DRAMA

A total of 8pp of closely-typed text. In good condition. Also present are an additional four-page copy on pink paper of the first letter and its enclosure. First letter signed 'Kevin Bailey', two others signed 'Kevin B.' aq2 One letter lacks its last page and signature.

2pp, 18mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once. Written in a close, elegant hand. Written on receipt of a presentation copy of MacQueen-Pope's latest book, the letter begins: 'My dear Popie, | Thank you so very much for St James's, Theatre of Distinction. I think I am enjoying it even more than I usually enjoy your individual-theatre books, because the St James's meant so much to me. It was the first London theatre I ever went to - long before I could read or went to a school.

9pp, 8vo. Complete carbon typescript. On nine leaves, stapled together. Title at head of first page: 'THE BOAT THAT MOOED.' Fry's signature in blue ink at top left of first page: 'Christopher Fry:'. Fry has cut down the story by deleting and removing a passage. The lower part of the leaf carrying the sixth page of the story has been cut away, and the original seventh page has been removed, hence the typescript pagination 1-6, 8-10 has been amended in manuscript to 1-9. A lighthearted faux-naive story, replete with symbolism. Begins: 'Tom Crunch lived on a boat. All round the boat was water.

3pp, 4to, each page on a separate leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. There is no indication that either item was published, nor even that the poem is connected to the 'programme'. (If unpublished the poem may have found its way into Fry's papers from Hassall's.) The 'programme' - with no title or heading - is two pages long (with slight damage from a small staple to corners of both leaves) and complete, being divided into six numbered sections.

The two items are from the playwright's own papers. FIRST EDITION: [8] + 113pp, 8vo. A good tight copy in lightly-aged brown cloth and price-clipped cream dustwrapper with attractive design by Edward Blakeney in brown and black on front cover, and slight chipping to bottom edge at back. Label with English price on back of dustwrapper. No autograph interpolations. PROOFS: 96pp, 8vo. Duplicated printed pages, each page on a separate leaf. Paginated 1-96.

Contemporary duplicated typescript, from the Christopher Fry papers. 14pp, 8vo. Each page on a separate leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged. Fry's introductory talk is present in its entirety on pp.1-5, this is followed by an unpaginated page, then pp.8-15 with p.[10] also unpaginated. Hence p.6 or p.7, beginning the extracts from the play, would appear to be absent. On the front page, between the heading and transmission details is: 'Rehearsal: Thursday 4th June 1953: 10.00 onwards | Recording: Thursday 4th June 1953: 12.15 - 1.00 p.m. 3A | Recording of Insert: [BLANK]'.

A multi-talented figure, Denis Johnston was a protégé of W. B. Yeats and Bernard Shaw, and had a stormy friendship with Seán O'Casey. Jonathan Swift was a preoccupation of Johnston's (see his 1959 book 'In Search of Swift'), and his play about him, 'The Dreaming Dust', was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, in 1940. It was published in collections of Johnston's plays in 1954, 1960, 1977 and 1983. This 1988 version remains unpublished. Both typescript and letter in fair condition, lightly aged.

1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Thin strip of paper from mount adhering to edge on blank reverse. Folded three times. Signed and dated at foot: 'Leman Rede/ | 31. May 1841'. Addressed at bottom left: 'To | Mrs.

Four-page programme on bifolium, stapled into covers of shiny art paper. In fair condition, worn and aged, with rusted staples. Folded once. The covers are printed on the outside only. On the front are two illustrations in Georgian style, with the caption 'George Barnwell's Contrition'. On the back is a drawing of 'Portsmouth Old Theatre', 'Reproduced by kind permission of Arthur Moreland.' The small signature ('Nigel Playfair') is at top right of front cover. The first page of the programme carries five 'Producer's Notes' by 'Lessee & Manager' Playfair.

3pp, 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn, with closed tears and thin vertical strip of paper on reverse of second leaf, which carries a seal in black wax and Yates's address to 'T. P. Cooke Esqre. | 28 Manchester Street | Manchester Square'. An interesting letter regarding a Victorian stage dispute. In an understated style, Yates makes a serious accusation: Cooke has broken his word over the manuscript of Fitzball's play 'The Red Rover' (Yates had produced the piece with himself in the title role in 1828, and would do so again in 1831).

