WORLD

[Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, war correspondent whose reporting of the Gallipoli campaign laid the foundation of the ‘Anzac legend’.] Autograph Signature and address extracted from document.

Author: 
E. Ashmead-Bartlett [Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett] (1881-1931), Daily Telegraph war correspondent in the Balkans in the First World War, noted for his reporting of the Gallipoli Campaign [Dardanelles]
Publication details: 
No date. ‘Marlborough Chambers / Jermyn Street’.
£38.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states with regard to his reporting of the Dardanelles Campaign that his ‘vivid description of the courage, spirit, and fighting qualities of the soldiers became the foundation of the “Anzac legend”, a key part of popular nationalism in Australia and New Zealand’. In addition Ashmead-Bartlett is responsible for the only extant cinematic footage of the campaign. Strip of paper from the lower part of a leaf, carrying the end of a document, laid down on leaf extracted from album. In fair condition on lightly aged and browned paper.

[Walter H. Page, American ambassador to the United Kingdom during the First World War.] Typed Note Signed to C. Reginald Grundy [editor of 'The Connoisseur'], regretting his inability to attend a meeting at the Mansion House.

Author: 
Walter H. Page [Walter Hines Page] (1855-1918), journalist and publisher, American abassador to United Kingdom during First World War [Cecil Reginald Grundy (1870-1944), editor of 'The Connoisseur']
Publication details: 
22 May 1917; London, on embossed letterhead of the Embassy of the United States of America.
£80.00

1p, 4to. Rather aged, with some wear and discoloration at head and foot, and minor traces of mount on reverse. Four folds. Signed ‘Walter H. Page’ and addressed to ‘C. Reginald Grundy, Esq., / 1, Duke Street, / S. W. 1.’ The note reads: ‘Dear Sir: / I wish it had been possible for me to attend the meeting at the Mansion House to-day to further the establishment of local war museums, but I regret to say that it was impossible. / Yours very truly, / Walter H. Page’.

[Henry Williamson, English author best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'.] 77 pages of typescript from ‘A Fox Under My Cloak’, the fifth novel in the sequence ‘A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight’, with extensive autograph emendations and deletions.

Author: 
Henry Williamson (1895-1977), English novelist best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'
Williamson
Publication details: 
Undated. In envelopes with postmarks of 10 March 1955 (Georgeham) and 15 March 1955 (Barnstaple). The second with his autograph address: 'H. Williamson / Georgeham, N. Devon.'
£950.00
Williamson

Asee image of[339]See Williamson’s entry by his daughter-in-law Anne Williamson in the Oxford DNB, together with her 1995 biography of him. The present tranche of material gives a marvellous insight into the working processes of a fine - perhaps even a great - English writer, in addition to showing the gestation of one of the finest novels of the First World War.

[Admiral Beatty, First Sea Lord.] Autograph Signature (‘David Beatty | Rear-Admiral’) on part of document.

Author: 
Admiral Beatty [Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871-1936)], First Sea Lord, 1919-1927, commander of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916
Beatty
Publication details: 
Dated 21 June 1913. No place.
£50.00
Beatty

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, in which ‘deep professional commitment and mental toughness’ are said to be qualities whose possession he demonstrated ‘heroically’. Beatty’s aggressive tactics at the Battle of Jutland are often contrasted with Jellicoe’s more cautious approach. After the explosion of the Indefatigable and the Queen Mary, with the loss of 1283 officers and men, he came out with the celebrated understatement, ‘There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today’.

[Lord Bryce (James Bryce), Liberal politician, jurist and Ambassador to United States; Ist WW.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Marshall’, stating that it is not yet time for ‘negotiating the peace’ [with Germany].

Author: 
Lord Bryce [James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce] (1838-1922), Ulster-born Liberal politician, jurist, British Ambassador to United States
Publication details: 
22 November 1916.
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. The letter was torn in two vertically, and has been taped back together, with the tape going over the downstroke of the ‘y’ in Bryce’s signature. It also has a spike hole. Otherwise in fair condition. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Marshall’ and signed ‘Bryce’. Marshall’s telegram has followed him into the country, ‘& it is now too late to express the opinion you ask for’, although that would in any case ‘be really superflous because I said upon Tuesday the 14th. Novr.

