AUTOGRAPH

Livings’s entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that his farces ‘convey serious truths’ with ‘both a dazzling comic flair and an unexpected force and profundity that is heightened by his use of colloquial language’. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Twenty-two lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with four light ink underlinings. Signed ‘Yours, / Henry Livings’. One of a number of letters to Furness by writers, responding to his enquiry about socialist authors and British pubs.

See the entry for Grey and Taylor in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Begins: ‘Dear Mr Taylor - / I am just come home from seeing “the ticket of leave man,” & before I go to bed I must thank you for an evening of very great enjoyment.’ It pleased him ‘to see so good a play, not taken from the French, but really English, [the play was in fact adapted from the French] & teaching the public what is true instead of encouraging a popular delusion of the day’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Twenty-six lines of text, in a close and disciplined hand. Signed 'Henry. E C. Archbp'. In fair condition, lightly aged, with small dap of light red ink at head of last page. Folded once. Begins: 'the Guardians of the Poor. Not a Catholic Child would they give up 24 years ago. Now all the 33 Boards give us our Children, & give us their maintenance out of the Rates. They Visit our Schools and are perfectly content: & we are on the fairest & friendliest terms.

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, aged and worn, with small piece of paper torn away at foot of page, resulting in some loss of text of slug, also wear and a few nicks at head and a stain to one edge. Good firm signature ‘C Yorke’ and its surroundings unaffected. A printed form letter, signed by Yorke as ‘Right Honble. the Pay-Master General, / &c. &c. &c.’, and completed in a secretarial hand, and addressed to ‘Gentlemen’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The first letter, and probably the second, were written around the time when his ‘Down the Garden Path’ (1932) and its two sequels had made Nichols wildly popular, eliciting several parodies. ONE (TLS to ‘Mr. Bryon’): 1p, 12mo. Discoloration along top part of outer edge, otherwise in good condition. Folded once. Good clear signature ‘Beverley Nichols’. He thanks him for sending the interview. ‘I think it is admirably written, and expresses my views very clearly.’ TWO (conclusion of TLS): 1p, 12mo. Twenty-nine lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged.

Betjeman’s daughter Candida Lycett Green, in her edition of her father’s later letters, refers to Moore as the his ‘gentle secretary’, ‘whom he always called “Dorinda,” and who lived on the other side of the street’. She also states that after his stroke in 1981, the poet could no longer sign his name, and dictated letters to Moore. 1p, foolscap 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once for postage. On his letterhead (‘Sir John Betjeman’ at top left, and address at top right) printed in brown ink on cream paper. Addressed to ‘Mr. Furness’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. Large bold signature - ‘Richard F. Phillimore / 1920.’, a third of the way down the page on what is clearly the fly leaf of a book. The rest of the leaf is blank. The side of the leaf with the signature is somewhat discoloured, the reverse not so much. In good condition otherwise.

See his entry, with those of his father and son (all three named Charles Wentworth Dilke) in the Oxford DNB. With regard to the present item the ODNB states: 'His deep involvement in the project [i.e. the 1851 Great Exhibition] is demonstrated by his massive bequest of exhibition material now held at the Victoria and Albert Museum.' 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with a crease to one corner. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to 'Henry Maudsley Esq' and signed 'C Wentworth Dilke'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Fifty-eight lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Begins: Dear M. Van de Weyer / Altho' I had been prudent enough to preserve the appeal of M. Derôme to the Times in its original form, not the less welcome was the glorified text which I found on my table yesterday on our return from a short visit to Brighton. That charming appeal acted as a mental Conserve alimentaire to me, when it first appeared, and it shall be placed with certain other valued opuscules, where I can offen turn it to the like account.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with one short closed tear to an edge. Folded twice for postage. The salutation (‘My dear old “Phil,” ’) and the signature ‘Landon Ronald’ are in autograph, the rest typed. The recipient is ‘Dr. W. J. Phillips, / “Kelvinside,” / Malcolm Road, / Wimbledon, S.W.’ He sends a ‘thousand thanks’ for Phillips’s ‘delightful telegram’. ‘It was indeed good of you to think of us all down here. It was a great night, and one I shall never forget.