Both letters 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Cole's handwriting is difficult. The recipient is not named. The first letter, 34 lines long, concerns a bill which Cole has drawn on the recipient of the letter. It is coming due, and he is uncertain whether it is for £90 or £100. He asks him to withhold payment for a while, as 'Lent is always a dead time with me'. He is 'going to try the experiment of Mr Butter for 6 nights', and has 'good hopes of the result'. The second letter begins: 'My dear Sir | I have made most liberal offers to Farren, Mrs. Nesbitt & Mr.

1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Thin strip of paper from mount adhering to edge on blank reverse. Folded three times. Signed and dated at foot: 'Leman Rede/ | 31. May 1841'. Addressed at bottom left: 'To | Mrs.

Four-page programme on bifolium, stapled into covers of shiny art paper. In fair condition, worn and aged, with rusted staples. Folded once. The covers are printed on the outside only. On the front are two illustrations in Georgian style, with the caption 'George Barnwell's Contrition'. On the back is a drawing of 'Portsmouth Old Theatre', 'Reproduced by kind permission of Arthur Moreland.' The small signature ('Nigel Playfair') is at top right of front cover. The first page of the programme carries five 'Producer's Notes' by 'Lessee & Manager' Playfair.

Both letters 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Cole's handwriting is difficult. The recipient is not named. The first letter, 34 lines long, concerns a bill which Cole has drawn on the recipient of the letter. It is coming due, and he is uncertain whether it is for £90 or £100. He asks him to withhold payment for a while, as 'Lent is always a dead time with me'. He is 'going to try the experiment of Mr Butter for 6 nights', and has 'good hopes of the result'. The second letter begins: 'My dear Sir | I have made most liberal offers to Farren, Mrs. Nesbitt & Mr.

The two letters in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Both with contemporary annotation at head of first page. ONE: From 13 North Crescent, and signed 'John M Morton'. 2pp, 12mo. Addressed, with a second signature, to 'J. P. Harley Esq'. Begins: 'Tho' not quite finished, you will see enough of the drift of the piece, to enable you to say whether you fancy it or not. I have written it out without amendments, which are rarely made, if you approve - I began Dainty (you remember the name?) for Mr. [Humby?], but broke down'.

Stanford's study of Fry in the British Council's 'Writers and their Work' series was re-published several times, and the early letters in the present collection refer to the preparation of the fourth edition, published by Longmans in 1971 (the bibliography to which Stanford refers as 'CHRISTOPHER STATE PAPERS'). A total of twenty-six items. The material in good condition, lightly aged. Stanford's nineteen letters total 65pp, 12mo. In an undisciplined hand, in different-coloured ink, on different-coloured paper. Stanford's 19 letters between 17 February 1970 and 31 October 1978.

24pp, 4to. Stapled pamphlet. Aged, and with spotting to covers, creased closed tear at foot of spine, and slight loss to bottom out corner of back cover. With one vertical fold. The cover is printed in black, with a charming cartoon by 'C. F.' in red ink of five happy birds singing and flying around with musical scores in wings, with one bird on box with conductor's baton tapping a music stand.

In folding box, dark blue, gt. 79pp, 8vo. In plain white card wraps, in blue dustwrapper printed in black, with red border to cover. Ownership inscription in blue ink on front free endpaper: 'Christopher Fry | 1930'. Hardly the best of copies, but a good association between two of the three giants of the twentieth-century English verse play (Eliot being the other). Internally tight, on lightly-aged paper, in aged and worn wraps. The dustwrapper is in poor condition, stained, chipped, and separated into several loose parts along the folds, with spine and back cover tipped-in onto the wraps.

103pp, 8vo. Revises of the text of the play (and not the prelims) in unbound signatures. In fair condition, lightly aged. Red ink stamp at foot of pp.1 and 40: '15 APR 1954 | REVISE'. Numerous autograph emendations, nearly all minor and relating to accidentals, but with five verbal changes, of which the following two are the most significant. Printed on p.9: 'KASSEL. Well, Bella, does she seem to be in trouble? | BELLA. She says the only trouble is us who trouble ourselves.' amended in autograph to 'KASSEL. Well, Bella, where has she been/ | BELLA.

