SECOND

[North West Frontier Province on eve of Second Mohmand Campaign, 1935] Typed secret British RAF Signals report titled 'Tribal Reconnaissance. Northern Area - Bajaur, Utman Khel, & Mohmand Country.' Describing territory from Shabkadr to Abazai Fort.

Author: 
[Corporal J. P. Murray, Royal Air Force Signals Detachment; North West Frontier Province, British India; Bajaur; Utman Khel; Pashtun Tribes; Afghanistan; Second Mohmand Campaign, 1935.]
Publication details: 
Report undated, with latest date references to '25-4-1933', i.e. 25 April 1933. In envelope marked '1-2-37', i.e. 1 February 1937. Envelope addressed to Corporal J. P. Murray, RAF Signals, Bannu, N.W.F.P. [North West Frontier Province]
£400.00

14pp., foolscap 8vo. Carbon copy of typescript, consisting of a covering page and the report itself, paginated 1-13. With a few minor manuscript emendations. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. In brown paper 1937 OHMS envelope ('S.E.6.'), stamped 'SECRET' twice, with red wax seals of the '20 (A.C.) SQUADRON | R.A.F.', and typed address: '513996. Corporal Murray, J.P. | Royal Air Force Signals Detachment (No. 20 (AC) Squadron). | BANNU, N.W.F.P.' The covering page of the report is stamped 'RESTRICTED', and reads: 'SECRET. | TRIBAL RECONNAISSANCE.

[Printed circular on 'Air Transport and the Empire'.] Empire Industries Association. Monthly Bulletin No. 28. April - 1943.

Author: 
[The Empire Industries Association, 9 Victoria Street, London SW1; British Overseas Airways Corporation]
Publication details: 
Bournemouth Guardian, Ltd., Printers, Etc., 194 & 196, Commercial Road [Bournemouth]. April 1943.
£80.00

4pp., 8vo. Bifolium. Printed in small type. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with short closed tears at edges of folds. An interesting perspective on the British aviation industry, from what Dr T. R. Bromund of Yale University has described as 'the industrial wing of the Empire lobby'. The opening paragraph reads: 'Owing to the recent resignation of the entire Board, with one exception, of the British Overseas Airways Corporation, the public has become dimly aware that British Air Transport is facing a crisis, but as yet has little or no idea of the magnitude of the issues involved.

[Sir Charles Metcalfe MacGregor.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Ch MacGregor Qr') to 'O.C. Jagdalah', writing from Afghanistan [during the Second Anglo-Afghan War?] and instructing him to 'send a sufficient party to hold Seh Baba'.

Author: 
Major-General Sir Charles Metcalfe MacGregor (1840-1887), Quartermaster General in India [Captain Tucker, Political Officer in Jamrood Fort, Afghanistan; Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878]
Publication details: 
'548 | Kabul 28 Decr [1878]'.
£250.00

1p., 8vo. On grey paper. Aged and worn, with chipping, glue stains and remains of gummed label. Laid down on leaf removed from album. The document reads: '548 [i.e. the number of the despatch] | Kabul 28 Decr | To O.C. Jagdalah. | In continuation of this office No 544 the O.C. is directed to request he will at once arrange to send a sufficient party to hold Seh Baba. | He is also to arrange to escort the <?> sent with Capt Tucker as far as Lataband or Butkhak if necessary, on their return journey. | They should return on Wednesday'.

[Satirical handbill obituary referring to the London Conference of 1864.] Lost, Stolen, or Strayed, The British Lion.

Author: 
[London Conference of 1864; Second Schleswig War; The Schleswig-Holstein Question; Denmark; Prussia]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [London, 1864.].
£60.00

Printed on one side of a piece of 17 x 12 cm paper. Aged and worn, and trimmed down. Reminiscent of another Victorian spoof obituary - that which led to the Ashes cricket series between England and Australia - the full text reads: 'LOST, STOLEN, OR STRAYED, | THE | BRITISH LION. | Whoever finds him is hereby requested to KEEP him, as he is no longer of any use. | N.B. - He was last seen with his Tail between his Legs. | Obituary. | On Monday, the 27th inst., of a severe attack of Non-intervention and Court intrigue, | THE | BRITISH LION, | His end was - Peace ! !

[Satirical handbill obituary referring to the London Conference of 1864.] Lost, Stolen, or Strayed, The British Lion.

