GARDEN

[ Red Cross Gardens, Southwark, London. ] Draft manuscript indenture assignment signed by the Earl of Ducie, Lancelot William Bennett, Charles Stewart Loch, Mary Lumsden, Helen Ironside, Janet Johnson, Thomas Slingsby Tanner, Cecil Antony Nussey.

Author: 
[ Red Cross Garden recreation ground, Southwark, London ] Henry John Reynolds-Moreton (1827-1921), 3rd Earl of Ducie; Charles Stewart Loch (1849-1923), charity commissioner [ Octavia Hill (1838-1912)]
Publication details: 
[ Red Cross Garden, Southwark, London. ] Dated 15 August 1914.
£240.00

On three sides of a vellum bifolium supplied by the London law stationers Witherby & Co. Dimensions of leaf 39 x 26 cm. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. The document is a draft, with several emendations in pencil, including a lengthy addition in the margin of first page, and a shorter one on the second page. Laid out in customary style, within red rules. Docketed on fourth side: 'Dated 15th August 1914 | The Earl of Ducie and Others | to | The Earl of Ducie and Others | Red Cross Garden | Assignment'. With stamp of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, signed by Hugh de Bock Porter.

[Presentation copy from the author.] Selected Verses by Virginia Graham 1939-1945.

Author: 
Virginia Graham [best friend of the comedienne Joyce Grenfell]
Publication details: 
Printed by the Broadwater Press Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, Herefordshire. [1945.]
£56.00

[2] + 44pp., 8vo. In lilac paper wraps with title in silver on front cover. Internally in good condition on lightly-aged paper; in worn wraps with creased corner at rear and small square of staining from label on front cover. Inscribed on front pastedown: 'With best wishes | from | Virginia Graham. | 1946.' A charming collection in Grenfell mode, with poems including 'Café Triste' (beginning: 'Miss Tomkinson, do you suppose | That you and I | On this same day next year | Will still be sitting here, | Eating this vegetable pie | Covered white glucose?') and 'V J Day' (beginning: 'Hurray!

[Rev. Dr Theophilus Houlbrooke, botanist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Theophilus Houlbrooke') resigning from the committee of the Liverpool Botanic Garden.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Theophilus Houlbrooke, FRS (1745-1824) of Shrewsbury and Barnes, Surrey, botanist
Publication details: 
'Green Bank' [Greenbank, Liverpool], 22 February 1815.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight damage to one corner. The letter reads: 'Gentlemen | As I must not now consider myself an Inhabitant of Liverpool, I request your permission to resign the Office of Vice President and to withdraw myself from the Committee of the Liverpool Botanic Garden and hope a more efficient Member will be elected to fill my place in each of these Departments. I am With great respect for you and every good wish for the prosperity of the Institution | Your Obliged Servant | Theophilus Houlbrooke'.

[Pamphlet; Preservation of Rural England] Report of the Trunk Roads Joint Committee

Author: 
[Council for the Preservation of Rural England and The Roads Beautifying Association]
Publication details: 
Published by Council for the Preservation of Rural England, Printed by The Garden City Press Ltd, at Letchworth, Hertfordshire. [1937]
£135.00

36pp., 8vo, with photos and a folding "Diagram of the Dover Glasgow Road", green printed illustrated paper wraps, slight damage ot spine, condition mainly good. Initial sof previous owner on front cover. Three copies on COPAC (Nottingham, Kew, Brimighma, NOT BL).

[Printed catalogue.] One Thousand English Books all in handsome Bindings recommended by B. F. Stevens for the Foundation of the English Portion of an American Home Library.

Author: 
B. F. Stevens [Benjamin Franklin Stevens] of Vermont, London-based American bookseller, 17 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden [The Chiswick Press, Whittingham and Willkins, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane]
Publication details: 
B. F. Stevens, 17 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London, England. [1874.] [Chiswick Press: Printed by Whittingham and Wilkins, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London, England.]
£280.00

Not paginated. [107]pp., 16mo. Internally good and tight, elegantly printed in red and black. In original heavily-worn green leather binding. Small leaf, printed on both sides, advertising the book, loosely inserted. In the twenty-two lines on the reverse Stevens states that 'The price of all these books in substantial andn ornamental bindings of great variety, with leather, calf, morocco or russia backs and corners, and muslin on paper sides, is Four Hundred Guineas (420l.) If with full leather backs and sides, very handsome, the price is Four Hundred and Fifty Guineas (472l. 10s.)'.

