sixties

[Donovan [Donovan Philips Leitch], Scottish musician associated with the hippy movement.] Autograph inscription to ‘Clare’, made at the time of his 1968 concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Author: 
Donovan [Donovan Phillips Leitch] (b. 1946), Scottish musician associated with the hippy movement and the swinging sixties
Publication details: 
‘ROYAL ALBERT HALL [London] / March ’68’ [1968].
£45.00

It was around the time of this autograph that Donovan travelled with the Beatles to India to see the Maharishi, during which he gave Lennon and McCartney tips on guitar playing. A couple of months later he would release one of his biggest hits, ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’. On 14 x 10.5 cm piece of grey paper, extracted from an album. In good condition, lightly aged. Large flowing inscription in red ink, diagonally down from top left: ‘love / To Clare / from / Donovan’. Also in red ink, in another hand at top left: ‘ROYAL ALBERT / HALL / MARCH ’68’.

[Donovan [Donovan Philips Leitch], Scottish musician associated with the hippy movement.] Autograph Signature 'Donovan', cut from an autograph album.

Author: 
Donovan [Donovan Phillips Leitch] (b. 1946), Scottish musician who influenced the Beatles, and was associated with the hippy movement and the swinging sixties
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£35.00

Sprawling but not unattractive signature, with curled flourish, on piece of wove paper which has been cut into an irregular 9.5 x 6 cm oval to match the curve of the signature. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient has noted the singer's name on the reverse, which carries traces of glue and brown paper from mount. See Image.

[Benny Hill, English comedian famed for his television series ‘The Benny Hill Show’.] Signed Autograph Inscription to black and white publicity photograph, with Autograph Note Signed on reverse.

Author: 
‘Benny Hill’ [Alfred Hawthorne Hill] (1924-1992), English comedian famed for his television series ‘The Benny Hill Show’, and his use of slapstick, burlesque and double entendre
Publication details: 
No date or place, but the portrait of Hill apparently dating from the 1960s or early 1970s.
£45.00

Despite criticism for his supposedly sexist humour, Hill’s work was admired by men from the novelist Anthony Burgess to Michael Jackson and Burt Reynolds. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged, with light traces of glue from mount on reverse. An 8.5 x 14 cm photographic print, carrying an 8.5 x 10.5 cm black and white head and shoulders shot of a smirking Hill, staring fixedly at the viewer in black top. Inscribed in light ink in the blank patch beneath the image: ‘To Eric / Cheers! / Benny Hill’.

[Peter Blake, English pop artist who did the cover of the Beatles' 'Sergeant Pepper' album.] Autograph Name and Address, with pre-1990 phone number, on leaf torn from an address book or diary.

Author: 
Peter Blake (b. 1932), much-loved English pop artist, responsible for the cover of the Beatles' album 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'
Publication details: 
Without date or place. The telephone number dates from before the introduction in 1990 of the 071 and 081 prefixes.
£85.00

See his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of Art. 1p, 16mo. On a leaf, with curved corners, extracted neatly from an address book or diary. In good condition. A n oddly attractive item. Apart from the word 'MEMO' printed at the head of the page above a thick-thin rule, the only writing on the leaf is the name 'PETER BLAKE', with his address and phone number (both withheld), written in black ink a neat and childlike hand. See Image (onitting address and phone number).

[Roger McGough, one of the ‘Liverpool Poets’ and presenter of BBC Radio ‘Poetry Please’.] Autograph Letter Signed to Paul Furness giving information on the pubs and venues he was ‘associated with during those poetry-reading days’ in sixties Liverpool

Author: 
Roger McGough (born 1937), one of the celebrated ‘Liverpool Poets’ associated with the Beatles in the 1960s; presenter of the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Poetry Please’ [Adrian Henri]
Publication details: 
‘307 Fulham Rd / LONDON SW10 / 19 April 83 [1983]’.
£80.00

1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Dear Paul Furness’ and signed ‘Roger McGough’. On the subject of Furness’s ‘fascinating pub study’, he names ‘the ones I was associated with during those poetry-reading days’: ‘O’Connors Tavern in Hardman Street (Liverpool all), The Philharmonic (corner of Hope St. & Hardman Street), The Grapes, Pilgrim Street’. In addition there were ‘clubs which we took over on quiet nights i.e. Monday at Chauffeurs Club, Hope Street’.

