DENNIS

[Dennis Wheatley, immensely popular writer of thrillers and occult novels.] Copy of his bookplate by Frank C. Papé, accompanied by Autograph Note Signed by Wheatley.

Author: 
Dennis Wheatley (1897-1977), immensely popular author of thrillers and occult novels [Frank C. Papé [Francis Cheyne Papé] (1878-1972), artist; G. Eric Gordon Tombe (murdered in 1923)]
Publication details: 
Bookplate from 1928. Note undated, but after the writing of his 1965 book ‘Dangerous Inheritance’.
£75.00

See Wheatley's entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. The aquatint bookplate, in black and white, is 10.5 x 14.5 cm (plate dimensions 9 x 12.5 cm). It was designed by Wheatley himself, and is everything you would hope from a writer in his field. A naked Wheatley, with slicked-back 1920s hairstyle, sits at the feet of a cloven-footed devil (Wheatley’s mentor G. Eric Gordon-Tombe, and the man he is alleged to have murdered) under the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

[Gladys Cooper, star of stage and screen.] Gelatin silver print of Foulsham & Banfield photograph of Gladys Cooper in the play ‘My Lady’s Dress’, with a second photograph of her embracing Dennis Eadie in the same production.

Author: 
Gladys Cooper [Dame Gladys Constance Cooper] (1888-1971), English actress, over seven decades a star of stage and screen; Dennis Eadie (1869-1928), actor; Foulsham & Banfield, London photographers
Cooper
Publication details: 
Label on reverse dates the solo photograph to 27 February 1914, with the stamp of Foulsham & Banfield, 49 Old Bond Street, W. [London]. The photograph of Cooper & Eadie without date or place, but from the same production.
£100.00
Cooper

Edward Knobloch’s play ‘My Lady’s Dress’ (‘in which’, as one newspaper wrote at the time, ‘the heroine’s dream takes her to the foreign [and London] scenes surrounding the manufacture of a costly gown’) premiered at the Royalty Theatre in London in 1914 and was revived several times through the 1920s.

[The Universal Group of Intuitives, Essex spiritualist society.] Printed prospectus: ‘A Message from Angela (General Secretary)’, with portrait, ‘concerning first vol. of the group’s issue of “Spirit Revelation unveils the Bible” by Charles Kingsley.

Author: 
‘Angela’ (Susan Boltwood), General Secretary of the Universal Group of Intuitives, Essex, founded by her and her husband Charles Dennis Boltwood (‘Crusader’); spiritualism; Charles Kingsley
Kingsley
Publication details: 
‘November, 1937. Written from’ ‘Parent Centre, “Eversley”, Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex.’
£180.00
Kingsley

The item advertised in the present prospectus (no other copy of which has been traced) is unaccountably absent from the bibliography of the Victorian author Charles Kingsley. Information regarding the Universal Group of Intuitives was provided to ‘Light’, the journal of the Spiritualist Alliance, by its General Secretary Mrs Frances Boltwood (‘Angela’), and appeared in its number of 10 September 1936.

[ Sir Denis Dutry, Huguenot merchant and East India Company Director. ] Autograph Signature ('Denis Dutry') on Exchequer receipt, as assignee of Sir John Lethieuller.

Author: 
Sir Denis Dutry [ Sir Dennis Dutry ], London Huguenot merchant, Director of the Honourable East India Company [ Sir John Lethieuller (1632/3-1719) ]
Publication details: 
[ His Majesty's Receipt of Exchequer, London. ] 22 November 1720.
£150.00

1p., 8vo. On aged and worn paper. Laid out in the customary fashion, with printed text completed in manuscript. Records a payment of £56 on an annuity by 'Sr. Denis Dutry assigne per Margent of Sr. John Lethieuller', with a reference to Lethieuller's annuity in the margin. Witnessed at foot by 'John '. Lethieuller has an entry in the Oxford DNB.

[ The Argyle Theatre, Birkenhead, Victorian music hall. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Tom') from licensee and manager T. D. Clarke to theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope, discussing productions for children.

Author: 
T. D. Clarke [ Tom Clarke ], Licensee and Manager, The Argyle Theatre, Birkenhead [ the Wirral; Merseyside; music hall; W. Macqueen-Pope [ Walter James Macqueen-Pope ] (1888-1960), theatre historian ]
Publication details: 
On illustrated letterhead of the Argyle Theatre, Birkenhead. 28 July 1945.
£45.00

The Clarke family ran the Argyle for fifty years from 1890 to 1940, during which period it was one of the best-known provincial theatres. It opened as the Argyle Music Hall in 1868, and between 1876 and 1890 was named the Prince Of Wales Theatre, being used mainly to stage plays. In 1890 the focus returned to music hall and variety and it was renamed the Argyle Theatre. Its archives are in the University of Sheffield. 2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, somehwhat grubby and creased at foot of leaf.

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