POWYS

[Albert Reginald Powys, architect and Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Burdett’ regarding ‘corporate action’ taken by the Art Workers Guild.

Author: 
Albert Reginald Powys (1881-1936), architect and Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, sibling of John Cowper Powys, Llewelyn Powys, Theodore Francis Powys, Philippa Powys
Publication details: 
11 November 1922. 5 Clarendon Road, Harrow on the Hill, on letterhead of The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, 20 Buckingham Street, Adelphi, London WC2.
£60.00

In good condition, lightly aged and creased. With fold for postage. Begins: ‘S.P.A.B. decided it could not take corporate action but I think A W G is doing so. We have therefore passed our papers to Mr Basil Oliver of 148 High St Kensington, who is the Hon Secty. Please write further information to him. / A R Powys.’ Note: Siblings included John Cowper Powys, Llewelyn Powys, Theodore Francis Powys and Philippa Powys.

[T. F. Powys [Theodore Francis Powys], novelist and short-story writer,] Neat Autograph Signature for an autograph hunter.

Author: 
T. F. Powys [Theodore Francis Powys] (1875-1953), novelist and short-story writer, brother of John Cowper Powys and Llewellyn Powys
Powys
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£25.00
Powys

For Powys and his two literary brothers see the Oxford DNB. On 11 x 9 cm piece of wove paper. The paper is discoloured with heavy spotting aroudnd the signature. Clearly a response to a request for an autograph, neatly written and centred on the paper, the only writing is the signature: ‘Theodore Frances Powys’. See image.

[Kenneth Hopkins, poet, critic and crime writer.] ‘Three Sonnets’ by Kenneth Hopkins in ‘The Grasshopper Broadsheets’ series of publications, with Signed Autograph Inscription to London bookseller Andrew Block.

Author: 
Kenneth Hopkins [Hector Kenneth Hopkins] (1914-1988), poet, critic and crime writer [Andrew Block, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
‘Number Three. Third Series. March, 1944.’ ‘Printed by Bacon & Hudson, Ltd., Derby, and published by Kenneth Hopkins, 670, Osmaston Road, Derby.’
£56.00

See Hopkins’s entry in the Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. His papers are in the Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. Printed on one side of a foolscap 8vo leaf. A tasteful piece of provincial printing. Worn, creased and dog-eared, with closed tears at head. Inscribed at bottom-right: ‘for Andrew Block / Kenneth Hopkins’. Titled ‘THREE SONNETS’ and signed in type ‘KENNETH HOPKINS’.

[John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), novelist and poet.] Envelope addressed by Powys in Autograph to his London bookseller G. L. Lewin, with his name and address written by him on the reverse.

Author: 
John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), novelist and poet [George Lionel Lewin (1890-1970), bookseller of Great Russell Street, London]
Publication details: 
'From / J. C. Powys / Corwen / Merioneth / N. Wales'. Oxford postmark dated 13 August 1941.
£35.00

An evocative artefact of the interesting connection between Powys and the man who supplied him with the books for his translation of Rabelais. Writing on 24 September 1940, in 'Letters to Sea-Eagle', Powys gives a lengthy account of 'Our Jew Book-Pedlar' and the bombing by the Germans of his Russell Street address.

[John Cowper Powys to his 'Jewish Book-Pedlar'.] Nine envelopes, all addressed in autograph by Powys to 'G. L. Lewin Esq' of 41 Great Russell Street, London, eight with Powys's signature and address on reverse.NO LETTERS PRESENT.

Author: 
John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), novelist and poet [George Lionel Lewin (1890-1970), 'Jewish Book-Pedlar' of Great Russell Street, London]
Publication details: 
Between 1945 and 1959. All from Merioneth, North Wales (the first four from Corwen and the last five from Blaenau Ffestiniog).
£220.00

Evocative artefacts of the interesting connection between Powys and the man who supplied him with the books for his translation of Rabelais. On 24 September 1940, in 'Letters to Sea-Eagle', Powys gives a lengthy account of 'Our Jew Book-Pedlar' and the bombing by the Germans of his Russell Street address.

[ Littleton Powys, second-eldest of the Powys family, Sherborne schoolmaster and naturalist.] Four Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Littleton') to the journalist Collin Brooks ('Collin'), mainly regarding his late wife the novelist Elizabeth Myers.

Author: 
Littleton Powys [Littleton Charles Powys] (1874-1955) of the Powys Family, teacher (Sherborne) and naturalist [his wife the novelist Elizabeth Myers (1903-1947); Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist]
Publication details: 
All four letters from The Quarry House, The Avenue, Sherborne, Dorset. (The first on a letterhead of the address.) 5 May, 20 August and 10 September 1948; and 28 April 1949.
£420.00

Four good letters, in which the author's love for his wife and grief at her death are apparent. Littleton Powys was the second-eldest of eleven, his siblings including writers John Cowper Powys, T. F. Powys and Llewelyn Powys, architect A. R. Powys, artist Gertrude Powys, lacemaker Marian Powys, and poet and novelist Philippa Powys. His autobiography 'The Joy of it' was published in 1937, with the sequel 'Still the Joy of it' appearing in 1956. The four letters are in good condition, lightly aged. They total 12pp., 12mo.