[‘The English Mayakovsky’: Adrian Mitchell, radical poet.] Typed Letter Signed to [Paul] Furness, describing his youthful experiences in pubs, ‘with the Merseylads’ (‘Liverpool poets’), in London and Oxford, with Jeff Nuttall, David Mercer and others

Author: 
Adrian Mitchell (1932-2008), radical poet who made his name in the nineteen-sixties, described by Kenneth Tynan as ‘the British Mayakovsky’
Publication details: 
‘13 South Hill Park, London NW 3 March 31st 83’.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Forty-three lines. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Signed in red ink ‘Adrian Mitchell’, and with red ink underlining and one manuscript addition. Addressed to ‘Mr Furness’ (One of a number of letters from British poets in response to enquiries from Paul Furness with regard to their pub memories.) Begins: ‘Pub I think of with the Merseylads is the Phil.

[John Wood, distinguished English actor, associated with Tom Stoppard.] His copy of the script of ?The Fantasticks / A Parable about Love / Words by Tom Jones / Music by Harvey L. Schmidt?, with autograph note by him and stage plans.

Author: 
John Wood (1930-2011), English actor associated with Tom Stoppard [?The Fantasticks?, musical by Tom Jones and Harvey L. Schmidt]
Publication details: 
Title page: ?Copyright 1959 by Tom Jones and Harvey L. Schmidt / Property of: Music Theatre Inc. / 119 West 57th Street/ New York 19, New York?. By ?the studio duplicating service / 434 west 43rd street, n.y.c. / LO 3-1225? [New York City, USA.]
£400.00

See Michael Coveney?s obituary in the Guardian, 10 August 2011, which states that Wood was ?one of the greatest stage actors of the past century?, and that he ?returned to the West End in 1961 as Henry Albertson in the whimsical off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, at the Apollo?. 86pp, 4to. Each act separately paginated. Duplicated and bound with metal studs into black waxed-card wraps, with each page on the recto of a separate leaf. Title ?THE FANTASTICKS? printed on front cover, with details of the Studio Duplicating Service. In good condition, lightly aged, in lightly creased wraps.

[Erma Franklin, soul singer, elder sister of Aretha Franklin.] Autograph Inscription, with Signature.

Author: 
Erma Franklin [Erma Vernice Franklin] (1938-2002), American gospel and soul singer, elder sister of Aretha Franklin
Erma Franklin
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£35.00
Erma Franklin

The inscription reads ‘Best Wishes / [flourish] / Erma Franklin’, and is written on a piece of thick paper cut from an envelope, and shaped into an oval roughly 9.5 x 5 cm. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two vertical folds, one through the centre of the oval. See Image.

[The South African Peace Council; 1960s anti-nuclear movement.] Carnet of 12 stamps (one missing) issued by the SAPC, with mottos ‘Outlaw Atomic Weapons’ and ‘One Year of Negotiation is better than one Day of War’.

Author: 
The South African Peace Council [1960s anti-nuclear movement; Hilda Bernstein (1915-2006) Marxist anti-apartheid campaigner]
Atom Bomb
Publication details: 
No date [early 1960s]. The South African Peace Council, P.O. Box 10528, Johannesburg.
£120.00
Atom Bomb

A nice piece of anti-nuclear war ephemera. A 19 x 6.75 cm block of perforated stamps with gum on reverse. The block originally had twelve stamps, but the one at top right is lacking. Printed in blue on white with a simple design of a dove with an olive branch in its mouth, encircled by the words 'THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEACE COUNCIL.' Stapled between two 19 x 6.75 pieces of paper: the one behind the stamps blank and grey, the one before the stamps being the cover, on which is printed: ‘OUTLAW ATOMIC WEAPONS / THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEACE COUNCIL / P.O.

[Jomo Kenyatta, first President of Kenya, interviewed by John Freeman for BBC TV series 'Face to Face'.] Producer Hugh Burnett's copy of the typescript of the interview.

