VERSE

‘The Golden Treasury’: compiler Francis Turner Palgrave discusses his reasons for omitting living poets from the anthology, and discusses the possibility of a ‘Silver Treasury’, in an Autograph Letter Signed to the poet Jean Ingelow.

Author: 
Francis Turner Palgrave (1824-1897), compiler, with his friend Alfred Tennyson, of the celebrated poetry anthology ‘The Golden Treasury’ (1861) [Jean Ingelow (1820-1897), poet]
Publication details: 
24 March 1866. On embossed letterhead of the Privy Council Office [Whitehall].
£450.00

An excellent letter, casting light on one of the milestones of the English poetic canon. See his entry, and hers, in the Oxford DNB. ‘The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language’ appeared in 1861, and it remains, as J. W. Mackail wrote in the original DNB, 'one of those rare instances in which a critical work has substantive imaginative value, and entitles its author to rank among creative artists'.

[Philip James Bailey, Victorian ‘spasmodic’ poet.] Autograph Document Signed, giving a ten-line extract from his celebrated poem, ‘Festus’.

Author: 
Philip James Bailey (1816-1902), Victorian poet, author of ‘Festus’ and considered the father of the ‘spasmodic’ school of verse
FESTUS
Publication details: 
‘Blackheath / May 14th. 1888.’
£220.00
FESTUS

Bailey’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes the ‘remarkable popularity’ of the second edition of Festus in America: ‘seventeen ‘editions’ of a version pirated in Boston were called for in the first nine years, and it was also reprinted numerous times in Philadelphia, Louisville, and New York. Bailey became something of a 'lion' for visiting Americans of the transcendental stamp’, with Hawthorne visiting in the 1850s. 1p, 8vo. On brittle woodpulp paper, now discoloured with chipping to edges (resulting in loss to the word ‘Festus’ at the head) and with closed tears to the two folds.

[Vernon Watkins, Welsh poet, friend of Dylan Thomas.] Autograph Signature to his printed poem ‘Poet and Goldsmith’.

Author: 
Vernon Watkins (1906-1967), Welsh poet, friend of Dylan Thomas
Publication details: 
No date or place. Offprint from ‘The London Magazine’, July 1954.
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The poem, one of Watkins’ best, is printed under the heading ‘VERNON WATKINS | Poet and Goldsmith’ on both sides of a 12mo leaf, paginated 13-14. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. On the lower part of the second page is a reproduction of an attractive pen drawing of Richmond Bridge by Eleanor Poore. After the end of the poem and above the illustration is Watkins’ assured signature, good and clear: ‘Vernon Watkins’.

[Sir Michael Redgrave, distinguished English actor.] Autograph Card Signed to ‘Christopher’ [the playwright Christopher Fry], belatedly congratulating him on the success of his play 'The Lark'.

Author: 
Sir Michael Redgrave [Sir Michael Scudamore] (1908-1985), English actor and head of theatrical family dynasty Christopher Fry [born Arthur Hammond Harris] (1907-2005), English playwright]
Redgrave
Publication details: 
16 June 1955; on his letterhead.
£50.00
Redgrave

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition. 11.5 x 9 cm card, without illustration. Printed in red at head: ‘MICHAEL REDGRAVE.’ The message concerns the London production of Fry’s ‘The Lark’ (a translation of Anouilh’s ‘L’Alouette’), which opened at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, on 11 May 1955. Redgrave would star in Fry’s next play, ‘Tiger at the Gates’ (a translation of Giraudoux’s ‘La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu’), which premiered in New York on 3 October 1955.

[Samuel Rogers ('The Banker Poet')] Autograph Note Signed to Lady Burdett, declining with regret an invitation that would have given him pleasure.

