E.V.

On 14 x 9 cm plain printed postcard, addressed (by the recipient) to ‘Norman Wetton / 7 Claremont Road / Forest Gate / Essex’. On the plain side of the card she writes: ‘With pleasure here is the sign-manual of your’s [sic] faithfully / John Strange Winter. / (Henrietta. E. V. Stannard.) / Aug 24. 1905 -’.

See Knox’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The two items are in fair condition, lightly aged and creased, each with a couple of lightly-rusted pin holes. Clemens’s plain card, with stamps and postmarks, is addressed to ‘E. V. Knox Esq / c/o Punch / London, England.’, and is signed ‘faithfully / C C Clemens’. The message reads: ‘Dear E.V. Knox / We hope the life of President Truman reached you safely? / The Society is arranging a symposium on democracy You may care to send your definition of democracy and a few comments.

See the entries of members of her extraordinary family in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage, and accompanied by envelope with stamps and 1950 Edinburgh postmark, addressed by her to ‘Adam Dickson Esq. Junior / 28 Comely Bank Grove | Edinburgh’. Signed ‘Winifred Peck’. Responding to an autograph hunter, she writes: ‘Dear Sir, / How kind of you to like to [sic] my books & to say so.

Rieu was the son of Charles Pierre Henri Rieu (1820-1902) of Geneva, Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum, and elder brother of Emile Victor Rieu (1887-1972), both of whom have DNB entries. In 1947 he had privately printed (as’J. L. R.’) a ‘Chronicle of the Rieu Family now settled in England’. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. Signed ‘J. L Rieu / Commissioner in Sind’. An nice sidelight on the workings of the Raj. He has been asked for a letter by ‘Mr. Mansing Ramsing’, on behalf of his son ‘Mr. Bhojraj M.

The diary is a 4to, with around 100pp. (a week’s entries on each leaf). In worn and marked printed olive boards with cloth spine; internally good and sound on lightly-aged paper. No ownership inscription, but from the E. V. Knox papers, and with entries in Knox’s hand and that of his wife Mary, illustrator of Mary Poppins, and daughter of ‘Winnie the Pooh’ illustrator Ernest Shepard. The eighteen inserted items, in good overall condition, are described here before the contents of the diary.

See Knox’s entry in the Oxford DNB, along with those of his father Edmund Arbuthnott Knox, his brothers Ronald, Dillwyn and Wilfred, his wife the ‘Mary Poppins’ illustrator Mary Shepard (daughter of Ernest Shepard) and his daughter the novelist Penelope Fitzgerald. At the time the present material was composed Knox had been involved with Punch for more than four decades (1904-1948), holding the editorship for the last sixteen, with the magazines circulation rising to a peak of almost 200,000 as he approached his retirement.

For information on Graves see the generous obituary of him in The Times, 18 April 1944. Both items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with minor staining from paperclip to first leaf of letter. The work was not published, and although Graves states in Item One that the greater part of the text is 'in the hands of my typist', there is no record of its survival, or of the thousand related documents he states were sent to him by M. H. Spielmann. ONE: ALS from 'C L. G.' to 'Dear Evoe'. 4pp., landscape 8vo.

See Knox's entry in the Oxford DNB, along with those of his father and three brothers. The school was in existence in various places and under various names between 1914 and 1965. Four items, in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Autograph Speech by Knox, headed 'BROOKFIELD SCHOOL'. Dated 19 July 1951. 3pp, 12mo. On three leaves held together with brass stud, with directions to the school on reverse of last leaf. Written in capital letters. Knox begins by noting the prizes: 'Difficult to think of anything else when one sees this table loaded with gifts.

1p., 8vo. Signed at bottom right: 'E. V. L.' Sixteen lines of verse, divided into two eight-line stanzas, beginning: 'As I went down to Hertfordshire | To visit Hatfield Oak, | I met the prettiest girl, to whom | Courageously I spoke.' The conceit of the poem is that the girl is the 'Queen of Hearts', and the author is trumped in his suit of her by the king, the last two lines reading: 'The King strode in, the Queen to win, | And I – I lacked the Ace.' Charles Lamb, whom Lucas greatly admired and whose works he edited, had particular links with the county of Hertfordshire.

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed in type to 'My dear Shepard,' but with the last word corrected in autograph to 'Ernest'. He has now 'made sufficient progress with Monmouthshire' to be able to give Shephard 'a line': 'The first two verses bear upon the Wye valley and the Usk valley, of which Tintern is the best symbol.

For information on Graves see his generous obituary in The Times, 18 April 1944. Both items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with minor staining from paperclip to first leaf of letter. The work was not published, and although Graves states in Item One that the greater part of the text is 'in the hands of my typist', there is no record of its survival, or of the thousand related documents he states were sent to him by M. H. Spielmann. ONE: ALS from 'C L. G.' to 'Dear Evoe'. 4pp., landscape 8vo.

2pp., 8vo. In good condition. Clausen is writing to Lucas in the latter's capacity as chairman of the London publishers Methuen & Co., and the letter is a 'note of introduction' for Clausen's 'friend Mr Curnow Vosper, who has written and illustrated a children's book, which he wishes to submit to you. | Mr. Vosper is a painter, a member of the old Water-colour Society, and I have no doubt his work is known to you. I hope that you may find this his latest work, of interest.' Vosper does not appear to have published any book during this period, either with Methuen or anybody else.

xiii + 297pp., with frontispiece and four plates, and six-page publishers' catalogue at end. Blocks of text have been cut out by Lucas, between pp.205 and 232, and the three leaves carrying pp.199-204 have been removed. Otherwise in good condition, in worn burgundy cloth binding, gilt. Lucas has written 'With corrections for Second Edition' at the head of the title page. (There was no second edition.) Emendations throughout in pencil and pen.

Lucas's letter is 1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly spotted. He informs Wilber that when he arrives at the office the following morning, he will find that 'the two portrait tablets of the late Sir Algernon Methuen, the founder of our firm, have been unveiled'. He explains that the tablets are 'a gift to the firm from Lady Methuen, whose wish is that each member of the staff should possess a copy of the accompanying Memoir'. The booklet is 13pp., 4to. With three plates including collotype frontispiece portrait of tablet of author.

Printed in black on one side of a 12.5 x 16.5 cm piece of card. A charming image, framed within the drawn curtains of a theatre stage, showing four snowmen, dressed as toff in top hat, flat-capped figure with spade, lady with shawl and umbrella, and bowler-hatted figure with muffler and broom. At head of image 'A Merry Christmas', and at foot, 'from E. V. & Mary Knox'. In blue ink in border at foot of page: '110 Frognal. N.W.3.' and 'Hampstead 7330.' Mary Knox's father E. H. Shepard was the illustrator of the Winnie the Pooh books.

Both items are 2pp. 12mo, on bifoliums. Both in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: 'I was so sorry I couldn't come this afternoon - especially if he was a simple kind of American publisher. Owing to a rash fit of indulgence in Church going I had to have tea elsewhere'. TWO: Letter of condolence on the death of Robert Lynd.