RONALD

[‘No-one under 80 probably likes my books & they will all die out’.] Autograph Letter Signed by novelist Winifred Peck, sister of E. V. Knox and Ronald Knox, sending Adam Dickson an autograph.

Author: 
Winifred Peck [née Knox] (1882-1962), prolific novelist and biographer, sister of E. V. Knox and Ronald Knox
Publication details: 
8 March [1950]; on embossed letterhead of 19 George Square, Edinburgh 8.
£56.00

See the entries of members of her extraordinary family in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage, and accompanied by envelope with stamps and 1950 Edinburgh postmark, addressed by her to ‘Adam Dickson Esq. Junior / 28 Comely Bank Grove | Edinburgh’. Signed ‘Winifred Peck’. Responding to an autograph hunter, she writes: ‘Dear Sir, / How kind of you to like to [sic] my books & to say so.

[The Piddingtons, Australian husband and wife mentalists; Changi] Biography ‘The Piddingtons’ by their manager Russell Braddon, with illustrations by Ronald Searle, signed by Braddon and Lesley and Sydney Piddington, with bookplate of Desmond Young.

Author: 
Russell Braddon [The Piddingtons [Sydney and Leslie Piddington], Australian husband and wife telepathic mentalists; their manager Russell Braddon (1921-1995); Ronald Searle (1920-2011).]
Publication details: 
Werner Laurie, London. 2nd impression, March 1950.
£120.00

238pp, 8vo, with frontispiece and illustrations. In green cloth binding, gilt. Internally good and tight, on lightly-browned paper, in good binding with slight discolouration at head and foot of spine, caused by loss to the creased and damaged dustwrapper. The three signatures are one on top of the other in the centre of the recto of the front free endpaper: ‘Leslie Piddington. / Sydney Piddington / Russell Braddon’.

[Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar, 6th Governor-General of Australia; Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, the first woman elected to a Scottish seat at Westminster.] Autograph Signatures from album.

Author: 
Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar (1860-1934), 6th Governor-General of Australia, 1914 to 1920; Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray (1874-1960), Duchess of Atholl
Novar
Publication details: 
Novar's signature dated by him from Stirling, 14 October 1922.
£180.00
Novar

See their entries in the Oxford DNB. Two Autograph Signatures, on an 11 x 5 cm slip cut from a leaf of an album. In good condition, lightly aged. On one side: ‘Novar / G. G. Australia 1914 - 20. / Stirling 14. 10. 22.’ (The date ‘1914’ is slightly smudged. On the other side ‘Katharine Atholl - Jan. [...]’; and above it, in another hand ‘Duchess of Atholl - Under Secretary for Edu’. See image.

[E. V. Knox [Edmund George Valpy Knox] (1881-1971, ‘Evoe’), editor of ‘Punch’.] Two Typed unpublished Talks on Punch, one dealing with the magazine’s place in social history, the other with its politics. With two drafts of the first, one in autograph

Author: 
E. V. Knox [Edmund George Valpy Knox] (1881-1971, ‘Evoe’), editor of ‘Punch’ 1932-1948, humorist, essayist and poet [son of Edmund Abruthnott Knox, brother of Ronald, Dillwyn and Wilfred Knox]
Publication details: 
[Hampstead, London.] 1948 and 1949.
£2,500.00

See Knox’s entry in the Oxford DNB, along with those of his father Edmund Arbuthnott Knox, his brothers Ronald, Dillwyn and Wilfred, his wife the ‘Mary Poppins’ illustrator Mary Shepard (daughter of Ernest Shepard) and his daughter the novelist Penelope Fitzgerald. At the time the present material was composed Knox had been involved with Punch for more than four decades (1904-1948), holding the editorship for the last sixteen, with the magazines circulation rising to a peak of almost 200,000 as he approached his retirement.

[Ronnie Tritton, War Office Publicity Officer.] Two Autograph Letters Signed ('T' and 'R.') [to his wife Andrina], written during the 'Phoney War', writing with evocative immediacy about Claridge's, the Savoy, and a host of friends and acquaintances.

