KEYS

Keys features in his son’s entry in the Oxford DNB. (John Paddy Carstairs was christened Nelson John Keys.) Three theatrical autographs - Nelson Keys, ‘G. L.’ and ‘Gordon’ - on one side of a 25 x 20.5 cm piece of card. Apparently a gift from fellow cast-members to the actress playing the ‘Spirit of Spring’ in the Arthur Wimperis sketch ‘The Queen of Hearts’, in the C. B. Cochran London Pavilion revue ‘London, Paris and New York’, which ran for 366 performances between 1920 and 1921. J. P.

Ten unpaginated 26 x 22 cm. leaves, comprising three leaves of letterpress (cover, title and back cover), and seven leaves each with a 17 x 14 cm black-and-white photograph laid down. A frail survival, with the photographic portraits in good condition, but the brittle leaves chipped and discoloured. One bifolium intact (with remains of string binding), all the other leaves detached and loose, making it difficult to ascertain whether the item is or is not complete. (The entry for the only copy traced on OCLC WorldCat, at the Universitätsbibliothek Bayreuth, describes it as ' 6 Bl.

The three inscriptions are all on one side of an 18 x 16 cm leaf taken from an album. In good condition, lightly-aged. Given during the shooting of the RKO film 'The Saint in London' (1939), which Sanders starred in and Carstairs directed. Sanders writes, at the head of the page, 'To Anne | I want to see you in about 8 years time! | George Sanders | April 1939.' Beneath this is: 'Anne - let's make it seven! | John Paddy Carstairs: | '39.' And beneath Carstairs' inscription: 'Six years. X. | Tony Keys'. The recipient was the daughter off a cameraman at Twickenham Film Studios.