[Wilfred Owen, war poet.] Printed ‘Order of Service for the dedication of a memorial to Wilfred Owen 1893-1918’. [with readers including Ted Hughes, Geoffrey Hill, D. J. Enright, Jon Stallworthy, Jill Balcon]

Author: 
[Wilfred Owen (1893-1918), war poet; Rev. Norman Print, Vicar of Dunsden; Catherine Winkworth; John Stallworthy; D. J. Enright; Robert Gittings; Geoffrey Hill; Ted Hughes; Reynolds Stone; Jill Balcon]
Publication details: 
‘All Saints Church Dunsden at 2.30 p.m. on 12 November 1978 Remembrance Sunday’.
£220.00

A nice association with a man widely regarded as the greatest English poet of the First World War, and a scarce item of which not many copies can have been printed, and no other copy has been traced. 4pp, 8vo. Bifolium on laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight creasing at head. Explanatory note on final page begins: ‘The memorial to Wilfred Owen is cut on Portland stone by Michael Harvey from lettering drawn by Reynolds Stone, CBE, RDI. / The graves of Tom and Susan Owen, the poet’s father and mother, and of his sister Mary are in the south-east corner of the churchyard.

[‘I knew the lady well’: General Sir Nevil Macready on Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, her field hospital and marital misadventures.] Autograph Letter Signed to William Toynbee, editor of the diaries of his father, actor William Charles Macready.

Author: 
Sir Nevil Macready [Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready] (1862-1946), World War general, son of William Charles Macready [William Toynbee (1849-1942); Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland (1867-1955)]
Publication details: 
28 August [no year]. On embossed letterhead of Les Sapins, Boulevard Thiers, Fontainebleau S & M’.
£180.00

Macready’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that he destroyed his diary and personal papers after the publication of his memoirs in 1924. If the present gossipy specimen is anything to go by, the loss of this material is most regrettable. (The ODNB entry for his father notes that he dealt with William Charles Macready's ‘copious and uninhibited diaries’ in similar fashion in 1914 - two years after the appearance of Toynbee’s edition.) See also the entry for Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland (1867-1955). 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage.

[Colonel F. E. G. Skey of the Royal Engineers.] Offprint of his obituary by ‘C. F. A.-C.’, with full-page portrait, from the Royal Engineers Journal; together with manuscript map of ‘SKEY TRENCH / near PONT FIXE’ (Battle of Loos, First World War).

Author: 
Colonel F. E. G. Skey [Frederic Edward Guthrie Skey] (1864-1944), first secretary and Treasurer of Institution of Royal Engineers, editor of Royal Engineers Journal [Battle of Loos, First World War]
Publication details: 
Offprint ‘Reprinted from The Royal Engineers Journal - March, 1945’ (London). Undated pencil sketch of Skey Trench, Battle of Loos, 1915.
£80.00

Scarce: no copies on WorldCat or JISC. 2pp, 8vo, paginated 1-2, with photographic portrait of ‘Colonel F. E. G. SKEY’ on art paper facing the first page. In grey wraps with printed title on front cover ‘Memoir / OF / COLONEL F. E. G. SKEY.’ In fair condition, lightly worn and aged, with two vertical creases. Describing Skey’s active career, the obituarist begins by noting that ‘It is not given to everyone to work as late in life as Skey did.’ Skey had been ‘promoted Colonel in 1912 and retirned in March, 1914, having been offered the Secretaryship of the R. E.

[World War One.] Handbill with ornate coloured decorative border, headed ‘ROLL OF HONOUR’, intended for ‘A Record of Friends and Relatives who answered the call of King and Country in the Great War: 1914-1915.’