Author: 
Samuel Rogers, 'The Banker Poet', art connoisseur, member of the Holland House circle, and acquaintance of Wordsworth, Byron, Sir Walter Scott [Lady Burdett]
Rogers
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£56.00
Rogers

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Removed from album, and closely trimmed, having been cut down to 9 x 7 cm, with corners cropped. Lightly aged, with one fold for postage. In neat close hand, reads: ‘My dear Lady Burdett / I am very sorry indeed that an Engagement from which I cannot release myself will deprive me of so great a pleasure. Yours ever / S Rogers.’ See image

[Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Cornish man of letters, compiler of the classic ‘Oxford Book of English Verse’.] Autograph Letter Signed, reporting an attack of influenza and expressing ‘sincere pleasure’ at the a comment by the recipient.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch [Arthur Thomas Quiller Couch], Cornish man of letters, compiler of the classic ‘Oxford Book of English Verse’ (1900)
Quiller-Couch
Publication details: 
10 February 1897; on letterhead of The Haven, Fowey, Cornwall.
£45.00
Quiller-Couch

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged with patch of light sunning. Folded once. The recipient is not named. Reads: ‘Dear Madam / Forgive me for my delay in answering your letter. I have been laid up for a week or two with influenza & my correspondence has suffered in consequence. / And please believe that your words have given us sincere pleasure & that I am / Yours very faithfully / A. T. Quiller-Couch’. The hyphen in the signature is almost imperceptible. See image.

[Christopher Fry breaks America, 1950-1951.] Fry’s own cuttings, with manuscript captions, largely from English and North American newspapers, many describing the success of John Gielgud’s US touring production of ‘The Lady’s Not For Burning’.

Author: 
Christopher Fry [born Arthur Hammond Harris] (1907-2005), distinguished English playwright, leading exponent of verse drama [John Gielgud]
Publication details: 
Cuttings from North American, English, European and African newspapers and magazines, dating from between 19 July 1950 and 20 July 1951.
£650.00

Long and almost universally-appreciative articles, with photographs and cartoons, reflecting the excitement and energy of the period during which Fry was, as Michael Billington writes in his entry on the playwright in the Oxford DNB, ‘a dominant figure in British drama’. Ranging from three continents, with a few articles in foreign languages (Swedish, German, French). Among the material are John Gielgud’s long statement ‘Mr. Gielgud discovers Mr. Fry’, New York Times, 5 November 1950; and Richard L. Coe, ‘ “Lady” Delights A Packed Gayety’, Washington Post, 21 March 1951.

[A Welsh poet at work: Harry Guest.] Three Autograph Poems: ‘Climbing a Volcano’ (two drafts), ‘At Shoreham’ (holograph), and ‘Sentence’ (fragment); with covering Autograph Letter Signed to Claire Freiburger; and transcription from Abelard.

Author: 
Harry Guest [Henry Bayly Guest] (1932-2021), Welsh poet and noted translator from French and Japanese
Publication details: 
The poems undated. The letter dated 3 September 1970; ‘c/o Mr. T. Mugishima, | Kugahara 4-Chome 23-9, | Ohta-Ku, / Tokyo 165’.
£220.00

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.

[Christopher Fry's ownership inscription to his copy of a first edition by W. H. Auden.] Nones.

Author: 
W. H. Auden [Christopher Fry]
Publication details: 
London: Faber and Faber, 1952.
£25.00

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.

[Christopher Fry annotates a book about his work, inscribed to him by the author.] Christopher Fry | By Glenda Leeming.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century English verse drama; Glenda Leeming
Publication details: 
Twayne Publishers, A Division of G. K. Hall & Co., Boston. 1990.
£450.00

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.

[Christopher Fry makes autograph corrections to a book about him.] Christopher Fry and his Verse Drama. [Insribed to the subject by the author, and with a Typed Letter Signed ('S. n. Ray').]

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century English verse drama; Professor Sambhu Nath Roy, Principal of Raiganj University College
Publication details: 
Biswas Book Stall, 88, M. G. Road, Calcutta-9; Ghosh & Company, 12, Ramanath Majumder Street, Calcutta-9 [Calcutta, India]. 1996.
£200.00

[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.

[Kevin Bailey, editor of 'HQ Poetry Magazine', to playwright Christopher Fry.] Three Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed, discussing his magazine, its poets, his own poetry, Fry's work. With extract from one of his plays.

Author: 
Kevin Bailey (b.1954), poet and editor of 'HQ Poetry Magazine', Swindon [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century verse drama]
Publication details: 
HQ Poetry Magazine, 39 Exmouth Street, Swindon. Between 11 November 1998 and 20 July 1999.
£150.00

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.