Author: 
[London Conference of 1864; Second Schleswig War; The Schleswig-Holstein Question; Denmark; Prussia]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [London, 1864.].
£60.00

Printed on one side of a piece of 17 x 12 cm paper. Aged and worn, and trimmed down. Reminiscent of another Victorian spoof obituary - that which led to the Ashes cricket series between England and Australia - the full text reads: 'LOST, STOLEN, OR STRAYED, | THE | BRITISH LION. | Whoever finds him is hereby requested to KEEP him, as he is no longer of any use. | N.B. - He was last seen with his Tail between his Legs. | Obituary. | On Monday, the 27th inst., of a severe attack of Non-intervention and Court intrigue, | THE | BRITISH LION, | His end was - Peace ! !

[An young English Quaker relief worker in Germany.] Seven Autograph Letters Signed from 'David' [to the Tennant family?], describing in vivid terms his work in Lower Saxony (Harzburg, HIldersheim, Goslar) in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Author: 
'David', a young English Quaker relief worker in Germany [The Tennant family of High Wycombe; British Army of the Rhine; Friends Relief Service]
Publication details: 
The first five from 124 Friends Relief Section [or 'Service'] (Quakers), B.A.O.R. [British Army of the Rhine]; the sixth letter from 17 Friends Relief Section; seventh from Work-Camp at Hildesheim,. Between March and July 1947.
£650.00

66pp., 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, each of the letters kept together with rusty staples. All the letters are signed 'David' and addressed to 'My Dear All'. Accompanying them is an envelope addressed in another hand to S. W. J. Tennant, Beechcote, Brands Hill Avenue, High Wycombe, and this may provide a clue to the identity of the recipients, to whom 'David' makes it clear on a couple of occasions that he is not related, signing off one letter 'from your muddle-headed friend'.

[Printed booklet; M. Montgomery] I remember - I remember

Author: 
M. Montgomery [Maud Montgomery, mother of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery]
Publication details: 
W. & G. Baird Ltd, Belfast, [1945]
£180.00

Booklet, 44pp., 12mo, paper wraps, red with phot of the author on front, some marking top of front cover, mainly good condition. INSCRIBE by author on title: "With kind regards | from the Author | M. Montgomery".Scarce; four copies listed on WorldCat (the two major Irish libraries, NLS and Oxford).

15 items relating to Lieut. A.H. Ross's service in the Second World War as Platoon Commander in the Hertfordshire Battalion of the Home Guard, including Platoon photographs, Special Army Orders, service certificate, letter from Lt-Col. H. K. O'Kelly.

Author: 
Alexander Howard Ross (1880-1965), Commissioner, Southern Province of Sierra Leone, 1920-1928, Platoon Commander, Hertfordshire Battalion, Home Guard, 1940-1944 [Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Kane O'Kelly]
Publication details: 
Items from the War Office, London, and Hertfordshire. From 1940 to 1944.
£750.00

The fifteen items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, laid down or pinned to leaves removed from an album. Items One to Three: three black and white landscape photographs, each around 15 x 20 cm. The first photograph, captioned 'November 1940', shows Ross standing in a field, in front of a platoon in two columns, shouldering rifles with bayonets. The second photograph, captioned '7. C. Coy of Batt., Herts Home Guard 1943', shows twenty-six officers, in three rows, in front of the entrance to a municipal building. The front row, seated, consists of seven senior officers with batons.

Manuscript account book giving the itemised wartime expenses of Mrs Alice Cross (n

Author: 
[Stanley T. Cross, of the Registry of the International Court of Justice, the Hague, and his wife, n
Publication details: 
Mrs Cross's expenses from Broadhurst between January 1943 to March 1945. Matilda's and Ann's expenses from January 1938 to November 1940.
£220.00

70pp., 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in sturdy notebook with green and black marbled boards and black cloth spine. Label in French and German on front pastedown. Apparently mainly the work of S. T. Cross, with the sections in French by his wife. There appear to be three children: Titi, Ann and Matilda. The main body of the volume gives (on 48pp.) 'Alice's a/c General Expenses at Wadhurst'.

[Printed pamphlet by the Socialist Party of Canada.] The Socialist Manifesto.

