EDWARDIAN

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Wilfred Scawen Blunt’s assessment was brutal: ‘It is strange his poetry should be such poor stuff, and stranger still that he should imagine it immortal.’ And it is ironic that Austin may not have even written the lines for which he is now principally remembered, on the illness of the Prince of Wales: ‘Flashed from his bed the electric message came | He is not better, he is much the same’. 1p, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium of good watermarked wove paper.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (‘Broadley Pasha’), at the time de facto editor of Edmund Yates’s magazine ‘The World’, was a scandalous figure, who richly deserves his own entry in the same work. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Text on the outer pages, the inner pages carrying the remains of newspaper cuttings which were previously laid down on them. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to the last page, which also has a newspaper cutting laid down at its foot, regarding the death of A. Sutherland Sutton. Folded once.

'There are three rules for writing plays', Oscar Wilde is said to have declared. ‘The first rule is not to write like Henry Arthur Jones; the second and third rules are the same.’ See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, slightly trimmed at the edges, and in a windowpane mount. With two folds for postage. Addressed to ‘J E Woodrow Esqre / London Library’, and signed ‘Henry A Jones’.

1p, 12mo. On thin paper. In good condition, lightly aged, in trimmed and spotted windowpane mount. Good bold signature ‘Fanny Brough.’ Addressed to ‘Revd. J. C. [Westly?]’. She has ‘much pleasure’ in sending him ‘the autograph’, and will do her best to get him ‘a few others which may be interesting to send out to you’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Wilfred Scawen Blunt’s assessment was brutal: ‘It is strange his poetry should be such poor stuff, and stranger still that he should imagine it immortal.’ And it is ironic that Austin may not have even written the lines for which he is now principally remembered, on the illness of the Prince of Wales: ‘Flashed from his bed the electric message came | He is not better, he is much the same’. 1p, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium of good watermarked wove paper.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Slip of grey paper, 11 x 4 cm, cut from letter. In good condition, lightly aged, with central vertical fold and spotting on reverse (a few dots of which show through) from glue. Bold signature ‘Sydney Buxton’. Text on reverse: ‘[…] paper you thought [?] […] / or if too late for […]’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A 17.5 x 9.5 cm rectangle of grey paper, torn from the conclusion of a letter, evidently in response to a request for an autograph. In good condition, lightly aged, with central vertical fold. Reads: ‘[…] part or else the picture will be gone. / Yours sincerely / F Brangwyn’. The ‘F’ of the signature is more lightly inked than the rest. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Addressed to 'Dear old Lee' and signed 'W A Spooner -'. He explains that he and his colleagues thought Lee's 'testimonials & references very good, as you may gather from our having put you on our list of selected candidates, but you did not quite reach the very highest place in our judgment'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. The letterhead describes the firm (‘formerly Walker and Cockerell’) as being ‘Process and General Engravers, Draughtsmen, Map Constructors Copper-plate Printers Collotypers and Photographers of Works of Art’. Signed ‘Emery Walker’. He is sending Wright ‘proofs of the plan from Coutts’ Bank’, and is sending a duplicate to ‘Mr. Fayle’, asking him ‘to let me have the lettering, that is, if he wishes on seeing the plan to vary it’. He is having ‘proofs of the title page from Messrs.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with small and slightly rusted staple holes to one corner. Folded once. Addressed to ‘My dear [Gern?] King / A. G. B. I’ (i.e. the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution) and signed ‘Aston Webb / Presd. A G B I -’. He is writing at the request of ‘the Council’, ‘to express to you on their behalf & my own our sincere regret at your resignation from our Council’.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, on the first leaf of bifolium. (There are extensive pencil annotations in a later hand on the second leaf.) Very neatly written. Addressed to ‘J. G. Wilson Esqre.’ and signed ‘Anstey Guthrie’. He has ‘much pleasure’ in answering Wilson’s question. ‘‘Shut Out’ is a short story of mine which was published in Longmans Magazine about 1895 or 6, afterwards included in a volume of short stories under the title of “The Talking Horse”. I think published by Messrs. Smith & Elder - but now long out of print.

