[‘The Ultimate All-Rounder’: C. B. Fry, one of the greatest of English cricketers.] Autograph Signature from Typed Letter written as Honorary Director of the training ship Mercury..

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he has ‘strong claims to be regarded as the greatest sporting all-rounder of his or any era since’. (Neville Cardus counted him ‘among the most fully developed and representative Englishmen of his period’.) It also seems that in 1920 he was offered the chance of becoming king of Albania. His grave at Repton is inscribed: ‘Cricketer, scholar, athlete, Author – The Ultimate All-rounder’. The present item is a 14 x 5 cm slip of paper, neatly torn from the base of a typed letter, written by Fry as honorary director of the training ship Mercury. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, with a central vertical fold, and two corners dogeared. The signature (‘C. B. Fry.’) is good and bold, and in the context of the surviving typewritten text reads: ‘[...] it is about 2 1/2 miles from the station. / Yours faithfully / C. B. Fry. / Hon. Director in Charge.’