MILLICENT

Macready’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that he destroyed his diary and personal papers after the publication of his memoirs in 1924. If the present gossipy specimen is anything to go by, the loss of this material is most regrettable. (The ODNB entry for his father notes that he dealt with William Charles Macready's ‘copious and uninhibited diaries’ in similar fashion in 1914 - two years after the appearance of Toynbee’s edition.) See also the entry for Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland (1867-1955). 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage.

Card, c.11 x 9cm, verson blank, minor staining, text clear and complete: "Mr John O'Connor would be pleased if Mr and Mrs Fawcett would do him the honour of dining with him at the House of Commons on Thursday next at 8 o C. RSVP | 30-12-12"

65 items of varying size, on pieces of card and paper. The collection is in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. As his obituary in The Times (5 August 1927) describes, before embarking on his journalistic career, Cornford trained as an architect. He was articled for three years from 1884 to Sir John William Simpson (1858-1933), and then studied at the Royal Academy in 1888. He then served briefly as assistant, first to Thomas Verity (1837-1891), and then to F. S. Waller and F. W. Waller, before qualifying as an architect in 1889, and ARIBA the following year.

Gladys Jones ('Gwen John') lived with her sister the suffragette Winifred Jones in Lincoln's Inn. Her play 'The Prince' - three corrected copies of which are in the present collection as Items Three to Five - was retitled 'Gloriana' [= Elizabeth I] when performed at the Adelphi Theatre in London in December 1925, with a youthful John Gielgud in the role of Sir John Harrington. Items One, Six and Seven below relate to the volume 'Plays of Innocence' by 'Gwen John', published in 1925 by Ernest Benn (by whom Victor Gollancz was then employed).