CENSORSHIP

[William Bodham Donne, Librarian, London Library, Examiner of Plays, Lord Chamberlain’s Office.] Printed offprint of synopsis of Royal Institution talk: ‘On the Works of Chaucer, considered as Historical Illustrations of England in the 14th Century.’

Author: 
W. B. Donne [William Bodham Donne] (1807-1882), journalist, Librarian of the London Library, Examiner of Plays in the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, friend of Edward FitzGerald [Royal Institution]
Publication details: 
'Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, April 25, 1856.' [London.]
£45.00

The present item differs from the version published on pp.248-254 of the ‘Notices of the Proceedings’, vol.2 (1854-1858), and no other copy has been traced. Drophead title: ‘Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, April 25, 1856. / Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bart. D.C.L. F.R.S. Vice-President, in the Chair. / W. B. Donne, Esq. / On the Works of Chaucer, considered as Historical Illustrations of England in the 14th Century.’ 10pp, 16mo, paginated [1]-10. In very good condition, lightly aged. Stabbed as issued, with no wraps, and unopened. Begins: ‘MR.

[Karl Gustav Vollmöller, German symbolist playwright.] Typescript of English text of 'The Version that was banned' of 'A Venetian Night. | A Pantomime in 13 Tableux, by Carl Vollmoeller', with variants required by the Lord Chamberlain's office.

Author: 
'Carl Vollmoeller' [Karl Gustav Vollmöller] (1878-1948), German playwright and polymath, screenwriter of Marlene Dietrich's 1930 film 'The Blue Angel' [Lord Chamberlain's office; W. J. MacQueen-Pope]
Publication details: 
[London. 1912.]
£220.00

A nice artefact of the censorship of pre-First World War British theatre. The London production of Vollmoeller's wordless drama 'Eine Venezianische Nacht' was censored by the Lord Chamberlain's office, and the production at the Palace Theatre, London, in November 1912 was panned by the critics. 15pp, folio, on fifteen leaves gathered together with green ribbon, interleaved with six typed slips of variant text, and with one leaf a composite made up of several sections glued together. Mimeographed typescript. In fair condition, on aged, worn and creased paper, with final leaf detached.

[UK Parliament: the first Secret Session in House of Lords, 1916.] Twenty-seven items from papers of N. D. Bosworth Smith of Privy Council Office, including draft Order in Council, correspondence from Lords Crewe, Lansdowne, Morley, Haldane, Milner.

Author: 
UK Parliament: the first Secret Sessions, 1916 [House of Lords; Secret Sittings; N. D. Bosworth Smith of Privy Council Office; Lords Crewe, Lansdowne, Morley, Haldane, Milner, Duke of Devonshire
Publication details: 
Privy Council Office and other locations in London and elsewhere in Great Britain. 20 to 25 April 1916.
£1,350.00

An interesting collection of material relating to the preparations for the historic first Secret Session in the House of Lords, from the papers of Neville Digby Bosworth Smith (1886-1964) of the Privy Council Office. The material dates from the five days preceding 25 April 1916, when the House of Lords having voted in favour of the measure, it held a secret session to debate a motion regarding conscription following the passing of the Military Services Act 1916. (For a contemporary account of the parallel proceedings in the other house, see Sir C. P.

[Public Morality in 1907: 'Living Statuary' and the National Vigilance Association.] File of cards, press cuttings, circulars, copy letter to Daily Chronicle, from papers of William J. Taylor of London Female Preventive and Reformatory Institution.

Author: 
'Living Statuary' [W. A. Coote, National Vigilance Association; E. Fox Butler, London Council for the Promotion of Public Morality; 'La Milo', i.e. Pansy Montague; Music Hall; London County Council]
Publication details: 
Between April and June 1907 [Daily Chronicle; National Vigilance Association; London Council for the Promotion of Public Morality; London Female Preventive and Reformatory Institution.]
£520.00

A marvellous slice of unexplored Edwardian social history, raising questions of morality, censorship, art and pornography, from the papers of William J. Taylor, Secretary of the London Female Preventive and Reformatory Institution. The 'Living Statuary' controversy arose over 'the propriety of the living statuary exhibitions in music-halls' (Daily Chronicle, 30 April 1907), and in particular the performances of the Australian artiste Pansy Montague (b.

