LENO

34 Typed Letters (25 signed) and 14 Typed Cards (6 signed). Most of the 31 signatures 'Jimmy', but a few signed 'Jimmy Lynton' and 'Jimmy L.' The collection in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Long gossippy letters, mainly comprising theatrical reminiscence, often with reference to his regular column in 'The World's Fair, called 'P & Fs'. Also present are 37 carbon copies of letters to Lynton from Duncan, covering the same date range, also filled with theatrical information (Duncan was also a theatre historian and author of a book on the St James' Theatre).

ONE: The earlier of the two drafts, titled 'It Was Top of the Bill | The Story of Music Hall. | by | W. Macqueen-Pope.' 14pp., 4to. Paginated 1-12, with two further pages carrying material to be inserted. With a few autograph emendations, including an addition to the ending. Macqueen-Pope writes knowledgeably and with a passion for his theme, which is that 'Music Hall reflected public taste even more accurately than did the "legitimate" Theatre because it was created by the people themselves. The basis of the Drama of the Theatre - was religion.

Leno (1824-94) was a printer, publisher, poet and editor, and a significant figure in nineteenth-century radicalism. In 1845, while a printer, he led a group of radical workers who started a Young Men's Improvement Society and circulated a manuscript newspaper entitled the 'Attempt'. He then became branch secretary of the local Chartists. In 1849 the 'Attempt' became a printed journal, the 'Uxbridge Pioneer'. In 1861 he was editor of the 'Poetic Magazine' and in 1881 of the 'Anti-tithe Journal'.