PLAY

[ Charterhouse; William Haig Brown; Printed ] Handbill Prologue to 'Helping Hands'. AND Programme for the performances

Author: 
[ William Haig Brown (1823–1907), cleric and reforming headmaster of Charterhouse School.]
Publication details: 
Charterhouse, December, 1869.
£65.00

Handbill/Leaflet, 26 x 13cm. laid down on part of page extracted from an Album created by Major Wellesley Paget, R.H.A., sl. wrinkled, fold mark, ow good. This Prologue to the School Play of 1869, Helping Hands was later printed in William Haig Brown's Carthusian Memories and Other Verses of Leisure, p.54. WITH: Programme, 4pp., 8vo, not bound, sl. water stained, small closed tear, ow. good condition for the performances on 9-11 December 1869 of Helping Hands. A Domestic Drama in II. Acts By Tom Taylor, Esq. and Whitebait at Greenwich. A Farce, By J.M. Morton with cast lists

[Christopher Fry, playwright.] Two items from his papers: an American first edition of his play 'A Yard of Sun', together with proof leaves of a later printing of the play, entirely reset.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century verse drama
Publication details: 
First edition: O.U.P. [Oxford University Press], New York. 1970. Proofs undated and without publishing details. [New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc. 1998?]
£450.00

The two items are from the playwright's own papers. FIRST EDITION: [8] + 113pp, 8vo. A good tight copy in lightly-aged brown cloth and price-clipped cream dustwrapper with attractive design by Edward Blakeney in brown and black on front cover, and slight chipping to bottom edge at back. Label with English price on back of dustwrapper. No autograph interpolations. PROOFS: 96pp, 8vo. Duplicated printed pages, each page on a separate leaf. Paginated 1-96.

[John Baldwin Buckstone, comedic actor and playwright.] Five Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Jno B Buckstone') to M. H. Simpson, lessee of the Theatre Royal, Birmingham, regarding arrangements, benefits, and Mrs Fitzwilliam.

Author: 
John Baldwin Buckstone (1802-1879), dramatist and actor-manager of Haymarket Theatre, London [Mercer Hampson Simpson (1801-1877), actor-manager, Theatre Royal, Birmingham; Mrs Fitzwilliam (1801-1854)]
Publication details: 
From the Adelphi and Haymarket in London, and the Theatre Royal in Liverpool. 20 August August 1839, [November 1839], 29 April [1840], 29 November 1842, and undated.
£320.00

See the appreciative entry on Buckstone by Donald Roy in the Dictionary of National Biography. Interesting and informative letters, shedding vivid light on the day-to-day workings of early-Victorian theatre, written by a leading London actor-manager and dramatist and sent to a provincial actor-manager, regarding the arrangement of engagements, benefits, and plays. Of particular interest is the fourth letter, which refers to Mrs Fitzwilliam [Fanny [Frances Elizabeth] Fitzwilliam, née Copeland] (1801-1854), with whom Buckstone toured New Orleans and the South, c. 1840-1841. Five items.

[ Dr Richard Williamson, Headmaster of Westminster School. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Rd Williamson') regarding the King's visit to a play.

Author: 
Dr Richard Williamson (1802-1865), Headmaster of Westminster School, 1828-1846
Publication details: 
Deans Yd. [ Westminster Abbey ]. 12 December 1834.
£50.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Tipped-in onto part of a leaf removed from an album. Annotated at head, in a contemporary hand: 'an invitation from the Head Master of Westr - | F. P.' The letter reads: 'Sir | The King having graciously signified his intention of honoring the third performance of our <?> Play with his presence on the 15th. inst I hope for the pleasure of your company to assist me in receiving his Majesty who comes to my house at 7 o'clock, on his way to the College.'

[ Dame Marie Tempest, actress. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Mary') to 'My dear Cyril', discussing his 'amusing and witty play' and the one in which she is acting.

