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Sir Richard Cross [Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross], Conservative politician, Secretary of State for India and then Home Secretary.] Autograph Note Signed to George Cubitt [later Lord Ashcombe].

Author: 
Sir Richard Cross [Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross] (1823-1914), Conservative politician, Secretary of State for India and then Home Secretary [George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe (1828-1917)
Publication details: 
5 December 1877; on letterhead Home Office, Whitehall, S.W. [London]
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium, with the reverse of the second leaf docketed ‘Sir Richard Cross / Home Secretary’. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of tape from mount adhering to second leaf, and lightly folded. Headed ‘Private’. Addressed to ‘Geo: Cubitt Esq M.P.’ and signed ‘Rrd: Assheton Cross.’ Reads: ‘Many thanks for your letter. I am glad that all is settled. / The Correspondence has been returned.’

[Home Rule, 1912.] Printed item: ‘A “Modern Eye”-Opener. 60 Points against Home Rule (A reply to the Daily News “50 Points in Favour of Home Rule”) by T. S. Frank Battersby, M.A., K.C. With a preface by The Right Hon. Sir Edward H. Carson, M.P.'

Author: 
T. S. Frank Battersby [Thomas Stephenson Francis Battersby (1855-1933)], M.A., K.C., author; with preface by Sir Edward H. Carson, M.P.; Unionist Associations of Ireland, Dublin and Belfast
Publication details: 
1912. Unionist Associations of Ireland: Dublin, 109 Grafton Street, and Belfast, Old Town Hall.
£80.00

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.

[Private Press: ‘The first (and only) title set, printed and published by the Janus Press at Bickley in Kent.] Printed play by Charles Duff: ‘An Irish Idyll’ (previously broadcast on the Home Service of the BBC).

Author: 
Charles Duff [Charles St Lawrence Duff] (1894-1966); The Janus Press, Bickley, Kent [British Broadcasting Corporation]
Publication details: 
‘THE FIRST BOOKLET set, printed and published by the Janus Press at Bickley in Kent 1933’. [The Janus Press, Albyfield, Bickley, Kent, England.
£120.00

See his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography. From the papers of Sylvia and Robert Lynd. Scarce: only three copies on JISC (Oxford, NLS and BL). 24pp, 12mo. Stapled. In blue printed wraps with flaps. Colophon on first page, with small indistinguishable device: ‘THE FIRST BOOKLET / set, printed and published by the / Janus Press at Bickley in Kent / 1933’. Title-page: ‘AN IRISH IDYLL / CHARLES DUFF / [crude vignette of shamrock] / Janus Press’. Information on reverse of title includes: ‘An Irish Idyll was first used by / The British Broadcasting Corporation / on the 12th.

[Home Rule, 1912: ‘The Voice of the Empire is on the Side of Ireland.’] Printed pamphlet: ‘The Empire and Home Rule / Special Messages to “The Daily Chronicle” from Premiers, Ministers, Representative Public Men, and Editors in the Oversea dominions’

Author: 
[Home Rule for Ireland, 1912] The Daily Chronicle, London newspaper [Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister of Australia]
Publication details: 
[1912.] Published by: The Daily Chronicle, 31, Whitefriars Street, London, E.C.
£120.00

From the papers of Sylvia and Robert Lynd. Scarce: the only copy on JISC at Bristol University. Not in NLI or BL. 16pp, 12mo. Stapled. In green printed wraps. Heavily worn, with lightly-rusted staples, and with the back wrap separated. The centre pages carry a map of ‘The Real Position in Ulster’, with explanatory note. Begins with ‘Facsimile of Message from the Hon. A. Fisher, Premier of the Australian Commonwealth.’, dated 16 February 1912. Quotations (some with portraits) from individuals from South Africa, Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand.

[Home Rule for Ireland, 1911.] Printed item: ‘3rd Edition. / The Daily News 1d. Series. No. 16. / 50 Points for Home Rule.’

