 300 copies, with two poems, one by Padraic Colum, set to music by Arthur Duff, each with a hand-coloured illustration by Harry Kernoff. From the Lynd archive.

Author: 
Cuala Press, Dublin; Padraic Colum; Harry Kernoff [‘A Broadside’: W. B. Yeats and F. R. Higgins, eds; Arthur Duff, musical ed.; Robert and Sylvia Lynd]
Publication details: 
No. 7 (New Series) July 1935. Cuala Press, Dublin.
£120.00

An attractive item on four unpaginated folio pages, in a bifolium. Uncommon. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, but not folded, with small closed tear at head of first leaf. Drophead title: ‘No. 7 (New Series) July 1935. / A Broadside / Editors: W. B. Yeats and F. R. Higgins; Musical Editor, Arthur Duff.

[B. Feldman & Co., London music publishers.] Printed ‘Selected List of New and Popular Numbers. / Vocal and Instrumental’, including 'Musical Comedy & Revue Successes' and 'Talkie Film Songs'.

Author: 
B. Feldman & Co., London music publishers
Publication details: 
No date, but late 1930s/early 1940s. B. Feldman & Co., 125, 127 & 129, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W.C.2.
£180.00

Few copies of this ephemeral item can have survived. (No copies appear to show up on Jisc or WorldCat.) 20pp, 4to. Small print. Stapled. In very good condition for such a publication: lightly browned paper, with one off-centre horizontal fold. The item can be dated from the films listed on the two pages of ‘Talkie Film Songs’ seem to all date from the 1930s (e.g. ‘The Cowboy and the Lady’ and ‘Song of the Saddle’). Title page has box containing a list of ‘Immortal Melodies by Victor Herbert’.

[Col. Charles Booth Brackenbury, R.A., military historian and Times correspondent.] Autograph Letter Signed to his editor J. T. Delane, on writing and reviewing after the Franco-Prussian war, with claim to have ‘started the Intelligence Department’.

Author: 
Col. Charles Booth Brackenbury, R.A. [C. B. Brackenbury] (1831-1890), military historian and British Army officer in Crimea, and war correspondent [John Thadeus Delane (1817-79), editor of The Times]
Publication details: 
10 April 1874; from Hill Street [Woolwich], on letterhead of Hill House, Woolwich, S.E.
£350.00

An excellent letter, casting light on the relationship between the editor of The Times and a senior correspondent. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. Brackenbury’s states that ‘During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 Brackenbury was the Times correspondent with the Austrian army, and was at the battle of Königgrätz (Sadowa) — riding with Benedek under fire at Chlum — and reported the naval battle of Lissa.

[J. C. B. Grant [John Charles Boileau Grant], Scottish-Canadian anatomist, ('Grant's Dissector’).] Two Autograph Letters Signed to Professor David Waterston of St Andrews, with news of colleagues and reminiscences of University of Edinburgh.

Author: 
J. C. B. Grant [John Charles Boileau Grant] (1886-1973) Scottish-Canadian anatomist, author of 'Grant's Dissector' [Professor David Waterston (1871-1942) of St Andrews; Piltdown Man hoax]
Publication details: 
20 June 1933. and 17 November 1940. Both on letterhead of the University of Toronto Department of Medicine.
£150.00

Grant, who was Chair of Anatomy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine from 1930 to 1956, is best known for his textbook ‘Grant’s Dissector’, now in its sixteenth edition and used all over the world by medical students. Waterston was Bute Professor of Anatomy at the University of St Andrews from 1914 to 1942. In 1913, while Professor of Anatomy at King's College, London, he was the first authority to debunk the Piltdown Man hoax. Both letters are in good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Both signed ‘J C B Grant’. ONE (20 June 1939): 3pp, 4to.

[‘He as good as called me a liar: Sir Walter Newman Flower, proprietor of London publishers Cassell’s.] Autograph Letter Signed and two Typed Letters Signed to Sir James Marchant, complaining of treatment by Thomas B. Wells of New York firm Harpers.

Author: 
Sir Walter Newman Flower (1879-1964), proprietor of London publishers Cassell & Co, biographer and literary editor [Thomas Bucklin Wells (1875-1944) of Harper & Co., New York; Sir James Marchant]
Publication details: 
First TLS: 3 January 1928. Second TLS: 11 December 1928. Both on letterheads of Cassell & co. Ltd., La Belle Sauvage, London, EC4. ALS: 18 December 1928, on letterhead of Idlehurst, Sevenoaks.
£150.00

Publishing history does not get more vivid than this. See Flower’s obituary in The Times, and Wells’s in the New York Times. The three items in good condition, lightly aged. All three folded once and signed ‘Newman Flower’. First TLS (3 January 1928): 1p, 12mo. He writes that although ‘a very apologetic letter from Mr. Wells of Harpers’ has ‘cleared the air entirely’, ‘a reply from Holt’ received at the same time is not very satisfactory’, and ‘in view of the fact that Cassell’s and Harpers will be coming together again, it would, perhaps, be as well not to do anything at present’.