Author: 
Dame Marie Tempest [ Mary Susan Etherington ] (1864-1942), English singer and actress ('the queen of her profession')
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'Miss Marie Tempest'. 'Monday' [ no date ].
£35.00

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight loss to one corner and creasing to another. Strengthened on reverse with a small piece of tape. Letterhead in red, with Tempest writing in green ink. She writes warmly: 'I've read your Play, and I think it charming up to the point of the two people who are crooks! It suffers from the same thing that our present Play suffers from. Too sudden a jump!' She invites him to go and see the play, 'and you will gather what I mean'. She ends by describing his play as 'amusing and witty'.

Typescript, marked 'Producer's Copy', of the play 'Ghost for Sale', with manuscript addition to ending.

Author: 
Ronald Jeans (1887-1973), British playwright over five decades
Publication details: 
In manuscript on front cover: 'Return to 40c Palace St: London S.W.1'. Undatd. From Pinker's Play Bureau, Talbot House, Arundel Street, Strand, London, WC2.
£220.00

147pp., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper, with rusty binding, in worn covers. In manuscript on the cover are the return address and 'Producer's Copy'. In the same hand is an addition to the ending: 'Judy | Then there is a ghost' | Geoffrey | Not a word to your father'. 'Who's Who in the Theatre' records a production of the play in 1938, but there is no reference to it on either OCLC WorldCat, or on COPAC.

[ Val Gielgud and Nicholas Vane. ] Unpublished Typescript 'Death Comes to the Hibiscus. A New Play by Val Gielgud and Nicholas Vane'.

Author: 
Val Gielgud (1900-1981), actor, director and author; and 'Nicholas Vane' [ Francis Durbridge (1912-1998), playwright and author ] [ BBC Radio; British Broadcasting Corporation ]
Publication details: 
'Val Gielgud | Broadcasting House [ BBC ], London, W.1.' and 'Nicholas Vane | (Francis Durbridge) | c/o Christopher Mann Ltd, 45, Fountain House, Park Lane, London, W.1.' Undated [ circa 1941 ].
£450.00

149pp., 4to. Carbon copy. On rectos of leaves only, and bound in a buff card folder with metal clasps. Internally in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding. The play centres around 'the "Hibiscus" night-club, one of those London resorts which are alike the despair of Social Reformers and the delight of the Forces when on Leave. It is situated somewhere between Berkeley Square and Dover Street.' The typescript is clearly an actual play and not a radio play, but there is no record of it having been performed on stage.

[ Emile Cammaerts; unpublished play; annotated by author; typescript ] The Mistress of the Beeches

Author: 
Emile Cammaerts (1878-1953), Belgian playwright, poet (including war poet) and author who wrote primarily in English and French
Publication details: 
[Return address] 35 Albemarle Street, London W1 [1927]
£1,000.00

Typescript, Paginated 76pp. but a few added, eg p.25a, cutting in places), 4to, clipped into brown folder (label partly removed '"The Play Box", Plays Placed, etc'), chipped, fold marks, sunned. Text dulled and stained in parts, but clear. With extensive additions and corrections in Cammaerts' hand, virtually every page, ranging from excising lines and paragraphs to one or two words to sentences to four lines. Note: "The International Theatre's production of M.

[ F. Britten Austin, novelist. ] Typescripts of acts I and 3 of his unpublished only play, 'The Thing that Matters'. With numerous manuscript additions and directions, plus extra typed material.

Author: 
F. Britten Austin [ Frederick Britten Austin ] (1885-1941) [ Percy Burton, theatrical agent and motion picture pioneer; Arthur Bourchier; Helen Maud Holt (1863-1937) [ Mrs Beerbohm Tree; Lady Tree ] ]
Publication details: 
F. Britten Austin, Northgate House, Bishops Stortford, Herts. Undated [ circa 1921 ].
£580.00

126pp., 4to. (Act 1 has 55pp. and Act 3 has 71pp.) Each act bound in grey card covers. Worn and aged, with the remains of the purple ribbon used to bind the leaves into their covers. A heavily reworked typescript. As is customary, the typed text of the play is on the rectos only, but leaves with additional typed and manuscript (presumably autograph) text have been inserted. Numerous manuscript additions and deletions to the text on the rectos, with additional typed passages on pieces of paper laid down onto the facing versos, which also carry further manuscript changes.

