HARMSWORTH

[Cecil King, Fleet Street press baron.] 47 Autograph Cards Signed to the publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’ Philip Dosse, on various topics including the reviews he is writing for him.

Author: 
Cecil King [Cecil Harmsworth King] (1901-1987), Fleet Street press baron (Daily Mirror, Sunday Pictorial, IPC), nephew of Viscounts Northcliffe and Rothermere [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher]
Publication details: 
35 of the 47 cards with postmarks from between 1971 and 1977; the other 14 postmarks illegible. 29 of the cards from England (ten with his letterhead, The Pavilion, Hampton Court, Surrey); 17 from the Republic of Ireland [Eire]; one from Iran.
£1,200.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, together with those of his uncles and other members of the newspaper dynasty of which he was a member. The recipient Philip Dosse was the proprietor of the London publishers Hansom Books. Beginning in 1950 with ‘Dance and Dancers’, Dosse built up a stable of seven monthly arts magazines, produced from offices in Artillery Mansions, London, the most influential of which were ‘Books and Bookmen’, ‘Plays and Players’ and ‘Films and Filming’. An elusive figure, Dosse certainly merits a full-length study.

[George E. Dunn, author and editor.] Autograph Letter Signed to theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope, discussing the perils of the proof-reading process, with reminiscences.

Author: 
George E. Dunn, author and editor [Walter James Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
5 July [year?]. Three Corners, Watledge, Gloucestershire.
£65.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) 2pp, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly-aged, with creasing at head, which is annotated by MP ‘(author)’. After thanking him for his letter he writes: ‘It is fatal to have a book published without seeing a proof. In my “G[ilbert] & S[ullivan] Dictionary” I had occasion to mention “The Yeomen of the Guard” 14 times. The comp[ositor], aided by the reader, deliberately channged them to “Yeoman”.

[Sir Geoffrey Harmsworth, journalist, nephew of Lords Northcliffe and Rothermere.] Three Typed Letters Signed to theatre historian W. J. Maqueen-Pope, discussing his family and asking for information for a biography he is writing of Northcliffe.

Author: 
Sir Geoffrey Harmsworth [Arthur Geoffrey Annesley Harmsworth] (1904-1980), journalist and member of Fleet Street dynasty, nephew of Lords Northcliffe and Rothermere [Walter James Macqueen-Pope]
Publication details: 
9 August, 3 October and 31 December 1951. The first on letterhead of the Harmsworth Press Limited, 8 Stratton Street, London, W1; the other two on letterhead of 8 Stratton Street, with second cancelled in favour of Thorpe Hall, Louth, Lincolnshire.
£80.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. See MP’s entry and those of various members of the Harmsworth family in the Oxford DNB. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged, with the first with rust staining from paperclip, and all three folded twice. Each signed ‘Geoffrey Harmsworth’. ONE: 9 August 1951. 1p, 8v. He doubts whether MP will remember their previous meeting. He is ‘engaged on a full-length Life of Northcliffe’ (written with Reginald Pound, and appearing in 1959), and is having to do ‘much digging to find out information about the early days’.

[Lord Harmsworth, press baron.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Harmsworth’) to journalist Collin Brooks, praising his assessment of ‘R’ - his brother Viscount Rothermere - in his memoir ‘Devil’s Decade’.

Author: 
Lord Harmsworth [Cecil Bisshop Harmsworth (1869-1948), 1st Baron Harmsworth], Fleet Street press baron, brother of Viscounts Northcliffe and Rothermere [Collin Brooks (1893-1959), journalist]
Publication details: 
4 April 1948; on letterhead of ‘The Field’, 8 Stratton Street London.
£45.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Minor staple marks at top right. Writing shortly before his death, he thanks him for sending an inscribed copy of his book ‘Devil’s Decade’, which he enjoyed ‘enormously’.

[Hall Caine's brother Ralph threatens Lord Northcliffe's Amalgamated Press with legal action for 'stealing my idea' on popular publishing.] Two Typed Letters Signed from 'Ralph' to his 'Papa & mama', with his Typed 'complete [solicitors'] statement'.

Author: 
Ralph Hall Caine (1865-1939), Isle of Man author and journalist; brother of novelist Hall Caine [Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe; Sir Harold Harmsworth; Amalgamated Press]
Publication details: 
Letters on letterhead of 2 Tudor Street, London E.C. [Amalgamated Press Ltd offices] 15 March and 18 April 1907. Statement without place or date.
£120.00

The three items are in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: TLS, 15 March 1907. 4pp., 4to. He is sending a copy (i.e. Item Three below) of 'a complete statement of what has taken place up to date. In fact it is the actual statement I placed before my Solicitor this afternoon […] Of course this is what we might have expected from these people, and it does not come as a very great surprise. | It is a direct attempt to get out of their obligations, as they have done before, as they can get this new man, and have got him – at something like £500 a year without an interest'.