Author: 
[Home Rule for Ireland, 1911] The Daily News, Liberal newspaper, London and Manchester
Publication details: 
Third edition. [1911 or 1912.] Published by The Daily News, London and Manchester.
£75.00

From the Sylvia and Robert Lynd Papers. Scarce: one copy on JISC (Bristol University), and at the NLI, but no copy in the BL. The Lynd copies of the first edition of this title, and of the response by T. S. Frank Battersby, ‘60 Points against Home Rule’ (answering point by point many of those made here), are offered separately. [4] + 52pp, 16mo. Stapled. In green printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, with dogeared corners, staples slightly rusted, in worn wraps. Preceded by index and preface, of two pages apiece.

[Home Rule for Ireland, 1911.] Printed item: ‘The Daily News 1d. Series. No. 16. / 50 Points for Home Rule.’

Author: 
[Home Rule for Ireland, 1911] The Daily News, Liberal newspaper, London and Manchester
Publication details: 
[1911.] Published by The Daily News, London and Manchester.
£120.00

From the Sylvia and Robert Lynd Papers. Scarce: five copies on JISC, and at the NLI, but no copy in the BL. The Lynd copies of the third edition of this title, and of the response by T. S. Frank Battersby, ‘60 Points against Home Rule’ (answering point by point many of those made here), are offered separately. [4] + 52pp, 16mo. Stapled. In green printed wraps. In fair condition internally, on browned newspaper stock, with dogeared corners, staples slightly rusted, in brittle and chipped wraps, with some damage repaired with archival tape.

Irish troubles; Col. Albert Brassey, British Army Officer, rower, and Conservative Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘B. Hobbie Esq’, regarding ‘the agricultural distress’, with reference to ‘the Irish troubles’.

Author: 
Col. Albert Brassey (1844-1918), British Army officer, rower, and Conservative Member of Parliament for Banbury 1895-1906, brother of Earl Brassey and Lord Apethorpe
Publication details: 
17 May 1887; on letterhead of Heythrop [Hall], Chipping Norton.
£65.00

See his brothers’ entries in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Folded once. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight rust spotting at head of last page. Erroneous attribution to Earl Brassey in small type at the head of the first page. Addressed to ‘B. Hobbie Esq’ and signed ‘Albert Brassey’. He doubts whether you will be able to attend the public meeting at Oxford on 28 May.

[Tommy Handley, English comedian, star of BBC radio programme 'It's that man again' (ITMA).] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Pte Dean' , explaining that he cannot send him a ticket to his show.

Author: 
Tommy Handley [Thomas Reginald Handley] (1892-1949), English comedian, star of the BBC radio programme 'It's that man again' ('ITMA')
Handley
Publication details: 
'B.B.C. / London'. No date (Second World War).
£50.00
Handley

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In poor condition, aged, worn and creased, with damage to edges. Tape was previously present as a border along all the edges, and the corners are still strengthened with tape, causing discoloration that affects the end of Handley's signature. Reads: 'B.B.C. / London / Dear Pte Dean. / In reply to Yours. I would send you a ticket with Pleasure but I have no control over same. I'm afraid you will have to write direct to the B.B.C. / Best wishes. / Tommy Handley'. Scan available.

[Charles Philip Yorke, Tory politician, Home Secretary.] Autograph Signature, as Paymaster-General and Secretary at War, to printed form filled in by a secretary, placing Captain Henry Shelley, 20th Regiment of Foot, on half pay.

Author: 
Charles Philip Yorke, Tory politician, Home Secretary and Minister at War [Captain Henry Shelley, 20th Regiment of Foot; British Army]
Publication details: 
16 August 1803; War Office [Whitehall].
£56.00

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, aged and worn, with small piece of paper torn away at foot of page, resulting in some loss of text of slug, also wear and a few nicks at head and a stain to one edge. Good firm signature ‘C Yorke’ and its surroundings unaffected. A printed form letter, signed by Yorke as ‘Right Honble. the Pay-Master General, / &c. &c. &c.’, and completed in a secretarial hand, and addressed to ‘Gentlemen’.