[Samuel Beckett; Peter Hall, director] Programme for the first production in English of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot

Author: 
[Samuel Beckett; Peter Hall]
Publication details: 
Produced at the Criterion Theatre, London, on Monday 12 September 1955 (first performed 3 August 1955).
£95.00

Theatre programme, 8pp., 12mo, slightly crumpled, with closed tear at spine. Vladimir is played by Hugh Burden not Paul Daneman, who started the run.

[Printed Play] The Garrulous Lady

Author: 
K.M. Briggs [Katharine Mary Briggs] Folklorist.
Publication details: 
The Golden Vista Press, Fetter House, Fetter Lane, London, EC4, 1931.
£120.00

29pp., 16mo, paper wraps (covered in tissue), very good condition. Three copies on COPAC (copyright libraries) and three on WorldCat (USA). Scarce.

[Archibald Maclaren; printed play] Live & Hope, or, The Emigrant Prevented: A Musical Entertainment.

Author: 
[Archibald Maclaren] A. Maclaren, playwright
Publication details: 
London: Printed and Sold for the Author, by A. Macpherson, Russell Court, Covent Garden, [London] 1817.
£125.00

24pp., 12mo, original blue sugar paper wraps, sewn, sl. damaged, contents good. "The Author was formerly a Sergeant in the 26th Regiment and Dumbartonshire Highlanders, who was discharged due to his wounds and now supports himself and his family by his pen. This last information was in an "Advertisement" in his "The Private Theatre: or the Highland Funeral", preceding the "begging" letter to his reading audience. The author wrote many plays". Copies listed at the BL, Oxford, Folger, Harvard, and two other US libraries.

[Printed pamphlet.] Ober-Ammergau. Passion Play. A.D. 1890.

Author: 
John W. Shackelford, Rector of the Church of Christ of the Reedemer, New York City; Daniel I. Odell, Rector of St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, Massachusetts; James O. S. Huntington, O.H.C. [Ober-Ammergau]
Publication details: 
[New York?] 1890.
£45.00

8pp., landscape 16mo. An attractive little pamphlet, in the form of a letter 'To any whose privilege it is to have seen the Passion Play'. The pamphlet ends with five points, the last of which is: 'In rthe event of a repetition of the Passion Play in 1900, to urge Christians who may attend it to go in the spirit of pilgrimage, and to make provision for the spiritual interests of those who are present at the Play.' Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Scarce: the only copy on COPAC at Oxford, and no copy on OCLC WorldCat.

Mimeographed Typed Play by Mabel Constanduros, titled 'The Sad Affair in Mangel Street'.

Author: 
Mabel Constanduros (1880-1957), born Mabel Tilling, actress and playwright [Steele's Play Bureau, London]
Publication details: 
In printed wrapers of Steele's Play Bureau, 54 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, SW1. Copyright 1937.
£56.00

[1] + 10pp., 4to. Printed on rectos only, and stapled into blue printed card wraps. Very good, on lightly-aged paper, in creased and stained wraps with rust to staples.

Engraved lithographic decorative play bill for a performance of Bulwer-Lytton's 'Lady Lyons', and 'Box and Cox', at the Station Theatre, Poona, India, by 'The Gentlemen Amateurs of H. M. 86th. Royal Regiment'.