[Christopher Fry, playwright, a leading exponent of verse drama.] Typescript of the text of his children's book 'The Boat that mooed'. Signed 'Christopher Fry'.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), distinguished playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century verse drama
Publication details: 
No place or date. [Book published in New York by Macmillan in 1965.]
£200.00

9pp, 8vo. Complete carbon typescript. On nine leaves, stapled together. Title at head of first page: 'THE BOAT THAT MOOED.' Fry's signature in blue ink at top left of first page: 'Christopher Fry:'. Fry has cut down the story by deleting and removing a passage. The lower part of the leaf carrying the sixth page of the story has been cut away, and the original seventh page has been removed, hence the typescript pagination 1-6, 8-10 has been amended in manuscript to 1-9. A lighthearted faux-naive story, replete with symbolism. Begins: 'Tom Crunch lived on a boat. All round the boat was water.

[Christopher Fry discusses Christopher Hassall.] Two-page Typescript, with extensive Autograph Emendations by Fry, of a (BBC radio?) 'programme' by Fry about Christopher Hassall, with a separate Typescript poem (by Hassall?) 'Pilgrim's Way'.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, a leading exponent of verse drama [Christopher Hassall [Christopher Vernon Hassall] (1912-1963), poet and dramatist, biographer of Rupert Brooke
Publication details: 
No place or date, but some time after Hassall's death in 1963, and probably written from Fry's house, The Toft.
£250.00

3pp, 4to, each page on a separate leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. There is no indication that either item was published, nor even that the poem is connected to the 'programme'. (If unpublished the poem may have found its way into Fry's papers from Hassall's.) The 'programme' - with no title or heading - is two pages long (with slight damage from a small staple to corners of both leaves) and complete, being divided into six numbered sections.

[Christopher Fry, playwright.] Two items from his papers: an American first edition of his play 'A Yard of Sun', together with proof leaves of a later printing of the play, entirely reset.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century verse drama
Publication details: 
First edition: O.U.P. [Oxford University Press], New York. 1970. Proofs undated and without publishing details. [New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc. 1998?]
£450.00

The two items are from the playwright's own papers. FIRST EDITION: [8] + 113pp, 8vo. A good tight copy in lightly-aged brown cloth and price-clipped cream dustwrapper with attractive design by Edward Blakeney in brown and black on front cover, and slight chipping to bottom edge at back. Label with English price on back of dustwrapper. No autograph interpolations. PROOFS: 96pp, 8vo. Duplicated printed pages, each page on a separate leaf. Paginated 1-96.

[Christopher Fry: BBC Schools talk on 'A Sleep of Prisoners', with reading.] Copy of typescript of BBC Home Service (Schools) talk and reading headed 'Religion and Philosophy | 9. A Play for a Church | by | Christopher Fry'.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century verse drama [BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation], Bush House, London]
Publication details: 
TRANSMISSION: BBC HOME SERVICE (SCHOOLS) [Bush House, London] | Monday 29th June 1953: 9.40 - 10.00 a.m.
£220.00

Contemporary duplicated typescript, from the Christopher Fry papers. 14pp, 8vo. Each page on a separate leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged. Fry's introductory talk is present in its entirety on pp.1-5, this is followed by an unpaginated page, then pp.8-15 with p.[10] also unpaginated. Hence p.6 or p.7, beginning the extracts from the play, would appear to be absent. On the front page, between the heading and transmission details is: 'Rehearsal: Thursday 4th June 1953: 10.00 onwards | Recording: Thursday 4th June 1953: 12.15 - 1.00 p.m. 3A | Recording of Insert: [BLANK]'.

[Denis Johnston's play on Jonathan Swift: 'new version' by his son Rory Johnston.] Typescript of 'The Dreaming Dust | by Denis Johnston | a new version | compiled and adapted by Rory Johnston'. With covering letter to Christopher Fry.

