LONGFORD

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, foolscap 8vo, on recto of first leaf of bifolium. Docketted in customary style, lengthwise on reverse of second leaf: ‘Earl of Longford / War Office 29 June 68 / Army Chaplain’s Bill’. Addressed to ‘John Graham Esq / &c &c / 3 Westminster Chambers’. Small tight signature 'Longford', good and uncrowded, on creased and worn paper. Folded into packet. The rest of the document is written hurriedly in the under-secretary’s hand.

Victoria Coren’s comment to the BBC on Gascoigne’s death is most apt: ‘No quiz host has ever seemed more like they could answer all the questions themselves.’ 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. 1p, 4to. Written in green ink. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr.

The two letters in good condition, on lightly aged paper. ONE: 2pp., 12mo. He begins by stating that he 'knew Leonard pretty well in the 2nd Life G[uar]ds., he was a good fellow, but rough and wild - he came from Mullingar, my local capital, a good man with a horn but too heavy for a groom'. He could not give Leonard 'a better character than the regiment has done', and if 'his knee is too bad for him to soldier it probably would prevent him being a groom anywhere [...] he occasionally came before me for punishment - and as a fellow countryman I took an interest in him'.

The collection is lightly-aged, but in good overall condition. It consists of five undated typescripts, twenty-four black and white photographs, and a few items of correspondence. The typescripts: ONE. Early draft of Longford's 1953 autobiography 'Born to Believe', published in 1953. 4to, 58 pp, paginated 1-55, 9A, 9B and 52A. Ends midway through Chapter 6. There are a number of autograph emendations, and the typescript exhibits differences from the published version. A second typed draft of half a page of text covers the earlier draft, which is still legible beneath.