Author: 
[The Socialist Party of Canada, founded in 1931 in Winnipeg, Manitoba]
Publication details: 
Published by the Socialist Party of Canada, P.O. Box 1751, Winnipeg, Canada. [Preface dated 'DOMINION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, | JUNE, 1944.']
£120.00

42pp., 12mo. In yellow wraps printed in black and red, with 'Object' and 'Declaration of Principles' of the SPC inside the front cover, and advertisements for SPC publications on both sides of the back cover. Stapled. In fair condition, aged and worn, with pencil ownership inscriptions of 'Jean Thurlow'. The Preface begins: 'This pamphlet was first published in 1910 as the Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Canada. During the ten-year period ending in 1920, five editions, totalling more than 25,000 copies, were issued.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alphonse Esquiros'), in French, from Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros to a 'concitoyen', regarding applications for professorships at the military academies at Woolwich, Addiscombe and Sandhurst.

Author: 
Alphonse Esquiros [Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros] (1812-1876), French writer [Woolwich; Addiscombe; Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
6 St German's Villas, Lewisham. 2 April [no year].
£80.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged and slightly-creased paper. He begins by apologising for the lateness of his response, caused by work which was supposed to be finished at the end of the previous month.

Hints to instructors.

Author: 
Anon.
Publication details: 
3rd. ed., Aldershot : Army Gym Headquarters, n.d.
£75.00

10p. (fold.) illustrated, cloth; Text folded inside envelope 7x4cm, worn. Title on envelope followed by instructions: "Be brief but very impressive. | Develop your Power of Observation. | Check Faulty positions." Only copy recorded on COPAC at Imperial War Museum (suggesting Second World War but former owner was told First WW by donor).

[Printed British classified military radio manual.] Reception Sets R.107. General Description and Working Instructions. ZA 3220. Not to be published. [With three fold-out diagrams and seven fold-out plates.]

Author: 
[Reception Set R.107 radio receiver, British classified military radio manual]
Publication details: 
2nd printing. Place and publisher not stated. Undated [circa 1942].
£250.00

8vo booklet stapled into card wraps, with 40pp. of text, headed 'OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS - R.107' (divided into: General Description; Working Instructions; Maintenance), followed by the ten fold-out plates, consisting of three circuit diagrams and seven plates of photographic illustrations on art paper.

Five Autograph Letters Signed (one 'Alex Comfort' and four 'Alex C') from the poet and sexologist Alex Comfort to John Rogers, regarding poetry, including a discussion of whether poetry is 'finding a language in England, rather than losing one!'

Author: 
Alex Comfort [Alexander Comfort] (1920-2000), poet, novelist, doctor and sexologist
Publication details: 
Three from Havengrove, Tudor Road, Barnet; one on letterhead of Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, and another on letterhead of the Royal Waterloo Hospital, London. All undated [c.1942]
£220.00

Item One: From Havengrove. On reverse of printed 12mo prospectus for the first issue of 'Poetry Folios' magazine (which appeared in 1942), edited by Comfort and Peter Wells. 1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged and creased paper. He thanks him for his letter. 'It is appreciation of this kind that makes one want to go on writing. [...] I wish I could meet you.' Item Two: From Havengrove, on letterhead of 'Poetry Folios'. Undated. 2pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-creased and aged paper.

[Printed pamphlet.] Poems from the Diary of a V. A. D. By Carrie Portelly.

Author: 
Carrie Portelly (1893-1966), V.A.D., of Buckfast, Devon [Voluntary Aid Detachment; field nurse; nursing]
Publication details: 
Printed by Edwin Trim & Co. Ltd. Wimbledon S.W.19. Undated, but individual poems dated between September 1938 and October 1942.
£150.00

[1] + 38pp., 12mo. Stapled into brown printed wraps, with the title and printer's slug on the cover, which also carries the price of two shillings and sixpence. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Introductory note reads: 'These few pages refer to war-time troubles at home and in hospital, and other people's love laments. C.P.' Unpretentious poetry, giving an insight into the work of a V.A.D.

Autograph Notebook of Private T. M. Rankin, 7394616, 13 FDS [Field Dressing Station], containing lecture notes compiled by him while training as a medical orderly. With six photograph loosely inserted, including three posed army groups.

Author: 
Private T. M. Rankin, 7394616, 13FDS [Field Dressing Station], Second World War British Army medical orderly
Publication details: 
The notebook dated January to February 1944.
£320.00

65pp., in narrow ruled 32 x 13 cm notebook, with maroon embossed boards and cloth spine. Rankin has etched his initials into the front board. All in pencil, with the first page headed 'NO I LECTURES JAN-FEB. 44 | T M RANKIN. 7394616. 13 F.D.S.', and carrying a numbered list of 38 topics, from 'Observation of Patient' and 'Diet of Disease' to 'Fracture of Spine' and 'Burns'. Four pages of medical notes follow. Upside-down at the other end of the volume are 59 paginated pages of further notes, preceded by a list of a further 15 topics (numbered 39-53), from 'Eye Drops' to 'Rheumatic Fever'.