Author: 
Ronnie Tritton [Ronald Edward Tritton] (1907-1990), War Office Publicity Officer 1940-1945 [his wife, née Andrina Frances Schweder; Savoy Hotel, London; The Phoney War, Second World War]
Publication details: 
One: 12 September 1939. On letterhead of White's [gentleman's club in St James's Street, London]. Two: 'Wed.' [no date, but 1939]. On letterhead of the Savoy Hotel, London.
£56.00

Tritton was educated at Winchester College, and in later life held the office of High Sheriff of Essex. He served as War Office Publicity Officer between 1940 and 1945 (the first civilian to hold the post). The present items exhibit the candour and evocative immediacy for which his wartime diaries were praised on their publication in 2012. Two long letters to 'Darling', both 2pp, 4to. Both in good condition, lightly aged, and folded twice. ONE (signed 'R.'): Thirty-eight lines of text. He is writing her a second letter of the day, prompted by boredom and the want of something else to do'.

[Philip Youngman Carter, Assistant Editor of The Tatler and husband of Margery Allingham.] Eight Signed Letters (three in Autograph, five Typed) to E. V. Knox, regarding reviewing, with galley proof of one of Knox's reviews.

Author: 
Youngman Carter [Philip Youngman Carter] (1904-1969), crime novelist, graphic artist, husband of Margery Allingham, assistant editor of 'The Tatler' [E. V. Knox [Edmund George Valpy Knox] (1881-1971)]
Publication details: 
All eight letters on letterhead of The Tatler and Bystander, London. Seven dated between 17 November 1950 and 14 May 1953, the other without year.
£220.00

According to the Oxford DNB entry on Carter's wife the crime writer Margery Allingham (whose book jackets were among those he designed): 'Their amiable, childless marriage was funded by Allingham's increasingly successful fiction. And, although Youngman Carter assisted his wife as a sounding board for plot design, and by producing covers and illustrations for her work, he found it difficult to sell his art.

[Lord Beaverbrook responds to Collin Brooks's appeal for a job.] Two telegrams ('Maxwell Beaverbrook' and 'Max'), one in reply to Brooks's appeal on loss of editorship of Truth, with copy letter from publisher Ronald Staples.

Author: 
Lord Beaverbrook [Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook] (1879-1964), Fleet Street press baron [Collin Brooks, journalist and editor; Ronald Staples, publisher of the magazine 'Truth']
Publication details: 
Four items from 1952, the other from 1950.
£80.00

Five documents. The two telegrams are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn; the other items are in good condition. A photocopy of a typed page from Brooks's diary explains the context in entertaining fashion: '”Staggerer number one,” whispered Dick Swiveller over my shoulder this morning when on my office desk I found a letter from Ronald Staples giving me a twelve month's statutory notice of dismissal from the editorship of Truth.' He explains that the magazine is losing money, and criticises Staples's plans. 'However – here's a how-de-do!

[ Mandela; Sir Ronald Harwood, playwright and screenwriter. ] Shooting Script, with numerous pages of amendments, of the British television drama film 'Mandela'.,directed by Peter Saville and starring Danny Glover.

Author: 
Sir Ronald Harwood (born South Africa, 1934 as Ronald Horwitz), Oscar-winning playwright and screenwriter [ Peter Saville (1930-2016), British film director; Nelson Mandela ]
Publication details: 
[ TVS Limited, Shepperton Studios. ] Dated 9 September 1986.
£220.00

Typed screenplay, 103pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Paginated to 99, but with the pagination heavily disrupted by the addition and removal of a large number of pages of revisions on pink or blue paper, each amended leaf dated at the head. Held together with two metal studs, in yellow card binding with windowpane for title. Title-page states 'MANDELA | by | Ronald Harwood | 9 September 1986', without further details. Loosely inserted is a six-page 'Call Sheet No.

[ Sir Ronald Russell, Principal of the Guildhall School of Music. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Ronald Russell') to composer Herman Finck, offering him an honorary 'Diploma of Fellowship'.

Author: 
Sir Landon Ronald [ born Landon Ronald Russell ] (1873-1938), composer, Principal of Guildhall School of Music [ Herman Finck [ born Hermann Van Der Vinck ] (1872-1939), Anglo-Dutch composer ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Guildhall School of Music, London. 16 May 1924.
£56.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Offering him, following the unanimous decision of a committee meeting and on his recommendation, an honorary 'Diploma of Fellowship [...] limited to 100 members, of past-students and Professors'. Finck's song 'In the Shadows' was one of the last to be played as RMS Titanic went down.