[ Littleton Powys, second-eldest of the Powys family, Sherborne schoolmaster and naturalist.] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Littleton') to the journalist Collin Brooks ('Collin'), mainly regarding his late wife the novelist Elizabeth Myers.

Author: 
Littleton Powys [Littleton Charles Powys] (1874-1955) of the Powys Family, teacher (Sherborne) and naturalist [his wife the novelist Elizabeth Myers (1903-1947); Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist]
Publication details: 
All three letters from The Quarry House, The Avenue, Sherborne, Dorset. (The first on a letterhead of the address.) 5 May and 20 August 1948; and 28 April 1949.
£420.00

Littleton Powys was the second-eldest of eleven, his siblings including writers John Cowper Powys, T. F. Powys and Llewelyn Powys, architect A. R. Powys, artist Gertrude Powys, lacemaker Marian Powys, and poet and novelist Philippa Powys. His autobiography 'The Joy of it' was published in 1937, with the sequel 'Still the Joy of it' appearing in 1956. The three letters are in good condition, lightly aged. They total 8pp., 12mo. The main topic is the correspondence between the recipient Brooks and Powys's wife Elizabeth Myers, which would feature in Powys's 1951 edition of her letters.

[Booklet] Honey and Gall (Studies in Mystic Materialism)

Author: 
Llewellyn Powys, author
Honey and Gall (Studies in Mystic Materialism)
Publication details: 
Little Blue Book No.534, Haldeman-Julius Company, Girard, Kansas, [1924]
£120.00
Honey and Gall (Studies in Mystic Materialism)

64pp., c.8.5 x 12.5cm, fair condition, covers faded to beige rather than blue. Inscribed (slightly faded) on front cover Gertrude M. Powys | Easter 1945 | from Alyse. Alyse Gregory, American suffragist and writer, wife of Llewellyn Powys. Gertrude Powys, artist sister of the Powys brothers. The title-page has been inscribed by the husband of a member of the Powys Society who was giving the booklet to Margaret Eaton, bookseller (Peter Eaton), also a member of the Powys Society. Enclosed: Photograph, 15 x 8cm, probably of aged Llewellyn Powys reading a book

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.

The Powys Family. Being a lecture given by him to the Swansea and South Wales Bookman's Association in May, 1945, with some additions.

Author: 
Littleton C. Powys [John Cowper Powys; Llewelyn Powys; Theodore Powys]
Publication details: 
This reprint [of the original lecture] issued April, 1953.' Western Gazette, Yeovil.
£56.00

12mo: 27 pp. Stapled. In original brown printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged paper with rusted staples. Divided into five sections: 'Our Ancestry', 'Our Father', 'Our Mother', 'Montacute' and 'The Children'. A scarce item, the only copies on COPAC being at the British Library, Cardiff and St Andrews.

Autograph address and short note.

Author: 
John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), Anglo-Welsh writer
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£75.00

On one side of a piece of wove paper, cut into a rectangle approximately 4.5 x 9 cm. Good, on lightly-creased paper with one vertical fold. Cut from an envelope, with traces of the postmark over the autograph, and a section of the gummed strip on the reverse. Reads 'From | John Cowper Powys | Waterloo | Blaenau - F Festiniog | Merionethshire | North Wales | I enjoyed thinking of you in Italy'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Disspain'.

Author: 
John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), Anglo-Welsh writer [William Blake; Denis Saurat]
Publication details: 
8 November 1958. 1 Waterloo, Blaenau-FFestiniog, Merionethshire, North Wales.
£180.00

8vo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Very good on lightly aged paper. Written in Powys's distinctive, sprawling hand. Concerns William Blake and the monograph on him (1954) by Denis Saurat, who 'must indeed be a wonder considering the scope of his interests.' 'Yes I was brought up by my mother on the Poems of Blake; so I am always interested by any reference to them or any reproduction of them. Indeed and indeed I can fully understand your being so hypnotized by the pictures of Blake that you find yourself going to see them when you had decided to go somewhere else'. Powys is 'in excellent health'.

Autograph Signature on piece of paper.

Author: 
Llewelyn Powys (1884-1939), writer
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

On a piece of wove paper, roughly 5 x 14.5 cm. Rough lower edge. Good, on lightly aged paper. 0.5 cm closed tear at left (not affecting signature). Paper folded once vertically. Good clear signature.

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