[William Smith O'Brien, Irish nationalist, a leader of the Young Ireland movement, deported to Van Diemen's Land by the British.] Autograph Signature and valediction on part of a letter.

Author: 
William Smith O'Brien [Liam Mac Gabhann Ó Briain] (1803-64), Irish nationalist Member of British Parliament, a leader of Young Ireland movement, convicted of sedition and deported to Van Diemen's Land
William S OBrien
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£30.00
William S OBrien

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Slip of paper, roughly 8 x 4.5 cm, cut from a letter. In fair condition, on lightly aged and discoloured paper, with several vertical postage folds. On one side good clear signature and valediction: ‘I remain, dear Sir / Faithfully Yours / William S OBrien’. On the other side, tantalizingly: ‘[...] part of England what [...] | [...] not her all to obtai[n] [...] | [...] sense of justice - [...]’

[Fanny Parnell [Frances Isabel Parnell], sister of the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell.] Contemporary manuscript copy of her poem ?Post Mortem? (?Shall mine eyes behold thy glory, O my country??).

Author: 
Fanny Parnell [Frances Isabel Parnell] (1848-1882), sister of the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell
Publication details: 
Undated, but on paper with watermark ?J Dollard / IRISH MANUFACTURE?, hence late Victorian or Edwardian, as Dollard was a printer and stationer in Dublin during that period. (Dating supported by provenance.)
Upon request

See her entry and her brother?s in the Oxford DNB. The item is from the collection of Irish nationalist autographs assembled by Miss Burgess of Norfolk in the 1890s, who has endorsed one leaf in her distinctive hand ? ?Post Mortem? / By Fanny Parnell?. Undated. 3pp, 4to. On two leaves of paper with Dollard watermark. Poem of twenty-eight lines, in seven stanzas, titled ?Post Mortem?. From a comparison with a letter in the National Library of Ireland certainly not in Fanny Parnell?s hand. A fair copy, with one mistake (corrected) confirming transcription: ?loveliness? for ?loneliness?.

[Parnell's 'bodyguard and aide-de-camp': Henry Harrison MP MC, member of the Irish Parliamentary Party.] Autograph Letter Signed, written within months of the death of Charles Stewart Parnell, on behalf of his widow Katharine ('Kitty O'Shea').

Author: 
Henry Harrison (1867-1954), close confidant of Charles Stewart Parnell and his wife Katharine (?Kitty O?Shea?), Irish Parliamentary Party MP in British House of Commons, decorated British Army captain
Publication details: 
19 December 1891; 10 Walsingham Terrace, West Brighton.
£100.00

Parnell had died around ten weeks before, on 6 October 1891. See Harrison's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'After the party broke in two in December 1890, Harrison campaigned with his chief in Ireland, constituting himself a bodyguard and aide-de-camp. After Parnell's death in October 1891 Harrison, young though he was, hastened to Brighton to put his services at the disposal of Parnell's widow. It was then that he heard from her a very different account of the circumstances surrounding her divorce from that given in court.

[?One in name, one in fame / Are the Sea-divided Gaels.?: Alexander Martin Sullivan, Irish nationalist politician and author.] Autograph Signature with poetic quotation.

Author: 
Alexander Martin Sullivan (1829-1884), Irish nationalist politician and author, member of the British parliament, younger brother of Timothy Daniel Sullivan
Publication details: 
?St Patricks Day / 1884?.
£100.00

See his entry, and that of his elder brother, in the Oxford DNB. From the collection of Irish nationalist autographs of Miss Burgess of Norwich. On 16.5 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, cut down from a larger document. In fair condition, lightly aged and spotted. Folded three times. Written in a large bold hand: ? ?One in name, one in fame / Are the Sea-divided Gaels.? / A. M. Sullivan / St Patricks Day / 1884?. See Image.

