TWENTIES

[BBC: 1920s female broadcasters discuss their work.] Typed articles by seven women, including 'Wireless Aunties' or 'Organisers of Children's Hour' from BBC stations at Aberdeen ('Auntie Win'), Plymouth, Birmingham, Liverpool.

Author: 
[BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), 1920s female broadcasters] Emma Dorothea Barcroft; Cecil E. M. Dixon; M. M. Hummerston; Muriel A. Levy; Winifred M. Manners; L. D. Rhodes
Publication details: 
Undated, but from the 1920s. [BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).] From BBC stations at Aberdeen, Birmingham, Liverpool, Plymouth.
£450.00

A fascinating collection of articles - with added relevance at a time when the position of women in the BBC is much-debated - in which 1920s women broadcasters with at BBC provincial stations (including Aberdeen, BIrmingham, Liverpool, Plymouth) discuss their careers. One Seven original typescripts, totalling 20pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, with occasional chipping to edges. The writing is thoughtful and often enlightening.

[Leatrice Joy, Hollywood star of the silent movie era.] Printed circular, in the form of a Typed Letter, with facsimile signature, responding to fan mail.

Author: 
Leatrice Joy [Leatrice Johanna Zeidler] (1893-1985), Hollywood star of the silent movie era
Publication details: 
No date. From Hollywood, California. On her letterhead.
£50.00

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with rust stain from paperclip to one margin. The letterhead consists of a stylized vertical arrangement of the letters in the name ‘JOY’ at top left. The ‘signature’ is an extremely good facsimile in black ink.

[Henry Hall, Director of the BBC Dance Orchestra.] Coloured Lithographic portrait of him, in colours, with original Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Henry Hall [Henry Robert Hall] (1898-1989), Director of the BBC Dance Orchestra
Henry Hall
Publication details: 
The print: ‘Presented with “Radio Pictorial,” No. 1, January 19, 1934’.
£45.00
Henry Hall

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 20 x 25 cm lithograph in pink, white and black. In good condition, lightly aged. An attractive item, suitable for framing. Head and shoulders portrait of a dapper bespectacled Hall, with parted greased hair, in white tie, staring at the viewer. Across his shirt, Hall has written in green ink ‘Best Wishes / Henry Hall’. Captioned at bottom left: ‘HENRY HALL / DIRECTOR, B.B.C. DANCE ORCHESTRA’; and at bottom right: ‘Presented with “Radio Pictorial,” / No. 1, January 19, 1934’. See image.

['Pam Chelsea', 1920s London entertainer.] Autograph Magazine Article, signed ('(MR) Pam Chelsea'), titled '"On Tour" | A Magic Phrase - & what It means to The Small Theatrical Artiste' (on those working in small revues, concert parties, road shows).

Author: 
'Pam Chelsea', 1920s 'Small Theatrical Artiste' from London [revues, concert parties, road shows, music hall, variety]
Publication details: 
No date, but 1920s. Author: '(MR) Pam Chelsea | 9 Redburn Street | Chelsea SW3' [London].
£180.00

No information regarding 'Pam Chelsea' (female impersonator?) has been discovered, but the appearance of the document, and its presence in a batch of material relating to 1920s entertainment and broadcasting, date it to that period. 5pp, folio. 'No. of words. 1,063.' Written in a bold hand. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. The article was clearly accepted for publication, as '£1 11. 6 paid' is written at the top of the first page, and '5 line drop cap' at the start of the article.

[Willie Smith, World Billiards Champion, 'the greatest all-round billiards player who ever lived'.] Autograph Signature ('Willie Smith') in response for autograph.

Author: 
Willie Smith (1886-1982), World Billiards Champion in 1920 and 1923, said to be 'the greatest all-round billiards player who ever lived', also snooker player who lost World Championship final in 1933
Publication details: 
1 February 1924. No place.
£25.00

On 8 x 11 cm piece of card. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount on reverse. A good bold signature, clearly in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'Yours Truly | Willie Smith | 1 – 2 – 24'. Smith has made a short line under the date, but the signature is not underlined.

[Patsy Hendren, Middlesex and England cricketer.] Autograph Signature ('E. Patsy. Hendren.') on card in response to request for autograph.

Author: 
Patsy Hendren [Elias Henry Hendren] (1889-1962), noted Middlesex and England cricketer, prolific batsman, friend of Jack Hobbs
Publication details: 
No date or place, but annotated with date '1920'.
£25.00

On 5 x 9 cm card. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount on reverse. The only writing on the card is the good firm signature 'E. Patsy. Hendren.', which is underlined twice with two short lines. At bottom right, in pencil, in a tiny hand: '1920'.