Author: 
Jomo Kenyatta (c.1897-1978), First President of Kenya [John Freeman (1915-2014), Labour MP and broadcaster; Hugh Burnett (1924-2011), producer; BBC TV series 'Face to Face']
Publication details: 
Undated transcript of a BBC TV interview broadcast on 26 November 1961.
£180.00

JJohn Freeman's interview with Jomo Kenyatta was broadcast on 26 November 1961 in the BBC TV series 'Face to Face'. The present duplicated typescript of the interview is from the papers of the programme's producer Hugh Burnett, and is edited for publication in the book 'Face to Face | Edited and introduced by Hugh Burnett' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1964). 1p., foolscap 8vo. Headed 'JOMO KENYATTA', otherwise consisting entirely of the transcript, with no other details.

[Henry Livings, playwright and screenwriter.] Typed Letter Signed ('Henry Livings') to Ian McPherson

Author: 
Henry Livings (1929-1998), Lancastrian playwright and screenwriter [Ian McPherson]
Publication details: 
49 Grains Road, Delph, Oldham [Lancashire]. 18 September 1986.
£40.00

1p, 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged, folded twice. He does not have a copy of his book 'Flying Eggs', but intends 'to order a few. Since computerization, ordering is a longwinded business, but there's reasonable hope they'd arrive before the Christmas post.' He gives instruction concerning payment and postage. He makes a suggestion if McPherson should 'at any point in the future [be] tempted to buy my first book of short stories, PENNINE TALES' (go for the paperback which is cheaper and 'much better edited').

[ Philip Saville, 'the Orson Welles of the small screen'. ] Two Autograph Notebooks by the pioneering British director: first with account of making of 'Hamlet in Elsinore', second with plot, dialogue, notes, for 'Stop The World, I Want To Get Off'.

Author: 
Philip Saville (1930-2016), 'the Orson Welles of the small screen', pioneering British film and television director, associated with Harold Pinter, Jane Arden, Diana Rigg, Bob Dylan, Pauline Boty
Publication details: 
Both with Saville's London address, 28 Finchley Road, NW8. Both volumes undated, but the first around 1964, and the second around 1966.
£850.00

These two items date from the 1960s, a period during which Saville was a notable 'face' on the London scene: he dated the 'Avengers' actress Diana Rigg and the Pop artist Pauline Boty, and flew Bob Dylan to Britain for his first acting role.

[ '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.

[ Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968. ] Duplicated typed document issued by 'Kilburn VSC', titled 'Czechoslovakia - A Marxist Analysis'.

Author: 
Kilburn Vietnam Solidarity Campaign [ VSC ] [ Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968; Aubrey Walter? ]
Publication details: 
At foot: 'published by Kilburn VSC, 329a West End Lane, London NW6' [ 1968 ].
£50.00

1p., folio. Printed in red. Sixty lines of text. In fair conditon, lightly aged and worn. The first paragraph reads: 'The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia has provoked the expected emotional outburst from the reformist Left, tailing as usual behind the hypocritical phrases of the British ruling class, who weep over "poor Czechoslovakia" while actively supporting the 100-times-worse suffering inflicted by the US on the Vietnamese.

[ Lord Snowdon and Sir Peter Hall. ] Print of photograph of Sir Peter Hall, with stamp of 'Tony Armstrong Jones' on reverse, and Autograph Invoice by Armstrong Jones.

Author: 
Tony Armstrong Jones [ Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon [ Lord Snowdon ] ] (born 1930), photographer and husband of Princess Margaret [ Sir Peter Hall (b.1930), theatre director ]
Publication details: 
Invoice on letterhead of Armstrong Jones Ltd., 20 Pimlico Road, London, SW1. 2 February 1960. Print with stamp from same address, undated.
£60.00

Both items in good condition, with minor signs of age and wear. The black and white photographic print is 24.5 x 19.5 cm, and depicts a chubby Hall, in shirtsleeves and tie, leaning over a seat at the back of a darkened theatre, with a positive look of concentration on his face, as he stares at the stage, a playscript in his hand. The reverse carries two stamps by 'Tony Armstrong Jones, one of them declaring his copyright. Also on the reverse are pencil calculations of dimensions for cropping for publication.

[book about the Korean War by Australian writer Wilfred G. Burchett] This Monstrous War.