Printed notice in English and Burmese, from Major General C. F. B. Pearce of the British Military Administration 'To All Burma Government Servants', on victory over the Japanese, announcing that 'The era of face slapping is over'.

Author: 
Major General C. F. B. Pearce [Sir Charles Frederick Byrde Pearce] (1892-1964), Chief Civil Affairs Officer (Burma), British Military Administration [Japanese occupation of Burma, 1942-1945]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Burma, c. May 1945.] In bottom left-hand corner: 'SB/20'.
£150.00

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper, with slight discoloration and wear to extremities. In English on one side and Burmese on the other. Both sides headed by the royal crest, with a banner beneath, reading in English 'BRITISH MILITARY ADMINISTRATION'. The English version of the document is signed in type: 'Sd: C. F. B. PEARCE | Maj. General | Chief Civil Affairs Officer (Burma)'. It is headed 'TO ALL BURMA GOVERNMENT SERVANTS', and begins: 'The Allies are now about to drive the Japanese from Burma.

Typescript of 'The Last Month. By Ernie Wilmott' ['Camp Leader, Lager 31, Stalag IVG, Gaschwitz'], with autograph notes by J. L. H. Batt. With copies three articles, by Lieutenant Commander G. S. Stavert (2) and Norman E. H. Litchfield.

Author: 
Ernie Wilmott, POW Camp Leader, Lager 31, Stalag IVG, Gaschwitz; Jack Lynden Batt (b.1922), of 155th Battery, 172nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery; Norman E. H. Litchfield; Lieut-Com. G. S. Stavert
Publication details: 
Wilmott's account without place and date (1960s?); describing events in April and May 1945. The other three items from 1970s and 80s.
£400.00

The four items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. In envelope addressed to Mrs P. E. Batt, Beckenham, Kent. ONE: 'The Last Month' by Wilmott. 13pp., foolscap 8vo. A photocopied typescript on thirteen leaves of paper, stapled together, with five original autograph annotations by Batt. The first reads '"Big funf" was one of the German Guards - had no roof to his mouth - spoke funnily' and the fourth 'We had a "Union Jack" which was used for burials when P.O.W.'s died.' Wilmott's account commences: 'There had been gun fire from the west and the south for the last three days.

Manuscript Second World War 'Air-Raid Log [Air-Raid Warnings]' in Liverpool, begun in September 1939, while in the Lower Sixth of Liverpool Boys' School, by the future naval historian Captain Anthony Birch Sainsbury.

Author: 
Captain Anthony Birch Sainsbury (1925-2010), MA, VRD and Bar, RNR, naval historian, vice-president of both the Navy Records Society and the Society for Nautical Research [Liverpool Boys' School]
Publication details: 
Liverpool. September 1939 to June 1941.
£280.00

61pp., 4to. In ruled notebook with green cloth covers. In good condition, lightly-aged. Sainsbury has written 'AIR-RAID WARNINGS' on the front cover. The first page is titled 'AIR-RAID LOG. | 3/9/39 - IR', with 'Anthony B Sainsbury | Lower VI | LBS' in the bottom right-hand corner.

Copy of Typed Letter from Major Antony Brett-James to Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks, recalling his wartime experiences with the 5th Indian Division Signals, while discussing 'what makes a good division'.

Author: 
Major Antony Brett-James (1920-84), 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, lecturer at Sandhurst [Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks (1895-1985), commander of XXX Corps in the Second World War]
Publication details: 
82 Barnet Way, Mill Hill, NW7 [London]. 28 January 1953.
£56.00

3pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed by Brett-James in pencil at the head of the first page to 'Lt Gen Sir Brian Horrocks' and with one manuscript correction. The letter begins: 'I do want to say how interesting and worthwhile I found the broadcast discussion last Sunday evening about the factors which make a good division. All that was said was true and most stimulating, but there are a few points which I should like to add.

