LAVENDER

See Astley's entry in the History of Parliament (he was created a baronet at the end of the year in which this letter was written). The ‘Lavender’ mentioned in the letter is Bow Street Runner Stephen Lavender (fictionalized in a series of books by Karen Charlton), who was leaving to take up the position of Deputy Chief Constable at Manchester.1p, 4to. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. Verso of second docketed: ‘Chas. Humphreys / recomn to be an Officer’ and in another hand ‘Dugdale Asteley [sic]’. In good condition, lightly aged, with reverse of second leaf slightly grubby.

Other than 'The Lavender Hill Mob', for which he won an Oscar, Clarke's screenplays include 'The Blue Lamp' and 'The Titchfield Thunderbolt'. For the recipient Barbara Kaye [Barbara Kenrick Gowing] (1908-1998), writer, bookseller and wife of Percy Muir, see her obituary by Nicolas Barker in the Independent, 12 March 1998. The present letter was written a few days after Clarke's appearance on 31 October on the television programme 'This Is Your Life'. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn. Folded once. The letter begins: 'Dear Barbara, | Many thanks for your kind letter.

For more information about the periodical, see the entry in Brake and Demoor's 'Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland' (2009), which stresses the its independence: 'the Musical Standard was rare among nineteenth-century music journals in that it was not produced by a music publisher or other music issuing body'. The present item consists of around 175 items laid down in file copies of eleven issues, four of them from 1888: 21 April, 26 May and 16 and 30 June; and seven from 1891: 3 January, and 7, 14, 21, 28 February, and 7 and 21 March.