FRONT

[Armando Diaz, 1st Duke della Vittoria, Marshal of Italy, First World War Italian general who triumphed in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.] Autograph Signature: 'Generale A. Diaz'.

Author: 
Armando Diaz (1861-1928), 1st Duke della Vittoria, First World War Italian general, victor over the Austrians in Battle of Vittorio Veneto (1918); putative author of the Bolletino della Vittoria
ARMANDO DIAZ
Publication details: 
No place or date. (Before his ennoblement in 1921.)`
£75.00
ARMANDO DIAZ

A nice item, suitable for framing, relating to one of the best generals of the First World War. (He commanded one and a half million troops in the 1918 Battle of Vittorio Veneto, defeating the Austrians - a third of a million of whom surrendered - and closing the Italian Front.) Clearly given in response to a request for an autograph. The good bold signature ‘Generale A. Diaz’ sits slightly over the centre of an otherwise-plain 15 x 10 cm piece of wove paper, laid down on paper backing. In good condition, lightly aged, with two unobtrusive vertical fold lines. See Image.

[British 1970s anti-fascism.] Four printed items: ‘The National Front and the Jews / A briefing document’, David Edgar, ‘Racism Fascism and the Politics of the National Front’; ‘Workers Socialist League / How to really fight the fascists’; and form.

Author: 
[British 1970s anti-fascism] Anti Nazi League, London; Institute for Race Relations, London; Socialist Workers League, London; Peter Hain, Paul Holborow, Ernie Roberts
Publication details: 
1977 and 1978. Two items from the Anti Nazi League, 12 Little Newport Street, London WC2. One from the Institute of Race Relations, 247 Pentonville Road, London N1. One from the Workers Socialist League, 31 Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5.
£220.00

ONE: ‘The National Front and the Jews / A briefing document by the Anti Nazi League / March 1978’. Stapled pamphlet of 8pp, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Striking cover with title in large letters printed in black onto strips of green. Two-page introduction followed by two pages of illustrations (‘merely intended as a sample of the National Front’s continual argument by innuendo. All are taken from the National Front monthly, Spearhead’); page headed ‘Before the National Front / 1959-67’, followed by two pages titled ‘The National Front / 1967-’.

[John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, Churchill's 'Home Front Prime Minister' after whom Anderson Shelters are named.] Typed Letter Signed as Home Secretary to Sir James Marchant on 'the Government's plans for a war time regional organisation'.

Author: 
John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley (1882-1958), civil servant and politician, 'Home Front Prime Minister' in Churchill's war cabinet [Sir James Marchant (1867-1956), eugenicist and social reformer]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Home Office, Whitehall, S.W.1. [London] 14 February 1939.
£150.00

Anderson served as Home Secretary, Lord President of the Council and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Marchant headed the National Vigilance Association and the National Council of Public Morals. 2pp, 4to. On two leaves stapled together. In fair condition, lightly aged, with some staining from rusted staples. Folded three times. A good letter, giving an indication of civil defence preparations on the eve of the Second World War.

[Lyric Theatre, London: First World War benefit concert.] Programme for 'Ellen Terry's Bouquet', 'In Aid of the Concerts at the Front'. Containing 'Letter from the Commander-in-Chief', Douglas Haig.

Author: 
Lena Ashwell; Concerts at the Front; Lyric Theatre, London; Dame Ellen Terry; Lilian Braithwaite; Dorothy Moulton; E. V. Lucas; Harry Grattan; Howard Carr; Frederick Rosse; Douglas Haig
Publication details: 
Lyric Theatre, London ('Organised by Miss Lena Ashwell in conjunction with the Ladies' Auxiliary Committee of the Y.M.C.A.'), on 29 June 1917. [Slug: 'LONDON: FINDEN BROWN AND CO. LTD., 15, CRAVEN STREET, STRAND'.]
£80.00

11 + [1]pp, 4to. Stitched with pink thread and unbound. In fair condition, lightly aged. Nicely printed on laid paper, with cover illustration in black and green of view from back of stage of dancer receiving a bouquet from an audience. The second page gives details of the performance, with a list of the names of the 'Executive Committee'. The programme is on pp.3-11. Divided into 16 numbers. After five songs, the main feature (numbers 6-15 pp.4-8) is 'Chelsea on Tiptoe | New Version', with 'A Prologue | Written specially for “Ellen Terry's Bouquet” | By E. V.