Autographs of Ian Bannen, Patrick Magee, Prunella Scales and 13 others cast members of the 1958 London production of Eugene O'Neill's 'The Iceman Cometh', with Arts Theatre Club and Winter Garden Theatre programmes, tickets, cuttings and a letter.

Author: 
[1958 London production of Eugene O'Neill's 'The Iceman Cometh', featuring Ian Bannen; Patrick Magee; Michael Balfour; Prunella Scales; The Arts Theatre Club and Winter Garden Theatre, Drury Lane]
Publication details: 
The Arts Theatre Club, 6 and 7 Great Newport Street, WC2, and Winter Garden Theatre, Drury Lane, London. 1958.
£150.00

17 items, the collection in good condition, on aged paper. Item One: Autographs of sixteen individuals associated with the production, all signing to 'Sonia'. 2pp., 12mo. On bifolium removed from ruled notebook. The signatories are: Michael Bryant, Robert Hunter, Margaret Whiting, Hilda Braid, Vivian Matalon, Tony Church ('Sonia, our proletarian beauty | from hungry Hugo'), Jack MacGowran, Robert Adams, Prunella Scales ('Maggie'), Michael Balfour ('May you triumph over virtue'), Patrick Magee, Tony Robertson, Joby Blanshard, Anthony Jacobs, Lee Montagu and Ian Bannen.

[Parliamentary paper.] Cape of Good Hope: Botanical Collectors. Extract of a Letter dated 1st September 1814, from Sir Joseph Banks to George Harrison, Esquire, recommending the appointment of two Botanical Collectors at The Cape of Good Hope [...].

Author: 
[Sir Joseph Banks; George Harrison; the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew; the Cape of Good Hope; British Parliamentary paper, 1821; S. R. Lushington; House of Commons]
Publication details: 
'Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 2 April 1821.' [Numbered '374.']
£300.00

3pp., folio, paginated to 3. Bifolium. Disbound. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper; folded twice into the customary packet, with the title printed lengthwise as usual.

Autograph Letter Signed from H. Appleton of Boston, informing the genealogist John Bernard Burke that he has not received his 'Visitation of Great Britain', and asking for it to be sent to him via the London bookseller John Miller of Covent Garden.

Author: 
H. Appleton of Boston [Sir John Bernard Burke (1814-1892), genealogist; John Miller of 24 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, 'the American bookseller in London'; Abbott Laurence (1792-1855); book trade]
Publication details: 
Boston. 23 February 1853.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'J. B. Burke' and signed 'H. Appleton' (a member of the Boston firm of publishers?). The letter reads: 'My dear Sir | I find that the 2d. part of your work "The visitation of Great Britain" has been published some time but I have not received mine. Will you be good enough to put one under cover with my name & an outer cover to address of the Hon Abbott Laurence Boston [businessman and philanthropist], and send it to John Miller Esq. No: 24 Henrietta St.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Whit: Bulstrode') from Whitelocke Bulstrode in London to his son Richard Bulstrode in Littleton, Middlesex,

Author: 
Whitelocke Bulstrode (1652-1724), alchemist, religious writer, Whig lawyer and administrator, anti-Jacobite author under the pseudonym 'Philalethes' [his son Richard Bulstrode]
Publication details: 
'Hatton Garden Monday Night | 16 Nov 1724'. London; 16 November 1724.
£320.00

1p., 4to. 22 lines of text. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf: 'To Richard Bulstrode Esqr at Littelton near Sunbury in Midd[lese]x'. In good condition, on aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Son' from 'Yr most affectionate Father | Whit: Bulstrode'. Bulstrode writes that, on his 'comeing to Towne', he 'met wth a letter from one Mr James Norris, who writes himself Auditor, &, it is fro ye Chapr at Canterbury', sending for the rent 'Due last month'.

[Printed auction catalogue.] Catalogue of the Valuable Library and the Collection of Old Play-Bills and Theatrical Prints of Sir Henry Irving, Deceased. [...] Commander of the Saxe-Ernestine Order, Late of 17 Stratton Street, W.