Author: 
Denis Johnston (1901-1984), Irish playwright, author and actor; his son Rory Johnston [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, leading exponent of twentieth-century verse drama; Jonathan Swift]
Publication details: 
Typescript play sent by Rory Johnston, 49 Upper Park Road, London NW3. Dated 31 December 1987. 'Copyright 1959, 1977 by Denis Johnston'. Rory Johnston's letter to Fry: 3 May 1988, from same address.
£400.00

A multi-talented figure, Denis Johnston was a protégé of W. B. Yeats and Bernard Shaw, and had a stormy friendship with Seán O'Casey. Jonathan Swift was a preoccupation of Johnston's (see his 1959 book 'In Search of Swift'), and his play about him, 'The Dreaming Dust', was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, in 1940. It was published in collections of Johnston's plays in 1954, 1960, 1977 and 1983. This 1988 version remains unpublished. Both typescript and letter in fair condition, lightly aged.

[Derek Stanford, biographer, essayist and poet, to playwright Christopher Fry.] 19 Autograph Letters Signed ('Derek S.' and 'Derek'), Autograph Card Signed, and carbons of three reviews. With 2 [copy?] letters to Stanford from Fry, and Stanford's CV.

Author: 
Derek Stanford (1918-2008), biographer, essayist and poet, supporter of Muriel Spark and Dylan Thomas [Christopher Fry, playwright]
Publication details: 
Stanford's 19 letters between 17 February 1970 and 31 October 1978. Early letters from 1 St Catherine's Court, Bedford Park, W4 [London]; later letters from 5 Cricketfield Court, Cricketfield Road, Seaford, Sussex. Postcard from Worthing, 1997.
£450.00

Stanford's study of Fry in the British Council's 'Writers and their Work' series was re-published several times, and the early letters in the present collection refer to the preparation of the fourth edition, published by Longmans in 1971 (the bibliography to which Stanford refers as 'CHRISTOPHER STATE PAPERS'). A total of twenty-six items. The material in good condition, lightly aged. Stanford's nineteen letters total 65pp, 12mo. In an undisciplined hand, in different-coloured ink, on different-coloured paper. Stanford's 19 letters between 17 February 1970 and 31 October 1978.

[Christopher Fry, playwright.] Programme, with illustrated cover by him: 'Christopher Fry's Coronation Revue "The Birds Began to Sing". In aid of Dr. Barnardo's Homes.' With 'Coronation Enrolment' carrying autograph note by Fry loosely inserted.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, noted for his verse dramas [Dr. Barnardo's Homes; Barnardo Helpers' League, Tunbridge Wells Habitation; Agra House]
Publication details: 
Advertised for Royal Victoria Hall, Southborough, 19-22 May 1937. 'Printed at The Wood Press, Printers, Hopwood Gardens, Tunbridge Wells.'
£180.00

24pp, 4to. Stapled pamphlet. Aged, and with spotting to covers, creased closed tear at foot of spine, and slight loss to bottom out corner of back cover. With one vertical fold. The cover is printed in black, with a charming cartoon by 'C. F.' in red ink of five happy birds singing and flying around with musical scores in wings, with one bird on box with conductor's baton tapping a music stand.

[Christopher Fry's copy of W. H. Auden's first published book, with Fry's ownership inscription dated to the year of publication.] Poems.

Author: 
W. H. Auden; Christopher Fry
Publication details: 
London: Faber & Faber, 24 Russell Square. 1930.
£650.00

In folding box, dark blue, gt. 79pp, 8vo. In plain white card wraps, in blue dustwrapper printed in black, with red border to cover. Ownership inscription in blue ink on front free endpaper: 'Christopher Fry | 1930'. Hardly the best of copies, but a good association between two of the three giants of the twentieth-century English verse play (Eliot being the other). Internally tight, on lightly-aged paper, in aged and worn wraps. The dustwrapper is in poor condition, stained, chipped, and separated into several loose parts along the folds, with spine and back cover tipped-in onto the wraps.

[Richard Beresford, signed limitation, with second signature inscribing the book to 'Diana'.] Glist'ring Phaeton. [A verse translation of the French source of Shakespeare's Richard II, 'Histoire du Roy d'Angleterre Richard'.]

Author: 
Richard Beresford [William Shakespeare, 'Richard II'; 'Histoire du Roy d'Angleterre Richard']
Publication details: 
'Published by the Morija Printing Works & sold by the Constantia Booksellers Johannesburg: 1945'.
£250.00

[4] + 78 + [1]pp, 8vo. In printed wraps. Internally in fair condition, on lightly discoloured paper, in worn and stained wraps. Verse translation of the French source of Shakespeare's Richard II, 'Histoire du Roy Angleterre Richard'.