[ 'The Girl on a Motorcycle', 1968 film starring Alain Delon and Marianne Faithfull. ] Material relating to arbitration by Jack Pulman, for the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, of dispute over credits between Jack Cardiff and Ronald Duncan.

Author: 
Jack Pulman (1925-1979), British screenwriter [ Ronald Duncan (1914-1982), author; Jack Cardiff (1914-2009), film director; The Writers' Guild of Great Britain; 'The Girl on a Motorcycle' ]
Publication details: 
[ The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, 430 Edgware Road, London. ] Two items on Pulman's letterhead, 31 Steele's Road, London. 1968.
£250.00

Six items relating to Pulman's arbitration, including 'a careful breakdown [by him] of scene continuity of the Bourguignon script, the Duncan script and the final shooting script', these three breakdowns (Items Two to Four below) totalling 8pp. In his four-page arbitration, Pulman gives a detailed account of the process of the film's composition, of all the more interest as coming from a master screenwriter and contemporary. All six items in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Carbon copy of Pulman's signed four-page 'Arbitration - "GIRL ON A MOTORCYLE" | Writers involved - S.

[ Ronald Duncan, poet and playwright. ] Typed Letter Signed to bookseller Barry Duncan, regarding his play 'Nothing Up My Sleeve'. With a carbon copy of Barry Duncan's letter that elicited this response.

Author: 
Ronald Duncan (1914-1982), poet, playwright and author, collaborator with Benjamin Britten
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Welcombe, near Bideford, North Devon. 20 December 1950.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight rusting at head from paperclip. He writes that there is 'no relationship between myself and any of the people you mention. I have no antecedents such as you suggest and I cannot recall having received a copy of your catalogue.' Turning to the character 'Horace' in his play 'Nothing Up My Sleeve' he writes: 'he's just a figment of my imagination and the whole play is just a piece of work without any intended resemblance to anyone, only types.' The carbon copy of Barry Duncan's letter is somewhat aged and worn around the edges.

Typescript, marked 'Producer's Copy', of the play 'Ghost for Sale', with manuscript addition to ending.

Author: 
Ronald Jeans (1887-1973), British playwright over five decades
Publication details: 
In manuscript on front cover: 'Return to 40c Palace St: London S.W.1'. Undatd. From Pinker's Play Bureau, Talbot House, Arundel Street, Strand, London, WC2.
£220.00

147pp., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper, with rusty binding, in worn covers. In manuscript on the cover are the return address and 'Producer's Copy'. In the same hand is an addition to the ending: 'Judy | Then there is a ghost' | Geoffrey | Not a word to your father'. 'Who's Who in the Theatre' records a production of the play in 1938, but there is no reference to it on either OCLC WorldCat, or on COPAC.

[ Christina Foyle of Foyle's Bookshop, London. ] 57 Typed Letters Signed and 20 Autograph Letters Signed to Philip Dosse of 'Books and Bookmen', with letters from her husband Ronald Batty. With other material including correspondence received by her.

Author: 
Christina Foyle (1911-1999), proprietor of London bookshop, Foyle's of Charing Cross Road; her husband Ronald Batty (d.1994) [ Philip Dosse (d.1980) of Hansom Books, publisher of 'Books and Bookmen' ]
Publication details: 
The letters of Foyle and Batty on two letterheads: 'From the Director's Office | W. & G. Foyle Ltd. | Booksellers | 119-125, Charing Cross Road, | London, W.C.2.' and Beeleigh Abbey, Maldon, Essex. Between 1968 and 1980.
£500.00

The collection is in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Of Foyle's 77 letters, 63 are signed 'Christina Foyle' and 14 'Christina'. Almost all 1p., 4to. Foyle's character shines through, an extraordinary mixture of steely determination, frankness and snobbish hauteur (for a good assessment, see her obituary in The Independent, 10 June 1999). Topics include: literary luncheons for Diana Mosley, Dirk Bogarde ('He is so very appealing. My friend Vivian Ellis thinks he is greater than Shakespeare.