[ A. E. Watson & Co. of London, civil engineers (steel). ] Typewritten account by Tamkin, titled 'The Way We Came', describing the progress of the firm over three decades, with much work for London Underground, and on the Home Front in World War Two.

Author: 
A. E. Watson & Co. of London, consulting, civil and constructional engineers specialising in steel (C. Tamkin, director) [ London Transport; the Home Front, World War Two ]
Publication details: 
The time of writing dated in the text to September 1957.
£650.00

157pp., 4to. Carbon typescript, with a few manuscript corrections. Each page paginated in type, and on a separate leaf. The leaves punch-holed and attached in a buff folder. Aged and worn, with the first few leaves a little ragged, but intact and legible. The author is not named, but is referred to in the text as 'Tam', and is therefore clearly the 'C. Tamkin' who is named in 1946 as one of the directors of A. E. Watson & Co, 21 Tothill Street, London, 'Consulting, civil and constructional engineers, etc.'. Title at head of first page: 'THE WAY WE CAME'.

[ British Women on the Home Front in the First World War. ] Mimeographed Leaflet, on Government letterhead, of poem '"The Girls They Left Behind Them" | Air -: The Minstrel Boy.'[

Author: 
[ British Women on the Home Front in the First World War; Sir Richard Harington, 12th Baronet, of Ridlington (1861-1931; Thomas Moore) ]
Publication details: 
Undated. Circa 1916.
£120.00

The item derives from the papers of Sir Richard Harington, 12th Baronet of Ridlington (1861-1931), who volunteered for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on the outbreak of the First World War, and was promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer in the Anti-Aircraft Corps, serving in that capacity until 1916. 2pp., foolscap folio. On both sides of a leaf of paper with embossed Government crest. In fair condition, lightly-aged and worn, with a few short closed tears to edges. Mimeographed duplication of a manuscript poem parodying Thomas Moore's poem 'The Minstrel Boy'.

[ Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968. ] Duplicated typed document issued by 'Kilburn VSC', titled 'Czechoslovakia - A Marxist Analysis'.

Author: 
Kilburn Vietnam Solidarity Campaign [ VSC ] [ Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968; Aubrey Walter? ]
Publication details: 
At foot: 'published by Kilburn VSC, 329a West End Lane, London NW6' [ 1968 ].
£50.00

1p., folio. Printed in red. Sixty lines of text. In fair conditon, lightly aged and worn. The first paragraph reads: 'The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia has provoked the expected emotional outburst from the reformist Left, tailing as usual behind the hypocritical phrases of the British ruling class, who weep over "poor Czechoslovakia" while actively supporting the 100-times-worse suffering inflicted by the US on the Vietnamese.

[ First World War: proposed British Parliamentary legislation. ] Typescript of 'Skeleton Draft of a Bill prepared in August 1914.', proposing to 'organise and make fully effective the services which every subject of the Realm is bound to render'.

Author: 
[ First World War, compulsory service on the Home Front: proposed British Parliamentary legislation, 1914; the Houses of Parliament ]
Publication details: 
[ London? Circa August 1914. ]
£320.00

An anonymous document, clearly the work of a member of the British Parliament. Typescript of 12pp., folio. With retrospective title page in neat manuscript, reading: 'Skeleton Draft of a Bill prepared in August 1914. | How many troubles and disasters might have been saved if some such scheme had been carried out.' A few minor emendations in the same hand. On 'British Loan' Britannia wove paper. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear.

[American Student Protest material, 1970.] Ten leaflets from the aftermath of the Kent State shootings: Labor-Student Coalition for Peace; Militant Labor Forum; Afro-Americans for SWP; The Dominican Students' Revolutionary Front; Workers' League.

Author: 
[Labor-Student Coalition for Peace; Militant Labor Forum; Afro-Americans for SWP; The Dominican Students' Revolutionary Front; Workers' League; Kent State shooting; Vietnam War Protests]
Publication details: 
New York. May 1970.
£320.00

These ten items were produced at the height of the surge of outrage with which the American left greeted the killing of four students by National Guardsmen at Kent State University, Ohio, on 4 May 1970. (As an example of the incident's wider cultural significance, see the song 'Ohio' by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.) Originating from New York, six of the items are dated from the end of the same month, and the other undated items date from the same period. All ten items are single leaves. Eight of them are 8vo, one is 21 x 18cm, and the other 35 x 21cm.

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