[Searcy, Tansley & Co. London caterers, and the 'artistic design' for a cake by 'Miss Harmsworth'.] Typed Letter Signed ('F. S. Physick') from director Frank Savill Physick to Cecil Harmsworth, regarding their catering of an event for his family..

Author: 
Searcy, Tansley & Co., London caterers (Frank Savill Physick (1882-1983), Director) [Cecil Harmsworth (1869-1948), 1st Baron Harmsworth]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Searcy, Tansley & Co. (1918) Ltd., 19 Sloane Street, London, S.W.1. 21 March 1928.
£56.00

2pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with the two leaves pinned together. Referring to his wife Emilie, Harmsworth has written in red pencil at the head of the letter 'Em to see'. Physick begins by thanking Harmsworth and his wife for their 'most generous appreciation of our efforts'.

[ Samoa in the nineteen-twenties. ] Eight letters, Typed and in Autograph, from a Methodist missionary ('Will') to his father in England, describing his impressions on arrival at his post in Western Samoa.

Author: 
Samoa [ Gagaemalae, Savaii Western Samoa] [ Methodist missionary work; Christianity ]
Publication details: 
The six complete letters dated from Gagaemalae, Savaii, Western Samoa, between May and October 1925.
£320.00

An interesting and informative correspondence, giving the initial impressions of an unnamed nineteen-twenties Methodist minister in Samoa, describing local customs, the state of Christianity in the region (including a denunciation of the Mormons), his view of his duties and the nature of his work, his heavy workload, and other topics including the importance of the coconut and the necessity for every Samoan male to 'destroy fifteen beetles a week'. Eight letters (two incomplete), of which three are in autograph and the other five typed. Totalling 46pp., 4to. (23pp. autograph; 23pp. typed).

[ Lord Riddell and eugenics: 'Lunacy and mental deficiency must always be festering sores'. ] Printed pamphlet: 'Sterilisation of the Unfit. Paper read by Lord Riddell before the Medico-Legal Society, April 25th, 1929.'

Author: 
Lord Riddell [ George Allardice Riddell, 1st Baron Riddell ] (1865-1934), Fleet Street press baron, proprietor of the News of the World [ eugenics ]
Publication details: 
Printed for H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd, by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ltd., London and Aylesbury. No date [ circa 1929 ].
£120.00

31 + [1]pp., 8vo. Stapled without wraps. Drophead title. (Offprint from Transactions of the Medico-Legal Society.) In fair condition, lightly aged, central vertical fold, rusted staples. 'No reasonable person', Riddell writes, 'suggests the wholesale sterilisation of masses of lunatics and defectives. Only very moderate measures are proposed.' Riddell's suggestion is that 'in suitable cases, subject to the consent of the Board of Control, or some similar body', and with the consent of the subject, lunatics and mental defectives be sterilised.

[ Michael Arlen, English author of Armenian extraction. ] Autograph Signature ('Michael Arlen') on note to the author Sewell Stokes.

Author: 
Michael Arlen [ born Dikran Kouyoumdjian ] (1895-1956), Anglo-American author, born in Bulgaria of Armenian extraction [ Francis Martin Sewell Stokes (1902-1979), author and broadcaster ]
Publication details: 
14 Queen Street, Mayfair [ London ]. October 1924.
£35.00

1p., 4to. The leaf is divided into four panels by a central horizontal crease; Arlen writes on the upper panel of one page, the rest of the leaf being blank. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Arlen writes neatly at the centre of the panel: 'Dear Sewell Stokes | Pip, Squeak and Wilfred. | Yrs. | Michael Arlen.' And at top left: '14 Queen St. | Mayfair. | October, 1924.' At the time of writing the precocious Stokes was an assistant editor at T.P.'s Weekly. 'Pip, Squeak and Wilfred' was a cartoon which ran in the Daily Mirror from 1919 to 1956.

[ H. P. Bulmer & Co. Ltd., Cider Makers, Hereford. ] Printed 1920 'PRICE LIST, | Duty included' for 'Bulmer's Champagne Cider & Perry', with typed circular letter.

Author: 
H. P. Bulmer & Co. Ltd., Cider Makers, Hereford
Publication details: 
H. P. Bulmer & Co. Ltd., Cider Makers, Hereford. Circular letter dated 29 June 1920; price list dated 1 July 1920.
£50.00

The two items on aged and worn paper. ONE: Printed circular letter, printed in blue on firm's letterhead, with royal warrant in red at head. 1p., 4to. After boasting of the firm's prices compared with those of other firms, the letter boasts: 'We are the only firm in the world engaged in making bottled Cider and Perry on a large scale by the same processes in all respects as are employed in the production of the Sparkling Wines of Rheims and Epernay.

[ The English garden. ] Manuscript plan of unnamed garden, with bloom calendar table showing the blooming patterns of more than a hundred flowers.