'The Spanish Civil War', Catalogue 55 by Hammersmith Books (Ronald Gray), with 'Over 4,000 books, pamphlets, documents, photo's, newspapers & other material'. Foreword ('Collecting Material on the Spanish Civil War') by Herbert Rutledge Southworth.

Author: 
[ Hammersmith Books (Ronald Gray), Barnes, London ] [The International Brigades, Spain 1936-1939; the Spanish Civil War; Herbert Rutledge Southworth ]
Publication details: 
Hammersmith Books, High Street, Barnes, London, SW13. [1972.]
£120.00

68pp., folio. Stapled. In printed card wraps in red and black, with Robert Capa photograph on cover. In fair condition, worn and aged. Markings, mainly in pencil, throughout. In manuscript at head of p.1: 'Reference copy - prices no longer apply'. Loosely inserted is a typed page carrying a list of books, headed 'SPAIN. FICTION. Spanish Civil War and after.' Southworth's foreword (2pp., in small type) is titled 'Collecting Material on the Spanish Civil War by Herbert Rutledge Southworth (Author of "El Mito de la Cruzada de Franco," "Antifalange" & numerous articles on the Spanish Civil War)'.

Signed album leaf with Autograph Musical Quotation, bars from his 'Ave Maria', initialled PBK [Percy B. Kahn, composer] with signature of Jean Vallier, French Bass, and overleaf that of Landon Ronald with images of him clipped from magazines

Author: 
Percy B. Kahn, composer and pianist, composer of Ave Maria.
Percy B. Kahn, composer and pianist, composer of Ave Maria.
Publication details: 
Stoke-on-Trent, 21 Jan. 1921.
£125.00
Percy B. Kahn, composer and pianist, composer of Ave Maria.

Page detached from album, stained but writing clear and complete. The plain signature of Jean Vallier, French Bass, is followed by the title Ave Maria followed by two or so bars from the song, with words (A-ve Ma-ri-a gra-ti-a ple-na), itself followed by Best wishes from | Percy B. Kahn Stoke Jan 21st 1921. Note: His most noted composition was the song Ave Maria with accompaniment by piano, and violin obbligato.

Two Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed (all three 'H A L Fisher') to 'Ronnie' [Ronald Chapman], and one Autograph Letter Signed ('Herbert Fisher') to the latter's mother, Mrs Chapman, concerning his education.

Author: 
H. A. L. Fisher [Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher] (1865-1940), British historian, Liberal politician and Warden of New College, Oxford [Ronald Chapman; Limnerslease, Compton; G. F. Watts]
Two Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed  'H A L Fisher'
Publication details: 
1938 and 1939. Three on letterheads of New College, Oxford (one from the Warden's Lodgings), and one from Thursley, Godalming, Surrey.
£120.00
Two Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed  'H A L Fisher'

Each of the four items has text clear and complete. The four are in fair condition, on aged paper, with minor staining from the paperclip used to attach them, and a small closed tear at the foot of the first letter. Letter One to 'Dear Mrs Chapman'; the other three to 'Dear Ronnie'. Letter One (4to, 2 pp): 19 November 1938. Chapman (referred to throughout as 'Ronnie') has not been well, and Fisher makes a suggestion to his mother regarding his 'future': 'Cecil Rhodes spent seven years on this process and never regretted it.

A Case of Sleeping Sickness Studied by Precise Enumerative Methods: Further Observations.

Author: 
Major Ronald Ross, F.R.S., and David Thomson, M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H. [Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; sleeping sickness]
Ronald Ross, A Case of Sleeping Sickness , pamphlet
Publication details: 
'Reprinted from the Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Vol. IV, No. 4, March, 1911. Issued by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Liverpool, at the University Press, 57 Ashton Street.
£45.00
Ronald Ross, A Case of Sleeping Sickness , pamphlet

4to, 21 pp and fold-out graph. In original green wraps. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with rusty staples. Describing the case of 'a strong young Englishman, age 26, weight 154 lbs., [who] was infected in N.E. Rhodesia near the River Luangwa in September, 1909'. Fold-out graph of 'Number of Trypanosomes per c.mm.'

Two Autograph Notes Signed ('Louise M Earle' and 'Lue Hamilton Earle') to Arthur Poyser.

