END

[John Wood, distinguished English actor, associated with Tom Stoppard.] His copy of the script of ?The Fantasticks / A Parable about Love / Words by Tom Jones / Music by Harvey L. Schmidt?, with autograph note by him and stage plans.

Author: 
John Wood (1930-2011), English actor associated with Tom Stoppard [?The Fantasticks?, musical by Tom Jones and Harvey L. Schmidt]
Publication details: 
Title page: ?Copyright 1959 by Tom Jones and Harvey L. Schmidt / Property of: Music Theatre Inc. / 119 West 57th Street/ New York 19, New York?. By ?the studio duplicating service / 434 west 43rd street, n.y.c. / LO 3-1225? [New York City, USA.]
£400.00

See Michael Coveney?s obituary in the Guardian, 10 August 2011, which states that Wood was ?one of the greatest stage actors of the past century?, and that he ?returned to the West End in 1961 as Henry Albertson in the whimsical off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, at the Apollo?. 86pp, 4to. Each act separately paginated. Duplicated and bound with metal studs into black waxed-card wraps, with each page on the recto of a separate leaf. Title ?THE FANTASTICKS? printed on front cover, with details of the Studio Duplicating Service. In good condition, lightly aged, in lightly creased wraps.

[H. H. Asquith, Liberal Prime Minister.] Autograph Signature to Printed Circular regarding 'the University Settlements' [in London's East End and elsewhere] as a solution for 'social problems'.

Author: 
H. H. Asquith [Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith] (1852-1928), Liberal Prime Minister [University Settlements; Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel; Oxford House, Bethnal Green]
H. H. Asquith
Publication details: 
Printed Circular dated 'October, 1911.' No place.
£65.00
H. H. Asquith

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The ‘settlement’ movement was the result of growing unease among the educated classes regarding the condition of the poor. The two most celebrated settlements, both still active, are Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel and Oxford House in Bethnal Green. From the papers of Sir William David Ross (1877-1971), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford. The present printed circular is 1p, 12mo. Printed on wove watermarked paper. In good condition, lightly aged and folded once. Asquith’s signature is genuine. Reads: ‘October, 1911.

[Lord Bryce (James Bryce), Liberal politician, jurist and British Ambassador to United States.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to 'Ross' (the future Sir W. D. Ross), on East End philanthropy, Oxford, and the war.

Author: 
Lord Bryce [James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce] (1838-1922), Ulster-born Liberal politician, jurist, British Ambassador to United States [Sir William David Ross (1877-1981), Oxford Vice-Chancellor]
Publication details: 
1914, 1915 and 1917. The second on letterhead of Hindleap, Forest Row, Sussex; the third on embossed letterhead of the House of Lords.
£150.00

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged and worn; the second is lightly spotted. Each is folded once. All three signed 'Bryce'. ONE: 13 February 1914. No place. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Begins: 'My dear Ross / I should like [to] help in so good a cause, but cannot possibly venture to make any promise for a date so distant as Nov. next. It would be a tempting of Providence as we say in Scotland.' He is not even certain whether he will be in England then, 'and there is nothing one has more to avoid than the breaking of promises'.

[Lord Braybrooke, the first editor of the diary of Samuel Pepys.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding the ‘Memoir of Ambrose Barnes’, and Audley End.

Author: 
Lord Braybrooke [Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke (1783-1858), born Richard Neville] of Audley End, Whig politician and first editor of the diary of Samuel Pepys, President of the Camden Society
Publication details: 
‘Audley End [Essex] / Novr 9. 1828’.
£56.00

See his entries in the Oxford DNB (where his edition of Pepys is described as ‘an amateurish travesty’ of the transcript) and the History of Parliament. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded twice. Good neat signature: ‘Braybrooke’. The recipient is not named, but the name of the editor of the work mentioned by Braybrooke is given as 'C.