Possibly the author's first book (see below), from the Christopher Fry papers (despite the ownership inscription). 54pp, 12mo. Stapled into green printed wraps (title and words '(ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)'). Tiny ownership signature in initials ('R. G.') in top right-hand corner of title-page. No details of publication or date, other than the printers' slug at bottom left of title-page.

From the Christopher Fry papers. PLAY: [1] + 47pp, 12mo. Stapled into buff wraps printed in red, including the statement that it is the 'Friends of Canterbury Cathedral Edition'. In fair condition, lightly aged, in worn wraps, with a trace of rust to staples. This edition of the play (the first?) is uncommon: the only copies on OCLC WorldCat at the British Library and University of British Columbia. COPY LETTER: 4pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Written out in two hands, Recipient not named. With salutation 'Dear Sir,' and valediction 'I am | Yrs truly,'.

Seven items from the Christopher Fry papers, relating to the film 'A Queen Is Crowned', which was a British box office hit in coronation year, and was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. At the time of writing Fry was at the height of his popularity: around this time he had four plays running in the West End at once. 'A Queen Is Born' - billed as 'The only full-length feature of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II' - was made in Technicolour, produced by Castleton Knight for the Rank Organisation, with music by Guy Warrack, and with Fry's script narrated by Laurence Olivier.

1p, 16mo. On 14 x 11 cm piece of paper, with margins apparently cut down. Aged, and with slight damage to two words of text caused by removal from mount.At the time of writing Faucit's successful career had been interrupted by the recurrence of a lung condition, necessitating recuperation at a seaside resort. She has evidently asked Talfourd to contribute to an autograph album, soliciting the following response: 'Mr.

Farren's entry in the Oxford DNB concludes by describing him as 'a theatrical sophisticate, equally at home in period comedy and modern plays; he was, besides, one of the finest actors of his century'. From around 1821 Farren lived with the actress Mrs Faucit (Harriet Elizabeth Savill, née Diddear, 1789-1857), with whom he had two sons. An excellent item, casting vivid light on the Olympic Theatre of Madame Vestris and J. R. Planché in its late-Georgian heyday.

2pp, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. A very good and informative letter. Written from the A. J. C. Ranch, which Van Druten had purchased with his former lover Carter Lodge (now his business manager) and the British actress Auriol Lee. Van Druten left his interest in the ranch to Lodge, together with the rights to his work, including the play discussed here, 'I am a Camera', an adapatation of Christopher Isherwood's stories. (For the relationship between Van Druten and Isherwood, see Peter Parker's biography of the latter.) This entitled Lodge to income from the film 'Cabaret'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. 'My dear Sir | The Era Almanack will entirely consist of Theatrical information and general literature is not contemplated in the plan. Otherwise I need hardly say I should have been most happy to have availed myself of your aid.' The Era Almanack ran from 1868 to 1919, and was one of the more reliable theatrical annuals.

Both 1p, 4to, and in good condition, lightly aged and folded once. Both letters addressed to Hodes at Beit Rosenberg, Keron Heyesod Street, Herzlia-on-Sea, Israel. The subject of the letters is Centre 42, the touring arts group Wesker formed to bring culture to the masses on his release from prison, following a sentence for civil disobedience with the Committee of 100 in opposition to nuclear weapons. The group moved to the Roundhouse in London in 1964.

1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and lightly creased. Folded twice. The letter begins: 'Dear Bernard, | You probably know that I have just returned from Cuba and it was an exciting trip. | Unfortunately, one of the most depressing things was their very bad theatre; this is particularly because it is new and has no tradition, but also, to a great extent, due to their intolerable isolation.' Although there is little that they can do, Wesker promised to 'send as many plays and books' as he can.

Fourteen items, all 8vo. Seven numbers (4-9 and 16) are 16pp; number 17 is 26pp; other numbers range from 8 to 12pp, except for the 'B.M.S. Gazette Supplement' (30 March 1926) which has 4pp. The first five numbers on cheap newspaper stock; from the sixth number onwards the paper quality improves. Number 17 ('Special Christmas Number') has lost its back cover. The other thirteen numbers are complete. A frail survival, in fair overall condition, on aged and worn paper. Numbers 4-11 with 'Eagle' masthead, otherwise no settled layout.

Three items from the papers of Sir John Pollock, relating to his translation of Eugène Brieux's scandalous play 'Les Avariés'.