POETRY

On 7 x 11 cm slip of paper, torn from the end of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged, with minor staining to one corner. Reads, with top line slightly cropped: 'I may have more leisure. | Yours sincerely, | J. Masefield.'

1p., 12mo. In good condition, with small printed slip from catalogue pasted above letterhead. The recipient is named as 'Mr. Green | Claremont House | Clapton'. Reads: 'Madam | My autograph can be of little value to any one, but in compliance with your wish so courteously expressed I enclose it & am | Madam | Faithfully yours | Theodore Martin'.

Written lengthwise on front of a 9 x 15.5 cm. envelope. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'A. E. W. | I had a list of the autographs in thy literary collection but unfortunately have mislaid it. If there is a duplicate it wont make any difference because this is an uncessary little note of | D. M. C.' The page also carries annotations in another hand in light pencil.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight rusting at head from paperclip. He writes that there is 'no relationship between myself and any of the people you mention. I have no antecedents such as you suggest and I cannot recall having received a copy of your catalogue.' Turning to the character 'Horace' in his play 'Nothing Up My Sleeve' he writes: 'he's just a figment of my imagination and the whole play is just a piece of work without any intended resemblance to anyone, only types.' The carbon copy of Barry Duncan's letter is somewhat aged and worn around the edges.

The full title reads: 'The Spirit of the Doctor; comprising Many Interesting Poems; selected from the original manuscript of the Late Mr. James Watson, Formerly Librarian of the Portico, in Manchester; and commonly called Doctor Watson. [Four-line quotation in Latin from Terence.] To which is prefixed A Lithographic Portrait of the Doctor; with a short memoir of his life: And various Anecdotes relative to Him - After, and to which are subjoined The Humors of Trim, [Two-line quotation from Sterne].;151pp [xxxvi + 51 + 64]., 8vo. Lithographic portrait of author as frontispiece.

ONE: Letter. 1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He cannot attend the breakfast club, as he is to be best man to a friend in Wimbledon at that time. He is 'rather too old for the character but all his other friends are married'. He would 'prefer the chat but, alas, it cant be managed'. TWO: Note. 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper with slight damage at foot. He regrets that, being out of town, he will be unable to 'join the breakfast club' at the recipient's house.

14pp., 12mo. Disbound without wraps. In good condition, lightly aged. Poem of seventy five-line stanzas, arranged in four parts.

34 [2]pp., 8vo, final leaf list of Ingersoll's works etc, disbound (formerly in volume of Ingersoll and Socialist pamphlets), lacking wraps, spine evidencing removal from volume, contents good. Scarce.

The envelope is 7 x 12 cm, with penny stamp printed on. In fair condition, lightly-aged, with back flap intact (i.e ungummed rather than cut open). The address - certainly in Swinburne's hand - simply reads: 'The Hon. J. Leicester Warren | 67 Onslow Square | S.W.'

Each letter 2pp., 12mo. Both in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He starts the first letter by expressing 'great pride and immense joy' in sending 'my seventh book of French poems [...] According to the reviews, it is the best I ever wrote'. He continues with references to the recipient's 'short but memorable visit to Johannesburg', and to 'the uncomplimentary remarks passed by my confreres in Johannesburg', these being 'indeed compliments, for they indicate that I do not belong to them, in spite of our common profession.

On one side of an 8 x 13 cm piece of paper. In good condition, with light signs of age, and central horizontal fold. Firm, bold signature, 8 cm long, with underlining flourish. Beneath the signature, in a small hand, is the message: 'M Guinot | M: Vigny vous adresse son nom pour vous remercier il ne connait pas votre adresse'. Addressed on reverse, 'à M. Eug. Guinot'.

[1] + 28pp., 4to. In good condition, on aged paper, bound with studs in worn light-blue paper wraps. In manuscript at foot of title-page: '2nd carbon'. The following is typed beneath the title, and has been deleted in pencil: 'Written in 1900 and Dedicated to Baroness de Grandcourt, to whom he is indebted for the idea'. With a few manuscript emendations. This piece was published in Boston in 1916.