Author: 
Wilfred G. Burchett (1911-1983) [Korean War; Australia]
Book about the Korean War by Australian writer Wilfred G. Burchett
Publication details: 
Melbourne: Joseph Waters, 1953. [Wholly set up and printed in Australia by Coronation Press Pty., Ltd., for the publisher, Joseph Waters, 360 Collins Street, Melbourne.]
£85.00
Book about the Korean War by Australian writer Wilfred G. Burchett

12mo, 338 pp. Sewn paperback. Detached from original black and orange wraps, which carry an illustration of a naked Korean woman being crucified. Text clear and complete. On aged and browned high-acidity paper. Two-page publisher's note (describing his 'dilemma' in publishing the book), and three-page introduction by Burchett, dated 'Kaesong, November 4, 1952.' The blurb begins 'THIS MONSTROUS WAR tells how Syngman Rhee climbed to power; how the U.S. State Department tried to drop him and failed; why Rhee needed a war and why it suited the U.S.

Two broadsheet songs: 'Oh, Brother, did you weep?' (words and music by MacColl, illustration by Audrey Seyfang) and 'Yankee Doodle' (words by MacColl, and illustration by 'Catchpole').

Author: 
Ewan MacColl; Audrey Seyfang; 'Catchpole' [Folksingers for Freedom in Vietnam]
Publication details: 
Both items by 'FOLKSINGERS FOR FREEDOM IN VIETNAM/BROADSHEET KING 1967'.
£150.00

Excessively scarce survivals, with no copies of either item appearing on COPAC or WorldCat. Both are printed on one side of a leaf roughly 25 x 20 cm. In fair condition, with light creasing to extremities. Item One (on grey paper, with illustration by Audrey Seyfang): 'Oh, Brother, did you weep? | words and music by Ewan MacColl'.

Four illustrated broadsheets. Three with words and music, to songs: 'Oh, Brother, did you weep?' by MacColl; 'Lament of the Soldier's Wife', 'words: Claudi Paley'; and 'Nam Bo', 'by an American'. The fourth with McColl's words to 'Yankee Doodle'.

Author: 
Folksingers for Freedom in Vietnam [Ewan MacColl; Claudia Paley; Karl Dallas; Gordon McCulloch; Audrey Seyfang; 'Catchpole'; English folk revival; sixties protest singers; Yankee Doodle]
Publication details: 
All four items 'FOLKSINGERS FOR FREEDOM IN VIETNAM/BROADSHEET KING 1967' [London].
£80.00

According to Karl Dallas (Morning Star, 16 November 2007) it was he who 'first mooted the idea' of an anti-Vietnam War 'campaign in the folk scene', with the 'singers' group' being formed by Dallas in conjunction with Ewan MacColl and Gordon McCulloch. The four items are excessively scarce survivals, with no copies of any of them appearing on COPAC. All are printed on one side of a leaf roughly 25 x 20 cm. Each leaf is differently coloured. The items are in fair condition, dogeared and with light creasing and chipping to extremities.

Contracts, agreements and Autograph and Typed Letters Signed relating to the publication of "The New London Spy", including twenty-one contracts with the Autograph Signatures of most of the contributors.

Author: 
The New London Spy, ed. Hunter Davies
Publication details: 
London, 1965-71.
£200.00

Most of the documents are typewritten on A4, some are creased and torn but the overall condition is good. A fascinating glimpse into the world of sixties publishing. Three-page typewritten contract between Hunter Davies and Anthony Blond Ltd initialled on each leaf by Davies and with his autograph signature on the last leaf, together with agreements relating to foreign and paperback rights with Holt-Blond Ltd, Corgi and Bantam Books, Sugar Editore and Editions Robert Laffont. Five Autograph Letters Signed, Three Typed Letters Signed and twenty-one contracts.

Memorandum of Agreement with Anthony Blond, publishers

Author: 
George Mikes
Publication details: 
22/10/65
£25.00

Contract for an article entitled "'English' London" included in "The New London Spy" (1966) ed. Hunter Davies, signed by Mikes.With: ANS, one page, 8vo, Mikes to Anthony (Blond), 25 Oct. 1965, enclosing contract (signed) and saying he has finished the article.

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