Author: 
[World War One] Geo. Newnes Limited, London; Hudson & Kearns Limited, lithographic printers
Publication details: 
Circa 1915 or 1916. ‘Published by Geo. Newnes Ltd., Southampton St. Strand [London]’. Printer: ‘Hudson & Kearns, Ltd., London, Litho, London, S.E.’
£100.00

A nice piece of First World War ephemera, from the period of transition from volunteering to conscription. Newnes was a leading British publisher of the period, and the present item may have been inserted in one of its periodicals, which included ‘The Strand Magazine’, ‘Women’s Own’ and ‘John O’London’s Weekly’. It is printed on a leaf of good quality cream 4to wove paper, and was intended for completion. In fair condition, lightly aged, with light wear and creasing to extremities.

[Thomas Balston, publisher, painter and scholar of book production and illustration.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Tyrrell’, regarding the return of an engraving he has had photographed.

Author: 
Thomas Balston (1883-1967), director of publishers Duckworth and Co, painter and scholar of English book production and illustration, recipient of Military Cross, champion of wood engraving
Publication details: 
10 December 1918; on letterhead of Flat 64, 3 Whitehall Court, SW1 [London].
£50.00

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with one dog-eared corner. He writes that he has ‘had the engraving photographed’, and can ‘return it together with the casting’, with ‘very many thanks to you for being so kind as to lend it to me’.

[Rowland Edmund Prothero [Lord Ernle], author, politician and first-class cricketer.] Two Autograph Letters Signed, as President of the Board of Agriculture, reporting on the wartime situation to the Speaker of the House of Commons [James Lowther].

Author: 
Rowland Edmund Prothero [latterly Lord Ernle] (1851-1937), author, agriculturalist, Conservative politician and first-class cricketer [James Lowther (1855-1940), Speaker of the House of Commons]
Publication details: 
1 July and 5 September 1918. Both on letterhead of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 4 Whitehall Place, S.W.1 [London].
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both letters 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, but with the first bearing two tape stains. Both folded for postage. Each signed ‘R. E. Prothero’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Speaker’. ONE (1 July 1918): He explains that ‘Agricultural labourers are specially excluded from the category of men to whom the War Office appeal to the V.T.C is addressed’, but that it was ‘only to be expected, as I had pointed out, that the appeal would still be made to them and that they would go in the middle of the harvest season. / The scheme is opposed by the Min.

[Tsingtao [Qingdao] during the Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945.] Ten long Autograph Letters Signed from Malcolm H. Young, English agent, to his sister Celia, describing conditions during Japanese occupation.

Author: 
[Tsingtao [Qingdao] during the Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945)] Malcolm H. Young, English agent at Tsingtao [Quingdao], China, during the Japanese occupation
Publication details: 
Three from 1937 (18 January, 28 November and 10 December); seven from 1938 (13, 20 and 27 February, 6 March, 7 April, 6 May and 13 November). All addressed from ‘P.O. Box 286. Tsingtao. China / via Siberia’.
£450.00

A good well-written correspondence, painting a good picture of the day-to-day life of an English expatriate in the occupied city. Letters are signed ‘Malcolm’ and (once) ‘Mac’. Young names himself in valedictions as Celia’s brother. He does not sign with his surname, which can however be deduced from the combination of postscripts signed ‘M H Y’; and Celia being named in the endorsement to one letter as ‘C. G. Young’. He is is presumably ‘Malcolm H. Young, agent’, who features in the Tsingtao / Hong Kong List for 1941.

[Winston Churchill; leaflet] Beating the Invader. A Message from the Prime Minister

Author: 
Winston Churchill
Churchill
Churchill2
Publication details: 
May 1941
£220.00
Churchill
Churchill2

Two-sided leaflet, edges have been in the Wars, fold marks (quartering), with 2 small holes with no loss of text. See image of recto. See descriptions by my colleagues on abebooks for comment on its status as a first edition, scarcity, etc. WITH: Another two-page leaflet, but 8vo, City of Liverpool | INVASION EXERCISES | Advice to the Public [...] W.H. Baines. Good condition. See image of verso.

