MILE

[‘You need not fear my giving you any but cottage fare’: Mary Russell Mitford, author of ‘Our Village’.] Autograph Letter Signed, to Rev. Hugh Pearson, arranging a visit by him and Lady Henley.

Author: 
Mary Russell Mitford (1787-1855), author and playwright, best known for her collection of sketches, ‘Our Village’ [Hugh Pearson (1817-1882), Vicar of Sonning and a Canon at Windsor]
Publication details: 
‘Tuesday’. [Envelope dated in another hand 21 October 1851.]
£120.00

An characteristic letter by the author of 'Our Village', written in the year of her move from Three Mile Cross, Berkshire, to nearby Swallowfield, itself eight miles from Pearson's home in Sonning. See the entries on Mitford and Pearson in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium which has been unfolded with the fore-edge of the second leaf attached to a nineteenth-century stub. In good condition, lightly aged.

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[‘Can anyone beat my record’: Nat Travers, ‘The Pearly King Cockney Singing Comedian’.] Autograph Letter Signed to theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope, boasting of sixty years in the theatre and asking for help getting radio and television work.

Author: 
Nat Travers, music hall artiste (b. c. 1875), ‘The Pearly King Cockney Singing Comedian’ [Walter James Macqueen-Pope, theatre historian]
Publication details: 
14 November 1957. ‘Guest Turn, Royal Oak, Dagenham’. On letterhead of ‘The Grand Old Timer Nat Travers / “The Pearly King Cockney Singing Comedian” / Radio & Television Star’, 265 Bancroft Road, Mile End, E1 [London].
£80.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) 1p, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Begins: ‘Dear Mac, Im going great and I dont use THE MIKE. I enclose Bill of Last Week / I first Worked 60 Years ago. Mac I want to get. to Broadcast. THIS. IS. Your. LIFE / I Started when I was 9 Year Old. Im now 82. Can anyone beat my Record.’ He gives details of booking at the ‘Metropoliton [sic] Music Hall Edgware Rd. I was first there. 1901. NOVEMBER 4 Weeks / Of cours [sic] I was There many Times. Mac you ought to try and get me on Television. or. Radio.

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[ Chris Chataway, runner and politician ] Autograph Letter Signed "Christopher Chataway" to "Sir James" [?] declining an invitation to give a lecture.

Author: 
Christopher Chataway [Sir Christopher John Chataway (1931–2014), often known as Chris Chataway, British middle- and long-distance runner, TV news broadcaster, and Conservative M.P.
Publication details: 
[House of Commons stamp] 2 Feb [no year given]
£35.00

Two pages, 8vo, very good condition. "It was very good of you to invite me to give the Trueman Wood Lecture, and I was most honoured. | As you will have heard, however, I came to the conclusion somewhat regretfully that I could not really do justice to the occasion. Althugh I am becoming increasingly interested in the problems of conservation - and I hope gradually more knowledgeable - I did not feel that I had sufficient expertise to lecture about it to the R.S.A."

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Letter <in secretarial hand?>, signed in autograph, to 'Mr <Dubarry?>.

Author: 
Sir Walter Besant
Publication details: 
27 April 1889; on letterhead '12, GAYTON CRESCENT, | HAMPSTEAD'.
£36.00

English novelist (1836-1901). Two pages, octavo. Some discoloration in margin from previous mounting. His silence is due to the fact that he has been 'out of town for Easter'. He is grateful to his correspondent for thinking of him 'in connection with the Garrick. But I am afraid I must not consider it. You see by the address that I live out of the way of clubs - This is for the sake of certain small children <?> to be considered'. He is already a member of three clubs: the Athenaeum, the Old University and the Savile ('wh: I do frequent').

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