PLAYS

[Printed pamphlet by 'The Directors of the well known Strand Electric and Engineering Company Limited'] A Completely New Glossary of Technical Theatrical Terms [...] With an Appendix of the Colours used for Lighting the Plays [...]

Author: 
[Theatrical Terms]
A Completely New Glossary of Technical Theatrical Terms
Publication details: 
'Commencing Novr. 1st. 1947, and thereafter so long as supplies shall last!'] 'Smudgeham & Fowlem, Steam Printers, The Cut, Waterloo.' [i.e. The Strand Electric & Engineering Co., Ltd., 24 Floral St, Covent Garden, London.]
£80.00
A Completely New Glossary of Technical Theatrical Terms

Irregular (12 x 23.5 cm), 32 pp. In fair condition, aged and lightly worn. In original wraps, with cover design, in a variety of types and point sizes, imitating an early nineteenth-century handbill, stating that 'all Profits for the Benefit of the Deserving Actors' Orphanage. | Free list entirely suspended | Fees payable in advance are 2s. per copy'.

Corrected autograph draft of poem by E. L. Blanchard, entitled 'Phantasmagoria', signed by him 'ELB'.

Author: 
E. L. Blanchard [Edward Litt Laman Blanchard] (1820-1889), playwright and theatre producer, writer of pantomimes for Drury Lane Theatre over 37 years
Corrected autograph draft of poem by E. L. Blanchard
Publication details: 
Dated by Blanchard to November 1862.
£225.00
Corrected autograph draft of poem by E. L. Blanchard

12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Docketed by Blanchard in top left-hand corner: 'Sent to Sat.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A H Calvert') from the actress Adelaide Helen Calvert to an unnamed theatre proprietor [E. D. Davies, Lessee, Theatre-Royal, Newcastle?], discussing a forthcoming bill.

Author: 
Adelaide Helen Calvert [nee Biddles] (1837-1921), English actress, wife of the actor-manager Charles Alexander Calvert (1828-1879) [Theatre-Royal, Newcastle]
Adelaide Helen Calvert to an unnamed theatre proprietor
Publication details: 
Undated [before 1879]; on part of playbill for 'Benefit of Mr. Chas. Calvert' at the Theatre-Royal, Newcastle. [M. Benson, Printer, Side, Newcastle.]
£75.00
Adelaide Helen Calvert to an unnamed theatre proprietor

12mo, 3 pp. On bifolium, with the printed playbill for the 'Benefit of Mr. Chas. Calvert' at the Theatre-Royal, Newcastle, on the recto of the first page (including a performance of Much Ado About Nothing, with Calvert as Benedick and Miss Fanny Alexander as Beatrice. The letter is 42 lines long. She feels that, 'with but one rehearsal', the 'Merchante's Storye will scarcely go', and suggests performing 'Nine Points, The Household Fairy, and Head of the Family' instead, considering it 'a good bill' and 'lighter works for all the company'.

Four Typed Letters Signed and two Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Rex Newman') from the screenwriter and author Greatrex Newman to Eva Lawrence ('Lawrie').

Author: 
Greatrex Newman (1892-1984), English author and screenwriter [The Fol-de-Rols; theatrical; the London stage]
Greatrex Newman (1892-1984), English author and screenwriter, TLSs and ALSs
Publication details: 
Two undated; the rest between 1951 and 1959. On various letterheads of 39 and 47 Whitehall Court, London.
£80.00
Greatrex Newman (1892-1984), English author and screenwriter, TLSs and ALSs

Five of the items are 8vo, with the other on a 12mo slip. All texts clear and complete. Fair, on slightly-aged and worn paper. A total of five typed 8vo pages, and two autograph 8vo and two autograph 12mo pages. Four of the lettters have 'The Fol-de-Rols' printed on the letterhead. Dealing with practical everyday theatre matters, with Newman writing, for example, on 19 November 1955: 'I have bought a few costume from the Punch Revue which died an early death at the Duke of York's theatre last Saturday.

[Pamphlet reproducing reviews of Gatty's performances in 'Winchester College Theatricals' between 1867 and 1882.]

