MUSIC

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of tape from mount adhering to the blank second leaf. Folded for postage. Undated, but docketted ?18 April / 1857 / About ?Cologne Singers.?? Reads: ?Dear William. - All the songs are clear, and if you send they will be given to the musicians. If it is not convenient to send, drop me a line, and I will send to you. / Very tly yrs / J. Oxenford?. Oxenford provided a number of translations of German works for musical accompaniment.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (?Broadley Pasha?) was a renowned autograph collector and shady social figure, as well as the de facto editor of Edmund Yates?s ?World?. 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight sunning to first page, and traces of mount on blank final page. Folded once. Signed ?Genevi?ve Ward? (note the accent). The letter relates to the 1889 revival at the London Opera Comique of the role which made her famous, Stephanie, Marquise de Mohrivar, in Merivale and Grove?s 1879 play ?Forget Me Not?.

See her entries in Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. On patterned grey paper, with the first page with a thin white border. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor evidence of mount on blank reverse of second leaf. Folded for postage. Signed ?Adelina Patti Cederstr?m?.

2pp, 12mo. The five signatures in pencil on a single Festival letterhead. In good condition, slightly discoloured, with two unobtrusive dabs of glue from mount at head of reverse. The three signatures on the recto are headed by Noni’s large bold one: ‘Alda Noni / Edinburgh 1953’. Beneath this is that of ‘[Raul Herrman?] / (beardless) / Aug. 28, ’53’. At the foot is an indecipherable Easter European signature, with small pencil illustration: ‘[Woftniltuntz?]’. On the reverse: ‘Malcolm Sargent’ above ‘Michael Hordern’. Image on request.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, from which the scandalous recipient, a high-society fixer, is unaccountably absent. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of text, sloping upwards. Addressed to ‘Mr Broadley’ and signed ‘Burdett Coutts’. The handwriting is difficult, and the following reading tentative.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, from which the scandalous recipient, a high-society fixer, is unaccountably absent. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of text, sloping upwards. Addressed to ‘Mr Broadley’ and signed ‘Burdett Coutts’. The handwriting is difficult, and the following reading tentative.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. LETTER: 3pp, 12mo. Thirty-one lines. Bifolium. In fair condition, with slight staining at foot of first leaf, and traces of glue from mount on blank reverse of second leaf. In an elongated and somewhat opaque hand. Begins: ‘My dear Mrs. Hicks / I was exceedingly sorry to hear that Mr. Hicks had met with an accident on the day you left.’ What follows is hard to decipher, until she writes ‘I have much pleasure in forwarding to you the address of Jackson & Graham. It is No. 35-36 Oxford St.’ She praises ‘the selection he has of patterns’.

It was around the time of this autograph that Donovan travelled with the Beatles to India to see the Maharishi, during which he gave Lennon and McCartney tips on guitar playing. A couple of months later he would release one of his biggest hits, ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’. On 14 x 10.5 cm piece of grey paper, extracted from an album. In good condition, lightly aged. Large flowing inscription in red ink, diagonally down from top left: ‘love / To Clare / from / Donovan’. Also in red ink, in another hand at top left: ‘ROYAL ALBERT / HALL / MARCH ’68’.

Sprawling but not unattractive signature, with curled flourish, on piece of wove paper which has been cut into an irregular 9.5 x 6 cm oval to match the curve of the signature. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient has noted the singer's name on the reverse, which carries traces of glue and brown paper from mount. See Image.

See her entry, and those of Robey and her husband, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. With two folds. Addressed to ‘Geo Robey. Esq. C.B.E.’ and signed ‘Margaret Lloyd George.’ She gives details of a concert she is having at Downing Street the following month, ‘in aid of the Electrical Industries Association’, and has been asked by its committee to ‘invite your kindly assistance’.

See her entry, and her husband’s, 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’. Postcard of 14 x 9 cm, with letterhead and no illustration. Monogram signature ‘RK’. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight smudging to a couple of words in one corner. Addressed to ‘Mr Philip Dossé. [sic] / Hansom Books. / Artillery Mansions. / 75, Victoria Street. / LONDON.

1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. In response to a request for an autograph: ‘Para Paul-Marcel como recuerdo afectuoso. / Alicia de Larrocha / 18. 6 – 1975’. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, small 4to. In good condition, lightly creased and with central vertical fold for posting. Signed 'John Christie'. He gives details of forthcoming performances: 'So far a week ago 11 performances were heavily booked including 3 sold out: you could let me know presently which dress rehearsal you would like to come to & I will give you 2 seats free.'

See the biography of this much-beloved figure in the Oxford DNB. Stylish signature ‘Humphrey Lyttelton’, on irregularly-shaped piece of paper, roughly 7.5 x 4.5 cm, torn from an envelope flap. Somewhat worn and a little creased.

See his entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica. The programme is 12mo, and consists of eight printed pages, stapled into covers printed in black on shiny paper, with a lion rampant on the front printed in red. The sprawling signature 'Bruno Walter' is written diagonally in the top-left quarter of the front cover. In good condition, lightly aged, but with the back cover damaged by removal from mount. Central vertical fold.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, except that the envelopes of the first two items are somewhat worn and grubby. ONE: TLS to Douglas C. Dorrington. 1p, 12mo. The address to ‘Dear Mr. Dorrington’ and signature ‘Peter Pears’ are in autograph; the rest is typed. Written while Britten is dying. Reads: ‘Benjamin Britten wishes me to thank you for your kind message.

