MARCEL

['I write it as rapidly as I can, with my head full of Marcel': Pamela Hansford Johnson, writer and playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed to V. H. Collins, discussing her Proust-inspired BBC radio play 'Madame de Charlus'.

Author: 
Pamela Hansford Johnson [married name Pamela Helen Hansford Snow, Lady Snow] (1912-1981), writer and playwright, wife of the novelist C. P. Snow [Vere Henry Collins, author]
Publication details: 
31 December 1954. On letterhead of Nethergate House, Clare, Suffolk.
£56.00

An interesting letter, in which Johnson discusses her writing practice. See her entry and that of her husband in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. 2pp, 12mo. 27 lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight rust spotting from a paperclip. Folded twice for postage. On the topic of ‘Madame de Charlus’, one of the ‘Six Proust Reconstructions’ - plays by Johnson inspired by the work of Marcel Proust - just broadcast on the BBC Third Programme, she thanks him for his ‘most kind & pleasing letter’.

[Vertès, Hungarian-French costume designer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Vertès') to 'Cher M. Ede', accompanying a Typed Signed Article on his oscar-winning collaboration with John Huston on the 1952 film 'Moulin Rouge'. Both documents in French.

Author: 
Vertès [Marcel Vertès] (1895-1961), Hungarian-French costume designer and illustrator, winner of two Academy Awards [John Huston (1906-1987), American film director; Eliot Elisofon; Oswald Morris]
Publication details: 
Letter dated 4 January 1954. No place. Typed account without date or place.
£450.00

Vertès won two Oscars for his work on John Huston's 1952 biography of Toulouse-Lautrec, 'Moulin Rouge': Best Art Direction (with Paul Sheriff) and Best Costume Design. The second of the present two items is an article Ede had invited Vertès to write on his role in the film; the first is the covering letter with which it was sent. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed to 'Cher M. Ede'. 4 January 1954. 2pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. He is enclosing 'le petit texte', which he hopes will be to Ede's taste.

Three Autograph Letters Signed "Jacques Madeleine" [Eugène Fasquell, Editeur] to [Jules Marsan, editor of Gérard de Nerval etc, at least the first]

Author: 
Jacques Madeleine, lecteur chez Fasquelle, publisher's reader {Proust]
Publication details: 
Bibliothèque-Charpentier, Eugène Fasquelle, Editeur, 11, Rue de Grenelle, 11, 15 Oct. 1912, 5 July 1914. and 12 July (no year given). IN FRENCH.
£180.00

Two pages each, total 6pp., 12mo, one with closed tear on fold but mainly good condition. [15 Oct. 1912] Amidst polite expressions of good will, he acknowledges receipt of Marsan's edition of "las corespondance de Gérard de Nerval". He goes on to give a reference to a letter reprinted in a book recently published by the Bibliothèque Charpentie which might have escaped Marsan's attention. He denies having something ot do with a spelling error ("je n'ai pas eu les épreuves entre les mains").

Eleven Autograph Letters Signed from the diplomat Sir William Alexander Smart to Ernest Frederick Gye of the Foreign Office, from New York, Saloncia, Beirut, Damascus, and five from Paris, with references to James Joyce, Sylvia Beach and Proust.

Author: 
Sir William Alexander Smart (1883-1962), British diplomat in the Levant and Egypt [Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat; Sylvia Beach; James Joyce; Marcel Proust]
Publication details: 
Dating from between 1917 and 1926. One from New York (1917); one from Salonica (1919); five from Paris (one undated, the other four 1922); one from Beirut (1923); three from Damascus (1924, 1925 and 1926).
£650.00

Totalling 68 pp, comprising 50 pp, 12mo; 18 pp, 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Two signed 'W. A. Smart' and the others 'WAS.' All addressed to 'My dear Ernest'. Written in a spirited, chatty, and (for a diplomat) surprisingly indiscreet style, of which the beginning of the second letter (Salonica; 19 August 1919), concerning the appointment of Victor Vincent Cusden (1893-1980), gives a good example: 'Were you not content with condemning me to physical and financial ruin in this death-trap? Why, to add to my afflictions, did you send me this pathetic shop-boy?

Inventaire des documents provenant de la mission Frantz Cornet au Congo (1948-49) et conservés au Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale a Tervuren.

Author: 
Marcel Luwel [Frantz Cornet; the Belgian Congo; Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale; Belgium]
Publication details: 
1960: Académie royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer. Classe des sciences morales et politiques. Mémoires in-8o. Nouvelle série. Tome XXIV, fasc. 1. (Histoire). Rue de Livourne, 80A, Bruxelles 5. [Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale.]
£85.00

8vo: 87 pp. In original light-green printed wraps. Internally very good. Front wrap with minor spotting and slight damage to one corner. Presentation copy, signed on title 'To Mrs. H. Stanley from M. Luwel | 14. XI. 1960.' Inventory divided into ten sections, beginning with 'Baptist Missionary Society' and 'Missions protestantes au Katanga', and ending with 'Uele'. Uncommon: copies at the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, University of London and SOAS.

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