VAN

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Fifty-eight lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Begins: Dear M. Van de Weyer / Altho' I had been prudent enough to preserve the appeal of M. Derôme to the Times in its original form, not the less welcome was the glorified text which I found on my table yesterday on our return from a short visit to Brighton. That charming appeal acted as a mental Conserve alimentaire to me, when it first appeared, and it shall be placed with certain other valued opuscules, where I can offen turn it to the like account.

The two items are in good condition, lightly aged, and both folded for postage. Both 1p, 12mo. ONE (evidently to Grant Reid, editor of the Northern Figaro, Aberdeen): Signed ‘E. W. Nye’. Recipient not named. ‘My dear Sir / Your favor of the 9- asking for a photograph to be used in your admirable publication is just received.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Slip of paper, roughly 8 x 4.5 cm, cut from a letter. In fair condition, on lightly aged and discoloured paper, with several vertical postage folds. On one side good clear signature and valediction: ‘I remain, dear Sir / Faithfully Yours / William S OBrien’. On the other side, tantalizingly: ‘[...] part of England what [...] | [...] not her all to obtai[n] [...] | [...] sense of justice - [...]’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once for postage. The year is given in pencil, and a note in the same hand identifies the recipient as ‘Mrs Florence Doubleday (wife of publisher) in Oyster Bay’. Ten lines of text, in a close hand, with larger, firm signature ‘John Gielgud.’ A somewhat pompous missive. He thanks her for giving him ‘so delightful an opportunity of meeting you, and to ask me to stay in your charming house and meet your friends, who were all so nice to me’.

Lansing Van der Heyden Hammond (b.1906), son of the distinguished organist and choirmaster of Mount Holyoake College William Churchill Hammond, was for many years Director of the Commonwealth Fund Division of International Fellowships. For Bonham Carter, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present group of six items shed light on the 1940s administration of the Commonwealth Fund. They are in good condition, lightly aged and creased. The autograph letter is 1p, 12mo; the five single-spaced typed letters total 6pp, 4to. All six are signed ‘Lance’. ONE: ALS, 10 January 1948. 1p, 12mo.

It is puzzling that Van Druten, one of the most successful British playwrights of the early 1930s, should not have an entry in the Oxford DNB. The present entertaining and informative letter is written from the A. J. C. Ranch in Coachella Valley, which Van Druten purchased with his then-lover Carter Lodge and the British actress Auriol Lee (it was named after the initals of their first names).

The signatures of twenty-five Roman Catholic cardinals (one having two examples) on 26 strips of paper, cut from official documents, many of them addressed to Cardinal Willem Marinus van Rossum (1854-1932), Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged paper, several of the items having fold lines. Four of the signatures have not been identified. The others are those of: Bartolomeo Bacilieri (1842-1923), Bishop of Verona; António Mendes Belo ['A. Card.

2pp, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. A very good and informative letter. Written from the A. J. C. Ranch, which Van Druten had purchased with his former lover Carter Lodge (now his business manager) and the British actress Auriol Lee. Van Druten left his interest in the ranch to Lodge, together with the rights to his work, including the play discussed here, 'I am a Camera', an adapatation of Christopher Isherwood's stories. (For the relationship between Van Druten and Isherwood, see Peter Parker's biography of the latter.) This entitled Lodge to income from the film 'Cabaret'.

ONE: Typed Letter Signed from 'Bertie' (i.e. Herbert van Thal) to 'John' (i.e. J. C. Trewin). 15 March 1978. On letterhead of the London publishers Weidenfeld & Nicolson. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter reads: 'My dear John, Alas, they do not think that they would be able to sell this Eugene Aram idea here, without the backing of a television programme or a film to back it up. But Orbis recently asked me if I had any ideas, and I have sent it on to them. Will let you know what they have to say.

On 4 x 5.5 cm piece of paper. In good condition, laid down on square of paper cut from leaf removed from album. An uncommon signature and an unusual one, consisting of a single line in a series of up and down strokes, diminishing in height, tapering off to the right before returning for the underlining.

3pp., 12mo. In poor condition, aged and worn, with the two leaves of the bifolium separated. The letter begins: 'My dear J. McG. | Pardon me, but M. Delormel did not write “The Boulanger” March (“En Revenat de la revue”) nor did he write “Père la Victoire” but I dont say he didn't publish them.' Finck attributes the first to 'M.

See William Johnstone's obituary in the Illustrated Tasmanian News, May 1874. He was born in England and left Somerset for Van Diemen's Land in 1841. He set up in business the following year in Launceston, which had been founded in 1806, and is said to be the third oldest colonial settlement in Australia, after Sydney and Hobart..As the years proceeded he prospered spectacularly, and by the time of his death he was so highly esteemed, that 'many places of business had the front windows partially closed while the shipping in port and the Town Hall had the Union Jack hoisted at half mast'.

1p., 4to. On aged and worn paper, with chipping along one edge. He begins: 'Word of the loss of your dear husband reached us some time ago, but I was not able to write you until just now when I received your address from Ralph Hawkes.' He offers his condolences 'on behalf of our whole organisation'. According to Hawkes 'the funeral service was a most impressive one' and 'Mr. Finck was a great figure in the musical world and that he shall be missed a great deal.

1p., 4to. On aged and worn paper. Reads:'To The Gentlemen of the Orchestra | Commencing with February 17 '12 the system of sending deputies will be entirely abolished in this orchestra. To those members who are not desirous of continuing their engagement under this new rule, I would ask that they gave their names to Mr Honrig before friday evening next, in order that they may receive notice of the termination of their engagement four weeks from that date - 19th inst: | Herman Finck | Musical director'. Finck's 'In the Shadows' was one of the last tunes played as the Titanic went down.