[George Canning, Prime Minister; John Richardson of Oxford University.] Manuscript copies of poems which won Chancellor's Medal for Latin verse: Canning's 'Iter ad Meccam [Journey to Mecca]'; Richardson's 'Maria Scotorum Regina [Mary Queen of Scots]'

Author: 
George Canning, British Prime Minister; John Richardson, Student of the University of Oxford [Chancellor's Medal for Latin verse]
Publication details: 
[University of Oxford, post 1789 and 1792.]
£450.00

Manuscripts in a contemporary hand of two poems which won the University of Oxford Chancellor's Prize for Latin Verse, neither of them published. In 1789, Canning, as a Christ Church undergraduate, won the prize for the second of the two, 'Iter ad Meccam Religionis causa susceptum'; and in 1792 John Richardson, 'Scholar of University', won it for the first of the two, 'Maria Scotorum Regina'. The manuscript of the two poems totals 29pp, 8vo. The pages are written lengthwise on fifteen of the twenty leaves of a stitched booklet of laid paper with Britannia watermark.

[Christopher Fry, 1930s pantomime (author's first book?) by the writer of 'The Lady's Not for Burning'.] Printed play text: 'The Sleeping Beauty | A Pantomime | by | Christopher Fry.'

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright and poet, noted for his verse dramas, author of 'The Lady's Not for Burning'
Publication details: 
Printers' slug on title-page: 'Courier Co., Ltd., Tun. Wells.' [Tunbridge Wells, 1934.]
£250.00

Possibly the author's first book (see below), from the Christopher Fry papers (despite the ownership inscription). 54pp, 12mo. Stapled into green printed wraps (title and words '(ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)'). Tiny ownership signature in initials ('R. G.') in top right-hand corner of title-page. No details of publication or date, other than the printers' slug at bottom left of title-page.

[Christopher Fry, dramatist and poet.] "Thor with Angels" Copy of the 'Acting Edition for the Festival of the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral 1948', with anonymous manuscript copy letter, in two hands, of a rebuttal of a critical review in The Times.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright and poet, noted for his verse dramas, author of 'The Lady's Not for Burning'
Publication details: 
Copy Letter dated 21 June 1948; no place. Play: [Friends of Canterbury Cathedral.] Canterbury: H. J. Goulden, Ltd. [1948.]
£180.00

From the Christopher Fry papers. PLAY: [1] + 47pp, 12mo. Stapled into buff wraps printed in red, including the statement that it is the 'Friends of Canterbury Cathedral Edition'. In fair condition, lightly aged, in worn wraps, with a trace of rust to staples. This edition of the play (the first?) is uncommon: the only copies on OCLC WorldCat at the British Library and University of British Columbia. COPY LETTER: 4pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Written out in two hands, Recipient not named. With salutation 'Dear Sir,' and valediction 'I am | Yrs truly,'.

[Christopher Fry, playwright.] Fry's own copy of his book 'Can You Find Me: A Family History', with autograph notes, containing correspondence from relatives, photographs, and a typed transcript of a radio interview, with autograph additions by Fry.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright [Oxford University Press]
Publication details: 
Book: Oxford University Press, 1978. Correspondence between 1982 and 1987. Interview [1979].
£750.00

The book is 272pp, 8vo. A good copy, lightly aged, with binding sunned along top, in worn dustwrapper. The volume contains – along with autograph corrections of incidentals – a couple of autograph notes in pencil, one of a minor nature and the other reading: 'Daisy & Charles attended the funeral – March 26 – as recorded in Archibald Marshall's diary'; also one minor emendation in ink. The material inserted in the volume is described below. Accompanying the volume is a long typewritten radio script of an interview between Fry and 'Leslie', with autograph additions in pencil by Fry.

[Lusia Treves, Dutch playwright and journalist, and her husband Karl Guttmann, Austro-Dutch theatre director.] Twelve ALsS and three ACsS from Treves, and one ALS from Guttmann, to playwright Christopher Fry, with other material.