Author: 
[Sir Stephen Herbert Gatty (1849-1922), Chief Justice of Gibraltar, 1895 to 1905; Winchester College]
Gatty's performances in 'Winchester College Theatricals'
Publication details: 
Circa 1882.
£75.00
Gatty's performances in 'Winchester College Theatricals'

12mo, 7 pp. Text clear and complete. On aged discoloured paper, with rusting staple having been removed. The last page carries a 'List of Characters' played by Gatty, from the 'First Gravedigger' in 'Hamlet' in 1866 to 'Tony Lumpkin' in 'She Stoops to Conquer' in 1882. The reviews, in small type over the previous six pages, are highly favourable, from a range of papers from the Guardian to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph. The last set of reviews relates to the 'Harmonomaniac Concerts, Oxford'. From the residue of Sir Stephen H. Gatty's papers.

The Entermores. A Play by John Cowper Powys.

Author: 
John Cowper Powys [Paul Roberts]
Publication details: 
Written by Powys circa 1905. Roberts' transcript 'for a public reading of the play at the Powys Society's Annual Conference', 28 August 1994.
£150.00

8vo, [iii] + 66 pp. Computer printout in plastic binder. Text clear and complete. Creasing to first four leaves, otherwise in very good condition. On title-page: 'ACTING COPY ONLY'. Note by 'C. W.' on next page: 'This version of the script is taken from Paul Roberts' unedited first draft transcription for a public reading of the play at the Powys Society's Annual Conference, at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, at 7.30pm on Sunday, 28th August, 1994. | Where words have still not been deciphered in the transcript, temporary ones have been inserted.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E. Ratmirova') to 'Mr. Bass' of Manchester, regarding the play 'The Fold'.

Author: 
Eugenia Ratmirova, actress [Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue]
Publication details: 
5 April 1920; on letterhead of the Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue.
£35.00

4to, 2 pp. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper. The play 'is a great success in London and is likely to have a long run there, yet at the same time we are all looking forward to coming back to Manchester, where the play started and everybody was so kind to us'. She concludes with some graceful compliments to Bass, and encloses her portrait (not present).

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.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('W. Blanchard Jerrold') to 'Wm. <Raikes?> Esq'.

Author: 
William Blanchard Jerrold (1826-1884), English journalist and playwright
Publication details: 
30 June 1864; 11 Maddox Street, Regent Street, London.
£56.00

12mo: 2 pp. Very good. 'The Association for establishing depots of cheap food for the poor' has been formed, 'under the auspices of Lord Brougham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Sir John Villiers Shelley, and others,' and Jerrold asks whether Raikes would 'permit us to add your name to the list of patrons', a position which 'entails no pecuniary responsibility whatsoever.'

Autograph Letter Signed to <J. J. Dolone>, and Hand-coloured Engraved Portrait.

Author: 
Laura Honey [nee Young] ['Mrs Honey']
Publication details: 
The letter without date, but bearing postmark postmark dated 20 May 1838.
£156.00

Letter, docketed 'Mrs Honey', addressed to ' Esqre | York - Leeds - or Hull | Theatre Royal'. Three pages, quarto. Good, though aged and creased, and with small section cut away on breaking seal. Text clear and complete. Small strip of mount adhering to one edge. Interesting and intriguing letter addressed to 'Dearest Papa' and beginning 'Barnett has never been near me nor do I know where to find him - write by return and tell me where I commence and what you would like me to '. Ends by saying she is 'very busy indeed just now'. Signed 'Laura'.

one autograph fragment (signature),

Author: 
Gladys Cooper
Publication details: 
no date or place.
£20.00

English actress (1888-1971), made a Dame of the British Empire in 1967. Signature on card, 1½ inches by 3 inches. Mounted on piece of paper, 12mo, docketed "Gladys Cooper (Lady Pearson) Popular Actress".

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Ford'.

Author: 
Olga Nethersole
Publication details: 
29 July 1898; on letterhead '5, NORFOLK STREET, | PARK LANE, W.'
£25.00

English actress of Spanish descent (1866-1951). Two pages, 12mo. On grey paper. Folded twice. In very good condition, but with minor traces of paper mounts adhering to two corners of first leaf of bifoliate. Florid signature. She declines the luncheon invitation as she has friends coming down. She is 'going to try & have tea with Mrs Gooch. But it is a little difficult to get away when one has people staying.' She is sorry to have missed her correspondent.

Autograph Note Signed to the Rev. E. J. A. Davies.

Author: 
Alfred Sutro, British dramatist and translator (1863-1933)
Publication details: 
13 August 1930; on letterhead of Gurdons, Witley, Surrey.
£28.00

One page, small octavo. Very good, though with a little offsetting of ink from folding of letter, and a small closed tear at head. A reply to a request for an autograph - in a close, neat, hand - reading 'Dear Sir | With much pleasure as I assure you that I am | Sincerely yours | Alfred Sutro'.