[ Beatrice Cecilia Harington, sitter to Lewis Carroll and first Head of St Margaret's House, Bethnal Green. ] 13 Autograph Letters Signed, eight of them to her brother Richard Harington, and four to the widow of her cousin Sir Richard Harington.

Author: 
Beatrice Cecilia Harington (1852-1936), sitter to and friend of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson [ Lewis Carroll ], first Head of St Margaret's House, Bethnal Green [ Brasenose College, Oxford ]
Publication details: 
Eight letters and a card to her brother between 1897 and 1910. Four letters to her nephew's widow, 1931. From: St Margaret's House, Bethnal Green; 15 Bardwell Road, Oxford; Bishop's House, Jerusalem; Mapperley Hall, Nottingham; Grand Hotel, Varese.
£320.00

Beatrice Cecilia Harington was one of the two daughters of Rev. Dr Richard Harington (1800-1853), Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford. As children she and her sister Alice Margaret (1854-1901) were befriended by Lewis Carroll, who photographed them. Neither of the two girls married, but both were associated with the Settlement Movement in London's East End. Beatrice was the first Head of St. Margaret's House, Bethnal Green, which, according to her Times obituary, was 'the first church settlement for women in the capital'.

[Isaac Watts.] Printed pamphlet: ‘The End of Time. / An Extract from Dr. Isaac Watts.’

Author: 
Isaac Watts (1674-1748), English Congregational minister, hymnologist (‘Godfather of English Hymnody’), theologian, and logician
Watts
Publication details: 
No date. ‘No. 4.’ The Religious Tract Society, instituted 1799, 56, Paternoster Row; and 65, St. Paul’s Churchyard. Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Duke street, Lambeth.
£120.00
Watts

Four copies on JISC (only one in a deposit library, NLS); now scarce. 12pp, 12mo. Disbound. Worn and discoloured. After the end of the prose work are two poems (pp.11-12): ‘Hymn. / Frail Life and Succeeding Eternity’ and ‘The Danger of Delay.’ In addition to being the ‘Godfather of English Hymnody’, Watts was a noted logician, producing a successful work on the subject, and despite the repetition of the phrase ‘Time shall end!’ throughout, the present extract treats the subject of ‘The End of Time’ in an unusually thoughtful way for a work of theology.

[‘Can anyone beat my record’: Nat Travers, ‘The Pearly King Cockney Singing Comedian’.] Autograph Letter Signed to theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope, boasting of sixty years in the theatre and asking for help getting radio and television work.

Author: 
Nat Travers, music hall artiste (b. c. 1875), ‘The Pearly King Cockney Singing Comedian’ [Walter James Macqueen-Pope, theatre historian]
Publication details: 
14 November 1957. ‘Guest Turn, Royal Oak, Dagenham’. On letterhead of ‘The Grand Old Timer Nat Travers / “The Pearly King Cockney Singing Comedian” / Radio & Television Star’, 265 Bancroft Road, Mile End, E1 [London].
£80.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) 1p, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Begins: ‘Dear Mac, Im going great and I dont use THE MIKE. I enclose Bill of Last Week / I first Worked 60 Years ago. Mac I want to get. to Broadcast. THIS. IS. Your. LIFE / I Started when I was 9 Year Old. Im now 82. Can anyone beat my Record.’ He gives details of booking at the ‘Metropoliton [sic] Music Hall Edgware Rd. I was first there. 1901. NOVEMBER 4 Weeks / Of cours [sic] I was There many Times. Mac you ought to try and get me on Television. or. Radio.

[Ralph Reader, Broadway and West End theatrical impressario.] Typed Letter Signed to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, thanking him for writing about ‘the new Award’ [perhaps the Novello?] and giving his news.

Author: 
Ralph Reader (1903-1982), Broadway and West End theatrical impressario associated with Scouting movement Gang Show and FA Cup Final community singing [Walter James Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960)]
Publication details: 
26 June 1957; on his letterhead, 14b Fitzjohn’s Avenue, NW3 [London].
£42.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. Signed ‘Ralph’ and addressed to ‘Dear Popie’. It was ‘extremely good’, ‘and typical too’, of MP to write to him ‘about the new Award’. He is ‘at Newcastle now with the Val Parnell Summer Show and we ring up on Monday’. MP will know ‘what we shall be going through at the moment!’ He ends by thanking him ‘VERY [sic] much for writing’.