[Typescript; autobiographical novel; Unpublished] Personnel

Author: 
"Owen Edwards" [pseud. for Edward Owen Marsh, linguist, author, schoolmaster - translator of Anouilh, Cocteau, Gogol, etc.]
Publication details: 
'Property of: Owen Edwards, 112 Fitzjohns Avenue, London, NW3' [Written before 1956 when Marsh moved from 112 Fitzjohns Avenue to Tanza Road
£750.00

Typescript, 242pp., 4to, brown paper wraps, damage to top of spine but no loss, label on front with author ("Owen Edwards") and title. A semi-autobiographical novel based on Marsh's experiences during the Second World War in the London Ambulance Service. Initially a "Notice" "The characters in this book are fictitious. Some of the incidents are naturally based on real happenings during the war but they are none of them wholly accurate[...]". The novel starts with the hero, Lang, joining the Service.

[Printed Second World War pamphlet.] Homeward Bound. Issued by the Quartermaster General's Branch (Movements Directorate) G.H.Q. (India). Cover and sketches by Capt. A. S. Morris, R.E.

Author: 
The Quartermaster General's Branch (Movements Directorate) G.H.Q. (India) [Brigadier V. Boucher; Captain A. S. Morris, Royal Engineers]
Publication details: 
'GIPD - M 2079 Army - 12-12-44 - 5,000.' 12 December 1944.
£120.00

[6] + 28pp., 12mo. In coloured illustrative wraps. Morris's illustrations are light and fresh, the first being a caricature of 'the enemy': a sour-looking bespectacled Japanese army officer. The first section, which it illustrates, is on 'Security' and concludes: 'Remember that in disposing of household effects, releasing servants from employment, etc., you may easily give away too much information.

Printed 'Information & News Sheet published by British Prisoners of War Funds [...] No. 21 - Far East'.

Author: 
[Miss Christine Knowles, Founder and Hon. Director, British Prisoners of War Books & Games Fund and Forge-Me-Not League]
Publication details: 
Carrington House, Hertford Street, London, W1. [1944.]
£150.00

27pp., 12mo. Unbound. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Articles include: Parliamentary News (November 1944); Far East Conditions; Food and Medical Supplies; Minister of Cabinet Rank; Government Inter-Departmental Committee; Telegrams; Radio Message Scheme; Sunk Japanese Transports; List of Names of Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees; Inspection of Prisoners of War Camps; Pay; Leave; Mail.

Three Autograph Letter Signed (all 'Eric') from Sir Eric de la Rue, 3rd Baronet, one to his father and two to his sister Diana, written during the Second World War as a Captain in the Notts Yeomanry, Middle East Forces (Egypt and Benghazi).

Author: 
Sir Eric de la Rue [Sir Eric Vincent de la Rue] (1906-1989), 3rd Baronet, son of Sir Evelyn Andros de la Rue (1879-1950) [Notts Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry; British Army, Middle East Forces]
Publication details: 
Letter to his father: 17 March [1944]; 'H.Q. 215 Town Mayor M.E.F.' Letters to his sister: 4 May [1944] and 4 October [1944]. Both addressed from the MEF.
£220.00

All three are air mail letter cards. Each with 'Field Post Office' postmark and censor's stamp. The three in fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Letter One: To his father, 17 March [1944]. Addressed to 'My dear Father', with the envelope addressed to 'Sir E. de la Rue Bart. | The Sol | Cookham | Berkshire | England.' 1p, 4to, and 1p., 12mo. A light-hearted letter, in which he jokes about his father's inability to read the word 'Aviv' ('I suppose a series of "i"s and "v"s is rather difficult even if printed') and find the place on the map ('it is much larger than Bournemouth').

[Printed pamphlet.] The Training of the Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Spotter. By Major L. E. C. M. Perowne, R.E. (Revised Edition.)

Author: 
Major L. E. C. M. Perowne, R.E. [Major-General Lancelot Edgar Connop Mervyn Perowne (1902-1982), Royal Engineers, Commander, 17th Gurkha Division]
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated. [A revised reprint from The Royal Engineers Journal, September 1938.]
£120.00

24pp., 8vo, with one extra plate on art paper, and five full pages of diagrams in text. Stapled, in blue printed wraps. With two ownership inscriptions on the wraps, both of Royal Artillery personnel: the first of S. M. Dawes, and the second of '483 S/L Batt RA', i.e. Jack Lynden Batt (b.1922), of 155th Battery, 172nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. This offprint is excessively scare, with no copies listed on COPAC or WorldCat.

[Mimeographed pamphlet.] 500 Hours In The Blitz. [On reverse:] Wartime Doggerel for the Dog Tired.