[Sir Harold Harmsworth, editor of 'The Field', to journalist Collin Brooks.] Typed Letter Signed ('Harold Harmsworth.') to Brooks, regarding his 'accurate picture of Rothermere' and 'that photograph of Northcliffe with Cecil Rhodes'.

Author: 
Sir Harold Harmsworth (1897-1952), editor of the Field, member of a leading Fleet Street family including Viscount Rothermere
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 8 Stratton Street, W.1. [London] 8 April 1948.
£40.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two punch-holes in margin. He has been reading Brooks's book ('Devil's Decade: Portraits of the Nineteen-Thirties') 'during a few days' holiday in Norfolk', and finds it 'excellent': Brooks has 'drawn a very accurate picture of Rothermere'. He proposes a time for them to 'meet again and have lunch'. He wonders whether Brooks 'ever came across that photograph of Northcliffe with Cecil Rhodes which I remember you mentioned you thought you had somewhere or other', asks for a sight of it.

[Searcy, Tansley & Co. London caterers, and the 'artistic design' for a cake by 'Miss Harmsworth'.] Typed Letter Signed ('F. S. Physick') from director Frank Savill Physick to Cecil Harmsworth, regarding their catering of an event for his family..

Author: 
Searcy, Tansley & Co., London caterers (Frank Savill Physick (1882-1983), Director) [Cecil Harmsworth (1869-1948), 1st Baron Harmsworth]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Searcy, Tansley & Co. (1918) Ltd., 19 Sloane Street, London, S.W.1. 21 March 1928.
£56.00

2pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with the two leaves pinned together. Referring to his wife Emilie, Harmsworth has written in red pencil at the head of the letter 'Em to see'. Physick begins by thanking Harmsworth and his wife for their 'most generous appreciation of our efforts'.

[ Fleet Street in the Thirties: Sir Robert Donald of United Newspapers and Ernest Outhwaite, editor of Leeds Mercury, Viscount Rothermere, Lord Harmsworth, Ernest Benn. ] TLsS from Donald and Outhwaite; copies of Rothermere and Benn letters.

Author: 
Sir Robert Donald (1860-1933), editor, Daily Chronicle, and Managing Director, United Newspapers; Ernest Outhwaite, editor, Leeds Mercury [ Viscount Rothermere; Lord Harmsworth; Ernest J. Benn ]
Publication details: 
Donald: on letterhead of 12 Thorney Court, Palace Gate, W.8. [ London ] 24 March 1932. Outhwaite: on letterhead of La Dragonniere, Cap Martin, A.M. 8 April 1930. Rothermere copies from 1929 and 1930. Benn copy from 1932.
£150.00

Six items from the Rothermere papers, on disparate subjects, casting light on the workings of 1930s Fleet Street. In good condition, lightly aged. The six are described below in chronological order. ONE: Typed Copy of letter, '(sgd) ROTHERMERE', to Donald. Hotel Splendide, 105 Piccadilly, W.1. 12 November 1929. 1p., 4to. The letter begins: 'My dear Donald, | I quite understand all the peculiar difficulties with which you are surrounded in connection with the Anglo-Foreign Newspapers Ltd.

[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.

[ Lord Harmsworth, press baron. ] Autograph Note Signed ('Alfred Harmsworth') to 'Mr. Fisher', explaining that he cannot attend a meeting as he has to 'attend to my newspapers all day long'.

Author: 
Lord Northcliffe [ Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (1865-1922) ], press baron, owner of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Daily Mail, Temple, E.C. [ London ] 29 November 1898.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'Dear Mr. Fisher | I am so sorry I cannot attend the meeting. Unfortunately, I am absolutely obliged to attend to my newspapers all day long. | Yours faithfully | Alfred Harmsworth'. The Daily Mail was little more than two years old at the time of this note.

[ John Rutherford Gordon, editor of the 'Sunday Express'. ] 'Rough draft' of typed article, with autograph emendations, on Lord Northcliffe, 'the incomparable journalist of the age', written from personal knowledge.

