Gielgud

1p, small 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Written in a close hand, with a larger and more forceful signature, with long underlining: ‘John Gielgud.’ Reads: ‘Dear Mrs. Bannerman. / All my best thanks for the lovely lilies, which arrived fresh and safely. They are quite enchanting - and cost a small fortune if one buys them in a florists.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once for postage. The year is given in pencil, and a note in the same hand identifies the recipient as ‘Mrs Florence Doubleday (wife of publisher) in Oyster Bay’. Ten lines of text, in a close hand, with larger, firm signature ‘John Gielgud.’ A somewhat pompous missive. He thanks her for giving him ‘so delightful an opportunity of meeting you, and to ask me to stay in your charming house and meet your friends, who were all so nice to me’.

16pp., 8vo. Stapled. Printed in brown on white. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. One correction in manuscript: on p.5 'Peter O'Toole' replaces the subject of the sentence 'Miss Jean Simmons carries the script used in the film Hamlet.' Other worthies involved in the service are: Douglas Fairbanks, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Paul Scofield, Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen, Dorothy Tutin, Frank Finlay, Albert Finney, Sir John Mills, Peggy Ashcroft, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Alec Guinness. Uncommon: the only copies on COPAC at the British Library and London Library. The ticket ('No.

2 pp, 12mo. She thanks her for her "sweet present", and then makes what appears to be a reference to John Gielgud: "I'm taking Betty tonight to see John - her first evening performance! She is so thrilled. I am so sorry he has been so reedy, but perhaps the enforced rest will do him good." Slight traces of adhesive tape to left-hand margin of recto.