WING

[Anti-Aircraft Defence, World War II.] Instructional material from the Searchlight Wing, School of A. A. Defence, Shrivendon, Swindon [Royal Artillery]; with manuscript reports; from the papers of Sgt. J. L. B. Royall.

Author: 
Anti-Aircraft Defence, World War II [Searchlight Wing, School of A. A. Defence, Shrivenham, Swindon; Sgt. J. L. B. Royall; Royal Artillery, British Army]
Publication details: 
Five of the sixteen items dated between 17 March 1941 and .6 October 1943 (the rest contemporaneous). Searchlight Wing, School of Anti-Aircraft Defence, Shrivenham, Swindon. Also Longcot, Lyford, Lyndhurst and Romsey.
£350.00

The topic of this material is wartime training (in part during the Blitz) of sergeants for ‘Search Light Control’ or SLC (nicknamed ‘Elsie’). A larger archive of similar material from the papers of Sgt. J. L. B. Royall on the same theme is offered separately. Sixteen items, a few of which are discoloured and creased, but the collection being in good overall condition. The first three items are in manuscript (i.e. Royall’s autograph).

[Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, leading late-Victorian and Edwardian playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Arthur W. Pinero') to the daughter of the writer George Meredith, regretting that he cannot visit her and her father at Box Hill.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), leading English late-Victorian and Edwardian playwright, after beginning as an actor in Sir Henry Irving’s company at the Lyceum Theatre, London [George Meredith]
Publication details: 
25 June 1891; on copperplate letterhead of 64 St John's Wood Road, London N.W.
£56.00

See his appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, concluding with praise of his ‘undeniable’ achievements.2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition; folded once for postage, and with the blank reverse of the first leaf laid down on part of a leaf from the autograph album of the novelist George Meredith's daughter Marie Eveleen (‘Mariette’; 1871-1933), wife of Henry Parkman Sturgis (1847-1929), American-born banker and Liberal politician. Addressed to 'Miss Marie E. Meredith' and signed 'Arthur W. Pinero'. Begins: 'It is with a heavy heart that I tell you I am pledged, wit h Mrs.

[Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, leading late-Victorian and Edwardian playwright.] Autograph Inscription Signed, with quotation from his play ‘Lady Bountiful’.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), leading English late-Victorian and Edwardian playwright, after beginning as an actor in Sir Henry Irving’s company at the Lyceum Theatre, London
Publication details: 
23 February 1897. On letterhead of 63 Hamilton Terrace, N.W. [London.]
£56.00

See his appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, concluding with praise of his ‘undeniable’ achievements. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with the blank reverse carrying very slight staining to one edge from glue from mount. Folded once. Neatly and firmly written, with the underlined signature with a deliberate upwards slope. Clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: ‘ “A man dies but once, a woman twice - the first time when she marries, and then, as at the last, wondering at the thereafter.” / Lady Bountiful. / Act IV. / Arthur W. Pinero. / 23rd. February 1897.’

[The National Association for Freedom, London.] Publicity pamphlet and membership application form.

Author: 
The National Association for Freedom, libertarian pressure group set up in London in 1975 by Viscount De L'Isle, Norris McWhirter, Ross McWhirter and John Gouriet; now called the Freedom Association
Publication details: 
The National Association for Freedom, 500 Chesham House 30/32 Warwick Street, London W1R 5RD. No date (dating from between 1975 and late 1978).
£180.00

A scarce piece of political ephemera, from the turbulent days of 1970s Britain. The only other copy traced at the British Library, where it is tentatively dated to 1977.

[‘Too serious an affair for the taste of the ordinary playgoer’: Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, English playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mrs. Hughes’, regarding matters including his play ‘The Thunderbolt’.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), leading English playwright, after beginning as an actor in Sir Henry Irving’s company at the Lyceum Theatre, London
Publication details: 
12 May 1908. On letterhead of 14 Hanover Square, W. [London.]
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The valediction reads ‘Yours alway faithfully / Arthur W. Pinero’, and it is written with quite a flourish: the ‘y’ of ‘faithfully’ hooks downwards in a long squiggle, exrending downwards past the right of the termination of Pinero’s signature, which rises upwards, being dotted above and below the signature’s underlining. He feels that her ‘kind letter is all the more welcome inasmuch as it gives signs’ that she is recovering from her recent illness.

[Thomas Anstey Guthrie ['F. Anstey'], Punch humorist and novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed 'Anstey Guthrie' to the actor-manager Arthur Chudleigh, sending a present and commenting on the success of 'Pinero's brilliant play'.

Author: 
Thomas Anstey Guthrie ['F. Anstey'] (1856-1934), Punch humorist, novelist and journalist, author of 'Vice Versa' and 'The Tinted Venus' ['Arthur Chudleigh' [Arthur Lillies], actor-manager]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 16 Duke Street Mansions, Grosvenor Square, W [London]. 18 February 1911.
£45.00

1p, 12mo. Letterhead in green. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of glue from mount adhering to blank reverse. Addressed to 'My dear Chudleigh'. He asks him to accept 'the accompanying volume', which he ordered to be bound for him 'weeks ago but it has only turned up this morning'. He is 'delighted to know that Pinero's brilliant play seems to he having the great success it deserves'.

[ Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, playwright. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Arthur W. Pinero') to the actor-manager Arthur Cecil Blunt, explaining that he cannot dramatize the novel of 'Mr. Wigram'.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), playwright [ Arthur Cecil [ Arthur Cecil Blunt (1843-1896), actor-manager and playwright ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 64 St John's Wood Road, NW [ London ]. 26 May 1887.
£60.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Arthur C. Blunt, Esq', with salutation to 'My dear Cecil'. With regard to 'Mr. Wigram's letter' he writes that he 'would rather not dramatize a novel, and did I feel an inclination to do so I don't think I am at all a good man for the work'. He nevertheless asks the recipient to inform Wigram that he is 'complimented by his and Lord Desart's proposal'. The postscript is mildly amusing: 'P.S. I hope I am not liable to misconstruction in enquiring after your Housemaid's Knee'.

[ Dion Boucicault the younger, actor and theatre manager. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Dion Boucicault') to 'Mr Clarkson', regarding 'wigs that are being made for Sir Arthur Pinero's new play'.

Author: 
Dion Boucicault the younger (1859-1929), actor and theatre manager, husband of the actress Irene Vanbrugh [ Sir Arthur Wing Pinero; Duke of York's Theatre, London ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Duke of York's Theatre, London. 25 September 1912.
£35.00

1p., landscape 8Vo. In fair condition, aged and with a number of vertical crease lines. Reads: 'Dear Mr Clarkson, | Will you please give instructions that any wigs that are being made for Sir Arthur Pinero's new play should be here not later than 11 o'clock on Monday morning next. Our Dress Parade is at 12 o'clock.' The play Boucicault refers to is 'The Widow of Wasdale Head'.

[ Reginald Reynolds, left-wing writer. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Reginald Reynolds') to Francis Leslie Watson, complaining of his exclusion from a BBC radio programme on Mahatma Gandhi, one of whose closest English friends he claims to be.

Author: 
Reginald Reynolds [ Reginald Arthur Reynolds ] (1905-1958), British Quaker and left-wing writer and pacifist, husband of Ethel Mannin [ Francis Leslie Watson (1907-1988), biographer; Mahatma Gandhi ]
Publication details: 
20 Jubilee Place, Chelsea, London SW3. 13 October 1956.
£80.00

1p., 4to. Sixteen lines of closely-written text. The letter begins: 'On my return yesterday from a lecture tour in America I happened to hear of the series on Mahatma Gandhi that you have compiled, with Maurice Brown, for the Third Programme.' He complains that, although Watson had previously had his assurance that he was willing to participate in such it programme, it is 'rather hurtful to find that you have evidently decided to cut me out of the programme.

[Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, playwright.] Typed Letter Signed ('Arthur Pinero.') to author W. Teignmouth Shore regarding injections for inoculation.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), English playwright [W. Teignmouth Shore (1865-1932), author]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 115A. Harley Street, London W1. 12 April 1926.
£35.00

1p., 8vo. With mourning border. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-ruckled paper. After exclaiming 'How kind of you!' Pinero explains that he has been 'inoculated regularly since the autumn, and it has done me no good'. He continues: 'No, I won't say that; I might have been worse but for the injections.' He concludes by stating that he will show Shore's letter to his doctor, 'to prick his conscience'.

Autograph Manuscript Notes for 'Deputy Controller's Course', in official Royal Air Force notebook. With two mimeographed typed documents relating to the Course, including one with introduction by Wing Commander Bradford.

Author: 
A. H. Anderson, L.A.C.; Wing Commander J. R. Bradford, Fighter Command, Controllers' Training Unit [Royal Air Force; Deputy Controllers' Course; Second World War]
[RAF] Autograph Manuscript Notes for 'Deputy Controller's Course
Publication details: 
Notebook dated by Anderson on cover 'Woodlands, Clamp Hill, Stanmore. 27 October 1941.' One of the mimeographed documents dated from Woodlands, 26 June 1941.
£250.00
[RAF] Autograph Manuscript Notes for 'Deputy Controller's Course

4to 'Royal Air Force. Notebook for use in Schools', with Anderson's notes in pencil on all but 11 of its 96 pp. Text clear and complete, written in a neat, tight hand, with diagrams and tables. Fair, on aged paper, with slightly dog-eared corners, in worn and creased wraps. Ownership inscription on front cover of 'A. H. Anderson L.A.C. | Deputy Controller's Course | Woodlands. 27.10.'41'. Providing important first-hand insights into the procedure of the RAF during World War II. Subjects include 'Fighter Command Organisation', 'I.F.F. (Identification friend or foe)', 'P.P.L.

Syndicate content