See the two men's entries, with that of Helena Faucit, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Addressed to 'Shirley Brooks Esq' and signed 'Theodore Martin'. Brooks has evidently asked for autographs and photographs of Martin and his wife, the celebrated actres Helena Faucit (1817-1898). The letter begins: 'My dear Brooks / Here are the autographs you wish. There is not in all The Lady of Lyons one line to which any reasonable being could wish to attach his name. It is only the situations which are good for anything.

See his entry, and those of his father and Cooke, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with dab or red wax to one corner, and part of another corner torn away, presumably in breaking open the seal. Folded diagonally for postage. Addressed to 'My dear Mr Cooke' (the recipient's identity is beyond doubt) and signed 'Richd Westmacott'.

See his entry, and Hawkins’s, in the Oxford DNB. The subject of the letter, William Beetham, was an early emigrant to New Zealand, where he was one of the colony’s first European artists. 1p, 12mo. With mourning border. In fair condition, aged and worn, with a tiny piece of loss to one corner. Traces of paper mount adhering to blank reverse. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘Edwd. Hawkins Esqr.’ and signed ‘F Chantrey’. Begins: ‘My Dear Sir / The bearer Wm.

Coleridge was the nephew of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. See his entry, and that of Cranworth, in the Oxford DNB. The letter relates to Palmerston’s first ministry. 1p, 16mo (cut down to a 12 x 10 cm piece of wove paper). In fair condition, lightly aged and discoloured, with traces of glue from mount adhering to one edge of blank reverse. Signing himself ‘J. T C’, Coleridge writes: ‘My dear Awdry / I have been with the Chancellor in consequence of the above - & promised to send him a minute in writing - where we have had trouble. Can you help me with your recollection. / In haste.

See his long and appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, concluding with the praise of his ‘pioneering achievements, especially in the fields of Vedic studies and comparative philology'. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lighty aged. Folded for postage. In autograph are the salutation (‘Dear Mr. Conway’) and valediction and postscript (‘Yours very truly / F. Max Müller / (in bed with a cold)’. The printed body of the letter reads: ‘Being quite unable to answer the numerous letters addressed to me, I had to choose this way of thanking my friends for their kind congratulations.

See his entry, and that of his father, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with neatly-trimmed remnants of a windowpane mount adhering to the edges of the leaf. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Madam’ and signed ‘R. W:’, followed by odd flourish.

Sligo was appointed Governor of Jamaica in 1834. His efforts on behalf of the recently-emancipated slaves (including the financing of two schools) caused him to become unpopular with the plantation owners, and he was effectively ousted in 1836. 2pp, 12mo. Twenty-one lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Small square of paper with engraving of the family crest laid down at the foot of the second page. Addressed to ‘My Dear Sir’ and signed ‘Sligo’. The Marquis’s handwriting is somewhat opaque.

Olivier’s luminous achievements are well described in his entry in the Oxford DNB. An 8 x 11 cm photographic image, printed in black and white on an 8.5t x 13.5 cm card, with the actor's autograph signature mostly on the blank area beneath the image: ‘L Olivier’. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. An attractive image of the head of the young thespian, staring moodily to his right, hair slicked back, with part of white shirt and smart dark jacket just visible. Not present among the 114 portraits of Olivier in the National Portrait Gallery inventory.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Signed ‘J Fletcher Moulton’. Begins: ‘Dear Mrs Earle / Just at the worst moment of the fight your inspiring letter came to cheer me.’ He hopes he will be deserving of the ‘kind things’ she writes: ‘I could truthfully say things at least as kind in return but I fear my epistolary style does not lend itself thereto so I shall trust that you will take these as said.’ He ends by saying that he will retain the letter ‘as one of those which has [sic] given me most pleasure in my life’.