Author: 
[Sir Henry Irving [John Henry Brodribb] (1838-1905), British actor-manager; Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, London auction house; Christies auctioneers]
Publication details: 
Revised Edition. Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, at their Great Rooms, 8 King Street, St. James's Square. Monday, December 18, 1905 and following day.' [London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Limited.]
£150.00

8vo., 69pp. Unbound as issued. In fair condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper, with worn and chipped printed front wrap still present, with ownership inscription at head (''). 482 lots, with several of the books ticked in pencil. Included, as lots 95 to 112A, are 'specially printed copies of the various Lyceum Plays, as arranged for the Stage by SIR HENRY IRVING; they contain numerous manuscript alterations in the text in the handwriting of the great Actor, and are in consequence of very great interest'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Emma Albani Gye') from the Canadian soprano Dame Emma Albani to 'Mrs. Blois', accepting an invitation to tea.

Author: 
Dame Emma Albani Gye [née Marie Louise Cécile Emma Lajeunesse] (1847–1930), Canadian soprano
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Southmoor, Dean Park, Bournemouth. 'Friday' [no date].
£40.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with a couple of unobtrusive creases. 'We shall be very pleased to come to tea with you on Sunday - I hope you will not mind if we are a little late - I shall be so glad to see Mrs. Arkwright also. With kind regards and many thanks | Believe me | Yours very sincerely | [signed] Emma Albani Gye'.

Initialled corrected Autograph Copy by George Colman the Younger for his brother-in-law David Morris, of a letter [to S. J. Arnold?], written during Colman's chancery dispute with Morris, his business partner at the Haymarket Theatre, London.

Author: 
George Colman the Younger (1762-1836), English dramatist, joint-manager of the Haymarket Theatre, London, with Thomas Harris
Publication details: 
'7 March 1815 | Melina Place Westr Road'.
£180.00

1p., 4to. 31 lines. Fair, on aged paper. On paper with watermarked date of 1814. Initialled 'G. C.'; with the words 'Copy to Morris' in the top left-hand corner. Docketed on reverse 'Copy to Morris March 1815'. Colman writes that is is now his intention, 'as it ever has been, to use every effort in my power for the interest of the Theatre, by carrying on the business in the best manner that the continual obstacles opposed to my plans will permit'. He states that he is 'in treaty with various Performers for the approaching Summer'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('D Egerton') from the actor-manager Daniel Egerton to Pierce Egan, suggesting, on behalf of the managers of Sadler's Wells Theatre, that he write a farce continuation of 'Tom and Jerry', with a 'good part' for Robert Keeley.

Author: 
Daniel Egerton (1772-1835), English actor-manager of Sadler's Wells [Pierce Egan (1772-1849), author of 'Tom and Jerry'; Robert Keeley (1793-1869), actor-manager; John Fawcett (1768-1837), actor]
Publication details: 
Sadler's Wells; 27 June 1822.
£80.00

1p., small 4to. Very good: trimmed and neatly laid down on backing. Egerton has had 'some communication with our Managers', and if Egan will 'write a Farce, with a good part for Keeley, in his way, perhaps some sort of continuation of Jerry', he knows it will 'be accepted, & put into training'. He asks to hear from Egan by return, as he wishes to see the managers on the subject 'previous to Mr. Fawcetts leaving Town on Tuesday next, or the matter must rest three months'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Hon. Rosa Hood, Lady in Waiting to Queen Victoria, informing Mrs Gye of the Queen's response to her letter denying authorship of an article in the Church Journal. With autograph draft of response by Mrs Gye, signed 'Be'.

Author: 
Hon. Rosa Hood (d.1922), Lady in Waiting to Queen Victoria [Mrs Elizabeth Gye, wife of the manager of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Frederick Gye]
Publication details: 
Hood's letter: On letterhead of Osborne [Isle of Wight]. 8 January 1891. Mrs Gye's draft reply: without place or date.
£120.00

Both items good, on lightly-aged paper. Rosa Hood's sister Adelaide Fanny was the wife of Herbert F. Gye, and letter and reply are written informally. Hood's letter: 3pp., 12mo. She received Mrs Gye's letter that morning, 'and the Queen has read it' and is 'quite pleased with your reply'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('G. Colman') from the playwright George Colman the Younger, defending his imposition of a financial penalty on the recipient [apparently an actress] for non-attendance [at a performance at the Haymarket Theatre].