[Canon Barnett [Samuel Augustus Barnett], clergyman and social reformer who founded Toynbee Hall.] Autograph Letter Signed, asking ‘Maud’ to send violet leaves three times a week to William Tourell, who is dying of cancer.

Author: 
Canon Barnett [Samuel Augustus Barnett] (1844-1913), Church of England cleric and social reformer who founded the East End university settlement Toynbee Hall [East London Shoeblack Brigade]
Publication details: 
8 June 1902; on letterhead of St. Jude’s Cottage, Spaniard’s Road, Hampstead Heath, N.W. [London]
£56.00

Barnett’s entry in the Oxford DNB accepts his ‘greatness’ and discusses its nature. 1p, 16mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The subject of this letter is William Tourell, Superintendent of the East London Shoeblack Brigade, a charity of which Barnett was treasurer. The letter begins: ‘Dear Maud. / My Friend Towrell [sic] is dying of cancer. He is taking violet leaves & somehow the disease seems arrested. The doctor says he had better go on taking these leaves as they may be doing good’.

[Ruby Miller, actress.] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all ?Ruby?) to W. J. Macqueen-Pope (?Popie?), expressing great grief at the death of Ivor Novello, whose spirit form she describes seeing at his memorial performance at Drury Lane.

Author: 
Ruby Miller [Ruby Laura Rose Miller] (1889-1976), English actress, one of the ?Gaiety Girls? [W. J. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian; Ivor Novello, actor, composer and matin?e idol]
Publication details: 
14 March, 6 April and 8 October 1951; all three from 57B York Street, Baker Street, W1 [London].
£120.00

See the entries for writer and recipient in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, lightly aged, with the last carrying minor rusting from paperclip. ONE: 3pp, 8vo. She got his office number from ?Mrs. Popie?, ?but the line has been busy all the time?. She asks for ?a pass for darling Ivor?s [i.e. Ivor Novello?s] memorial service?. The previous week she was ?playing at the Regent Theatre, Hayes, & on the Monday night I was weighed down by a dreadful foreboding of disaster?.

[Prince Littler, extensive theatre propietor.] Four Typed Letters Signed and one Typed Note Signed to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, on topics including productions of ?Oaklahoma?, ?The King and I? and ?Plain and Fancy?.

Author: 
Prince Littler [born Jules Richeux] (1901-1973), extensive theatre proprietor, Managing Director of the Stoll, Associated and Moss Theatre groups [W. J. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
The five items between 1950 and 1956. On letterheads of Stoll Theatres Corporation Limited, Stoll Offices, London Coliseum, WC2, and Cranbourn Mansions, Cranbourn Street, London WC2.
£180.00

For more information on writer (one of West End theatre?s ?most dominant and successful landlords?) and recipient (the foremost British theatre historian of the twentieth century), see their entries in the Oxford DNB. The five items (the TNS is Item Three, the others are ALsS) are in good condition, lightly aged; Item Five with slight paperclip damage to a margin. Each folded once. All five signed ?Prince Littler? and addressed to ?Popie?, two at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, one at 9 Oakdale, London N14, and one at Coventry House, Coventry St, W1.

[Ruby Dunn, widow of Sussex poet Peter Dunn, writes to Christopher Fry.] Autograph Letter Signed to Fry from Ruby Dunn, discussing the effect on her of editing her husband's work, with duplicated copies of his poems.