Author: 
John Rutherford Gordon (1890-1974), editor of London 'Sunday Express' [ Lord Northcliffe [ Alfred Charles William Harmsworth (1865-1922), 1st Viscount Northcliffe ], press baron, owner of Daily Mail ]
Publication details: 
Dated 25 April 1952, and with autograph note stating that it was 'Partly used in Sunday Express [ London ] 27/4/52'.
£350.00

21pp., fourteen of them in 4to, and the other seven pages cut down. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Stapled together, with the first leaf detached. The article is complete but untitled. It is unattributed, but comes from the J. R. Gordon papers. A well-written and incisive piece, written from an insider's point of view. Gordon lays out his stall at the very start: 'Few people of our generation have influenced the life of it so profoundly as Lord Northcliffe. He was the incomparable journalist of our age.

[ Desmond Harmsworth, publisher. ] Two printed catalogues: 'A First List' and 'Spring Books | Nineteen Thirty-Two'.

Author: 
Desmond Harmsworth [ Cecil Desmond Bernard Harmsworth (1903-1990) ], publisher, 44 Great Russell Street, London, WC1 [ Ezra Pound; James Joyce; Mary Butts ]
Publication details: 
Desmond Harmsworth, 44 Great Russell Street, London WC1. 1931 and 1932. [ The first 'Printed by George W. Jones, At the Sign of The Dolphin, Gough Square, London, EC4. ]
£80.00

Two stitched pamphlets of uniform design. 15pp., 12mo, and 19pp., 12mo. Tastefully printed, with covers in red and black. Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. The first volume - 'A First List' - has a full-page 'Advertisement' by 'D. H.', in which he aspires to 'offer a fair proportion of what is alive in modern writing - a hope which is my raison d'etre as a publisher [...] nothing, if not lack of sense, or lack of the desire, need stop one from printing whatever is available, and has intrinsic vitality or permanence'.

[Roy Hopkins, editor of 'Old London' magazine.] Typed Letter Signed to the Trustees of Dr Johnson's House, regarding 'the last article written by the late Lord Harmsworth', on Dr Samuel Johnson. With copy of the first issue of the magazine.

Author: 
Roy Hopkins, editor of 'Old London' magazine [Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth [Lord Harmsworth]; Dr Samuel Johnson; W. Macqueen Pope; Horace Wyndham; Amelia Bloomer]
Publication details: 
Letter on letterhead of 'Old London | (Old London Magazine)', 51 Chepstow Place. 9 September 1948. Magazine: vol.1, no.3 (Summer Number), 1948.
£80.00

Letter: 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, foxed at head. He informs them that the article was on Dr Johnson's house, and will be published in the magazine's 'Autumn Number', writing: 'If I send you the proofs would one of you care to write a few appreciative words on Lord H? I shall add a short biography culled from The Times'. In an autograph postscript he requests 'an old wood-block or a stone-litho which I could reproduce in O. L. of Johnson's House'. Magazine: 46 + [2]pp., 12mo, in printed wraps. With foxing and pinholes to cover. Includes articles by W.

Typed Letter Signed and Manuscript Letter by secretary with Autograph Signature from Arthur Mee to 'Miss Neale', declining an article for his 'Children's Newspaper' and giving his opinion of 'agencies for assisting people to write for publication'.

Author: 
Arthur Mee [Arthur Henry Mee] (1875-1943), British writer and journalist, editor of 'The Children's Encyclopaedia' and 'The King's England'
Publication details: 
Both on letterheads of 'The Children's Newspaper', The Fleetway House, Farringdon St, London, EC4. 5 and 11 August 1924.
£40.00

Both items signed 'Arthur Mee'. Typed Letter Signed: 5 August 1924. 1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. It would be a 'great pleasure' to him to be able to make use of the article she has sent him, 'but my papers are almost entirely in the hands of a staff of regular contributors', and he has 'very little opportunity of using outside contributions'. In a postscript he expresses pleasure at the fact that his 'papers come your way', and sends his regards to 'Patricia and David'. Manuscript Letter: 11 August 1924. Written by a secretary and signed by Mee. 1p., 12mo.

Broadside titled 'Mr. W. J. Bryan. Speech at Thanksgiving Day Banquet, Hotel Cecil, November 26.' Inscribed by Bryan to Cecil Harmsworth.

Author: 
William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), American politician, Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States, 1896, 1900 and 1908 [Cecil Harmsworth (1869-1948), 1st Baron Harmsworth]
Publication details: 
[1903.] [London?]
£180.00

In three columns of small type, on one side of a piece of paper 41.5 x 26.5 cm. Fair, on aged and lightly-worn laid paper, with a little offsetting from the ink of the inscription. Reproduces the text of Bryan's speech without editorial interpolation. A report on the banquet (held by the American Society in London and with 'over 400 covers') in the New York Times, titled 'Bryan and Choate in a duel of repartee. Former Guest of Honor at Thanksgiving Day Banquet in London.