Author: 
George Colman the younger (1762-1836), playwright and manager of the Haymarket Theatre, London [James Winston (1773?-1843), acting manager at the Haymarket Theatre]
Publication details: 
Melina Place, London; 21 July 1814.
£80.00

1p., 4to. On aged and grubby paper. The letter provides an interesting insight into the niceties of Regency theatrical practice. Colman peremptorily addresses it to 'Madam', before expressing his displeasure and defending his imposition of a penalty, as a result of the non-attendance of the recipient (apparently an actress) at a performance at the Haymarket.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Dibdin') from the playwright Thomas John Dibdin to G. B. Davidge, containing 'a List of the Patrons' who attending 'T. Dibdins Anniversary Dinner at Evans's Hotel | March 21st. 1838.'

Author: 
Thomas John Dibdin (1771-1841), playwright, illegitimate son of dramatist Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), brother of songwriter Charles Dibdin (1768-1833) [George Bolwell Davidge (1793-1842)]
Publication details: 
Dramatic Author's [sic] Society, 42 King Street, Covent Garden; 5 March 1838.
£220.00

2pp., 12mo. The letter is on the recto of the first leaf of the bifolium, with the list, in three columns, on the recto of the second. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Dibdin reminds Davidge that at his 'first Anniversary Dinner' he expressed a great wish to serve Dibdin by his patronage, but that 'absence from Town' prevented him. 'The Company were so well pleas'd that each present sign'd a Paper to come again - it is now fix'd for my Birthday (the 21st. Inst) and I take the freedom of enclosing you a List of the Patrons in the Hope I may be allow'd to add yours and enclose you a Ticket'.

Manuscript of humorous poem 'The Chapter of Fashions | Written by T Dibdin' [Thomas John Dibdin], on the history of clothing and Regency dress, with variations from the printed versions, including an extra stanza.

Author: 
Thomas John Dibdin (1771-1841), playwright, illegitimate son of dramatist Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), brother of songwriter Charles Dibdin (1768-1833) [Regency dress; Georgian clothing; fashion]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1802?].
£350.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Divided into eight four-line stanzas, each with the same two-line refrain. The first stanza: 'Fashion was formed when the World began, | And Adam I am told was a very smart man, | As for Eve I shall say nothing more or less. | |But that Ladies of Fashion now copy her dress. | Yet barring all pother of this that & tother we all bow to Fashion in turn'. Containing witty references to the fashion for hunting boots and crops, New Bond Street, Tudor and Stuart clothing, Whigs and Tories.

Manuscript reminder from the Lord Chamberlain [Marquess of Breadalbane] to the Manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden [Frederick Gye the younger], that 15 November 1849 is a Public Day of Thanksgiving, to be 'reverently and devoutly observed'.

Author: 
John Campbell (1796-1862), 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane, Lord Chamberlain from 1848 to 1852) [Frederick Gye (1810-1878), manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden [now the Royal Opera House]
Publication details: 
Lord Chambelain's Office [London]; 10 November 1849.
£180.00

1p., folio. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight staining to blank reverse. Fairly written out on a piece of Britannia laid paper. 'Lord Chamberlain's Office | 10th. November 1849. | The Lord Chamberlain thinks it right to draw the attention of the Manager of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden to The Queen's Proclamation of the 6th. Instant, in which Her Majesty, for the Reasons therein stated, earnestly exhorts that the Public Day of Thanksgiving, the 15th. Instant be reverently and devoutly observed'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Bunn') from the theatre manager Alfred Bunn to the widow of the actor Charles Mathews, praising her husband while defending an accusation of inconsistency on his part. With two notes by Mrs Mathews.

Author: 
Alfred Bunn (1796-1860), theatre manager, lessee of Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres [Anne Mathews [nee Jackson] (d.1869), second wife of the actor Charles Mathews (1776-1835)]
Publication details: 
6 Maddox Street, Bond Street; 11 August 1840.
£280.00

3pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper. Mathews begins by quoting contradictory passages from letters of Charles Mathews, one from Mrs Mathews' 'Memoirs of Charles Mathews, Comedian' (1839) and the other from Bunn's 'The Stage: Both before and behind the Curtain' (1840).

Autograph Letter Signed ('C: M: Young') from the actor Charles Mayne Young to his rival William Charles Macready, recommending an actor named Simpson for a position at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and wishing Macready success as manager there.