George James Firmage was born in New York; attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1947-48) and College of the City of New York (1949); BA, New York University, 1952; pursued graduate study, University of Massachusetts, 1952-54; publications supervisor in advertising and marketing services department, First National City Bank, New York, 1954; wrote several books, including E.E. Cummings: a Miscellany (1958) and E.E. Cummings: a Bibliography; editor of A Garland for Dylan Thomas (1963) and of E.E. Cummings' Three Plays and a Ballet (1967).

A friend of Dylan Thomas and a leading poet of the 1930s London literary scene, Dyment is the subject of a warm appreciation by Robert Graecen in The Times, 8 June 1971. The present collection consists of a series of amusing poems regarding various members of the animal kingdom. ONE: Typescript of 'Fur, Feather, and Fin | by | Clifford and Marcella Dyment'. Address at foot of title-page: 'Flat 5, 53, Harrington Gardens, London, S.W.7.' 46pp., 8vo. Internally in good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

1p., 12mo. Nicely printed on one side of a piece of laid watermarked paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight loss to one corner caused by removal from an album. Sixteen-line poem in four four-line stanzas. Signed in type at foot 'TOM FAED.' The poem is a lament by the betrothed of a sailor drowned in the Firth of Forth. The first stanza reads: 'Oh wae is me!

Ford's first book of verse was 'Sung by the Way', published in Blackburn in 1905. She published several volumes of patriotic poetry: 'Poems of War and Peace' (1915), 'A Crown of Amaranth' (with Erskine Macdonald, 1915), 'Our Heroes' (1916); 'A Fight to a Finish' (1917). Other volumes include 'Lyric Leaves' (1912) and 'The England of my Dream' (1928). She edited the series of 'Little Books of Georgian Verse', 1915-1916. Her 'Lessons in Verse-Craft' was published in 1919 with a second edition in 1923. Her song 'In the Twilight' (1923) was set to music by Harry Brookes.

Both letter and typescript in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. In envelope with three postmarks between 9 and 11 September 1928, addressed 'For: Franz Felix, Esq. | Apt. 3-c | 790 Riverside Drive, | New York City.' LETTER: 1p., 4to. He explains that he is sending the 'MS' [sic] that day by registered mail, and asks Felix to keep it 'strictly confidential for the present', adding that he has 'not even told Mr. Brown [his publisher] what it is about'. If Felix has time to 'make up a sketch' Buck will collect it and take it to Brown.

On piece of 9 x 14.5 cm card. In fair condition: aged, lightly-stained and with traces of mount adhering to reverse. Reads: 'To | Lord Jeffrey | With Kind regards from | Thos: Hood'.

105pp., 8vo. Duplicated typescript, in two parts, each with title-page, continuously paginated. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The piece, described as a 'musikdramatiskt' (music drama), was produced in 1976 by the Kungliga Teatern, Operan, and in 1977 on the Sveriges Radio. No other copy traced, either on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

24pp., 12mo. Stapled. Lacking title-leaf (publication details quoted from another copy) and with damage to last leaf, on aged and lightly-creased cheap paper stock. Ten poems, five of them dated: 'Aux Affamés' (8 January 1917), 'Le Bon Fermier' (15 January 1917), 'Le Crime', La Grève Judiciaire' (September 1918), 'Le Retour du Soldat' (10 October 1918), 'Les Pauvres Gens sont comme les Pavés', 'Assez!', 'L'Abdication' (15 October 1918, regarding the Kaiser's abdication), 'Ce que demande le Peuple!', 'La Plainte du Soldat'. The item featured in the 1919 'Belgische Bibliografie'.