Literary Record and Bibliography [in manuscript] compiled by his great-nephew Edward Rimbault Dibdin

Author: 
Thomas John Dibdin
Publication details: 
4to, 1931
£450.00

The Dictionary of National Biography states that T. J. Dibdin (1771-1841, closely associated with Sadler's Wells, Drury Lane and the Surrey Theatre) wrote 'nearly two thousand songs and about two hundred operas and plays'. This list, which covers the whole of his life from his earliest known work in 1789 to his death in 1841, is compiled with considerable care on the rectos and some of the versos of 79 bound and numbered leaves (most being the letterhead of the North-East Coast Exhibition, of which E. Rimbault Dibdin was the Director).

Autograph Letter Signed to Lady Monckton.

Author: 
Henry Kemble
Publication details: 
Sunday 11th June 1887'; on Garrick Club letterhead.
£26.00

English comedian (1848-1907), grandson of the actor Charles Kemble. Two pages, 12mo. On grubby, spotted and stained paper. 'I was so sorry to have been prevented coming to you on Sunday last, and also that my absence from town has precluded the possibility of my leaving Cards. I hope I may be more fortunate another time.'

Autograph Letter Signed to T[homas]. F[rederick]. Dillon Croker.

Author: 
Eliza Johnstone
Publication details: 
Tooles Theatre | Strand'. No date, but in envelope postmarked 15 July 1876.
£45.00

British actress (born c. 1836). In the 1881 census Johnstone features as a visitor in the house of the actor-manager John Laurence Toole (1830-1906). Three pages, 12mo. Good, though grubby and with a few stains. In envelope with penny red stamp and black wax seal, addressed to Croker at 9 Pelham Place, Brompton. 'I return your book my father having complied with your request | I can not tell you the great pleasure I received in looking over your lovely collection. It is so good it makes one almost envious.' Signed 'Eliza Johnstone'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'My dear Friend'.

Author: 
Alfred Cecil Calmour
Publication details: 
Monday | 37 Sydney Street. | S.W.'
£35.00

English playwright and poet (died 1912). One page, 12mo. In good condition on discoloured paper. 'I'll look up Brandon - but I wished that you had read it to him. - It ritualizes a play so much. Properly cast the price should be a "money matter." But it must be properly cast. Can we meet? Because I want to know how I might progress. [& diverse possibilities]' Signed 'Alfred C. Calmour'.

Photograph with manuscript inscription (prob. not Guitry's hand) on reverse 'Pour <h?>r. Her [sic] Barman de la Passable <ebr.?>'.

Author: 
Sacha Guitry
Publication details: 
1939
£35.00

French actor and dramatist (1885-1957). Dimensions roughly 7 inches by 9 inches. In good condition though somewhat grubby, with 'SACHA GUITRY in 1939' in manuscript written in white ink on Guitry's collar. A striking head and shoulders portrait, shot from below out of doors, of Guitry staring intently ahead and to the left. He wears a white panama hat with black band, a patterned tie, dark shirt and grey jacket with specks. Gum marks from previous mounting around edges of reverse.

Autograph Note Signed to J. Winston.

Author: 
Daniel Terry
Publication details: 
12 August 1825; 13 Alfred Place.
£50.00

English actor and playwright (1780?-1829). 1 page, 16mo, on bifoliate with address ('J. Winston Esqr | 3 Church Street | Cov Garden') on reverse of second leaf. Paper discoloured, otherwise in good condition. 'Dear Winston | Will you be kind enough to give the bearer an order for Two to the H Mkt [Haymarket] for the Evening. I am Dr Sir | Yrs very truly | Danl Terry'. Wrapped in 4to piece of paper on which are transcribed in a neat contemporary hand two quotations regarding Terry from the European Magazine.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Sewell'.

Author: 
Ronald Harwood
Publication details: 
21 June 1974; on letterhead of the Midland Hotel, Peter Street, Manchester.
£30.00

English playwright (born 1934). 1 page, 8vo. In good condition. He thanks his correspondent for 'your sweet first night telegram which was so much appreciated and so very welcome. | We have had our problems and crises but all seems now to be under control (touching wood, or any other object that protects the rash!) Please come and see it in London.' Signed 'R Harwood'.

Autograph Note Signed to [Walter Sydney] Sichel.