Author: 
Charles Mayne Young (1777-1856), actor [William Charles Macready (1793-1873); Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]
Publication details: 
Ashbourne Hall, Ashbourne, Derbyshire; 16 November 1841.
£220.00

3pp., 12mo. 37 lines. Fair, on worn and discoloured paper. An interesting letter, casting light on the relationship between two great actors who, according to the Oxford DNB, 'disliked but respected each other'. Macready is not named, but Young ends by sending his 'Kind Comts to Mrs Macready'. Macready had taken over at Drury Lane on 4 October 1841, but the season would not begin until 27 December. The letter begins 'My dear Sir!

[Printed on playbill sheet.] (Copy of a Letter in "THE TIMES" of Tuesday, February 14th, 1854.) Mr Charles Mathews and the Lyceum Theatre. To the Editor of the Times. [On his difficulties with creditors and the temporary closure of the theatre.]

Author: 
Charles James Mathews (1803-1878), British actor-manager [The Lyceum Theatre, London; Covent Garden]
Charles James Mathews (1803-1878), British actor-manager
Publication details: 
Dated 'Lyceum, Feb. 12. [1854] C. J. MATHEWS'.
£280.00
Charles James Mathews (1803-1878), British actor-manager

Printed for display, on one side of a piece of paper 24.5 x 49.5 cm. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper, with one closed tear and bottom right-hand corner lacking, causing slight loss to the last letter of Mathews' name at foot of document. Heading in bold type in a variety of point sizes. Giving a 'brief statement of my fourteen years' struggle and of my latest difficulty'.

[Printed pamphlet by 'The Directors of the well known Strand Electric and Engineering Company Limited'] A Completely New Glossary of Technical Theatrical Terms [...] With an Appendix of the Colours used for Lighting the Plays [...]

Author: 
[Theatrical Terms]
A Completely New Glossary of Technical Theatrical Terms
Publication details: 
'Commencing Novr. 1st. 1947, and thereafter so long as supplies shall last!'] 'Smudgeham & Fowlem, Steam Printers, The Cut, Waterloo.' [i.e. The Strand Electric & Engineering Co., Ltd., 24 Floral St, Covent Garden, London.]
£80.00
A Completely New Glossary of Technical Theatrical Terms

Irregular (12 x 23.5 cm), 32 pp. In fair condition, aged and lightly worn. In original wraps, with cover design, in a variety of types and point sizes, imitating an early nineteenth-century handbill, stating that 'all Profits for the Benefit of the Deserving Actors' Orphanage. | Free list entirely suspended | Fees payable in advance are 2s. per copy'.

[Printed Prospectus] Memorandum regarding Garden Village Scheme On part of the Burgh Land in Townhill. [Private and Confidential]

Author: 
[Garden City movement]
 Memorandum regarding Garden Village Scheme
Publication details: 
[Townhill, 11 March 1914]
£400.00
 Memorandum regarding Garden Village Scheme

3pp., folio, with enclosed printed letter from William Yule, Interim Secretary, one page, fol., and blank forms for prospective shareholders and stockholders, one page, fol. Top edge dusted and chipped, small closed tears on right edge, punch-holes (extracted from file of Easton Gibb material on housing for workers at Rosyth (see my #10028)). A meeting had been held, leading to the suggestion that an Association should be formed> A committee is named, and terms given.

[First issue of a printed periodical.] The Law Clerk.

Author: 
[The Law Clerk and Municipal Assistant, Edwardian English periodical]
The Law Clerk and Municipal Assistant
Publication details: 
Vol. I. No. I. March, 1906. [For the proprietors: - Printed by F. HEARN, 113, Leyton High Road, Stratford, in the County of Essex, and Published by S. ENGLEMAN, 61, Fore Street, Moorgate Street, in the City of London.
£95.00
The Law Clerk and Municipal Assistant

4to, [ii] + 12 + [ii] pp [i.e. 16 pp in toto]. Prelims paginated I-IV. Boasting of being 'the first Journal to be devoted exclusively to the interests of legal assistants'. Containing some light-hearted matter, including 'Office Yarns. No. I - The Firm and the Feminine', 'Relevant Irrelevancies', but also with reviews ('The Law Book-Worm') and columns containing useful information ('Municipal Mems', 'Practice').