[2] + 44pp., 8vo. In lilac paper wraps with title in silver on front cover. Internally in good condition on lightly-aged paper; in worn wraps with creased corner at rear and small square of staining from label on front cover. Inscribed on front pastedown: 'With best wishes | from | Virginia Graham. | 1946.' A charming collection in Grenfell mode, with poems including 'Café Triste' (beginning: 'Miss Tomkinson, do you suppose | That you and I | On this same day next year | Will still be sitting here, | Eating this vegetable pie | Covered white glucose?') and 'V J Day' (beginning: 'Hurray!

In good condition, lightly-aged, with thin strip from stub to one edge of address side of card. Message reads: 'It will give me great pleasure for you to copy the 2nd. volume of the Torch-Bearers, as you suggest, for the Blind. | With my best wishes, | Alfred Noyes.'

Lamartine's letter, of 1p., 12mo, on a blank page on the reverse of the prospectus, which is 2pp., 8vo, on a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter is addressed to an unnamed individual ('Monsieur'), and consists of twenty lines of text. He has been encouraged by 'Les rapports de bienveillance intellectuelle', he is sending the prospectus for his selected works, which he has himself revised, augmented, annotated and edited.

2pp., on both sides of a strip of 35.5 x 11.5 cm laid paper with fleur-de-lys watermark. In a secretary hand employing the thorn and long s. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. An untitled forty-line poem, divided into five numbered eight-line stanzas. The narrator is an older married woman, advising a younger woman not to marry, with observations on the frailties of the male sex. The first stanza reads: 'Ere ye. read ys. ye. may suppose. | That some new listed Lover. | By means of Poetry has chose. | His Passion to discover.

Letter: 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Closely-written with 40 lines of text. In very good condition, lightly-aged, and attached to the book by a thin strip of gummed paper. Mathews writes that it gave him great pleasure to receive Hodson's letter 'a month or two ago', and that he has only delayed replying because it has 'taken some time to get into touch with Rd. Aldington'. He gives a quotation of 24 lines from a letter he has received from Aldington after passing on Hodson's 'kind appreciation'.

The three items are in fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Totalling 7pp., 8vo. ONE: ALS. From Whiteleaf, Princes Risborough; 11 Nov. 1930. Begins 'I heard the other day of a poem of yours, that a young soldier carried about in the war, till he was killed. It was sent home with his papers, & some day I hope to have it - his own copy of it - from a friend, & to send it to you | Why tell you of this now? Because the news of your mother's death has been weighing on my mind, & I wanted to say a word, yet knew how unconsoling words can be.' TWO: ALS.

15 + [1]pp., 8vo. In grey printed card wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged, with rusted staples. The author describes his work in an introductory note as 'an elegant and ingenious poem in heroic verse; suggested by the third Satire of Juvenal; wherein the foolishness of the institutions of this University, and the dullness and dishonesty of its inhabitants are for the first time properly exposed'. The influence of Samuel Johnson (another adapter of Juvenal and also an Oxford man) is strong, as the opening indicates: 'Though on my brow there rose an angry frown | When B - ll - l's [i.e.

ALS, on letterhead of New Place, Haslemere, Surrey; 3 April 1922, 2pp., 12mo, good condition. Regarding his Anthology of Modern Verse (1922), to which RL wrote the introduction. 'I can see at once that some of your suggestions I shall accept but some I jib at for various reasons [...] 2) Bridges The Idle Flowers seems too like a Catalogue. Sassoon suggests Recollections [...] 4) Hardy wants Farewell. - & some other impossibles. [...] 6) Meynell She does not want She walks (N.B. authors are asses.) [...] 9) Yeats Innisfree??? omit'.

On the reverse of the half-title leaf (only) of her book 'Records of Woman: with other Poems'. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Reads: 'Miss Chorley. With | Felicia Heman's kindest regards.' A nice association: Henry Fothergill Chorley edited the 'Memorials of Mrs Hemans' (1836).

On one side of the lower part of a leaf, measuring 10 x 12.5 cm. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper. Reads: '[...] have much pleasure in seeing you on Thursday Evening | Yours Very Truly | Isa Craig'.