[Sir Dermot Boyle, Marshal of the Royal Air Force and Chief of the Air Staff.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Dean’, regarding a signed photograph he is sending in place of a ‘very bad one’ which he urges him to destroy.

Author: 
Sir Dermot Boyle [Sir Dermot Alexander Boyle] (1904-1993), Marshal of the Royal Air Force and Chief of the Air Staff
Publication details: 
9 August 1963; on letterhead of Pauls Place, Sway, Hampshire.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. At the foot of the second page, in another hand (no doubt that of the recipient) are written Doyle’s details in red ink. Signed ‘D. A. Boyle’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Dean’. He is returning the photograph he has sent, ‘endorsed in the way you ask’, but his wife agrees with him that ‘the photo you have got hold of is a very bad one so I am sending you another - also enclosed - which I hope you will use for your collection and destroy the other’.

[Lady Maud Wilbraham, President of the Silver Thimble Fund.] Autograph Card Signed to ‘Mrs Allan’ [Mrs Evelyn Julia Allan] of the Red Cross, thanking her for a contribution, and deploring the state of the times.

Author: 
Lady Maud Wilbraham [Lady Alice Maud Bootle-Wilbraham] (1861-1922), President of the Silver Thimble Fund [Mrs Evelyn Julia Allen of the Chelsea Red Cross; Mrs Hope Elizabeth Hope Clarke of Wimbledon]
Publication details: 
1 June 1918. With printed details of ‘The “Silver Thimble” Fund’, its Wimbledon address deleted and replaced by Wilbraham’s: 26 Lower Sloane Street, SW1 [London].
£35.00

An evocative artefact of one of the most successful British charities of the Great War. The Silver Thimble Fund was founded by Hope Elizabeth Hope Clarke of Wimbledon in 1915, and run from her house. Damaged trinkets made of precious metals, including 60,000 silver thimbles, were collected and melted down, paying for fifteen ambulances for the front and other medical transportation and equipment. The recipient is Mrs. Evelyn Julia Allan, listed in 1918 in the London Gazette as Honorary Secretary, Chelsea Division, British Red Cross.

[‘Pray destroy this letter.’ Hall Caine, English novelist, regarding his war work for the B.ritish Government.] Long ‘Strictly Private’ Autograph Letter Signed to Douglas Sladen, also assessing the position of the man of letters in his England.

Author: 
Hall Caine [Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine] (1853-1931), hugely-popular Victorian and Edwardian Isle of Man author [Douglas Sladen [Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen] (1856-1947), author and academic]
Publication details: 
10 April 1917; on letterhead of Heath Brow, Hampstead Heath.
£220.00

An excellent letter, in which Caine evaluates his wartime activities, criticises those of others, and gives his opinion of the the standing of the man of letters in the England of his time. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. A long letter: forty-two lines in Caine’s distinctive close hand, with the first two pages on the rectos of the leaves, and the third page written lengthwise on the verso of the first leaf. Signed ‘Hall Caine’ and addressed to ‘My dear Sladen’.

[The Campaign in Mesopotamia, British Army, First World War.] Duplicated Typescript, apparently contemporary, of satirical poem by British soldier [by ‘A Tommy’] titled ‘Alphabet of Mesopotamia’.

Author: 
[‘A Tommy’; Mesopotamia Campaign, British Army, First World War; Iraq; Indian Army; Ottoman Turks]
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but apparently written in Mesopotamia in late 1916.
£220.00

This poem is said to be an earlier work by ‘A Tommy’, the pseudonymous author of the collection ‘If I Goes West’, published in London by Harrap in 1918. WorldCat has no entries to support a second claim: that the present poem was published in 1917, with the subtitle ‘Verses written by a “Tommy” who has fought, suffered and triumphed in Mesopotamia, and is still on active service there’.

['Bert Thomas', British political cartoonist.] Copy of his book 'Close-ups Through a childs eyes / by Bert Thomas', with label bearing autograph inscription.

