TWENTIETH

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.

Two charming and moving letters, each sent on a significant occasion: the first Richmond’s resignation from the editorship of the TLS in 1937, and the second his ninetieth birthday in 1961; and with the latter containing interesting reminiscences of the early years of the TLS. See his appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, and both addressed to ‘Dear Orlo’. ONE: 3 January [‘1937’, the year added by Williams]. Signed ‘Bruce L. Richmond.’ 2pp, landscape 12mo. Folded twice.

See Wallas’s entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son and editor of the economist Thorold Rogers [James Edwin Thorold Rogers] (1823-1890), for information regarding whom see his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The conclusion of the letter only. Reads: ‘[...] extracts enclosed - / Edgeworth says he will look out for materials for you. / Sincerely / Graham Wallas / 32 Great Ormond St / W. C. / May 10 -’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing he was Professor of English Language and Literature at Leeds. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Reads: ‘Mr Lascelles Abercrombie regrets his inability to attend the Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Bodleian in the Divinity School on June 22nd. / June 10th. 1926’.

A true great: Mancini won four Oscars, a Golden Globe and twenty Grammies. No place or date. Black and white 19 x 23.5 cm print on 20 x 25.5 cm glossy photographic paper. In fair condition, with slight creasing at one corner. In sports jacket and tie, Mancini stares over his piano with the merest of smiles. On the left-hand side of his jacket, in Mancini’s autograph, is the inscription, in black felt-tip pen: ‘to / Ray / Henry / Mancini’. See image.

For Diaghilev Slobodskaya starred in the 1922 Paris premiere of Stravinsky's opera Mavra, and she toured Europe as principal soprano with Chaliapin’s company. For her serious operatic work she retained her real name, but she used the stage name ‘Odali Careno’ when performing in vaudeville and light entertainment. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Dated in another hand at foot: ‘24-6-30’ (the period of her appearance in a London Palladium production).

See Ashton’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, with evidence of mount to blank reverse of photograph. ONE: TLS. 17 January 1922. 1p, 12mo. Folded once. Signed ‘Clemence Dane’. Addressed to G. Railton Barnard, 6 The Crescent, York. She thanks him for his ‘interesting letter’: ‘If the same question had not already crept up once or twice, I should not have thought it possible for anyone so to misunderstand Legend, but I know people do, clear as I thought I had made it.’ Barnard is ‘absolutely right’: ‘Madala Grey is head over ears in love with her husband.

See David Gaskin’s obituary of Vanson, Independent, 27 July 1993, and Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, with one leaf of poetry typescript creased. Vanson’s eight Autograph Letters Signed date from between 29 December 1983 and 12 January 1993. total 11pp, 8vo, and 2pp, 12mo. One of the letters is lacking all but the last (signed) page; the others are complete. Vanson’s Typed Letter Signed is 1p, 8vo. It is undated, but dated by Fry to 14 August (no year, but from the context written in 1992). The nine letters are all signed ‘Frederic’.

A nice slice of London ephemera. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged. They were clearly all sent together. ONE: ALS from Westley (‘W. Westley | Hon. Sec.’) to unnamed recipient. 2pp, 12mo. In answer to an application he is sending ‘one New Programme showing Waters &c’, pointing out that not all are ‘Trout Waters’, and that ‘about 30% of the Members only take part in competitions’. He explains that they have had good (he mistakenly writes ‘few’) membership over the previous two years, ‘but at the present time there are a few members’. TWO: Printed ‘C.L.P.S.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 8vo. In good condition, folded once. Headed ‘Private & Confidential’. Reads: ‘Dear Bob, / I had a word with the V. C [presumably the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University] this morning and am writing a letter to Sartain, which he should receive before the meeting of the G. B. on Wednesday. I hope something is done. / Yours ever / Oliver.’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On strip of paper, roughly 10 x 3.5 cm, cut into an irregular rectangular shape. On one side is the valediction: ‘Yours very sincerely / Harry Plunket Greene’. On the other a fragment of three lines of the letter: ‘[...] I hope no [...] / started that things [...] / go on well. I am part[...]’. See image.