[A Dickens Fellowship dinner in wartime London.] Autograph Signatures of James Agate, Walter Dexter, Humphrey House and Lewis B. Frewer to menu for dinner celebrating the ‘130th Anniversary of the Birthday of Charles Dickens’.

Author: 
James Agate (1877-1947), diarist and theatre critic; Walter Dexter; Humphrey House, Louis B. Frewer, Superintendent of Rhodes House Library, Oxford; Dickens Fellowship
Dickens
Publication details: 
‘Holborn Restaurant [London] 7th February 1942’.
£60.00
Dickens

It seems extraordinary that they were able to pull this off during wartime restrictions, and Dickens would have relished the shabby-genteelness of it. The menu is shakily printed in a faded blue on a 10 x 16.5 cm piece of cream card, with rounded edges. At foot: ‘Holborn Restaurant 7th February 1942’. The menu is headed: ‘THE DICKENS FELLOWSHIP / 130th Anniversary of the / Birthday of Charles Dickens / Chairman: WALTER DEXTER, Vice-President / Speakers: HUMPHREY HOUSE, JAMES AGATE’.

[‘One of the very best comedians of the generation.’] Autograph Note Signed by Nelson Keys, with holograph poem by ‘G. L.’ and Signed Note by ‘Gordon’ for actress playing ‘Spirit of Spring’ in Arthur Wimperis revue at C. B. Cochran's London Pavilion.

Author: 
Nelson Keys [Nelson Waite Keys, ‘Bunch’] (1887-1939), actor and comedian, father of the film-maker John Paddy Carstairs (1910-1970) [Arthur Wimperis; C. B. Cochran; London Pavilion]
Keys
Publication details: 
Poem by ‘G[ordon]. L.’ dated 20 June 1921. [London Pavilion.]
£80.00
Keys

Keys features in his son’s entry in the Oxford DNB. (John Paddy Carstairs was christened Nelson John Keys.) Three theatrical autographs - Nelson Keys, ‘G. L.’ and ‘Gordon’ - on one side of a 25 x 20.5 cm piece of card. Apparently a gift from fellow cast-members to the actress playing the ‘Spirit of Spring’ in the Arthur Wimperis sketch ‘The Queen of Hearts’, in the C. B. Cochran London Pavilion revue ‘London, Paris and New York’, which ran for 366 performances between 1920 and 1921. J. P.

[Hong Kong; natural disaster] Typed Letter Signed, cover for instructions etc (3 pp) J. B. Keenan, to C. A. A. Nicol, enclosing 'our instructions in the event of a civil disturbance or natural disaster eg Typhoon', map and 'warning signals'.

Author: 
Major J. B. Keenan, Royal Artillery, Camp Commandant, Land Forces Hong Kong [C. A. A. Nicol (1921-2012), Special Branch, Malayan Union Police Force and Royal Malaysian Police]
Publication details: 
Letter from Camp Office, Headquarters, Land Forces Hong Kong, British Forces Post Office 1; 18 October 1973.
£250.00

Totalling 4pp., sm.fol. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter (1p., 8vo) is a circular, and in it Keenan writes: 'Do not be alarmed at the sudden appearance of these instructions. Rather accept them as a fact that some one has your interests at heart'. The instructions (2pp., 8vo) are headed 'APPX 3 TO ANNEX D | CAMP HOLF SOP NO 2 | INSTRUCTIONS TO FAMILIES'. Divided into 13 sections, under the headings: Introduction; Wardens; Precautions; Children; Shopping; Special Warning Procedure; Leave; Finally.

[Charles B. Wilder, Boston abolitionist.] Printed pamphlet: 'An Inquiry into the Causes of Frequent Changes in the Ministry, and the Diminished Power of the Churches to hold the People in the House of God.'

Author: 
C. B. Wilder [Charles B. Wilder, Boston abolitionist and Superintendent of Contrabands] [Beacon Press, Boston; Thomas Todd, Printer; Congregational House]
Publication details: 
Boston: Beacon Press: Thomas Todd, Printer, Congregational House, Room 25, 1881.
£50.00

[2] + 16pp, 8vo. In wraps on the front cover of which is printed the title-page, with a 'Note' by Wilder on the reverse. Sixteen pages of text with drop-head title: 'Churches and Ministers Considered'. In poor condition, aged and worn. Wilder's note explains his motive for writing: 'I am nearly four-score years of age - my life covering almost three generations. My opportunities for observation in city and country, North, South, East, and West, have been abundant.

[J. B. Priestley, popular English novelist.] Typed Letter Signed ('Jack') to 'B. J.', i.e. Maire Lynd, regarding her parents Robert and Sylvia Lynd, and her son.