[Sir John Pollock and the 'Play that was Banned': venereal disease, censorship, War Economy publication.] Material relating to play 'Damaged Goods', including revised typescript and correspondence with bishops and Ministries of Health and Information

Author: 
Sir John Pollock; Eugène Brieux; Jonathan Cape; Sir Weldon Dalrymple-Champneys; Lawrence Whitaker Harrison; Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, venereal disease; Ministry of Information
Publication details: 
London and the provinces, 1943.
£950.00

A fascinating and revealing collection of material, touching on questions of censorship and sexual morality in twentieth-century Britain, as well as the problems of publication during the Second World War. From the papers of Sir John Pollock (1872-1963), and relating to the 1943 revival of his 'Damaged Goods', a translation of Eugène Brieux's scandalous play 'Les Avariés'. Written in 1901, Brieux's play concerns the effects of a diagnosis of syphilis on a respectable family, and was met with outrage on its first appearance in Paris in 1902.

[Sir John Pollock and Eugène Brieux: London theatre, censorship, venereal disease.] First separate English and American printings of 'Damaged Goods', the former with Pollock's autograph emendations; copy of 'The Play Pictorial' on London production.

Author: 
Sir John Pollock; Eugène Brieux; The Connecticut Society of Social Hygiene; George Bernard Shaw
Publication details: 
English edition: A. C. Fifield, London, 1914. American Edition: Brentano's, New York, for the Connecticut Society of Social Hygiene, 1912. The Play Pictorial: London, 1917.
£950.00

Three items from the papers of Sir John Pollock, relating to his translation of Eugène Brieux's scandalous play 'Les Avariés'.

[Home Secretary prepares Press for Ministry of Information on eve of World War Two.] 'Private and Confidential' typescript of 'Meeting between the Secretary of State for Home Affairs [Sir Samuel Hoare] and the Newspaper Proprietors Association etc.'

Author: 
Sir Samuel Hoare [Viscount Templewood]; Newspaper Proprietors Association [Ministry of Information; E. C. Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere; Daily Mail; Lord Burnham; Daily Telegraph; Fleet Street]
Publication details: 
'Home Office, Whitehall, S.W.1. [London] | Wednesday, 29th March, 1939.' '(Transcript from the Shorthand Notes of Treasury Reporter)'.
£650.00

Secret duplicated Home Office document, no other copy of which has been discovered (none on OCLC WorldCat, for example) and no reference to the meeting found.

[ Proof of the suppressed version of Ian Hamilton's biography, with fullest quotations from Salinger's letters. ] J. D. Salinger: A Writing Life.

Author: 
Ian Hamilton [ J. D. Salinger; William Heinemann Ltd, London publishers; Random House ]
Publication details: 
Suppressed proof. [ London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1986 ]
£1,850.00

The present item is a product of one of the most celebrated publishing controversies of the twentieth century. In 1982 the English critic and poet Ian Hamilton set out to write a biography of the legendarily-reclusive Salinger. The attempt, as The Times explained in Hamilton's obituary, 31 December 2001, 'went horribly wrong': 'Salinger succeeded in blocking publication in the courts', because the book, to be titled 'J. D.

[ A. G. Morris & G. F.Norton. ] Typescript of their play 'King's Freedom', with covering letter to film maker Percy Nash, regarding censorship following the Abdication of Edward VIII, and Compton Mackenzie.