See his entry, together with that of Benjamin Britten, in the Oxford DNB, the latter explaining the context of the last letter, which is an attack on Britten and Peter Pears for not returning from the United States to wartime England. From the Scott papers. Each letter 2pp, 12mo, on a single leaf (a total of 8pp, 12mo). In good condition, lightly aged. Each letter folded for postage. All four letters addressed to ‘Miss Scott’, and each signed ‘Gordon Jacob’. ONE (1 April 1929): He will be ‘most delighted’ to give her ‘any information you may require about my work’.

See her entry in Grove. The letter can be dated by the reference to Sir William Mitchell (see Oxford DNB) and the operetta 'The Rival Beauties', which he produced in London and then Plymouth. The letter is on one side of the paper, has been cut down to 11 x 9 cm, and laid down on a piece of card. Aged and worn, with slight loss at top right, affecting one word of text. Thirteen lines of close and neatly-written text, addressed to ‘Dearest Mrs. Sprague’ and signed ‘Yours affectionately, / Erminia Rudersdorff’, with a little of the flourish beneath the signature cut away.

See his entry, together with that of Benjamin Britten, in the Oxford DNB, the latter explaining the context of the last letter, which is an attack on Britten and Peter Pears for not returning from the United States to wartime England. From the Scott papers. Each letter 2pp, 12mo, on a single leaf (a total of 8pp, 12mo). In good condition, lightly aged. Each letter folded for postage. All four letters addressed to ‘Miss Scott’, and each signed ‘Gordon Jacob’. ONE (1 April 1929): He will be ‘most delighted’ to give her ‘any information you may require about my work’.

7 x 9 cm photographic print. 6 x 7 cm black and white head-and-shoulders portrait of Oliver looking intently leftwards, in a double-breasted suit and tie. Facsimile of signature ‘Vic Oliver’ at foot. In good condition, lightly aged. Scan on application.

8 x 11 cm collotype print on 9 x 14 cm postcard, with caption (‘Richard Tauber / als Schubert / im “Dreimädlhaus”’) and publication details in blank space at foot. Tauber has signed emphatically, between two lines, at the foot of the card: ‘Richard Tauber / 1931 / London’. In good condition, lightly aged, but with dink to bottom-left corner, affecting neither image nor signature. Depicts Tauber, in the character of a bespectacled Franz Schubert, seated before a dark background. Scan on application.

Lauder was the highest-paid entertainer in the world in 1911, and the first British artist to sell a million records (by 1928 he had sold two million). See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 14 x 9 cm plain postcard, addressed (by the recipient) to ‘Norman Wetton / 7 Claremont Road / Forrest Gate.’ On the blank reverse Lauder has written: ‘ “D’you Know this ” / Yours very truly / Harry Lauder’. A little grubby and discoloured, but in fair condition. Scan on application.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. Good bold signature ‘Gracie Fields’, underlined and rising upwards. On 11.5 x 9 cm piece of thin light-grey card. In good condition, lightly aged, but with border of discoloration created by tape, a tiny part of which has encroached on the initial ‘G’ of the signature.

8.5 x 14 cm glossy publicity photograph on post card. In good condition, lightly aged. Inscribed across the bottom of the image: ‘Souvenirs / Alice Delysia’. A soft-toned head and shoulders image in black and white, of a smiling Delysia, eyebrows plucked, lips made up, and short hair Marcell-waved. See Image.

The second of these ballads, 'Silver Threads Among the Gold', by the American Eben Eugene Rextord (1848-1916), was immensely popular on its release in 1873 with music by Hart Peas Danks (1834-1903). The earliest reference to the first ballad, 'Could you lend my mother a saucepan?' is in an 1885 number of 'All the Year Round'. The song is an absolute hoot, but its text is not to be found anywhere on the internet.

See Terry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing Dr. W. J. Phillips was the organist at St Barnabas, Pimlico; he was unsuccessful in the present application, but was subsequently organist of the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court. See his entry in Humphreys and Evans, ‘Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland’ (1997). These two items are uniform on a total of three leaves of light paper. Both discoloured and worn, and folded three times. ONE: ALS from Terry to Phillips. 1p, 4to. He is ‘most pleased to have opportunity of supporting’ Phillips’s application.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with one short closed tear to an edge. Folded twice for postage. The salutation (‘My dear old “Phil,” ’) and the signature ‘Landon Ronald’ are in autograph, the rest typed. The recipient is ‘Dr. W. J. Phillips, / “Kelvinside,” / Malcolm Road, / Wimbledon, S.W.’ He sends a ‘thousand thanks’ for Phillips’s ‘delightful telegram’. ‘It was indeed good of you to think of us all down here. It was a great night, and one I shall never forget.

See his entry in Grove’s, and Percy A. Scholes’s obituary in the Musical Times, June 1941. 2pp, 12mo. Addressed to ‘Messrs. T. Seeley Clark & Co:’ and signed ‘Stewart Macpherson’. On bifolium of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. They have led him to understand that he would have a revised proof of his ‘biography for Modern Makers of Music’ in time for the publication of the work in the autumn would be published that autumn, and is writing to remind them that he has ‘not yet received the revise’.

See his entry in Grove’s. A good large firm signature, 'John Goss'. On irregularly-shaped piece of laid paper cut from a printed programme, a 9.5 x 8 cm rectangle with one large triangle cut from a corner. Written over part of the words to the song 'I am a brisk and sprightly lad'. The printing on the back headed ' Once I loved a maiden fair Anon., 1600 / I am a brisk and sprightly lad Anon., 1750 / MR. JOHN GOSS.'

See his entry in Grove’s. Each with his firm signature 'John Goss'. The two letters in fair condition, on aged and creased paper, folded for postage, the first of the two with a short closed tear to one edge. The card in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: TLS to ‘Mr. Cameron’, 21 December 1938. 1p, 4to. Cameron’s letter ‘to the convener of the Musician’s Group of the Left Book Club’ has been passed to him.