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Author, Title, Summary Subject Price
[Pantomime Dame.] Alwyn D. Fox, actor-manager of Horsham Repertory Company, the man who discovered Michael Caine

[Pantomime Dame.] Autograph Letter Signed from actor-manager Alwyn D. Fox, announcing that he is ‘free for Dame for coming season pants’, and giving his credentials for playing the part.

See Michael Caine’s affectionate account of Fox in ‘The Elephant to Hollywood’ (2010), from which the anecdote at the end of this entry is taken. 1p, 4to. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Hindin’, signed ‘Alwyn Fox’ and headed ‘Pantomime - “Dame”.’ While the twenty lines of text are clear and complete,...

£80.00
[Provincial Georgian Art Connoisseurs: ‘Dr Maddy’, i.e. Edwin Maddy, LLD, Mayor of Gloucester, and W. Hayward]

[Provincial Georgian Art Connoisseurs.] Two Autograph Memoranda, both signed by ‘W. Hayward’, recording an exchange of paintings (by Correggio, Hobbima, Du Jardin, et al) with ‘Dr. Maddy’ [Edwin Maddy, LLD, Mayor of Gloucester].

Interesting artefacts of provincial Georgian connoisseurship and picture dealers. If genuine (unlikely, given the period) the paintings would be of considerable interest. Given the exchange of cash, ‘W. Hayward’ could well be a visiting picture dealer. Both memoranda in good condition, lightly...

£56.00
[St Andrews University, Fife, Scotland: Kate Kennedy Day 1871; John Stuart Mill]

[St Andrews University, Kate Kennedy Day 1871.] Victorian photographic print of illustration depicting nine St Andrews Professors, one of them said to be John Stuart Mill, in fantastic revels.

The tradition of this annual day of revels at Scotland's oldest university St Andrews is said to date back to the fifteenth century and is said to commemorate the visits of a lady Katharine Kennedy to her uncle, Bishop Kennedy of St Andrews, every Spring. 9 x 5 cm sepia photographic print of...

Social history £90.00 St Andrews
[Tobacco in Orléanist France.] Le Directeur du Déptartement du Pas-de-Calais, 1834

[Tobacco in Orléanist France.] Poster-size manuscript ‘Tableau des communes qui ont cessé d’être autorisées à planter du tabac’, signed by ‘Le Directeur du Dépt du Pas-de-Calais’.

On one side of a 42 x 52 cm piece of laid paper. Folded three times. In very good condition, lightly aged. A striking item in its austere way: very neatly written out, and perhaps suitable for framing. At head: ‘No. 2. Tableau des communes qui ont cessé d’être autorisées à planter du tabac.’ At...

£180.00
Charles Williams [Charles Walter Stansby Williams] (1886-1945), poet and author, member with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien of Oxford group ‘The Inklings’ [Ruth Spalding (1913-2009), author on BBC]

[Charles Williams, with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien one of the ‘Inklings’.] Typescript of Ruth Spalding’s BBC radio programme ‘Portrait of Charles Williams’, produced by Terence Tiller and featuring T. S. Eliot, Christopher Fry and others.

Williams, who has an entry in the Oxford DNB, became a close friend of Spalding and her sister Anne after lodging with their parents during the Second World War. The present item is a transcription, made and printed out around the 1980s, of the 1961 radio programme, on one side each of 34...

£180.00
Charles-Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802), French statesman whose efforts at financial reform precipitated the crisis that led to the French Revolution [Charles-Pierre Lavalete]

[The man who set the French Revolution in motion.] Countersignature of Charles-Alexandre de Calonne to quittance on parchment of Charles-Pierre Lavalette, regarding the ‘feu Fauveau de Frenilly Receveur général des Domains des bois de Poitier’.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, it was de Calonne’s efforts at reform, which precipitated the crisis which let to the French Revolution. The present item is on a 31 x 22 cm piece of parchment. In good condition, lightly aged, with a couple of closed tears. On the front is the main...

£100.00
Frederic Vanson (1919-1993), Essex poet and and journalist; his wife the painter Olive Bentley [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright]

[Frederic Vanson, Essex poet and journalist; his wife the painter Olive Bentley.] Eight Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed from Vanson to playwright Christopher Fry, collection of poetry typescripts, and ALS to Fry from Bentley.

See David Gaskin’s obituary of Vanson, Independent, 27 July 1993, and Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, with one leaf of poetry typescript creased. Vanson’s eight Autograph Letters Signed date from between 29 December 1983 and 12 January 1993. total...

£400.00
James Glaisher (1809-1903), English aeronaut and meteorologist who made balloon ascents with Henry Tracey Coxwell (1819-1900) [Sunday trading; Fabian Society]

[James Glaisher, aeronaut and meteorologist.] Two Unsigned Autograph Drafts: the first of Letter to ‘Mrs Wallis’ on ‘English legislation against Sunday trading’; the second with reference to the Fabian Society.

See Glaisher’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The story of Glaisher’s balloon flights is travestied in the 2019 film ‘The Aeronaut’, with his co-pilot Henry Tracey Coxwell being replaced by the fictional female character ‘Amelia Wren’. The object of the ascents, made on behalf of the British...

£80.00
Lord Elphinstone [John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone] (1807-1860), Scottish soldier, Conservative politician and colonial administrator, successively Governor of Madras and Bombay

[Lord Elphinstone [John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone], Governor of Madras and Bombay.] Autograph Signature (‘Elphinstone’) and valediction to letter.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged, with paper from mount on reverse. Folded once. On 6 x 10 cm piece of paper, cut from conclusion of letter. Good firm signature. Reads: ‘[...] European troops / [...] quartered them. / Yours sincerely / Elphinstone’. See image.

History £25.00 Elphinstone
‘Clemence Dane’, nom de plume of Winifred Ashton (1888-1965), playwright, novelist and Oscar-winning screenplay writer [G. Ralton Barnard of York]

[‘Clemence Dane’, i.e. Winifred Ashton, playwright, novelist and Oscar-winning screenplay writer.] Typed Letter Signed discussing a misunderstanding of her book ‘Legend’, with inscribed photographic portrait.

See Ashton’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, with evidence of mount to blank reverse of photograph. ONE: TLS. 17 January 1922. 1p, 12mo. Folded once. Signed ‘Clemence Dane’. Addressed to G. Railton Barnard, 6 The Crescent, York. She thanks him for his ‘...

Literature £120.00 Clemence Dane