Author: 
A. G. Morris [ Arthur Morris ] and G. F. Norton [ Percy Nash [ Percy Cromwell Nash ] (1869-1958), pioneering British film director; King Edward VIII; Abdication, 1936; Compton Mackenzie, novelist ]
Publication details: 
The play undated, and 'the property of A. G. MORRIS Eastquantoxhead, near Bridgwater, Somerset'. Morris's letter on letterhead of East Quantoxhead Rectory, 21 March 1939.
£180.00

PLAY: 108pp., 4to. On rectos only. Attached with green ribbon in card folder. Information about characters given in manuscript. In fair condition, on aged paper, in aged and worn folder. LETTER: 2pp., 12mo. Signed 'Arthur Morris'. On aged and creased paper. Presumably referring to his collaborator, he begins the letter: 'Fred writes to say that you have a friend, who might be interested in our Play. It is kind of you to bother. I still believe in the poor old play, but we had a nasty shock when Edward abdicated!

][ Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer. ] Printed 'Stage Play License', completed in manuscript, and signed by Spencer ('Althorp') as Lord Chamberlain, permitting performance of 'The Assignation' at the New Theatre, St Martins Lane, London.

Author: 
Charles Robert Spencer (1857-1922), 6th Earl Spencer [ styled Viscount Althorp between 1905 and 1910 ], Lord Chamberlain of the Household, 1905-1912
Publication details: 
From 'The Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty's Household' [ St James's Palace, London. ] Dated 22 December 1905.
£120.00

On aged and worn paper, with some staining at head. A somewhat grand memorial of English censorship. The license is printed in engraved copperplate beneath the royal crest on a 31.5 x 21 cm piece of watermarked laid paper.

[ Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson. ] Early uncensored typescript draft of 'Song of the Drum' ('A New Musical Comedy | Book'), before the setting was changed from India to 'Huzbaria' because of political unrest.

Author: 
Guy Bolton [ Guy Reginald Bolton ] (1884-1979), Anglo-American writer of musical comedies, associated with P. G. Wodehouse; Fred Thompson [ Frederick A. Thompson ] (1884-1949), English librettist
Publication details: 
With typed address of 'Fred Thompson | 419, East 57th Street | New York City. | (Plaza 2018)'. Stamp of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane Ltd. London, W.C.2. Undated [ circa 1931 ].
£450.00

Jeffrey Richards, in his 'Imperialism and Music: Britain, 1876-1953' (2001), pp.272-274, discusses this piece at some length, beginning: 'There was a late entry in the imperial cycle, the now-forgotten The Song of The Drum, written by Fred Thompson and Guy Bolton, which opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on 9 January 1931. It starred Derek Oldham as Captain Anthony Darrell, Bobby Howes as comic relief Chips Wilcox, Peter Haddon as silly-ass "Goofy" Topham and Marie Burke as glamorous spy Countess Olga von Haulstein.

[ Catholic Film Institute, London. ] Hon. Secretary's Report, 1949, and Statement of Accounts for the Year ended 30th June, 1949.

Author: 
Rev. John A. V. Burke, Hon. Sec., Catholic Film Institute, London
Publication details: 
[ Catholic Film Institute, London. ] 1949. [ Carey & Claridge, Printers, 253 Fulham Road, Chelsea, S.W.3. ]
£56.00

Stapled printed pamphlet. 11 + [1]pp., 16mo. In good condition, on lightly aged paper with rusted staples. A page of officers, headed by the Archbishop of Westminster as President, and Rt Rev. Abbot Upson as Vice-President, is followed by Burke's five-page report, and then three pages of balance sheets for the organisation, 'Focus', general funds, 'Penny-a-Day' Fund, and 'Fatima' Fund. No other copy traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC.

[Printed pamphlet.] Revelations from Printing-House Square. Is the Anonymous System a Security for the Purity and Independence of the Press? A Question for The Times Newspaper. By W. Hargreaves.