Author: 
Arthur Cecil Blunt, actor
Publication details: 
4 December 1888; on card with letterhead of the Beefsteak Club, King William Street, Strand, W.C.
£25.00

English actor (1843-96) under the name 'Arthur Cecil'. 1 page, dimensions 3 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches. In good condition though dusty. He thanks him for his kind note, and says that if he 'may keep my little contribution in reserve for a bit' he 'will certainly bear it in mind & shall hope to turn you out something before very long'. Signed 'Arthur C Blunt'.

Approximately fifty Autograph and Typed Letters Signed to Laurence Rivers, Inc., along with cuttings, etc., concerning Segall's play 'Lost Horizons'.

Author: 
Harry Segall on Broadway
Publication details: 
Most from New York on various dates in 1934.
£450.00

Lost Horizons by Harry Segall (1897-1975) opened at the St James Theatre on Broadway on 15 October 1934. An impressive testament to the efficient marketing of mainstream entertainment in early-twentieth-century America. Laurence Rivers, Inc., of 19 West 44th Street, New York City, were clearly the play's publicists, and the majority of these letters are from the representatives of various religious organisations in New York, thanking William Fields of the company for the gift of free tickets.

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.

typed letter signed to theatrical bookseller I. F. Fletcher

Author: 
Sir Donald Sinden
Publication details: 
1p, 8vo, on letterhead 60 Temple Fortune Lane, London, N.W.11
£20.00

English thespian. Thanks Fletcher for his catalogue of autograph letters of nineteenth-century actors. 'I doubt if I will be able to get in before Christmas but hope to see you and them as soon as possible.' Signed 'Donald Sinden'. Creased and with some unobtrusive calculations on the reverse.

autograph note signed

Author: 
Henry Arthur Jones
Publication details: 
1p, 8vo, 4 February 1928, on letterhead 19 Kidderpore Avenue, Hampstead, N.W.3
£15.00

English playwright. 'Faithfully yours | Henry Arthur Jones | Feby 4/28'. Pasted to a piece of docketed card. Damp stained.

1 typed note signed and 1 typed note, both to J. Knowles,

Author: 
Charles Wyndham
Publication details: 
July 2 and 5 1890, both on letterhead of the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly.
£40.00

English actor-manager (1837-1919), knighted in 1902. The first, signed on Wyndham's behalf by "A. R. S." "I find that instead of putting down Sir Robert Morier's address in my note-book, I simply noted down the evening. Will you kindly send me the address." The second, "Very many thanks. If my rehearsals for my "off season" piece permit me, I shall be very happy to come. Will you kindly grant me a few days' grace to ascertain." Both letters with damage to blank second leaf, including traces of glue and mount. Two items,

autograph note signed to [?] Croker,

Author: 
William Aylmer Gowing ["Walter Gordon"]
Publication details: 
8 June [no date], 7 Thurloe Place.
£15.00

Playwright under the name Walter Gordon. One page, 16mo, on mourning paper. "My dear Croker / Monday is reserved for you - I enclose one more autograph and one of the three you want - / Yours very sincerely / William Gowing" Docketed in pencil "of the Olympic Theatre". Negligible traces of mount to the reverse.

autograph letter signed to L. Gomme,

Author: 
Charles Wyndham
Publication details: 
in envelope postmarked 6 December 1910, and on the letterhead of the Hyde Park Hotel, Knightsbridge.
£20.00

English actor-manager (1837-1919), knighted in 1902. One page, 12mo, in stamped envelope addressed in autograph. "At present & for some time past I am & have been absorbed in work preparing a New Year production. In 2 weeks, I go out of the & will then go into the play untrammeled by other matters."

autograph letter signed to Mrs [?] Ransford,

Author: 
Charles Wyndham
Publication details: 
28 December [no year], with letterhead of the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly.
£20.00

English actor-manager (1837-1919), knighted in 1902. "I find that Mrs Wyndham & I am assured myself also, pledged ourselves not to see The Two Roses without Mrs Sabrialli & Mrs. Albery - the same kind of pledge I made to you I have therefore resolved to keep both promises if you have no objection - & shall throw the two boxes I have reserved for all of us into one, so as to make a family party. / We cannot however this evening go to supper with you.

autograph note signed to "Dear Ken",

Author: 
Charles Wyndham
Publication details: 
1 June [no year], on letterhead of Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road.
£20.00

English actor-manager (1837-1919), knighted in 1902. 2 pp, 8vo. "I will let you know tomorrow. I have been working towards a certain goal - The T of P with the original cast. There has been a little uncertainty about an artist & I have been tempted to try other actors. I shall know by tomorrow". Smuding to recto, but signature not affected.

Syndicate content