From the Sylvia and Robert Lynd papers. Scarce: three copies on JISC and in NLI. The Lynd copies of the first and third editions of the work to which this is a response are offered separately. 76pp (vi + 66 + [4]), 12mo. Stapled. In printed card wraps with vertical red, white and blue bands on the cover. Grubby and worn, with slightly-rusted staples, and short closed tear to fore-edge of front cover. Includes four-page index.

From the Sylvia and Robert Lynd papers. Scarce: no copy on JISC, but in NLI. 16pp, 12mo. Stitched. No wraps. The outer covers spotted, and the back cover grubby, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. One vertical fold. The author’s position, supported with statistical analysis, is that ‘The present position is indefensible as it stands; and it is becoming worse.

From the papers of Sylvia and Robert Lynd. Scarce: this number is lacking from the run in the National Library of Ireland. The title as one word ‘INISFÁIL’ on cover, but as the two words ‘INIS FÁIL’ on first page. 12 pp, 4to. Stapled in light-green printed wraps. In good condition, lightly aged, on high-acidity paper, in lightly-worn wraps carrying advertisements.

From the papers of Sylvia and Robert Lynd. Four copies traced: National Library of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, the British Library and Oxford University. BL identifies the author as ‘Thomas T. Shaw’; another source states ‘Thomas J. Shaw’. 47pp, 8vo. In green printed wraps. Stapled. Lightly aged, in worn wraps, and with slight blooming at head of first few leaves. The author goes about the ‘self-imposed task’ of his ‘little brochure’ with copious statistical evidence, including an eight-page appendix of tables.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Lightly aged and worn. With central horizontal and vertical crease for postage, each quarter with double pinholes at the centre (from attachment of an enclosure?). Signature unaffected (it starts close to vertical crease). Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Lord / With the greatest pleasure - and with ten thousand apologies. I thought I had answered long ago. But letters lie in heaps in my tray & on my table - everywhere! and I carry them about in bags labelled carefully Unanswered until I dare no longer look inside.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, on grey paper, with central horizontal fold. Each signed ‘Aston Webb’. ONE: ANS to ‘Dear Walter Spiers’, 27 March 1899. 1p, 16mo. Thanking him for his congratulations on his election. TWO: ALS to ‘Dear Mr Baldwin’, 20 June 1903. 1p, 12mo. After thanking him for his congratulation he continues: ‘We had a most delightful dinner with you the other evening.’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Lightly aged and worn. With central horizontal and vertical crease for postage, each quarter with double pinholes at the centre (from attachment of an enclosure?). Signature unaffected (it starts close to vertical crease). Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Lord / With the greatest pleasure - and with ten thousand apologies. I thought I had answered long ago. But letters lie in heaps in my tray & on my table - everywhere! and I carry them about in bags labelled carefully Unanswered until I dare no longer look inside.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On piece of paper, roughly 12 x 7.5 cm, laid down on 14 x 9 cm plain postcard, with contemporary printed heading on reverse (‘A half penny stamp to be placed here.’, and so on). In good condition, lightly aged. Good firm signature at head of paper, with ‘Autograph’ in a contemporary hand at the foot, with wide space between.

See Terry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing Dr. W. J. Phillips was the organist at St Barnabas, Pimlico; he was unsuccessful in the present application, but was subsequently organist of the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court. See his entry in Humphreys and Evans, ‘Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland’ (1997). These two items are uniform on a total of three leaves of light paper. Both discoloured and worn, and folded three times. ONE: ALS from Terry to Phillips. 1p, 4to. He is ‘most pleased to have opportunity of supporting’ Phillips’s application.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. Eighteen lines of typed text, under the heading ‘VISION AND SERVICE.’ Undated, but certainly written after 1918, since the document is responding to changes since ‘the pre-war world of yesterday’. The final reference to a ladder, echoes a passage in Leverhulme’s 1919 tract ‘The Six-hour Day and other Industrial Questions’. Large bold signature at bottom right: ‘Leverhulme’. The signature and its environs are in good condition, on a document of aged and worn paper, with tearing to a central horizontal fold repaired with archival tape.