Both items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: Typed Poem followed by Autograph Note Signed. 24 December 1937. 2pp., 8vo. The poem consists of eleven four-line stanzas, with the title typed in red. An apparently unpublished humorous poem, quite charming and well worthy of publication. Begins: 'For months we've had electric road-drills | Right outside our door, | And two gentlemen who play them | Called in yesterday at four.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Docketed at head 'Answered'. Reads: 'Dear Mrs Finck - | We were very grieved to hear of the passing of your dear husband & our old friend - will you please accept our deepest sympathy in your great sorrow - & our prayers that you & your daughters may be greatly comforted - | Very sincerely Yrs. | Ben Davies'. From the Finck papers.

1p., 8vo. On aged and worn paper, with damage and loss along one edge (not affecting signature). Set out in the usual way, with printed text completed in manuscript. Begins (with manuscript text in square brackets): 'Annuity for Life, 1746. | Record' [24 Septr. 1765] | Received the [28] Day of [Septr.] 176[5] by me [Wolf Van Hemert Atty to Herman Vander Heere, & Adriaen Verstolk'. Recording a payment of £45 on an annuity. Witness signature of ' Newland'. Van Hemert was born in Amsterdam and is buried in Austin Friars churchyard, London, with a memorial to him inside the church. London.

[28]pp., 4to. Stapled into grey printed wraps. Illustrated with photographs; centrepage spread of matching tables giving 'Weekly Potato Shipments' from Tasmania to Sydney, in 1937 and 1956. On glossy art paper. Both prospectus and inserts in fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Stamp of the Van Diemen's Land Company on front cover, with ownership inscription 'C. C. Carter'.

68pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The diary has been published in a scholarly edition, edited by Marie de Jong-Ijsellstein (Hilversum: Verloren, 1999), where it is described as 'an excellent example of an early nineteenth-century journal intime'. The present typescript, which appears to date from the 1930s or 1940s, is a carbon copy of a typescript of Anna Elizabeth Groeninx van Zoelen's manuscript transcript of her grandmother's diary.

On 1.5 x 4.5 cm piece of paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Cut from letter with mourning border.

On the front cover of an 8 x 13 cm. envelope. With intact small seal in red wax at back. Aged and worn. Reads: 'Coventry September thirty 1836 | William Hulton Esq | Leamington Priors | Eardley Wilmot'.

2pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly-aged. Unsigned copy of typed letter., with one autograph emendation. Addressed to 'My dear Harry'. He begins by explaining that he is in Eastbourne recuperating from the flu. 'As I did not rise until Monday last I missed the Sunday papers including alas, the Referee. [ amended in autograph from 'the Rat' ] | A cutting, however (from the Ref) reached me here today containing an article of yours, wherein you place me among your Hebrew musical collaborators.

In good condition, on loose leaves, with light signs of age and wear. ONE: 'Green Roomers by the Rags Wags.' A large collection of original jokes. Around 140pp., mostly 8vo. On different papers, including letterheads of 212 Finchley Road, London, the Burlington in Folkestone, and the Hermitage Hotel, Le Touquet. Hundreds of unconnected gags, each of them framed as a rhetorical question, mostly relating to the London entertainment world. The humour is now mostly impenetrable. Individuals referred to include: C. B. Cochran, H. G.

2pp., 4to. In fair condition, lightly-aged and somewhat creased at extremities. He explains that he has sent 'the Van Gogh material' to Feisenberger, whose address he gives.

Four items loosely inserted in a 33 x 25.5 cm black paper folder which is in good condition, with light signs of wear. With 26.5 x 20.5 illustrated label on cover, printed in black and brown, for 'The Colophon | A book collector's quarterly'. Presented to the guests at a 'Colophon' dinner (perhaps the inaugural one in 1929?). The contents as follows. ONE: Leaf from the Cologne Chronicle, 1499. The dimensions of the leaf from this incunabulum are roughly 30.5 x 20.5 cm. In fair condition, on aged paper with light damp staining. With three woodcuts, each roughly 5 x 4 cm.

Eight pages, 4to, unbound as issued, fold marks (sl. grubby), mainly good condition. A report of the Company's properties in Tasmania. Copies held by several Australian libraries.

The 77 plates (uncoloured steel engravings) are in 4to format, in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in the third volume of the work ([4] + 318 + [1]pp., 4to), which is in a worn contemporary brown leather half-binding with marbled paper covers. Most of the plates carry two half-page illustrations. 28 of the plates (between pp.66 and 167; and carrying 52 illustrations, 48 of them half-page and 4 full-page) concern New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania, with the majority relating to New Zealand. These show views, fauna, inhabitants, atrefacts, and incidents on D'Urville's voyage.

In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, tipped in onto a grey paper mount. Engraved on 13 x 8 cm piece of wove paper, with no margin. The firm's shop was at the sign of Horace's head in the Strand, and the engraving depicts a lapidary carving off the head and shoulders of the poet, with laurel leaf above, in an oval frame, around which are 'carved' decorations (including lyre and grapes).

In addition to his pioneering cinematographic work, Herkomer was a theatrical innovator. As Lynda Nead points out in her 'The Haunted Gallery' (Yale, 2007), it was shortly after the opening of his art school that 'he and his students created an auditorium, modelled on Wagner's Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, for public performances of plays, written, directed and, indeed, performed by Herkomer'. See also M. A. K. Taylor, 'The New Stagecraft' (1953); J. Stokes, 'Resistible Theatres' (1972); and L. M. Edwards, 'Herkomer: A Victorian Artist' (1999). These five items all relate to the project.