Author: 
Karl Guttman (1913-1995), Austrian-born Dutch theatre director; his wife Luisa Treves [Margaretha Roselaar] (1919-2015), Dutch playwright and theatre journalist; Christopher Fry (1907-2005), dramatist
Publication details: 
From Amsterdam, as well as France, Germany and Switzerland. Between 1961 and 1997.
£1,200.00

Guttman was, as one of his wife's letters in this collection states, Fry's 'prophet' in Holland, supporting his work from the earliest days. In 1961 Guttman directed the world premiere of Fry's 'Curtmantle' at Tilburg, and in 1981 he directed a production of 'The Lady's not for Burning' in Vienna. The collection is in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. The letters are all in English, long and intimate, addressed to 'Kit' and sometimes to 'Phyl', i.e. Fry's wife Phyllis.

[Herbert Whittaker, Canadian theatre critic, designer and director.] Eight long Signed Letters (six typed and two in autograph) to English playwright Christopher Fry, on theatre matters including a reading at the Toronto Arts and Letters Club.

Author: 
Herbert Whittaker (1910-2006), Canadian theatre critic, designer and director [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright; Canadian Players; Hart House Theatre; Crest Theatre; Montreal Repertory Theatre]
Publication details: 
From his address in Lamport Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; between 11 July 1998 and 7 April 2002.
£850.00

An interesting correspondence on theatre matters, from one of Canada's most influential critics and designers to 'a favourite poet', the English verse dramatist Christopher Fry. Whittaker discusses, among other matters, mutual acquaintances including Sir John Gielgud and Leonard White, past productions of Fry's plays, a 1998 meeting with the playwright at his West Dean home, and a reading he organises of Fry's 'A Ringing of Bells' at the Toronto Arts and Letters Club. The eight letters are in good condition, lightly aged.

[Christopher Fry: unpublished reminiscences of T. S. Eliot.] Unpublished corrected Autograph Text [of an address delivered at St Stephen's Church, Gloucester Road, London], giving his personal recollections of his friend T. S. Eliot.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright and poet, noted for his verse dramas [born Arthur Hammond Harris] [T. S. Eliot [Thomas Stearns Eliot] (1888-1965), Nobel Prize winning Anglo-American poet]
Publication details: 
No place or date, but from internal evidence written c. 1995, for an event at St Stephen's Church, Gloucester Road, London.. 29 Nov. 1995
£650.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Each page numbered by Fry. An Unsigned document from the Christopher Fry archive. Warm personal recollections, entertaining and evocative. Unpublished.

[Charles Williams, poet and author (the Inklings), to the playwright Christopher Fry.] Autograph Letter Signed, Typed Letter Signed and Typed Card Signed (all 'C. W.'), in copy of his 'Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury', with Fry's ownership signature.

Author: 
Charles Williams (1886-1945), English poet and author, a member of the Inklings [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright]
Publication details: 
Autograph Letter from Southfield House, 1941. Typed Letter, 1942, and Typed Card, 1944, both on Oxford University Press letterheads.
£450.00

The letters are in fair condition, lightly aged; the card is discoloured and stained. Loosely inserted in a copy of Williams's 'Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury', 75 + [1]pp, 8vo, with the ownership signature 'Christopher Fry' on the front free endpaper, in worn binding with fraying at head of spine. Delightful and revealing letters, mixing personal and business (Williams worked for the Oxford University Press and Fry was published by them). ONE: ALS from Southfield House, 17 December 1941. 2pp, 12mo. Thirty lines of closely-written text, on a leaf of ruled paper torn from a notebook.

[Christopher Fry ownership inscription to a book by Charles Williams.] The House of the Octopus. [A Play in Three Acts]

Author: 
Charles Williams [Christopher Fry; the Inklings]
Publication details: 
London: Edinburgh House Press, 2 Eaton Gate, S.W.1. 1945.
£60.00

115pp, 12mo. In good condition: sound and tight, on browning War Economy paper, in green cloth with slight bloom, and in slightly worn and chipped browning dustwrapper. (The subtitle 'A Play in Three Acts' features on the dustwrapper, but not on the title-page.) Fry's ownership inscription 'Christopher Fry' is in blue ink at the top right-hand corner of the recto of the front free endpaper. A verse drama from the library of the leading twentieth-century English exponent of the genre, after T. S. Eliot.

Syndicate content