Author: 
J. B. Priestley [John Boynton Priestley] (1894-1984), novelist, playwright and broadcaster [Maire Lynd ('B. J.'), daughter of Irish essayist Robert Lynd and his wife the poet Sylvia Lynd]
Publication details: 
16 June 1976. On his letterhead, Kissing Tree House, Alveston, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire.
£45.00

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once. The salutation 'Dear B. J.' and valediction 'Yours | Jack' are in Priestley's autograph; the rest is typed. Maire Lynd's letter was 'a delight surprise', Priestley being unaware that her son was 'in the film business'.

[First World War commemoration.] Printed pamphlet with fold-out plan: 'The Empire's War Memorial and a Project for a British Imperial University of Commerce by Ernest H. Taylor and J. B. Black, M.A., B.A.'

Author: 
Ernest H. Taylor; J. B. Black [Isambard Owen, W. H. Hadow, H. F. Wilson, Angus Watson, T. J. Lennard, A. K. Wright] ['The Empire's War Memorial'; First World War commemoration]
Publication details: 
Edinburgh: Macniven & Wallace, 138 Princes Street, 1920.
£56.00

56pp, 8vo. With fold-out 'Chart indicating the suggested arrangement of buildings etc:' at rear, 29.5 x 53.5 cm. In grey printed wraps. Internally in good condition, lightly aged, in worn and torn wraps which are becoming detached. With label, stamp and shelfmarks of the Board of Education Reference Library. Black's preface (pp.5-6) begins by explaining that 'The ideas embodied in the following pages are the product of some eight months incarceration in Germany.

[Eleven British authors of the 1920s and 1930s.] Autograph Signatures of Hugh Walpole, J. B. Priestley, C. S. Forester, V. S. Pritchett, Lord Dunsany, Alec Waugh, Norman Collins, A. G. Macdonell, Ivor Brown, Philip Jordan and Lionel Hale.

Author: 
Hugh Walpole, J. B. Priestley, C. S. Forester, V. S. Pritchett, Lord Dunsany, Alec Waugh, Norman Collins, A. G. Macdonell, Ivor Brown, Philip Jordan, Lionel Hale, Pauline Donalda, H. Lane Wilson
Publication details: 
Without date or place [London? Late 1920s? 1930s?]
£220.00

The signatures feature with no other text on a single page, on one side of a 15 x 18 cm leaf of thickish cream paper removed from an album. In fair condition, aged, and dusty, with slight pinkish-red staining on edges, and not near any of the signatures. The signatories are: 'Hugh Walpole', 'Dunsany' [Lord Dunsany], 'Alec Waugh/', 'V S Pritchett', 'Lionel Hale.', 'Norman Collins', 'Philip Jordan' [Philip Furneaux Jordan (1902-1951), journalist and author], 'A. G. Macdonell.', 'Ivor Brown', 'J. B. Priestley', 'C. S. Forester'.

[T. E. B. Clarke, Oscar-winning screenwriter and crime writer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Tibby') to the novelist Barbara Kaye, discussing common acquaintances after the episode of the TV programme 'This Is Your Life' devoted to him.

Author: 
T. E. B. Clarke [Thomas Ernest Bennett 'Tibby' Clarke] (1907-1989), screenwriter who won an Oscar for 'The Lavender Hill Mob', and crime writer [Ealing Comedies; Barbara Kaye, novelist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Tanners Mead, Oxted, Surrey. 10 November 1960.
£45.00

Other than 'The Lavender Hill Mob', for which he won an Oscar, Clarke's screenplays include 'The Blue Lamp' and 'The Titchfield Thunderbolt'. For the recipient Barbara Kaye [Barbara Kenrick Gowing] (1908-1998), writer, bookseller and wife of Percy Muir, see her obituary by Nicolas Barker in the Independent, 12 March 1998. The present letter was written a few days after Clarke's appearance on 31 October on the television programme 'This Is Your Life'. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn. Folded once. The letter begins: 'Dear Barbara, | Many thanks for your kind letter.

[William Bedell Stanford, Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity College Dublin.] Typed Poem titled 'Undertone' (first line: 'When the landfolk of Galway converse with a stranger,'), with Autograph Signature 'W B. Stanford | Trinity College | Dublin'.

Author: 
W. B. Stanford [William Bedell Stanford] (1910-1984), Irish classical scholar and Senator, Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity College Dublin, 1940-1980; Chancellor of the University, 1982-1984
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£180.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, with slight creasing to extremities, on a leaf of 'Onion Skin' paper. A sixteen line poem in three stanzas, beneath which is written, boldly and in pencil: 'W B. Stanford | Trinity College | Dublin'. The poem is one of Stanford's best and best-known, and features in Donagh MacDonagh's 'Poems from Ireland' (1944) and Brendan Kennelly's 'Penguin Book of Irish Verse' (1970). The present version exhibits no variations from the text printed by Kennelly.

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