Address. Delivered at St. Clement Danes on 13th December, 1926 [Samuel Johnson Anniversary]

Author: 
R. W. Chapman [Cecil Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth; Samuel Johnson; Johnsoniana]
Publication details: 
London. 1927.
£56.00

4to bifolium. The text, in small print, covers the final three pages. On aged and foxed paper. Inscribed, at the head of the title, 'from R. W. C.' The recipient was Cecil Harmsworth, who has written in pencil, beneath the inscription: 'C H | 26/ii/ 1927'. (Harmsworth was the proprietor of the Johnson house, which he had bought in 1911.) Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at Oxford.

Autograph Letter Signed ('G. F. Hamilton') to 'My dear Harmsworth' (Viscount Northcliffe?). With a copy of his booklet translation: 'In St. Patrick's Praise: The Hymn of St. Secundinus (Sechnall)'.

Author: 
[G. F. Hamilton, Rector of Moylough, Co. Galway] [Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe]
Publication details: 
Letter dated 13 March 1919; on letterhead of the Rectory, Moylough, Co. Galway. Booklet: Dublin: The Church of Ireland Printing and Publishing Co., Ltd., 61 Middle Abbey Street.
£125.00

Letter: 12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Begins 'Your hands must be full just now, judging from the Daily Papers.' He presents the 'booklet' as 'a small memento of friendship for you', and describes as 'just published by me on a hymn considered (by Bernard, Bury etc.) to be a contemporary of St. Patrick. An 11th. cent MS. containing it is in T. C. D. Library. And it is also given in a 7th. cent. MS. at Milan.' Postscript referring to an article he has sent Harmsworth, 'for which I received thanks (quite unsolicited) of the Prof. of English Literature, T.C.D.!

Darkest Africa And An Easy Way Out.

Author: 
W. L. Warden [Harold Sidney Harmsworth (1868-1940, 1st Viscount Rothermere]
Publication details: 
[1940.] 'For Private Circulation Only.' ['Printed by Warden & Co. Ltd., 71, Church Road, Hendon, N.W.4.'] [Introductory note by Warden dated '38, Portland Place, London, W.1. March, 1940.']
£85.00

8vo: 12 pp (unpaginated). Wraps and stapled. Fair: on aged and lightly-creased paper. A few marks in pencil and red pencil (on two occasions 'my "Owner" ' in the text noted as 'Lord R.'). Stamped with limitation number 57. Printed in small type in double column. In his introductory note Warden explains that the text is 'made up of extracts from a diary, which I more or less kept, and letters sent home during a recent voyage of 20,000 miles.

Northcliffe: The Facts.

Author: 
Louise Owen [Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe; Harold Sidney Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere]
Publication details: 
London: 22 Buckingham Gate, S.W.1. [Preface dated 'September, 1931.'] ['Printed in Great Britain by Louise Owen, 2, Johnson's Court, London, E.C.4.'
£45.00

8vo: 334 pp. Portrait of Northcliffe as frontispiece. Three facsimiles of letters in text and fold-out with facsimiles of three of Northcliffe's letters. Inscribed by Owen on front pastedown 'To Elaine from Louise and Northcliffe. | Nov. 1938'. (The reference to 'Northcliffe' is explained by the fact that Owen considered herself a spirit medium, in contact with the deceased Viscount.) Internally good: sound and tight, on lightly aged paper. In original worn red cloth, with slight bloom on front.

Autograph Card Signed ('J. Ashby-Sterry') to 'My dear Harmsworth' [Alfred Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe (1865-1922), newspaper publisher].

Author: 
Joseph Ashby-Sterry (1836-1917), English novelist, poet, journalist and painter [Lord Harmsworth]
Publication details: 
Saint Martin's Chambers, Trafalgar Square [London]; 26 June 1894.
£28.00

One page, 12 x 9 cms. Rust stain from paperclip and strip of offset discolouration. In purple ink. A recent letter to Harmsworth was sent to the wrong address. He has 'another letter of Yates's [Edmund Yates (1831-1894), journalist and writer?], better than the one of which you had a copy'. Wonders whether Harmsworth wishes 'to make use of it'. Would also like to know whether 'shares in "Answers" [Harmsworth's magazine 'Answers to Correspondents']' can 'be got through a broker in the ordinary way'.

Syndicate content