[ 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
SKU: 16791

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. Dirk Bogarde laughed when I told him.'), Christopher Isherwood; private lunches to which Dosse takes individuals including Malcolm Muggeridge and his wife ('I went with Kitty to the Soviet Union when I was twenty'), Harold Acton, Sir John Betjeman, Sir Robert Mark, Auberon Waugh, Enoch Powell (whose House of Commons compliments slip is present), A. L. Rowse; also the death of her uncle Gilbert Foyle ('He was a very good and kind man [...] he did live a full and long life and I am sure he enjoyed every minute of it'); the murder of her husband's nephew Ross McWhirter; Tom Driberg ('I was his oldest friend, for I first met him when I was seventeen. His brother Jack was always in Foyles, and often took me to lunch at Kettners, with Tom.'); her father's library; Batty's ill health ('My husband has a nervous complaint and is suffering from tension. We cannot understand it as no people in the world are more fortunate than we are'); her mother's ill health and death ('one feels like a lonely orphan'); holidays and business trips (India, Madeira, Switzerland, South Africa, China), the funeral of Cecil Robert (who had previously offered to dedicate a book to her: 'I remember him as a young man, when I was still a schoolgirl, and I am devoted to him'). Her good rapport with Dosse is clear throughout. On 21 August 1972 she writes: 'I too enjoyed being with you so much. As you say, we have a great deal in common.' And on 17 October 1972 she reflects: 'On the whole, we have been tremendously lucky all our lives. I was very lucky in my husband, and my father, which has given me a warm and friendly outlook towards men, I think, which many women never have because their personal relationships are not so fortunate. It rather balances the pretty rough life you have to expect in the Charing Cross Road. | I suppose our main worry is the future of Foyles and all its ramifications, but it is no good worrying about that.' On the death of the publisher William Collins she writes (26 September 1976): 'Isn't it sad about Billy Collins. He always seemed young to me. I have known him all my life, and his uncle, Sir Godfrey Collins, used to call on my mother, in a hansom cab, in 1904.' A comment by the future novelist Sally Emerson (then working for Dosse), that Foyle was 'the prettiest lady at the party' meets with the response: 'as there was only one other there, there was not much to beat! It was a very interesting party, filled with heavy gentlemen from behind the Iron Curtain. One that I had a rather difficult talk with and who I thought was Chinese, was rather annoyed and turned out to be Mongolian.' Following a private lunch with her 'old friend' Sir Oswald and his wife Lady Mosley she comments: 'He is wonderful - so witty and good looking, and so is she.' And on 15 May 1977: 'We too thought the Mosley luncheon splendid. I have always admired the Mosleys for their courage, wit and style. Of course, as always, if anyone good looking, famous and attractive puts a foot wrong, endless people never lose a chance of bashing them for evermore, but luckily the Mosleys are pretty resilient.' On 26 September 1976 she writes that she is 'just doing the flowers for our party tonight for some friends from Virginia, to meet Angus Wilson, Hammond Innes and other people in the book world'. On several occasions she refers to Dosse's financial difficulties. A comment on 15 October 1974 gives an indication of her way of working: 'I know how difficult things must be with you. We very much value Books and Bookmen, and I should like to go on sending it to our customers. We are agreeable to paying the increased price and to the £100 for the cover. However, I have to watch our costs very carefully, so I shall see that the magazine goes only to really worth-while people, which will probably keep the numbers down. I shall also have to watch the position month by month, and leave myself open to make any changes that may be forced upon us by the economic situation.' She is constant in her praise of 'Books and Bookmen'. On 26 February 1977 she writes: 'I hope that you will live a very long life - longer than me. No one will ever do Books & Bookmen like you. Sending it to our customers is one of my greatest interests. It gives them such intense pleasure, and I get letters from all over the world.' On 21 February 1976 she writes: 'I am not surprised that you have never been away from the office. I have not had a day in bed since I left the sanatorium I had been in for a year, when I was seven, and Miss Briggs, who worked for me since 1931 was only away once.' When Prince Charles accepts an invitation to write for Dosse she comments (13 July 1979): 'Quite often taking part in book trade activities appeals to royalty as it is such a change from the usual stereotyped programmes.' Foyle's last letter, in manuscript from Beeleigh Abbey, 21 August 1980, was written just before Dosse's suicide following his bankruptcy: 'Dear Philip, | We are devastated to read the news. Somehow, Books & Bookmen must go on, with you running it. It would never be the same with anyone else. | It is a barbaric world. Everything lovely goes. I have just found that someone has shot my pet swan. He is lying on the river bank. | Yours ever | Christina'. Also present are nine Autograph Letters Signed to Dosse from Batty (five in autograph and four typed), dated between 1972 and 1976. On 12 December 1972, following a trip with his wife to India (arranged by Dosse), he writes that 'Though the poverty is appalling, the people are as fascinating as the sights, and with such good manners that I am sorry some of we English don't make regular visits to learn from them!' And on 21 January 1974: 'Claude Gill Books are re-opening in Oxford Street just round the corner from Tottenham Court Road Station and we are rather pleased about this as it will bring more book trade to Charing Cross Road and will tidy up that hideous thoroughfare, a little at least.' On 8 January 1974 Batty discusses his attempts to extend the firm's premises Goldbeater House, and 'the Goslett site', for which 'we put in an offer but it went to Town and City for £150,000 more'. Other material includes: five letters to Dosse from Ben Perrick of Foyles, with three carbons of letters to him from Dosse, regarding 'Foylibra'; two booklets to celebrate 'Foyles Seventy Years | 1904-1974', one of them containing 'Greetings from some friends of Foyles Bookshop', including Agatha Christie, Charlie Chaplin, Rebecca West, Monica Dickens, Paul Gallico, Sir Hugh Cudlipp, Lord Longford and Jean Plaidy; a seating plan for a celebration dinner, 27 February 1974; programme and seating plan for a Foyles Luncheon for Lady Mosley , 1977; and around 18 original letters praising 'Books and Bookmen' and 'Foylibra', from the television personality Cliff Michelmore, Sir Anthony Rumbold, Professor Joseph S. Fruton of Yale University, Robert Einzig, George D. Edwards, Edgar E. Folk (2), Rev. Joseph M. O'Malley, Ronald J. Lyall, W. S. Rodger, E. J. Finkel, G. E. Caraker.