Author: 
Peter Dunn (1918-c.1998), Sussex poet, naturalist and printer (Poet and Printer, Hatch End), and his widow Ruby Dunn [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, leading exponent of dramatic verse]
Publication details: 
Letter with printed label of 84 Eldred Avenue, Withdean, E. Sussex; 17 October 1998.
£220.00

Dunn was a teacher (presumably at Dulwich College), Sussex naturalist and poet. Around 1984 he published his own poem 'Death of a Scarecrow' at his Poet and Printer press, Hatch End. The present collection, from the Christopher Fry papers, is in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed ('Ruby Dunn') to Christopher Fry. 1p, 12mo. She begins by asking him to accept a 'small token' of her thanks 'for a memorable occasion', presumably a memorial reading of Dunn's poems in which Fry was involved. She continues: 'I can think of no greater pleasure for me, Peter's widow.

[Lord Radstock [Granville Augustus William Waldegrave], philanthropist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Radstock') to 'Baxter', giving three measures which he has put to Gladstone in a letter about 'the condition of the East [i.e. East End of London]'.

Author: 
Lord Radstock [Granville Augustus William Waldegrave, 3rd Baron Radstock] (1833-1913), philanthropist and evangelist [William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal Prime Minister; the East End of London]
Publication details: 
'30 B. S. [i.e Baker Street, Portman Square, London] | Jan. 13 [no year]'.
£80.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. He reports that he 'wrote a line to Gladstone about the condition of the East urging the Govt. to take it up either by Equalization of Poor Rates, Emigration or Alteration of License System or all of these'. He considers that 'a good case is made out' and the measures he suggests 'wd do something'. He wonders whether the recipient might be able to 'put a few statistics together'. He thinks that 'the worst part is the permanent depression of the trading class wh takes away all vitality'.

[ Lord Braybrooke, editor of Pepys's diary. ] Autograph Note Signed ('Braybrooke'), regarding the payment of a bill.

Author: 
Lord Braybrooke [ Richard Griffin [formerly Neville], 3rd Baron Braybrooke ] (1783-1858), politician and editor of the diaries of Samuel Pepys
Publication details: 
Audley End, Saffron Walden. 19 January 1875.
£50.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lighthly-aged paper. Reads: 'Dear Sir | I beg to enclose a cheque for the Sum of £10 . 10 . and shall feel obliged by yr returning to me a Receipt for the same | I remain | Yours truly | Braybrooke'. In another hand at top right: 'Answd'.

[The Jewish national anthem 'Hatikvah', sung in London at Gardiner's Corner ('the gateway to the East End').]

Author: 
[Joseph Sussman of London, instructor in the pianoforte and music theory; 'Hatikvah', the Israeli national anthem; the establishment of the State of Israel; the East End of London]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [1940s]. With manuscript map of the Aldgate East area of the East End of London.
£350.00

Six items, in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. In addition to manuscript scores by Sussman of five parts (soprano, tenor, bass, alto and conductor) of 'Hatikvah' (the five parts totalling 6pp., 4to, with staves also drawn out in manuscript), there is a duplicated typescript of an English translation of 'Hatikvah', titled 'Men Awake!' ('Workers all!

[Sir Michael Clapham, while proprietor of the Cloanthus Press, Cambridge.] Scrapbook of Sir Michael's wife Elisabeth, containing forty examples of items either printed by him, or with woodcuts by his sister Christiana, or a combination of both.

Author: 
Sir Michael Clapham (1912-2002), printer and industrialist; his sister Christiana Muriel Clapham (d.1967), engraver; children of Sir John Harold Clapham (1873-1946) [Cloanthus Press, Cambridge]
Publication details: 
Items dating from between 1932 and 1937; many from the Clapham family home, Storey's End, Cambridge.
£850.00

The 40 items range in size from 25 x 19cm to 5 x 4.5cm. All in good condition, lightly-aged, and all but five laid down on the grey paper leaves of a heavily-worn album, with back cover loose, and with ownership signature of Sir Michael's wife Elisabeth Clapham at head of first page. The couple married in 1935, and one of the 40 items is a card with text in red featuring Elisabeth's maiden name. It conveys 'Good wishes for Christmas & the New Year from Elisabeth Rea | 6 Barton Street, S.W.1'.