Author: 
George E. O. Knight (b.1885) [The Blitz, 1940-1941; London; Thomas Edward Neil Driberg] (1905-1976), Baron Bradwell, journalist and Labour MP]
Publication details: 
London: "Earways", Flat 782, 67/9, Chancery Lane, W.C.2. 1941.
£120.00

12pp., 4to. On the rectos of 12 leaves, stitched with red thread into yellow wrappers with crude design of airplanes in action. From the papers of the Labour MP Tom Driberg, and with 'Mr Driberg' in pencil at head of front wrap. In a preface dated 21 August 1941 Knight refers to 'twelve fateful and ferocious months', and criticises 'a deplorable lack of vision and imagination everywhere.

Typed Letter Signed and Memo from the Claims Section, British Embassy, Athens, regarding clothing and money allegedly lent to Major Patrick Leigh Fermor by Kyriakos Pattakos of Amariou.

Author: 
[Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor [Paddy Leigh Fermor] (1915-2011), British scholar, travel writer and soldier who fought in Crete in the Second World War] [Kyriakos Pattakos of Amariou]
Publication details: 
Letter addressed to Leigh Fermor from Claims Section, British Embassy, Athens. 22 October 1946. Memo without date or place.
£165.00

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. The two are attached with a rusty pin, and there is a tiny hole at the head of the memo, affecting the word 'Kyriakos'. LETTER: 1p., 4to. Signature illegible. Addressed 'To: Mr. P. Leigh Fermor | British Council | ATHENS | From: Claims Section | British Embassy | ATHENS'. With 'Ref: 133/2803/109' and headed 'Subject: Force 133 Claim - Kyriakos PATTAKOS (2803)'. Requesting Leigh Fermor's 'general observations' on the enclosed memo regarding Pattakos's 'petition to H.M. Ambassador requesting payment of compensation amounting to £150/200.

Folder, titled 'List Of 213 Celebrities', containing material including a list of names and addresses of supporters of C.A.S.T., the Campaign of Actors for Sunday Theatres, drafts of typed addresses 'by' Noel Coward, original designs for slogans.

Author: 
[Noel Coward; Alec Clunes, Honorary Treasurer, Campaign of Actors for Sunday Theatres (C.A.S.T.); Vivien Leigh]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [London. Circa 1942-1943.]
£320.00

The Campaign of Actors for Sunday Theatres appears to have been active from January 1943 until at least 1944, with the actor Alec Clunes as Honorary Treasurer. The fourteen items in this collection are in good condition, on aged paper, in a beige card folder carrying the title 'LIST OF 213 CELEBRITIES'. [NB. While the first item described below is likely to be, as its title states, the work of Noel Coward, one other item at least in this collection (present in two versions as nos.

Autograph draft of a circular letter by the comedian Tommy Trinder urging Equity members to vote in favour of Sunday opening in a wartime ballot on that question. With a typescript of the circular, and a printed facsimile of Trinder's signature.

Author: 
Tommy Trinder [Thomas Edward Trinder] (1909-1989), English stage, screen and radio comedian with the catchphrase 'You lucky people!' [C.A.S.T., Campaign of Actors for Sunday Theatres, 1943]
Publication details: 
Undated [1943].
£120.00

The three items are stapled to one another, in good condition on lightly-aged paper. The first item is the typescript, which is 1p., 4to. It is addressed to 'Dear Brother Artist,' and begins: 'You will possibly be rather surprised to receive a letter from me, but after having spent most of my life in the Provinces, I now find myself landed in London. I am surprised at the amount of discussion and activity that takes place here regarding the "politics" of the theatre - and realise how you in the Provinces are apt to get left out.

Material mainly relating to the Second World War and the Battle of Britain, from the papers of Flying Office Robert French Helm, Royal Air Force, including autograph material, photographs, tables.

Author: 
Flying Officer Robert French Helm (1913-1995), Royal Air Force [The Battle of Britain]
Publication details: 
The photographs date from the 1940s; the rest of the material circa 1960.
£400.00

Helm's promotion on 3 September 1940 to the rank of Flying Officer (41020) is recorded in the London Gazette, 15 October 1940. After the war he joined the International Civil Aviation Authority, working in Iran and Zambia, and was elected to the Membership of the Institute of Navigation, Royal Geological Society, in 1971. A total of 59pp., 8vo, of pencil notes and tables by Helm, relating to the RAF in the Second World War, with 6 original photographs.

Syndicate content