On one side of a 12.5 x 8.5 cm piece of thin white card. Clearly given in response to a request for an autograph. Written in a large somewhat old-fashioned hand, with ‘Edith Pargeter.’ centred towards the head of the page, and ‘‘Ellis Peters’.’ at bottom right. See image.

See Mercer’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 20 lines on both sides of a 12mo landscape letterhead. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Mercer has the proverbial handwriting of a doctor, rendering the present item somewhat difficult to read. He begins by thanking Goodwin for the ‘lovely surprise’ of ‘a packet of the War Effort Canadian stamps in mint condition’, which (illegible name) ‘didn’t get the length of Edinburgh as he has been called to the Pacific’.

See Tony Lopez's obituary in the Guardian, 11 April 2021.The letter was sent, with Items One and Two at least, while Guest was Lecturer in English at Yokohama National University, 1966-1972. All four items are neatly written in black ink in a close hand. The first three items are in good condition; Item Four is in fair condition, on aged paper and with wear to the outer edges. The parallel drafts of ‘Climbing a Volcano’ in Item One present an excellent example of the working process of a poet in the pre-digital age. ONE: Autograph Manuscript (2pp, folio) on one leaf.

See the entries for writer and recipient in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, lightly aged, with the last carrying minor rusting from paperclip. ONE: 3pp, 8vo. She got his office number from ?Mrs. Popie?, ?but the line has been busy all the time?. She asks for ?a pass for darling Ivor?s [i.e. Ivor Novello?s] memorial service?. The previous week she was ?playing at the Regent Theatre, Hayes, & on the Monday night I was weighed down by a dreadful foreboding of disaster?.

For more information on writer (one of West End theatre?s ?most dominant and successful landlords?) and recipient (the foremost British theatre historian of the twentieth century), see their entries in the Oxford DNB. The five items (the TNS is Item Three, the others are ALsS) are in good condition, lightly aged; Item Five with slight paperclip damage to a margin. Each folded once. All five signed ?Prince Littler? and addressed to ?Popie?, two at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, one at 9 Oakdale, London N14, and one at Coventry House, Coventry St, W1.

The present item is the producer Hugh Burnett's own copy, from his papers, of the transcript of John Freeman's interview with John, broadcast in the groundbreaking BBC series 'Face to Face' on 15 May 1960. This single-spaced typed transcript was produced for inclusion in Burnett's book 'Face to Face / Edited and introduced by Hugh Burnett' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1964), and is marked up with printing instructions in pencil and red ink, with a few proof corrections in green ink. 3pp, foolscap 8vo, on three leaves stapled together.

Dupré is thinking of retaining Brett as architect in the rebuilding of a house on an attractive site, and the two items deal with the practicalities. Both signed 'Lionel Brett', and both in fair condition, lightly aged. ONE: TLS. 2pp, 4to, Folded three times. Forty-two lines of text. Addressed to Dupré at The Lodge, Windlesham, Withyham, Sussex. Deals firstly with ‘the estimate for demolition’, with comments ‘On the technical side’, before moving on to the question of ‘salvage materials’.

At top right-hand corner of part of printed English libretto to Leoncavallo’s ‘Pagliacci’. Dimensions: 13.5 x 17.5 cm. Sloping upwards towards the corner, and underlined: ‘Luigi Montesanto | 1936’. On shiny art paper and in fair condition, lightly creased and a little dog-eared at the corner of the signature. The cutting is headed: ‘Prologue (Pagliacci) ... ... ... ... Leoncavallo | LUGI MONTESANTO | PROLOGUE’, with thirty-two lines of English translation.

Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Excessively scarce, with COPAC only listing one copy (at the British Library) of both items. ONE: 'An Irish Cradle Song. Words by W. B. Yeats. From Poems by W. B. Yeats, published by T. Fisher Unwin'. [1914.] 5 + [1]pp., folio. Title page carries the gaelic motto: Goth yani me von gilli beg, | N heur ve thu more a creena. TWO: 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree. Words by W. B. Yeats'. [1917.] 5 + [1]pp., folio. Illustration of tree on bank of lake on front cover.