[Spike Milligan, influential British comedian, originator of 'The Goon Show'.] Good bold Autograph Signature, on a leaf from an album.

Author: 
Spike Milligan [Terence Alan Milligan] (1918-2002), British comedian, originator of the BBC radio series 'The Goon Show', in which he performed with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine
Spike Milligan
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£35.00
Spike Milligan

See his entry, and those of Sellers, Secombe and Bentine, in the Oxford DNB. On 11.5 x 10 cm leaf of light-blue paper, extracted from an album. In good condition, lightly aged, with short crease to one corner. Nothing else is written on either side of the leaf, apart from the large spidery signature 'Spike Milligan'. See Image.

[T.D. Wanliss; Ballarat 'Star'; the Union; British/ English;Home Rule for Scotland] Substantial Autograph Letter Signed T.D. Wanliss to A.G.L. Rogers, author of books on social questions and sometime Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department

Author: 
F.D. Wanless [Thomas Drummond Wanliss (1830 - 1923), Pioneer of Ballarat. Journalist and Legislator, sometime proprietor of the Ballarat Star
Publication details: 
Longford House, Ballarat, 20 Sept. 1892.
£280.00

Four closely written pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition. He initially responds to Rogers' comments about the question of 'Britain & England'. You say you 'decline to recognise that the history of England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland, is of any importance beside the history of England whether politically, constitutionally or economically - at any rate until the present century'. Now with all due deference, this seems to me to be beside the question. The title, or rather one of the titles of your father's book [ROGERS (James E. Thorold)] is 'England's Industrial & Commercial Supremacy'.

[Herbert Morrison, Labour politician.] Three Typed Letters Signed to Sir David Ross, the first regarding the release of Harold Butler from work for his department, and the last two regarding personal arrangements for a debate at the Oxford Union.

Author: 
Herbert Morrison [Herbert Stanley Morrison; Lord Morrison of Lambeth] (1888-1965), Labour politician, leader of London County Council, Home Secretary in war under Churchill [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971)]
Publication details: 
ONE: 25 November 1941; on letterhead of the Ministry of Home Security, Whitehall, S.W.1. TWO: 19 January 1944; on Home Secretary letterhead. THREE: 24 January 1944; on Whitehall letterhead of Home Secretary.
£100.00

See the entries for Morrison and Ross in the Oxford DNB. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. The second item has a punch hole centred at the head of the leaf. All three 1p, 12mo, and each with Morrison’s sprawling signature ‘Yrs sincerely / Herbert Morrison /’, the first in green ink. ONE (25 November 1941): Addressed by Morrison in green ink to ‘Dear Sir David’. Thanking him for a note ‘in which you assure me of the appreciation of the Nuffield College Committee at my action in agreeing to release Mr.

[The Royal General Theatrical Fund Association, London.] Three copies of drafts of an advertisement, composed by theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope, with copy of covering letter to Secretary J. Mayhew Allen; and later corrected draft of circular.

Author: 
Royal Theatrical Fund, London, for retired actors, founded 1839 with Charles Dickens as its first chairman [J. Mayhew Allen, Secretary]; W. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian
Theatrical Fund
Publication details: 
Copy of Macqueen-Pope’s letter: 15 May 1953. Circular: 27 November 1957; on letterhead of the Royal General Theatrical Fund Association, 11 Garrick Street, London WC2.
£180.00
Theatrical Fund

See Wendy Trewin, ‘The Royal General Theatrical Fund: a history, 1838-1988’ (1989), and Macqueen-Pope’s entry in the Oxford DNB. ONE: Carbon copy of letter from Macqueen-Pope to Allen, 15 May 1953, with three drafts of advertisement. 4pp, 4to. On four leaves. The letter, on the first page, is somewhat grubby, with rust spotting from paper clip, the other three leaves, each of which carries a proposed version of the advertisment, in good condition, lightly aged. The letter begins: ‘Dear Jack Allen, / Herewith three rough samples for the proposed advertisement concerning the Fund.

