WIGMAKER

[Percy Anderson, D'Oyly Carte stage designer.] Four Autograph Letters Signed to theatrical wigmaker William Berry Clarkson, praising the work he has done on his behalf, in connection with several productions.

Author: 
Percy Anderson (1851-1928), stage designer and painter with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree [William Berry Clarkson (1861-1934), theatrical wigmaker; Gilbert and Sullivan]
Publication details: 
12 March 1912, 31 December [1912], and the other two without year; all on letterheads of 55 York Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W.
£450.00

Total of 7pp, 12mo. All in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Each folded once. All signed 'Percy Anderson'. ONE: 12 March 1912. Begins: 'Your properties are quite splendid.' He thanks Clarkson and his assistant for the trouble they have taken 'over the “M[?]”'. Ends: 'I thought everything as good as it cd be – I refer to yr work of course'. TWO: 31 December [1912]. He thanks him for his 'delightful' card, and for 'yr. good wishes & for the tickets you so kindly send me for The Miracle.

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[Sir John Hare, actor-manager, to Willy Clarkson, theatrical wigmaker and homosexual blackmailer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('John Hare'), giving instructions on a wig 'of great importance', required for an American tour.

Author: 
Sir John Hare (1844-1921), actor and manager of the Garrick Theatre, London [Willy Clarkson [William Berry Clarkson (1861-1934), theatrical wigmaker and costume designer, homosexual blackmailer]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'Mr. John Hare's Autumn Provincial Tour, 1900' (Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester). 15 September 1900.
£80.00

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The letter casts an interesting sidelight on the practicalities of the late-Victorian theatre. He begins by explaining that he is sending back a wig he made for him, which was 'an admirable one in every way', and asking that he make him 'one like it for America & to bestow your best skill on it as it is of great importance to me'. He instructs him to 'make the wig a shade darker, something of the color it is dyed behind, & put a little natural white hair on the temples each side'.

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[Duncan Robertson, wig maker and perfumer.] Two Manuscript Itemised Accounts and one Signed Manuscript Receipt, with General Robertson of Lawers and his wife.

Author: 
[Duncan Robertson, wig maker and perfumer; Lieutenant-General Archibald Robertson of Lawers]
Publication details: 
The receipt dated from Edinburgh, 12 January 1810. The accounts for the periods December 1808 to April 1809, and January to December 1809.
£70.00

The three items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The accounts are both 1p., foolscap 8vo., and written in a sprawling uneducated hand. The first account is headed 'Genl Robertson to Duncan Robertson', and deals with the period from December 1808 to April 1809. Totalling £6 18s 2d, it includes 'two box Dubessons opiate', 'two bottles oil of rose', 'Two Crop wigs', 'Blacking', 'Riggs magnetic Tablet', 'a lib of old windsor soap', 'pott pomatum'. The second account is headed 'Mrs Genl Robertson to Duncan Robertson'.

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