Author: 
[ The English garden; gardening; ecology ]
Publication details: 
Place not stated [ England ]. 1928.
£120.00

The table or bloom calendar is in a makeshift table, ruled out in pencil over 2pp., folio. It is in poor condition, heavily-aged, divided into two sections along central horizontal fold line, and with slight loss to text from chipping.

Anonymous album containing 29 quarto pages of superior ink drawings of teddy bears and other stuffed toys in cartoonish and anthropomorphic style.

Author: 
[An album of strikingly original illustrations of teddy bears]
An album of strikingly original illustrations of teddy bears
Publication details: 
The album dates from the 1930s; the drawings are undated, and would appear to be slightly later.
£250.00
An album of strikingly original illustrations of teddy bears

4to album, with the 29 pages of drawings on 28 leaves (on the rectos, except on one leaf, where they are on both sides). The album gives evidence of having been re-used, but gives no evidence as to the identity of the artist. While the covers of the album are worn, with the spine becoming detached, and with its leaves of discoloured high-acidity paper, all the drawings are clear and complete, consisting of twenty-eight full-page studies, and the remaining page (the first) with three studies on it. A few of the illustrations are lightly- and tastefully-coloured in pastel watercolour.

Nine glass slides of photographs of British nineteen-twenties ice cream manufacture.

Author: 
[British nineteen-twenties ice cream manufacture; the dairy industry; agriculture; milk]
Publication details: 
[1920s.]
£180.00

All nine slides bound in 8 cm glass squares, with the black and white images themselves in good condition and unfaded. The slides, apparently from a newspaper library, all carry labels with captions and the shelf-mark 'M74 Box 286 637.1'. Evocative and instructive images, apparently all dating to the 1920s. Captions of 'engine rooms and compressors', 'machine filling one third three flavour blocks', 'mixing and pasteurising', 'hardening room', 'ice cream packaging machine', 'three double packing machines', 'making', 'two chocolate ice machines', 'mix storager tanks'.

Manuscript letter from 'Mummie' to 'Babsie', consisting of a long description in English of Burma from a visiting mother to her daughter.

Author: 
[Mandalay; Burma; Myanmar]
Publication details: 
March 17 [no year] [around 1927]. Mandalay, Burma.
£65.00

12mo, 15 pp. On watermarked laid paper. Very good, with slight wear to crease on first leaf damaging two words (both still legible). Otherwise text clear and complete. The item can be dated from a reference to 'a Dempsey-Tunney fight'. Although neatly written, the handwriting is so stylised that deciphering the text presents difficulties. Begins 'What a whirl since I wrote you on the boat before we landed in Rangoon [...] HOT. Yes! Right now it is 90 degrees in our room which has windows on three sides & there are two big fans going.

Scrapbook containing a hundred tickets from twenty-seven London theatres of the 1920s, with illustrations of actors.

Author: 
R. J. Olive [London theatres of the 1920s; theatrical ephemera]
Publication details: 
London: for performances dating from between 1922 and 1927.
£95.00

On fifty-seven pages, in a notebook of forty leaves (eighty pages). Dimensions: 20 x 16 cm. In red card covers with 'THEATRES' in manuscript on front. Pages aged and ruckled, with a little damp staining at rear (not affecting any of the ephemera) and a small amount of loss to a corner of the rear cover, but in fair condition overall. The first page, signed 'R. J. Olive', with title 'London Theatres'.

Northcliffe: The Facts.

Author: 
Louise Owen [Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe; Harold Sidney Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere]
Publication details: 
London: 22 Buckingham Gate, S.W.1. [Preface dated 'September, 1931.'] ['Printed in Great Britain by Louise Owen, 2, Johnson's Court, London, E.C.4.'
£45.00

8vo: 334 pp. Portrait of Northcliffe as frontispiece. Three facsimiles of letters in text and fold-out with facsimiles of three of Northcliffe's letters. Inscribed by Owen on front pastedown 'To Elaine from Louise and Northcliffe. | Nov. 1938'. (The reference to 'Northcliffe' is explained by the fact that Owen considered herself a spirit medium, in contact with the deceased Viscount.) Internally good: sound and tight, on lightly aged paper. In original worn red cloth, with slight bloom on front.

Typed Letter Signed ('John van Druten'), giving advice to an actor named 'France'.

Author: 
John Van Druten [John William Van Druten] (1901-1957), Anglo-American dramatist
Publication details: 
6 December 1928; 5 Harewood Court, Hanover Square, London W1.
£80.00

4to, 1 p, 21 lines. On creased and lightly-foxed paper, with a couple of closed tears (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). May refer to the 1928 revival of van Druten's play 'Young Woodley' (previously banned by the censor), or (which is more likely) to his 'After All' (1929).

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