Author: 
‘Bert Thomas’ [Herbert Samuel Thomas MBE (1883-1966)], British political cartoonist who contributed to Punch magazine and created British propaganda posters during the two world wars
'Bert Thomas'
Publication details: 
No date (circa 1943). 'A Tuck Book / Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd / Copyright Printed in England'.
£120.00
'Bert Thomas'

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A scarce item: no copy in the British Library and the only copies on COPAC at Cambridge and the V & A. In fair condition, lightly aged and with slight creasing to outer edge of front cover, on which a label has been laid down, carrying an inscription (repaired at one corner with archival tape) by Thomas: ‘From one child to another - Love and I cant thank you enough for everything - I’ll look forward to Janiuary - Muh love I’ll writer later’. A stapled pamphlet in brown card wraps. 16pp, landscape 8vo.

[The growing First World War pensions crisis discussed by a member of the government.] Autograph Letter Signed from William Hayes Fisher [the future Lord Downham] to Willoughby Hyett Dickinson, discussing the problem ‘full of difficulty’.

Author: 
William Hayes Fisher [Lord Downham] (1853-1920), Conservative politician, President of Local Government Board and Minister of Information in Lloyd George's War Cabinet [Sir Willoughby Hyett Dickinson]
Publication details: 
25 October 1915. 13 Buckingham Palace Gardens, S.W. [London.]
£90.00

See Fisher’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Earlier in 1915 he had joined the Asquith government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board, and he would retain this post until June of 1917, when Lloyd George would promote him to the cabinet as President of the Local Government Board. The recipient Willoughby Hyett Dickinson (1859-1943), later an influential proponent of the League of Nations, began his career as a Liberal MP. He was knighted in 1918, and elevated to the peerage as Baron Dickinson of Painswick in 1930, the same year in which he joined the Labour Party.

[Lord Hankey [Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey], Secretary of Lloyd George’s War Cabinet.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Hankey’) to T. Lloyd Humberstone, regarding a book he is working on, and pressure to ‘cut out all reference to my diary’.

Author: 
Lord Hankey [Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey] (1877-1963), British civil servant, Secretary of Lloyd George’s War Cabinet [T. Lloyd Humberstone]
Publication details: 
11 June 1954. On letterhead of Highstead, Limpsfield, Surrey.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957) was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. The work referred to in this letter is probably Hankey's 'The Supreme Command', the two volumes of which would be published in 1961. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. He is returning his letter and ‘its interesting enclosure’. Not having had any experience of the Central Office of Information, he is left with the impression ‘that they are not very well informed on questions of Military Organisation’.

[‘A deliberate attempt was made to overthrow the Government’: Lloyd George’s Chief Whip lays into a Liberal on the eve of the ‘Coupon Election’ following the end of the Great War.] Long Typed Letter Signed from Frederick Guest to W. H. Dickinson.

Author: 
Frederick Edward Guest [Freddie Guest] (1875-1937), politician, sportsman and promoter of aviation, Chief Whip in Lloyd George's Coalition Liberal Party [Sir Willoughby Hyett Dickinson (1859-1943)]
Publication details: 
26 November 1918. On embossed letterhead of 12 Downing Street, S.W.1. [London.]
£150.00

An extraordinary letter, rubbing the nose of a pro-Asquith Liberal in the muck on the eve of his leader Lloyd George’s landslide Coalition victory in the 1918 ‘Coupon Election’. Guest, who was Winston Churchill’s cousin, is described in his entry in the Oxford DNB as a ‘highly controversial’ figure who ‘knew where all the bodies were buried’, a useful attribute for someone who served as the Coalition Chief Whip from 1917 to 1921. The recipient Willoughby Hyett Dickinson (1859-1943), later an influential proponent of the League of Nations, began his career a Liberal MP.

[‘An Admiral with salt in his ears and his tongue’: Admiral of the Fleet Sir Varyl Begg, First Sea Lord.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr Dean’, listing his ‘appointments as Captain & Admiral’.