Author: 
[The Gentlemen Amateurs of H. M. 86th. Royal Regiment, the Station Theatre, Poona [Pune]; Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873), 1st Baron Lytton [Lord Lytton], author]
Publication details: 
Station Theatre, Poona [Pune], India. 30 June 1851.
£150.00

Printed in black on one side of a piece of thick laid paper, 30.5 x 19.5 cm. Aged, and separated into two parts by a neat tear along a vertical fold line 13 cm from bottom (repaired on reverse), and with slight wear at the head. An attractive and characteristically Victorian design, entirely drawn onto the stone (i.e. none of the text set in type). The design displays a quirky and charming amateur energy, with the text within a decorative border incorporating what appears to be 'IOD POONA' at the foot. Headed by the words 'STATION THEATRE .

[Printed auction catalogue.] Catalogue of the Valuable Library and the Collection of Old Play-Bills and Theatrical Prints of Sir Henry Irving, Deceased. [...] Commander of the Saxe-Ernestine Order, Late of 17 Stratton Street, W.

Author: 
[Sir Henry Irving [John Henry Brodribb] (1838-1905), British actor-manager; Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, London auction house; Christies auctioneers]
Publication details: 
Revised Edition. Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, at their Great Rooms, 8 King Street, St. James's Square. Monday, December 18, 1905 and following day.' [London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Limited.]
£150.00

8vo., 69pp. Unbound as issued. In fair condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper, with worn and chipped printed front wrap still present, with ownership inscription at head (''). 482 lots, with several of the books ticked in pencil. Included, as lots 95 to 112A, are 'specially printed copies of the various Lyceum Plays, as arranged for the Stage by SIR HENRY IRVING; they contain numerous manuscript alterations in the text in the handwriting of the great Actor, and are in consequence of very great interest'.

Four Typed Letters Signed (three 'Peggy Ramsay' and one 'Peggy R.') to Goodman, giving her characteristically forthright opinion of his plays.

Author: 
Peggy Ramsay [Margaret Ramsay] [Margaret Francesca Ramsay, née Venniker] (1908-1991), English theatrical agent [Jonathan Goodman (1931-2008)]
Publication details: 
29 May 1955, and 5 and 12 March and 19 April 1956. All on letterheads of Margaret Ramsay Ltd, Play Agent.
£200.00

All four items good, on lightly aged paper. Two of the five leaves have small dog-ears to corners. Goodman has done his accounts on the blank reverse of one leaf. An important collection, in which the most important British post-war play agent reveals, in entertaining and increasingly-brusque terms, the criteria by which she judges scripts. Goodman was hailed by Jacques Barzun as 'the greatest living master of true-crime literature', but his first love was, as his obituary in the Daily Telegraph (16 January 2008) states, the theatre.

Mrs. Mulligan's Millions. A Comedy in Three Acts.

Author: 
Edward McNulty, Irish novelist and playwright, Mrs. Mulligan's Millions. A Comedy in Three Acts.Dublin and London, 1918.
Publication details: 
Maunsel and Compnay, Dublin and London, 1918.
£200.00

Based on his novel of the same name. Original green wraps, motif of Maunsel's Irish Plays on front, soiled, one closed tear, titlepage faintly stained, pages of contents dulled through age, sound. From the library of Robert Lynd, author and nationalist. Scarce: COPAC lists copies at NLS, Oxford and NLW (NOT BL).

The Shuiler's Child

Author: 
Seumas O'Kelly
Publication details: 
First Edition, Maunsel & Co., Dublin, 1909
£200.00

Original brown wraps, chipped, dusted and soiled, titlepage partly soiled and dusted, otherwise good. Scarce: COPAC lists copies at BL, NLS, Oxford, and NLW. AddAll only lists the 1971 reprint.

The Twilight People

Author: 
Seumas O'Sullivan
Publication details: 
Dublin: Whaley & Co.; London: A.H. Bullen, 1905.
£100.00

Original mauve wraps, sunned and creased, endpapers soiled, contents slightly marked but mainly good. INSCRIBED by Robert Lynd, author and nationalist, in Irish, Riobard ua Flynn. Scarce: COPAC lists copies at NLS, Cambridge, BL.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Adelaide Phillpotts') to 'Miss Hall'.