[The Alien Office, Whitehall.] Eleven Manuscript Affidavits, sworn and signed by emigrants from Europe before six London magistrates including Sir George Farrant and David William Gregorie, who also sign.

Author: 
[The Alien Office, Whitehall] London magistrates William Beckett, Sir George Farrant, David William Gregorie, Edward Markland, William Lorance Rogers, William Archibald Armstrong White
Publication details: 
[Alien Office, Whitehall.] Between 1824 and 1829. All but the last at the London police offices at Bow Street, Great Marlborough Street, Hatton Garden, Queen Square.
£600.00

An interesting collection of eleven items from the reign of George IV, giving a view of administration of immigration in London (and one item from Manchester, Number Six below). The Alien Office was created as a department of the Home Office to implement the Aliens Act 1793, which attempted to control the influx of foreign visitors and refugees caused by the turmoil in France. It ceased to exist following the Registration of Aliens Act 1836. created to control the influx of French refugees and suspected revolutionaries.

[Marghanita Laski, novelist, journalist and radio personality.] Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’, explaining her reasons for postponing future reviewing.

Author: 
Marghanita Laski [née Esther Pearl Laski] (1915-1988), novelist, journalist and radio personality [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’]
Publication details: 
15 December 1973; on letterhead of Capo di Monte, Windmill Hill, London NW3 (with upside-down letterhead of Les Forges de Montgaillard, 11 Mouthoumet).
£56.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present item is 1p, small 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded.. Signed ‘Marghanita Laski’. She had no fears about the cheque for £50 he has sent: ‘I knew it would turn up.’ She thanks him for offering her ‘some reviewing.

[Sir John Beckett of Somerby Park, as Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs.] Autograph Letter Signed, to Col. Torrens, giving view of Home Secretary Richard Ryder on ‘The Commander in Chief’ (Prince Frederick, Duke of York) and ‘Mr Sonnenberg'.

Author: 
Sir John Beckett (1775-1847) of Somerby Park, Lincs, Tory politician [Col. Robert Torrens (1780-1864); Richard Ryder (1766-1832), Home Secretary; Prince Frederick, Duke of York; Sir Robert Peel]
Publication details: 
‘Whitehall 26th. March 12’ [i.e. 1812].
£80.00

See Beckett’s entry in the History of Parliament, according to which he held the position of Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs from 1806 to 1817. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased at the foot, with strip of discoloration at the head. Folded twice into a packet. Addressed to ‘Colonel Torrens’.

[The Marquis of Lansdowne, as Lord Henry Petty.] Autograph Note in the third person, arranging a meeting in Downing Street with ‘Mr Gray’. With the recipient’s note of what passed at the meeting.

Author: 
Marquess of Lansdowne [Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863), known as Lord Henry Petty 1784 -1809], Whig Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and connoisseur
Publication details: 
29 September 1806. No place.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with several creases on folding into packet, one of which has a short closed tear to the edge. Minor traces of mount on reverse. Reads: ‘Lord Henry Petty will be obliged to Mr Gray, if he can make it convenient to call in Downing Street to-morrow at 2 oClock. / September 29th. 1806.’ Minuted by recipient on reverse: ‘29. Sept. 1806 / Lord Hy. Petty. / To be with His Ldp tomorrow. / 30th. went & recd. Instructions to work out the appointmt. of One Messenger to attend the Chancellor, whose allowce is to be 4s. P diem.’

