Collection of around twenty-seven Typed Letters Signed and seventeen Autograph Letters Signed, to K. W. Luckhurst, Secretary, and other officers of the Royal Society of Arts, together with some drafts and copies of responses.

Author: 
Oswald Partridge Milne (1881-1968), English architect [The Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
1936-65; Wigmore Street and Hampstead, London.
£250.00
SKU: 4885

The collection is in good condition, with very occasional minor creasing, staining and loss. Majority of items quarto. Milne was a leading Fellow of the Society, a Chairman of Council in 1959-61 and Vice-President. The collection provides a valuable insight into the day-to-day workings of the Society, from the first letter discussing the R.I.B.A., and whether the Society might set up 'a somewhat similar organisation with similar prestige could be built up for industrial artists', to the last letter commending G. C. H. Chubb on his inaugural address as Chairman of Council ('I hope you will be able to interest industrial Companies etc to associate themselves with the R.S.A.'). Most items are signed 'Oswald P. Milne'. An important aspect of the correspondence concerns repairs and redecorations to the Society's premises at 19 John Street, Adelphi, which Milne appears to have superintended, and for which it seems (from a letter of 3 January 1940) he was made a presentation by the Society. In these letters he liases with J. W. Falkner & Sons Ltd, acting on the Society's instructions and discussing the builders' quotations and other practical aspects of the work. Milne also gives his opinion (1 April 1942) on the competing claims of Messrs Vanstone and Veale and Sanders for acting as Surveyors on the work. Also present is an initialed carbon of the letter (19 May 1942) to which this letter responds, from the Acting Secretary, discussing the 'thorny problem'. 'A good deal of unpleasantness is being caused [...] It would appear that Vanstones do not propose to give way in the matter, and Veale and Sanders do not propose to admit the claim.'