Author: 
Sir Varyl Begg [Admiral of the Fleet Sir Varyl Cargill Begg] (1908-1995), First Sea Lord 1966-1968; Governor of Gibraltar 1968-1973; served with distinction in Second World War [Royal Navy]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1964 and 1965]. On his letterhead as Commander-in-Chief, Far East, Phoenix Park, Singapore.
£100.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. See David Owen, who was minister for the navy when Begg was appointed Admiral of the Fleet in 1968, commented on his death that Begg was 'an Admiral with salt both in his ears and his tongue', who 'did not suffer fools gladly' (The Independent, 15 July 1995). 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘Dear Mr Dean. / I have signed the photograph as you asked.

[Sir Peter Scott, ornithologist, conservationist and artist.] Typed Letter Signed, advising ‘Squirrel’ on ‘the right type of field glasses’ and new developments in the design of binoculars.

Author: 
Sir Peter Scott [Sir Peter Markham Scott] (1909-1989), ornithologist, artist, conservationist, founder of the Wildfowl Trust, son of Antarctic explorer Sir Robert Falcon Scott
Scott
Publication details: 
3 November 1962; on letterhead (with illustration by him of birds in flight) of the Wildfowl Trust, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.
£50.00
Scott

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight spotting to margin. Folded three times. Good signature: ‘Peter Scott.’ Addressing himself to ‘Dear Squirrel’, he writes: ‘Yes, of course I will try to advise you on the right type of field glasses. I have used Ross 12 by 50 Stepsun for many years and have found it a very good glass for ornithological and also general use. I would strongly recommend it.

[Sir Ian Hamilton, British commander in the Gallipoli Campaign.] Autograph Letter Signed to George Townsend Warner, following consultation with Lord Roberts over a musketry matter and Harrow School.

Author: 
Sir Ian Hamilton [Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton] (1853-1947), soldier, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in the First World War Gallipoli Campaign [George Townsend Warner]
Publication details: 
2 March 1901; on letterhead of 3 Chesterfield Street, Mayfair. [London.]
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is the Harrow housemaster George Townsend Warner (1865-1916), father of the novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner, referred to as ‘Townsend Warner / Historian’ in a pencil note to this letter. Signed ‘Ian Hamilton’. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with a few pin holes from attachment of a no-longer-present enclosure. Folded twice. Possibly concerning shooting practice for the Harrow army cadets.

[‘BY PERMISSION of the Ministry of Fuel and Power’.] Duplicated ‘typewritten bulletin, containing essential announcements, “Calls” and “Wanteds”, normally appearing in “The Stage”.’

Author: 
The Stage, London theatre magazine [The Ministry of Fuel and Power, Whitehall; post-war restrictions]
Publication details: 
‘Bulletin issued by Carson & Comerford Ltd.’ ‘Not for publication. From “The Stage” Office / 19/21 Tavistock St., W.C.2 / Thursday Feb. 27. 1947.’ [London.]
£120.00

A scarce piece of English theatrical ephemera, illustrative of the restrictions imposed following the Second World War. From the papers of W. Macqueen-Pope. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) The item is a duplicated bulletin of six closely-typed 8vo pages, on three loose leaves. The text is complete and clear, but the item is aged and with wear to edges. The first page is headed by the following, in capitals, above the address and phone number of ‘The Stage’: ‘According to latest directions from the Ministry of Fuel & Power this is for private circulation only and is distributed gratis.

[Christopher Fry: the schoolboy diaries of his elder brother Charles Leslie Harris.] Four years of diaries, 1916-1919, covering his time at Bedford School.

Author: 
[Christopher Fry [born Arthur Hammond Harris] (1907-2005), playwright] his brother Charles Leslie Harris (b.1902) [Bedford School]
Publication details: 
1916 to 1919, each a ‘Charles Letts School-Boy’s Diary’. At front of diaries for 1916 and 1917 he writes: ‘C L. Harris / 120 Gladstone St / Bedford’.
£450.00

See Fry’s entry by Michael Billington in the Dictonary of National Biography. His brother survives as a rather shadowy figure: he was certainly alive in 1978, when Fry referred to him in the account of his family background ‘Can You Find Me / A Family History’ (OUP). In that volume Fry describes his ‘brother Leslie’ as a baby ‘growing sturdily’, noting that ‘though he was later called by his first name Charles, he was Leslie for many years to come’.