Author: 
'Louise Dale' [stage name of Louise Mary Delany (d. 1954), singer, who married Ronald Hamilton Earle (1874-1919), bass singer; and then Sir Henry Mulleneux Grayson (1865-1951), shipping magnate]
"Louise Dale", singer, Letters
Publication details: 
The first: 26 December [1923], on letterhead of 3 Herbert Crescent, Hans Place.The second: 8 Jan [1924?]; 3 Herbert Crescent, Hyde Park, on cancelled letterhead of 91 Gloucester Terrace.
£35.00
"Louise Dale", singer, Letters

Both letters are tipped in on a captioned sheet removed from an autograph album. Both items lightly-aged, but good. Item One: 12mo, 1 p. Inviting him to 'a small dance for Hubie' at a location 'lent by Miss Constable'. 'You need not dance!' Item two: 12mo, 1 p. Asking him to 'come fairly early' the next day, and to 'stay on after the children have gone & have supper - of a sort'. Refers to 'H's party'.

Autograph Note Signed ('S. R') to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), 'the banker poet', best-known for his 'Pleasures of Memory'
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£35.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 18.5 x 11 cm): 1 p. On laid Whatman paper. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight trace of glue from mount on reverse. Reads 'Your remarks are excellent - May I venture to tax your patience once more - but pray don't think of a frank - It was Sir Ronald, the General | Every yours | [signed] S. R'.

Archive of thirty-four Autograph Letters Signed and fifty-two Typed Letters Signed, to Baker, with two Autograph Letters Signed from Campion's wife, and drafts of three of Baker letters (two autograph and one typed), exhibition catalogue, etc.

Author: 
Sidney Ronald Campion (1891-1978), O.B.E., F.R.S.A., English sculptor, painter and author [Edward Cecil Baker (1902-), M.B.E., Post Office Librarian [Archivist?]]
Publication details: 
1953 to 1978. 22 Erridge Road, Merton Park, Wimbledon (until 1971); 13 Argyle Court, Argyle Road, Southport (from 1972).
£250.00

The archive is in very good condition, with very slight creasing and aging, and with all items entirely legible. Most items quarto, and most of two pages or more (one running to seven pages). One letter has the head and first paragraph cut away. All but the first two items, which date from 1953 and are signed 'Sidney R Campion', are signed 'Sidney'. The bulk of the correspondence dates from the 1970s. An important archive consisting almost exclusively of long, interesting and discursive letters addressed to a close and trusted friend.

Autograph Manuscript musical score, 'From Mass in C minor. | for five voices', signed by 'Ronald M. Burnker'.

Author: 
R. M. Brunker [Ronald M. Brunker], choirmaster and organist, St Bartholomew's, Battersea
Publication details: 
Dated 'June 28th. 1927'.
£100.00

On one side of a leaf of green paper, roughly 17.5 x 23.5 cm, removed from an autograph album. Good, on lightly aged paper. Thirteen bars, with staves for soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Covering the greater part of the page, and followed by 'From Mass in C minor. | for five voices. | [signed] Ronald. M. Brunker. | June 28th. 1927'.

Typed Letter Signed to Pete Goodyer.

Author: 
Carl Ronald Giles
Publication details: 
16 March 1978; on Daily Express letterhead.
£125.00

Probably the most famous of the Fleet Street cartoonists (1916-95). One page, quarto. Folded twice. Good, but lightly creased. He thanks him for the 'very nice letter and compliments', but feels he 'must administer a small but friendly reprimand. The Jean Rook [a noted Daily Express columnist] originals you refer to were ones concerning her article of the day and were a personal presentation.' Discusses charity commitments, before remarking 'It may surprise you that I spend more time in the studio working for charities than I do earning my living!

Valentine card.

Author: 
Ronald Searle
Publication details: 
1959
£35.00

Dimensions when folded roughly 4 3/4 inches by 6 inches. Somewhat grubby, but well printed and in good condition overall. Front of card printed in black with Searle's printed signature and 'to my Valentine -' in red at head. Cartoon illustration of bespectacled young lady with bouffant hair and hairband, in dainty skirt and heels, holding beribboned had in front of her, posing in front of wall on which she casts large shadow of horned devil with tail.

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