Scrapbook containing a hundred tickets from twenty-seven London theatres of the 1920s, with illustrations of actors.

Author: 
R. J. Olive [London theatres of the 1920s; theatrical ephemera]
Publication details: 
London: for performances dating from between 1922 and 1927.
£95.00

On fifty-seven pages, in a notebook of forty leaves (eighty pages). Dimensions: 20 x 16 cm. In red card covers with 'THEATRES' in manuscript on front. Pages aged and ruckled, with a little damp staining at rear (not affecting any of the ephemera) and a small amount of loss to a corner of the rear cover, but in fair condition overall. The first page, signed 'R. J. Olive', with title 'London Theatres'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C J Mathews') to Hollingshead.

Author: 
C. J. Mathews [Charles James Mathews] (1803-1878), son of Charles Mathews, English actor and playwright [John Hollingshead (1827-1904), English journalist and theatre manager]
Publication details: 
23 November 1865; 25 Pelham Crescent, London.
£38.00

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount adhering to the corners of the blank reverse. Of course Hollingshead should 'wait till the last night of "used up" ' before writing to Mathews, who has 'hunted up Buckstone - hunted up Turpin - but in vain. Not a box to be had'. He has sent 'the best I could get': '3 Dress Circle to Mrs Smiles with "Mr Hollingshead's best compliments." '. In a postscript states that if Hollingshead wants 'a box for the "Overland Route" before the last night' he will be 'too happy'. 'There is always a run on last nights.'

Autograph Signature ('Frank Barrington Foote').

Author: 
Francis Barrington Foote [Frank Barrington Foote] (born c.1850; fl. 1911), English singer
Publication details: 
Undated.
£30.00

On piece of laid paper (roughly 13 x 11 cm). Aged and chipped. Reads 'Yours truly | Frank Barrington Foote'. Chipping to the outer edge, very close to the last couple of letters of the signature. Foote, who frequently sang with Adelina Patti at Covent Garden, ended his days destitute in New York City.

Manuscript and Typescript sections of an apparently unpublished work on 'British music and its present state'; 2 Typed Letters Signed, 3 Autograph Cards Signed, 1 Typed Card Signed to Mary Eversley, Covent Garden Opera, with copies of two replies.

Author: 
Scott Goddard (c.1895-1965), British musicologist
Publication details: 
1931-1932.
£400.00

The collection as a whole is in good condition on aged paper. ITEM ONE: 90-page typescript headed 'II | ANTECEDENT', beginnning 'It has become a commonplace of musicology, at least in this country, that the first two decades of the Twentieth Century show an immense increase of creative activity in the composition of works of music by an astonishingly rich group of their [sic] young composers.

Prospectus and 'Form of Application' for shares in the Metropolitan Electric Tramways, Limited.

Author: 
The Metropolitan Electric Tramways, Limited. [London Transport]
Publication details: 
March 1904. William Brown & Co. Limited, Printers, &c., London, E.C.
£56.00

The prospectus is a four-page bifolium. Dimensions of leaf roughly 38.5 x 24 cm. Aged, creased and worn, and with slight loss to spine and with a panel in the second leaf worn through, resulting in loss of some of text. The prospectus is addressed by hand to 'Eton College Wilds Estate'. The 'form of application' is printed in green on one side of a leaf roughly 34 x 20.5 cm. It is in better condition than the prospectus, lightly creased and aged, and complete with a perforated 'Banker's Receipt'. Note: The Wilds Estate provided the land for Hampstead Garden Suburb and the Heath.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Robt Buchanan') to Fenn.

Author: 
Robert Buchanan [Robert Williams Buchanan] (1841-1901), English playwright, poet and novelist [George Manville Fenn (1831-1909), English novelist; Harriett Jay (1863-1932), Scottish actress and write]
Publication details: 
18 December [no year]; 5 Larkhill Rise, Clapham.
£45.00

12mo, 1 p. Text clear and entire, on lightly creased blue paper, with a thin docketed strip neatly cut away at the foot of the letter. Traces of cream paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. Presumably refers to the play 'Alone in London', which debuted at the Olympic Theatre in 1885. Buchanan trusts that Fenn 'will be present in production of my new play & Miss Jay's debut on Wednesday next'. He asks whether to send the stalls, 'or do you get them from the Office? It will be indeed disappointing if you do not come, this time.'

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