See his entry, and that of his father the civil engineer, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On separate letterheads. The recipient is not named and there is no salutation (though the letter is complete). Signed ‘Brassey’. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘I have two maxims for [hourly?] use. / I do the little I can do and leave the rest to thee / What thou livest live well. The rest commit to Heaven / Nor should the last message of the greatest sailor since the world began ever be forgotten / England expects that every man this day will do his duty’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with one short closed tear to an edge. Folded twice for postage. The salutation (‘My dear old “Phil,” ’) and the signature ‘Landon Ronald’ are in autograph, the rest typed. The recipient is ‘Dr. W. J. Phillips, / “Kelvinside,” / Malcolm Road, / Wimbledon, S.W.’ He sends a ‘thousand thanks’ for Phillips’s ‘delightful telegram’. ‘It was indeed good of you to think of us all down here. It was a great night, and one I shall never forget.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Signed ‘J Fletcher Moulton’. Begins: ‘Dear Mrs Earle / Just at the worst moment of the fight your inspiring letter came to cheer me.’ He hopes he will be deserving of the ‘kind things’ she writes: ‘I could truthfully say things at least as kind in return but I fear my epistolary style does not lend itself thereto so I shall trust that you will take these as said.’ He ends by saying that he will retain the letter ‘as one of those which has [sic] given me most pleasure in my life’.

See the entry on the Murray family in the Oxford DNB. In fair condition lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage, with short closed tears to the edges of central horizontal fold. Small biographical slip laid down at top left. Addressed to ‘Dear Colonel Fellows’ and signed ‘John Murray junr.’ Reads: ‘Our binders have done the best they can with your Volumes, short of rebinding, but as you know patching up leather bindings in a really satisfactory way is not easy. / However, I hope that you will be satisfied with the volumes which I am sending on to you today.’

Weyman was, as his entry in the Oxford DNB states, ?one of the most popular and skilled of the historical romance novelists of the cloak and dagger school?. Oscar Wilde recommended (in all seriousness) Weyman's novels as reading for convicts. 1p, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly creased and worn. Folded for postage. From the collection of Rosemary Barron, autograph collector. Reads: 'Dear Miss Barron / I am sorry that your letter has remained unanswered so long but I have been laid aside by illness.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Stuart was at the time actor-manager of the Adelphi Theatre, London. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, and folded for postage. ONE: 3pp, 12mo (the third page carrying a postscript written lengthwise). Bifolium. Begins: ?Dear Sir / I have a new play which I should like to read to you if you would care to hear it.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with rusting from a paperclip to both leaves. Addressed to 'Mr Texeira [sic] de Mattos' and signed 'S John E. C. Hankin'. He thanks him for the cheque and is sorry to hear that the recipient's 'great project has come to nought - at least for the moment'. He expects that de Mattos saw 'the Bankruptcy of the New Saturday duly chronicled? You were a true prophet. I gather it will pay nothing in the ?'. The New Saturday was a short-lived newspaper, going to the wall after a few issues in 1897.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The four items in good condition, lightly aged and worn, and all folded for postage. The last item with pin hole to one corner. The first three addressed to 'Dear Sir' and the last to 'Dear Fisher'. All four signed 'A C Lyall', both with and without periods after the initials. ONE (9 October 1888): 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium.

Mason was, according to E. V. Lucas, ‘famous in both hemispheres’. His entry in the Oxford DNB ends with this assessment: ‘His books were best-sellers for fifty years, and the films made from them, notably The Drum (1938), for which he wrote his own scenario, and The Four Feathers (1939), were among the most popular in their time.’ 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. The valediction is in Mason's autograph: 'Yours sincerely / A. E. W. Mason'.