Author: 
W. Hargreaves [ William Hargreaves ] [ The Times of London ]
Publication details: 
Second edition. London: William Ridgway, 169, Piccadilly, W. 1864.
£56.00

32pp., 8vo. Disbound. On aged and worn paper, with title leaf detached. Hargreaves begins the pamphlet by stating his case: 'The real issue involved is, not whether the "impersonality" of the Press, as illustrated by the management of the Times, is fair and acceptable to a few prominent politicians, but whether it is useful and beneficial to the community at large.

[Henrietta Maria Bowdler [Mrs. Harriet Bowdler], religious author and 'Bowdleriser' of Shakespeare.] Autograph Letter Signed ('H M Bowdler'), thanking 'Miss Walters' for her 'beautiful' works.

Author: 
Henrietta Maria Bowdler [Mrs. Harriet Bowdler] (1750-1830), author and literary editor, main 'Bowdleriser' of 'The Family Shakspeare' (1807)
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£150.00

1p., 16mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight damage to second leaf, which is addressed to 'Miss Walters' and carries a small seal in red wax. The letter reads: 'My dear Miss Walters | I am so much obliged that I know not how to thank you as I wish. Your works are beautiful, & will be a most valuable present to our poor Moravians. Accept my sincerest thanks, & believe me ever | My dear Madam | Yr much oblig'd & affecte | H M Bowdler'.

[William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury.] Autograph Letter Signed ('W. London') as Bishop of London, to an unnamed male recipient, regarding possible action 'to prevent gross abuses at the Theatre' and 'profane amusement encroaching on the sabbath'

Author: 
William Howley (1766-1848), successively Bishop of London (1813-1828) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1828-1848) [theatres in Georgian London; sabbatarianism; Sunday observance; censorship]
Publication details: 
London. 6 March 1828.
£70.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight loss at the head of the second leaf affecting a couple of words of text. The letter begins: My dear Sir, | I have on different occasions interfered to prevent gross abuses at the Theatre to which you call my attention, and have I believe to a certain degree procured their correction. But thhere is great reason to fear that by attempting too much more may be lost than gained.

Manuscript reminder from the Lord Chamberlain [Marquess of Breadalbane] to the Manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden [Frederick Gye the younger], that 15 November 1849 is a Public Day of Thanksgiving, to be 'reverently and devoutly observed'.

Author: 
John Campbell (1796-1862), 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane, Lord Chamberlain from 1848 to 1852) [Frederick Gye (1810-1878), manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden [now the Royal Opera House]
Publication details: 
Lord Chambelain's Office [London]; 10 November 1849.
£180.00

1p., folio. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight staining to blank reverse. Fairly written out on a piece of Britannia laid paper. 'Lord Chamberlain's Office | 10th. November 1849. | The Lord Chamberlain thinks it right to draw the attention of the Manager of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden to The Queen's Proclamation of the 6th. Instant, in which Her Majesty, for the Reasons therein stated, earnestly exhorts that the Public Day of Thanksgiving, the 15th. Instant be reverently and devoutly observed'.

Typed Letter Signed from J. B. Priestley to E. M. Forster, accusing him of being 'in the wrong' regarding a Society of Authors questionnaire on National Service. With Autograph Copy and Typed Copy by Forster of letters by him to the Society.

Author: 
J. B. Priestley [E. M. Forster; Denys Kilham Roberts (1903-1976), of the Society of Authors]
Publication details: 
Priestley's letter to Forster: 3 The Grove, Highgate Village, London; 25 May 1939.
£400.00

Forster's main objection is that the National Service questionnaire, sent out by the Society of Authors 'at the suggestion of the Ministry of Labour', asks members to 'give general particulars of their political opinions' (see Hansard, 25 May 1939). Four items. ONE. Priestley's letter, addressed to 'My dear Forster' by 'J. B. Priestley'. 1 p, 4to. Twenty lines. Fair, on aged paper.

Autograph Letter Signed (by which of the above is unknown) to [Tom Driberg, at that time a Beaverbrook hack], about the denial of paper to the Channel Islands Review.

