BEAVERBROOK

[Lord Beaverbook, owner of the Daily Express, Fleet Street press baron.] Typed Note Signed (‘Max Aitken’) to the educationalist T. Lloyd Humberstone, enquring into ‘the situation regarding the Bedford estate’.

Author: 
Lord Beaverbrook [Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook] (1879-1964), Fleet Street press baron, owner of the Daily Express and other titles [T. Lloyd Humberstone, educationalist]
Publication details: 
8 May 1948. On House of Commons and 121 Fleet Street letterhead of ‘The Hon. Max Aitken, D.S.O., D.F.C., M.P.’
£40.00

See Beaverbrook's entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957) was an educationalist and prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed to Humberstone at 15 Gower Street, London. After apologizing for the delay in replying, due to his absence, he simply states: ‘I am inquiring into the situation regarding the Bedford estate.’ Possibly written in reference to the Senate House development, in which Humberstone took a keen interest.

[Collie Knox, the Daily Mail's 'star writer', bemoans his sacking from his £4000 a year job.] Typed Letter Signed ('Collie') with Autograph postscript, to Fleet Street editor Collin Brooks, discussing the circumstances of his dismissal.

Author: 
Collie Knox [Columb Thomas Knox] (1899-1977), popular BBC broadcaster and Daily Mail journalist [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist and Fleet Street editor]
Publication details: 
Whin Cottage, Beechy Leees, Otford, near Sevenoaks, Kent. (On cancelled letterhead of the Daily Mail, London.) 23 January 1941.
£130.00

See Knox's obituary, Times, 4 May 1977 (which refers to 'some passages at arms' he had at the BBC with Sir John Reith). 3pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor staining from paperclip. An interesting glimpse into the world of Fleet Street 'big salaries' during the war period. He begins: 'My dear Collin Brooks, | A letter such as yours, from a man such as yourself for whom I have so strong a personal, and professional, regard comes as a gleam of blue in a darkish sky.' He proceeds to bemoan his sacking by the Daily Mail: 'Yes, it is a bad business.

[Lord Beaverbrook responds to Collin Brooks's appeal for a job.] Two telegrams ('Maxwell Beaverbrook' and 'Max'), one in reply to Brooks's appeal on loss of editorship of Truth, with copy letter from publisher Ronald Staples.

Author: 
Lord Beaverbrook [Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook] (1879-1964), Fleet Street press baron [Collin Brooks, journalist and editor; Ronald Staples, publisher of the magazine 'Truth']
Publication details: 
Four items from 1952, the other from 1950.
£80.00

Five documents. The two telegrams are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn; the other items are in good condition. A photocopy of a typed page from Brooks's diary explains the context in entertaining fashion: '”Staggerer number one,” whispered Dick Swiveller over my shoulder this morning when on my office desk I found a letter from Ronald Staples giving me a twelve month's statutory notice of dismissal from the editorship of Truth.' He explains that the magazine is losing money, and criticises Staples's plans. 'However – here's a how-de-do!

[Cecil Harmsworth King, newspaper proprietor.] 103 Autograph Letters Signed and 22 Autograph Cards Signed to Philip Dossé, editor of 'Books and Bookmen', regarding his reviewing and other subjects. With a batch of letters from King's wife Ruth King.

Author: 
Cecil King [Cecil Harmsworth King] (1901-1987), chairman of Daily Mirror Newspapers and International Publishing Corporation; Dame Ruth Railton (1915–2001) [Philip Dossé, editor of Books and Bookmen]
Publication details: 
All but one of the 115 letters either from The Pavilion, Hampton Court, East Molesey, Surrey, or The Pavilion, Greenfield Park, Dublin. A few of the letters dated from between 1971 and 1979; the others from the same period.
£1,500.00

King's letters total 135pp., 12mo; 10pp., 4to. The earlier letters (mainly from East Molesey) all addressed to 'Mr Dossé'; 37 of the later letters (all from Dublin) addressed to 'Dear Philip'. The collection also contains the holograph of King's review of Graham Cleverley's 1976 book 'The Fleet Street Disaster' (6pp, foolscap 8vo), and 11 Autograph Letters Signed and three Autograph Cards Signed to Dossé from King's wife Ruth (neé Railton), dating from between 1971 and 1979. These are written in a chatty style, the letters totalling 25pp., 12mo; 2pp., 4to.

[Archive; unpublished history] Papers and correspondence relating to an intended history of the early years of the Daily Express

Author: 
John Gordon, editor of the Sunday Express [Lord Beaverbrook]:
Publication details: 
No particular place or date.
£2,000.00

For more about John Rutherford Gordon (1890-1974), editor of the Sunday Express between 1928 and 1952, see his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Although the volume for which the present material was amassed did not materialise, there is no doubting the seriousness of the project. Working with Beaverbrook's approval and encouragement (the nine memoranda by him present in the collection indicate his interest), Gordon employed Sunday Express news editor Jack Garbutt (John Lambert Garbutt, 1907-1973), John ('Jock') Selby Bradford and 'T. N. Shane' (i.e. H. A. H.

Typed Letter Signed ('Beaverbrook') from the press baron Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, proprietor of the Daily Express, to the London bookseller Charles J. Sawyer, regarding 'the United States Tariff Act'.

Author: 
William Maxwell "Max" Aitken (1879-1964), 1st Baron Beaverbrook [Lord Beaverbrook], Anglo-Canadian press baron, proprietor of the Daily Express [Charles J. Sawyer, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Lord Beaverbrook's Office, 29 Bury Street, St James', SW1 [London]. 14 July 1930.
£60.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with strip from mount adhering at head of blank reverse. He thanks Sawyer for his letter: 'I am obliged to you for sending me the front page of the United States Tariff Act'. 'The Americans are out for their own prosperity all the time. I only wish our own Government would show the same propensity.' He addresses the letter to 'Chas. J. Sawyer, Esq., 12 & 13, Grafton Street, New Bond Street, W.1.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Bill') to Astor ('Max'), on the death of his father Lord Beaverbrook.

Author: 
William Waldorf Astor (1907-1966), 3rd Viscount Astor [Sir John William Maxwell Aitken (1910-1985), 2nd Baronet; Max Aitken
Publication details: 
9 June 1964; on Cliveden House letterhead.
£56.00

4to, 2 pp. Very good. Small ink tick at head of first page (not affecting text).

Autograph Letter Signed ('R. Bruce Lockhart') to 'Max', on the death of his father Lord Beaverbrook.

Author: 
Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart [Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart] (1887-1970), Scottish diplomat and writer [William Maxwell Aitken (1879-1964), 1st Baron Beaverbrook; his son Max Aitken (1910-1985)]
Publication details: 
10 June 1964; on letterhead of the Gyllyngdune Hotel Ltd., Falmouth.
£85.00

12mo, 2 pp. Twenty-eight lines of text. Good, on lightly-creased paper. Lockhart's signature has been docketed in ink (by Aitken?) 'Sir Robert'. A letter of condolence on the death of Aitken's father. Reminisces about the 'moment I came into his life', a 'luncheon at Charkley' soon after the First World War: 'The only other guest was Augustus John. [...] as you know, I learnt much from him. Indeed, it was he who taught me how to write, and in his house I met numerous people whom, but for him, I should never have known.' He considers that Beaverbrook treated him 'nobly'.

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