[Admiral Jellicoe, Commander of the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.] Autograph Note Signed (‘J’) to ‘Col Crosfield’, regarding a ‘sad case’ which needs to be ‘taken up by Mr Webb’. With explanatory note in another hand.

Author: 
Admiral Jellicoe [Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe] (1859-1935), commander of Grand Fleet at Battle of Jutland
Jellicoe
Publication details: 
No date or place [circa 1928, according to accompanying note].
£90.00
Jellicoe

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 14.5 x 6 cm rectangle of air mail paper, cut from the head of a letter, on which Jellicoe’s note is clearly a comment. In good condition, lightly aged, folded once. Typed at foot of slip: ‘Thomas Butler - Meadow Cottage, Bank Road, Dawly, Salop.’ Above this, towards the right, Jellicoe writes in a close hand: ‘Col Crosfield / This is a sad case, & seems “attributable”. Can the case be taken up by Mr Webb.

[‘Snub him & send him home.’ President Woodrow Wilson is a ‘Bally Ass’ and ‘distinctly Socialistic’.] Autograph Letter Signed from Republican politician A. H. Olmsted to P. A. Currie, attacking Wilson on the eve of the Paris Peace Conference.

Author: 
A. H. Olmsted [Albert Henry Olmsted] (d.1842-1929), banker and Republican party politician, half-brother of ‘father of landscape architecture’ Frederick Law Olmsted [President Woodrow Wilson]
Publication details: 
26 January 1919; on letterheads of the Hotel Del Monte, California.
£650.00

Having made the first state visit to the United Kingdom by an American President, 26 to 28 December 1918, Wilson was in Europe at the opening of the Paris Peace Conference, which would result in the League of Nations and Treaty of Versailles. The present letter presents in forthright terms the Republican position on his activities in the aftermath of the First World War. 5pp, 12mo. On five leaves of letterheads of the Hotel Del Monte, California (‘Carl S. Stanley, Manager’). In postmarked envelope from the Hotel (stamps torn away), addressed to ‘Mr. P. A.

[John Timbs] Autograph Letter Signed from the antiquary John Timbs to an unnamed correspondent, regarding a portrait in the Illustrated London News.

Author: 
John Timbs (1801-1875), antiquary and journalist, editor of The Literary World and sub-editor of the Illustrated London News
Publication details: 
66 Pentonville Road, London. 29 November 1864.
£40.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with small scrap from white label adhering to a margin. He explains that the reason that a letter has not been forwarded to him is that he has not, 'for years, had to do with the management of the Illustrated London News', although he does contribute to it. Nevertheless he will try to get the recipient 'a proof of the Port[rai]t. - with great pleasure'. He adds, in a postscript at the head of the page: 'I think the Memoir was cut out from the Times'.

Copy of the Irish republican newspaper 'Saoirse na h-Éireann. Irish Freedom', from the papers of Robert Lynd, and with the front-page article 'Germany is not Ireland's Enemy' possibly written by him.

Author: 
Robert Lynd [Robert Wilson Lynd; Riobard ua Floinn] (1979-1949), Irish essayist [Saoirse na h-Éireann. Irish Freedom]
Publication details: 
'Printed by Patrick Mahon, 3 Yarnhall St., Dublin, for the Proprietors and published by them at their Office, 12 D'Olier Street, Dublin.' September 1914.
£100.00

8pp., folio. Unopened. On aged high-acidity paper, with wear along central vertical fold, and chipping to extremities. The article is unsigned, and covers the whole of the front page and p.5 (which is headed 'Ireland won't be fooled again.') and ends on p.6. An inflammatory piece of writing, as the following paragraph indicates: 'Good-bye, Tommy! | Firstly, the army of occupation has been taken from Ireland. Dozens of ships were steaming in and out of Dublin Bay for a week, taking away the men who held this country for England before Mr. Redmond offered Mr.

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