Alistair Sooke, on the BBC website, makes the case that 'Meredith Frampton is the forgotten genius of British art'. See Frampton's entry in the Oxford DNB, and also those of Codner and of Frampton's father Sir George Frampton, who executed the celebrated statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (not modelled on his son, who was eighteen when it was made). 1p, 4to, in fair condition, aged and worn. Folded once. Writing to 'My dear Codner', he apologises for 'keeping you up till such a late hour last night'.

Maschwitz wrote the lyrics to 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square' and 'These Foolish Things', and was nominated for an oscar for co-writing the screenplay of 'Goodbye, Mr Chips'. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Twenty-nine lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Maschwitz begins by congratulating him 'on a really enthralling book! Loved every page of it!' With reference to Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, he explains that the previous day he 'had a talk with old Dennis Grayson who with Mrs Corey Wright is one of Tree's executors.

[24]pp, 12mo. Stapled programme, in shiny covers. Strip torn away from back cover, and with staples slightly rusted, otherwise in fair condition. Large signature 'Ivor Novello' diagonally across title on front cover: 'Richard D. Rose | presents | Ivor Novello | in | I Lived With You | A comedy in three acts | by | Ivor Novello'. An illustrated 'magazine' programme, containing articles and advertisements. No copy on OCLC WorldCat. From the papers of Novello's friend and biographer, the theatre historian W. J.

On reverse of 11.25 x 8.25 cm card carrying a black and white print of the autograph score of Coates's second 'phantasy', 'The Three Bears' (1926). In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'To May Hirst | with best wishes | from | Eric Coates | Photograph of | Original Full Score of | The Three Bears'.

72pp, 8vo. Tight copy on lightly-aged paper, in original blue cloth binding with dulled gilt on spine, panels of sunning to front board, and slight wear at head of spine. Ownership inscription on front free endpaper: 'Christopher Fry'. Auden, along with Eliot, was an inspiration to Fry, one of the foremost twentieth-century English practitioners of verse drama.

xv + 179pp, 8vo. Good tight copy in brown cloth, in worn printed dustwrapper. Frontispiece portrait of Fry. Inscribed on front free endpaper: 'To Christopher Fry | from | Glenda Leeming | with love'. In her preface Leeming notes Fry's 'patience and tolerance, as well as his helpful explanations of his plays, his intentions, and their realization'. The volume contains pencil annotations between pp.43 and 73, mostly relating to 'The Lady's not for Burning'. All are marginal indications of passages with vertical lines, apart from two annotations suggesting a degree of impatience with the text.

[6] + viii + 266pp, 8vo. With four-page 'Select Bibliography' and three two-page lists of errata tipped-in at the rear. In plain brown cloth, with green printed dustwrapper glued-down (by publisher) onto the endpapers by the flaps. In good condition, lightly-aged, in lightly-worn dustrapper with closed tear at rear. Inscribed on the front free endpaper: 'To | Mr. Christopher Fry, | With best compliments | from the Author, | S. n. Ray | 7.4.98'. Fry makes around fifty autograph corrections to the text, giving a list of them over the rear endpapers.

Beautiful stitched pamphlet, with three gorgeous colour natural history prints by Wadsworth, comprising frontispiece and one other full-page print, and double-page print incorporating the words of the title. Near fine. Text unpaginated, printed on eleven pages, over eight leaves of green laid paper. Numbered 44 on the colophon, which carries the device of the Rampant Lions Press, and is signed 'Richard Wilbur' and 'Charles E.

A total of 8pp of closely-typed text. In good condition. Also present are an additional four-page copy on pink paper of the first letter and its enclosure. First letter signed 'Kevin Bailey', two others signed 'Kevin B.' aq2 One letter lacks its last page and signature.

1p, 4to. In fair condition, on aged and creased paper. Folded twice. In the typewritten letter he explains that he has been in Los Angeles for four months with his wife, and that they 'intend to stay on for a while as I have film and television commitments here'.