[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.] Carbon of Typed BBC script of ‘2nd Broadcast’ in the series ‘Theatre Songs and Stories / by / W. Macqueen-Pope’, on the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Author: 
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and its historian, W. Macqueen-Pope [Walter James Macqueen-Pope] (1888-1960) [BBC Radio]
Publication details: 
Undated, but shortly after the death of Ivor Novello on 6 March 1951. [BBC Radio, London.]
£120.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. His entry in the Oxford DNB describes how, in the 1950s, he was ‘in demand as a lecturer on the theatrical subjects he loved, and he appeared often in the same capacity on radio and on television. Ironically he regarded these two forms of public entertainment, and television in particular, as representing a serious threat to the survival of theatre, about which he cared passionately’.

[Lord Roberts of Kandahar, Boer War commander.] Autograph Note Signed giving his vote, on back of printed card soliciting it for Caroline Constance Williams to gain admission to the Soldiers’ Daughter’s Home, Hampstead.

Author: 
Lord Roberts [Frederick Sleigh Roberts; Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar, V.C.] (1832-1914), Victorian soldier, Boer War commander [Soldiers’ Daughters’ Home, Hampstead]
Publication details: 
Roberts' note: 14 April 1888; 'India'. On printed card of the Soldiers' Daughters' Home, Hampstead.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Written lengthwise on back of 11.5 x 7.5 printed card. The side of the card with Roberts’s autograph is discoloured but in fair condition, but there is slight loss along the inner margin of the printed side, resulting in some loss of text. Roberts’ autograph reads: ‘I give my vote / Fred. Roberts. / India / 14th. April 1888.’ The printed text states that Caroline Constance Williams, aged 8 years, was the daughter of Band-Sergt.

[Lord Cross [Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross], Conservative politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr de Winton’, regarding the reduction of the ‘York House’.

Author: 
Lord Cross [Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross] (1823-1914), Conservative politician, Home Secretary under Disraeli and Lord Salisbury
Publication details: 
2 October 1904; on letterhead of Eccle Riggs, Broughton in Furness.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Fifteen lines. In good condition. Folded once. Address to ‘Mr. de Winton’ and signed ‘Cross’. He finds that de Winton’s ‘last letter certainly makes a very considerable difference’, but ‘the obvious answer’ to his mind is, as de Winton only proposes ‘to reduce the York House from 112 to 110, it is hardly worth stirring up the waters at all. And especially so, as the population is increasing so rapidly that the next Census will probably alter the whole state of things.’

[‘I have no desire to be a marked man’: Lord Simon, Liberal politician.] Two Typed Letters Signed to T. Lloyd Humberstone, on an ‘adverse vote’ at the National Liberal Club, and on prerogative, Parliamentary representation and ‘old Universities’.

Author: 
Lord Simon [John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon] (1873-1954), Liberal Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Chancellor [Thomas Lloyd Humberstone, educationist]
Publication details: 
17 January and 8 November 1948. Both on government letterheads.
£75.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient, the educationist Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957), was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. Both items in fair condition, on lightly aged paper, the second with slight loss along one edge due to removal from mount. Both signed ‘Simon’. ONE: 17 January 1948. 1p, 12mo. Folded once. ‘I do not for a moment believe that the adverse vote carried at a depleted meeting of the General Committee represents the broad view of the Club [clearly the National Liberal Club] as a whole, but I have to take things as I find them.

[Mabel Constandurous, star and writer of BBC radio series ‘The Buggins Family’.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to her agent ‘Miss Booth', discussing the success of her radio work, a fan letter from Compton Mackenzie, future engagements.

Author: 
Mabel Constanduros [Mabel Tilling] (1880-1957), commedienne and playwright, who wrote and starred in the BBC radio series ‘The Buggins Family’
Publication details: 
Neither item dated (but both after 1928). The first without place, the second on letterhead of Belhaven, Cornwall Road, Sutton.
£180.00

According to Barry Took’s entry on Constanduros in the Oxford DNB, ‘The Buggins Family’ was ‘the first radio family’, and she played all six parts, writing and performing in more than 250 episodes between and 1928 and 1948: ‘The popularity of the family was such that the Ministry of Food used Mrs Buggins to broadcast recipes during the Second World War.’Constanduros is also credited with having written more than one hundred plays. The recipient of these two letters, 'Miss Booth', is clearly her agent. Two items, the first in good condition and the second fair, on lightly discoloured paper.