See her 18 October 2006 obituary in Variety, which states that 'Bigley had been playing Laurey in the London production of “Oklahoma!” when she was offered the role of Sarah Brown, the “mission doll” who entrances gambler Sky Masterson in the show based on Damon Runyon’s characters.' She won a Tony Award for her performance. A 10.5 x 13.5 black and white photographic image, printed on an 11.5 x 16.5 cm piece of matt card. In good condition, lightly aged. A head and torso shot of a seated Bigley dressed as Laurey, smailing over her left shoulder against a plain and shadowy background.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, which describes how she accepted Max Reinhardt's offer ‘to play the Madonna in a mime play, The Miracle. This was first staged in the USA from November 1923 to the following May, and again for the following three autumns and winters. It toured Europe in 1927, and London and the provinces in 1932; the last performance was in January 1933.

A brown-tinged print (not sepia), on 16 x 21 cm matt card, with 0.75 cm border. In fair condition, very lightly creased and worn. A full length shot of a smiling and clean-shaven Keel, in cowboy getup with ponyskin chaps and his cowboy hat in his left hand, opening what is clearly a stage-prop wicket gate, with backdrop of farm behind him. In Keel's autograph in light blue ink to the left of his torso: 'To Mary, / Best of Everything / Sincerely / Harold Keel'. See Image.

Power made his Broadway debut in 1922. The film role for which he is perhaps best remembered is as Gregory Peck's boss in 'Roman Holiday' (1953). A 15 x 12 cm black and white image, printed on 17 x 14 cm matt card. In good condition, lightly aged. A head and shoulders shot of a pensive Power, pipe in mouth, trilby on head, in pin stripe suit jacket with white shirt and tie. At top right, against the plain background, in green ink, Power has written: ‘Best Wishes / Hartley Power.’

Three pages,12mo, bifolium, corner marked, mainly good condition. Text: The Grand Duke is desirous to see the Docks [underlined] on Wednesday, & we thought the best way of peforming it would be in going there by water. | Could we therefore have your Barge on that day - when [underlined] should we embark & at what o'clock [phrase underlined] - for the tide.

See his entry in Grove’s, and Percy A. Scholes’s obituary in the Musical Times, June 1941. 2pp, 12mo. Addressed to ‘Messrs. T. Seeley Clark & Co:’ and signed ‘Stewart Macpherson’. On bifolium of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. They have led him to understand that he would have a revised proof of his ‘biography for Modern Makers of Music’ in time for the publication of the work in the autumn would be published that autumn, and is writing to remind them that he has ‘not yet received the revise’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The poem, one of Watkins’ best, is printed under the heading ‘VERNON WATKINS | Poet and Goldsmith’ on both sides of a 12mo leaf, paginated 13-14. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. On the lower part of the second page is a reproduction of an attractive pen drawing of Richmond Bridge by Eleanor Poore. After the end of the poem and above the illustration is Watkins’ assured signature, good and clear: ‘Vernon Watkins’.

See his entry and Taylor’s in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Sixteen lines of closely-written text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘My dear Mr. Taylor / Would you allow me to introduce a friend of mine Mr. Knewstube to you.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, together with that of the Williams family. (The recipient Joseph Lionel Williams (c.1832-1877) was son of the wood-engraver Samuel Williams (1788-1853).) 2pp, 12mo. On paper with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo, with last page written crosswise. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir Edwin’ and signed ‘F D Lugard’. He regrets to inform him that there is ‘no present vacancy in Northern Nigeria’, but that he has ‘written to the c.o. on behalf of Mr Trayler whom you recommend, & I hope he may obtain an appointment in another Colony if no vacancy occurs in N. Nigeria’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In his expansive hand, with a good bold signature. On worn and aged leaf of laid paper, with two small punch holes to inner edge, affecting one word of text. Reads: ‘Dear Sirs / I feel quite at a loss to express my sense of this mark of your attention. I can only assure you that my best exertions shall not be wanting to promote your views & interests. / Meantime / I am Dear Sirs / Yours faithfully / John Graham Dalyell’.