Author: 
P. Gray and F. Lewis, Guernsey C.I. and Jersey C.I. respectively
Publication details: 
'Riemore', Yewstock Crescent West, Chippenham, Wilts., 11 May 1942.
£65.00

Two pages, grubby but text clear and complete, with obscure stamp (information about acknowledgment?). The order from the Paper Control forbidding the publication of the Channel Islands Review is a real hardship to Refugee Islanders also to some of the 9,000 serving soldiers and seamen many of whom have wives, children and relatives in the occupied islands. | As the Review was only supplied on order and copies were passed on to friends the quantity of paper used must have been very small.

Modern Morality and Modern Toleration.

Author: 
E. S. P. Haynes [Edmund Sidney Pollock Haynes (1877-1949)]
Publication details: 
London: Watts & Co., 17 Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, E.C. 1912.
£45.00

8vo, 24 pp. In original grey printed card wraps. Disbound. Text clear and complete on aged paper. Wraps with some damage at spine caused by disbinding. Compliments slip loosely inserted, bearing a simple pencil sketch of a face in profile. A few light pencil annotations.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Stanley Buckmaster') to [F.] Meade[, Secretary, Official Press Bureau].

Author: 
Stanley Owen Buckmaster, 1st Viscount Buckmaster (1861-1934), Liberal politician and Lord Chancellor [the Official Press Bureau; Great War; censorship]
Publication details: 
12 April 1915; on embossed government letterhead of the Official Press Bureau, Whitehall.
£35.00

12mo, 3 pp, 26 lines. Good, with tiny pin holes at head and foot of both leaves of the bifolium, and one corner roughened by removal of mount. Buckmaster has learnt that Meade is 'contemplating leaving [his] work in this Office', and would 'greatly regret any such step' as Meade's work is 'of great assistance and is much appreciated by all of us in this room'. While Buckmaster realises that there is little opportunity for advancement, he feels that 'we all do render considerable service to the state'.

Victorian type-facsimile [by John Camden Hotten or H. J. Bellars?] of 'Joe Miller's Jests Or, The Wits Vade-Mecum. [...] now set forth and published by his lamentable Friend and former Companion, Elijah Jenkins, Esq. [i.e. John Mottley]

Author: 
Joe Miller's Jests; 'Elijah Jenkins' [John Mottley] [H. J. Bellars; John Camden Hotten]
Publication details: 
Title-page reads 'London: Printed and Sold by T. READ, in Dogwell-Court, White-Fryars, Fleet-Street, MDCCXXXIX. [1739]', but in fact a type facsimile [by John Camden Hotten or H. J. Bellars?], circa 1861].
£45.00

8vo: [ii] + 70 pp. Internally sound and tight, on lightly-aged paper. In worn contemporary burgundy quarter-binding with heavily-worn spine, recased with repair to rear endpapers. COPAC lists an entry for a copy in Cambridge University Library described as 'Probably the Lithographic facsimile by H.J. Bellars. London, reprinted 1861'.

Five items relating to Horton's application for permission to operate a wireless telegraph, including his 'Licence to establish wireless telegraphy station for experiments in wireless telegraphy'.

Author: 
John Laurence Horton (1915-1997), British analytical chemist and radio ham [Wireless Telegraphy Acts, 1904-1926; Post Office Telegrams; Postmaster General; General Post Office]
Publication details: 
All 1939.
£120.00

All five items in good condition, with a little rust spotting from a staple. A little wear to the edge of item two, not affecting text. Four of the five stamped with Horton's call sign '2AHN'. Item One: a printed leaflet (4to, 2 pp), dated GENERAL POST OFFICE, | London | March, 1939.', headed 'B | EXPERIMENTS IN WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY | [...] | AUTHORITY FOR SENDING AND RECEIVING | SUMMARY OF CONDITIONS OF ISSUE | NOTE. - All sending stations must also be equipped for reception'. Item Two: Typewritten copy of Horton's 'Application for Experimental Licence 25th.

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