Irish M.P.s; Home Rule] A Collection of Autograph Signatures of Irish MPs in Parliament, admissions to Strangers' Gallery etc,

Author: 
[ Irish MPs in Parliament, 1870-1890 ]
Publication details: 
[1869-1886]
£660.00

IRISH MPS SIGNATURES. See image of Parnell's Admission (all in his hand).(Date of Admission in brackets with constituency).Joseph Gillis Biggar (n.y.; County Cavan}Maurice Brooks (1880; Dublin)Isaac Butt (1874; County Meath)Patrick O'Brien (1870; King's County (now County Offaly))William R. O'Byrne (1875; County Wicklow)Arthur O'Connor (n.y.; Queen's County)T.P. O'Connor (n.y.; Sligo Co.)Denis M. O'Conor (1873; Sligo Co.)Matthew O'Reilly Dease [prob. but looks like Dene] (1873; County Louth}F.H.

[Irish Independence] Striking original coloured Conservative Party election poster by Halkett, captioned 'Their Irish Master', showing John Redmond, with flag of 'IRISH INDEPENDENCE', leading Asquith, Lloyd George, Winston Churchill by the nose..

Author: 
George Roland Halkett (1855-1918), cartoonist [John Redmond; Herbert Henry Asquith; David Lloyd George; Winston Churchill; Irish Home Rule; Eire]
Ireland
Publication details: 
[1910.] 'No. 256. Published by the National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations, St. Stephen's Chambers, Westminster, S.W. Printed by Sir Joseph Causton & Sons, Limited, 9, Eastcheap, London, E.C.'
£500.00
Ireland

Lithograph. Landscape, 51 x 76 cm. In fair though fragile condition and worthy of framing, although aged and with a few small holes repaired. Weakened folds mainly repaired on reverse.. A determined Redmond marches to the right of the picture, large green flag of 'IRISH INDEPENDENCE' over his right shoulder, in his left hand three chains, linked to the noses of Asquith (with 'HOME RULE' paper under his arm), Lloyd George (holding a 'BUDGET BILL') and Winston Churchill (carrying a 'HOME DEPARTMENT' paper), who follow submissively.

[ Catherine Gladstone, wife of Prime Minister ] Autograph Letter Signed Cath Gladstone to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Catherine Gladstone [(née Glynne; 1812–1900) , wife of British statesman William Ewart Gladstone.]
Publication details: 
[Headed] 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, 16 Nov. [no year given].
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition. Text: I am really touched by yr. contribution & hope soon to see Miss Mary Wardell & to put our heads together regards the project of a Home for Scarlet Fever Convalescent Patients. - The gift from the two Servants & the old house delights me[.] [I]f such subscriptions were common, we should have very little difficulty in raising money.[...][Postscript] I will [?] note to Miss Wardell & send you my photograph.

[John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, Churchill's 'Home Front Prime Minister' after whom Anderson Shelters are named.] Typed Letter Signed as Home Secretary to Sir James Marchant on 'the Government's plans for a war time regional organisation'.

Author: 
John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley (1882-1958), civil servant and politician, 'Home Front Prime Minister' in Churchill's war cabinet [Sir James Marchant (1867-1956), eugenicist and social reformer]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Home Office, Whitehall, S.W.1. [London] 14 February 1939.
£150.00

Anderson served as Home Secretary, Lord President of the Council and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Marchant headed the National Vigilance Association and the National Council of Public Morals. 2pp, 4to. On two leaves stapled together. In fair condition, lightly aged, with some staining from rusted staples. Folded three times. A good letter, giving an indication of civil defence preparations on the eve of the Second World War.

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