Author: 
Mary Adelaide Eden Phillpotts (1896-1996), English author (daughter of Eden Phillpotts)
Publication details: 
21 March 1927; Eltham, Torquay, South Devon.
£28.00

Two pages, quarto. Very good, with a little wear and light creasing. 'I often think of those days, & how timid & shy & stupid I was! Yet I enjoyed myself too, & shall never forget your great kindness, & the help you gave me. Since then I've had many adventures & experiences. I am not the thing I was!' She has been in London for the winter, and hopes they will be able to meet. 'We're so glad you like "Yellow Sands" - & I'm very pleased you like "Tomek". She has 'just finished another novel & play'. Asks what has become of a number of common acquaintances.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Charles Albert Fecther
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£15.00

English actor and dramatist (1824-79; DNB). On slip of paper, 1½ inches by 4 inches, probably cut from letter. Discoloration to two corners caused by mounting. Paper creased and with almost imperceptible closed tear. Florid and attractive signature. Neatly docketed in pencil on reverse.

autograph note signed,

Author: 
Charles Warner
Publication details: 
09/01/86
£15.00

English actor (1846-1909). One page, 8vo. " " Gerraire! look look nana nana come to Papa, I'm dying. Oh God forgive me" "Coupeau" ". Warner's most memorable part was Coupeau in 'Drink' (1879), an adaptation of Zola's 'L'Assommoir'.

one autograph letter signed to Arthur [?],

Author: 
Charles Wyndham
Publication details: 
24 June 1892, on the letterhead of the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly.
£15.00

English actor-manager (1837-1919), knighted in 1902. 3 pp, 8vo. An interesting letter in which he angles for some some royal patronage. "Dear Arthur / I am trying to arrange Agatha but there are difficulties - / I wonder whether Her Royal Highness is disengaged next Tuesday. We play a charming little piece on Tuesday afternoon about ¼ past 3 - which I am sure with her dramatic taste she will appreciate - It is a new comedietta called "Mrs Hilary regrets" [by Spenser Theyre Smith] that we played with great success at the Lyceum.

autograph note signed to Trench Kirkpatrick,

Author: 
David James
Publication details: 
17/10/79
£12.00

English actor (1839-93). One page, 8vo, mounted on piece of paper with cutting from envelope addressed in autograph to "Trench Kirkpatrick Esq / Donacomper / Celbridge Court Kildare / Ireland". "Aint it ot it is awful ot." / Our Boys" / Faithfully yours / David James / Vaudeville Theatre / October 17th 79 / To Trench Kirkpatrick". James made his fortune in 1875 in H. J. Byron's "Our Boys".

typed letter signed to M[ary]. Tennyson, with stamped addressed envelope addressed in autograph,

Author: 
Herbert Trench
Publication details: 
27 September 1909, with the letterhead of the Haymarket Theatre ("Director Mr. HERBERT TRENCH").
£12.00

One page, 4to. He thanks her for her "criticisms as to the hands and the lighting [...] Your appreciation was of the kind that I specially value. / On re-reading your One Act play, I think it needs alteration. The first ten or twelver [sic] pages are very good, but I am not at all sure that the last part will go down. Is it not a little over-sentimental?" But I will consider this further and let you have some suggestions later. I suppose you would not mind altering it to a certain extent if necessary?"

Autograph letter signed to Mrs [?] Villiers,

Author: 
E. G. Harcourt-Williams
Publication details: 
20 July (no year), with letterhead Permanent address High Bank Addiscombe Croydon
£20.00

Actor and producer (1880-1957). 2 pp, 4to. He thanks her for taking an interest in his work. "Yes - you are right I have a wonderful mother. / Wasn't it dreadful on Saturday afternoon! I thought it brave of you to sit it through." Somewhat grubby and creased.

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