Typed Letter Signed ('John van Druten'), giving advice to an actor named 'France'.

Author: 
John Van Druten [John William Van Druten] (1901-1957), Anglo-American dramatist
Publication details: 
6 December 1928; 5 Harewood Court, Hanover Square, London W1.
£80.00

4to, 1 p, 21 lines. On creased and lightly-foxed paper, with a couple of closed tears (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). May refer to the 1928 revival of van Druten's play 'Young Woodley' (previously banned by the censor), or (which is more likely) to his 'After All' (1929).

Autograph Letter Signed to 'R. Steggall' [perhaps the organist Reginald Steggall].

Author: 
James Orton, English Victorian poet
Publication details: 
12 May 1875; 86 Usher Road, Old Ford, London.
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, with spotting to second leaf of bifolium. Steggall and Orton's 'mutual friend (our very dear friend)' Mrs. Kent has written to tell Orton that Steggall 'will be happy to see my son on Saturday evening at 6'. Orton is grateful to Steggall for thinking 'of my anxiety to retain him with me after our long & to me at least terrible separation'. He is very grateful to Steggall, who is joined to Orton by a 'link of friendship which passes through to my two dear friends Mrs. Kent and Mrs. Atherstone'.

Manuscript Signed Indenture Mortgage and Surrender of Leasehold premises 'Between Louis Schnabel of No.79 North End Croydon [...] Watchmaker [...] and Alfred Marden Nicoll of No. 8 Surrey View Villas Ross Road Wallington [...] Painter and Decorator'

Author: 
Alfred Marden Nicoll; Louis Schabel [Croydon, Surrey], watchmaker.
Publication details: 
Mortgage dated 3 April 1891; Surrender dated 6 May 1898.
£56.00

Seven pages. On four skins of vellum, each roughly eleven inches by nine wide. Attached with green ribbon, and with various stamps and two wax seals. Good: lightly aged and creased. The premises are at 77 and 79 North End, Croydon.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Florence Warden') to the actor and dramatist Wybert Reeve.

Author: 
Florence Warden (pseudonym of Florence Alice Price James, 1857-1929), English novelist
Publication details: 
17 May 1904; Beach House, Islandgate.
£36.00

Four pages, 12mo. Very good, with unobtrusive remains of stub along one edge. In interesting letter discussing the state of the English stage. Her tardy response is due to 'pressure of work". 'What you say about the present condition of the stage is only too true.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Adelaide Phillpotts') to 'Miss Hall'.

Author: 
Mary Adelaide Eden Phillpotts (1896-1996), English author (daughter of Eden Phillpotts)
Publication details: 
21 March 1927; Eltham, Torquay, South Devon.
£28.00

Two pages, quarto. Very good, with a little wear and light creasing. 'I often think of those days, & how timid & shy & stupid I was! Yet I enjoyed myself too, & shall never forget your great kindness, & the help you gave me. Since then I've had many adventures & experiences. I am not the thing I was!' She has been in London for the winter, and hopes they will be able to meet. 'We're so glad you like "Yellow Sands" - & I'm very pleased you like "Tomek". She has 'just finished another novel & play'. Asks what has become of a number of common acquaintances.

Letter <in secretarial hand?>, signed in autograph, to 'Mr <Dubarry?>.

Author: 
Sir Walter Besant
Publication details: 
27 April 1889; on letterhead '12, GAYTON CRESCENT, | HAMPSTEAD'.
£36.00

English novelist (1836-1901). Two pages, octavo. Some discoloration in margin from previous mounting. His silence is due to the fact that he has been 'out of town for Easter'. He is grateful to his correspondent for thinking of him 'in connection with the Garrick. But I am afraid I must not consider it. You see by the address that I live out of the way of clubs - This is for the sake of certain small children <?> to be considered'. He is already a member of three clubs: the Athenaeum, the Old University and the Savile ('wh: I do frequent').

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