HAMMOND

Lansing Van der Heyden Hammond (b.1906), son of the distinguished organist and choirmaster of Mount Holyoake College William Churchill Hammond, was for many years Director of the Commonwealth Fund Division of International Fellowships. For Bonham Carter, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present group of six items shed light on the 1940s administration of the Commonwealth Fund. They are in good condition, lightly aged and creased. The autograph letter is 1p, 12mo; the five single-spaced typed letters total 6pp, 4to. All six are signed ‘Lance’. ONE: ALS, 10 January 1948. 1p, 12mo.

See Fry’s entry by Michael Billington in the Dictonary of National Biography. His brother survives as a rather shadowy figure: he was certainly alive in 1978, when Fry referred to him in the account of his family background ‘Can You Find Me / A Family History’ (OUP). In that volume Fry describes his ‘brother Leslie’ as a baby ‘growing sturdily’, noting that ‘though he was later called by his first name Charles, he was Leslie for many years to come’.

Possibly the author's first book (see below), from the Christopher Fry papers (despite the ownership inscription). 54pp, 12mo. Stapled into green printed wraps (title and words '(ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)'). Tiny ownership signature in initials ('R. G.') in top right-hand corner of title-page. No details of publication or date, other than the printers' slug at bottom left of title-page.

From the Christopher Fry papers. PLAY: [1] + 47pp, 12mo. Stapled into buff wraps printed in red, including the statement that it is the 'Friends of Canterbury Cathedral Edition'. In fair condition, lightly aged, in worn wraps, with a trace of rust to staples. This edition of the play (the first?) is uncommon: the only copies on OCLC WorldCat at the British Library and University of British Columbia. COPY LETTER: 4pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Written out in two hands, Recipient not named. With salutation 'Dear Sir,' and valediction 'I am | Yrs truly,'.

Fourteen items, all 8vo. Seven numbers (4-9 and 16) are 16pp; number 17 is 26pp; other numbers range from 8 to 12pp, except for the 'B.M.S. Gazette Supplement' (30 March 1926) which has 4pp. The first five numbers on cheap newspaper stock; from the sixth number onwards the paper quality improves. Number 17 ('Special Christmas Number') has lost its back cover. The other thirteen numbers are complete. A frail survival, in fair overall condition, on aged and worn paper. Numbers 4-11 with 'Eagle' masthead, otherwise no settled layout.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with lightly-rusted indentation from a paperclip. She thanks him for the 'lovely form of intrusion your letter proved to be - as though you could ever intrude!' She wonders whether, if she had been 'a more patient patient' the 'second attack' might not have happened' (a heart attack had forced her to retire from the stage), 'but I was never one for sitting and doing nothing'. She is 'trying very hard now as I have learnt my lesson'. She has 'so many interests that retirement is beginning to become a pleasure, thank heavens'.

4pp., 12mo. On bifolium of grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. 53 signatures over four pages, written after the following: 'April 1939 | Dear Herman: Keep up your Heart & Get well soon. We need your kingly, cheery presence'. One signatory has written a bar of music, another has drawn a face, another has written after his name 'now then – up beat!' The first signature is that of the Punch cartoonist Bert Thomas (1883-1966), after which he has written '(BLIMEY)'. Among the other signatories are the theatre critic James Agate (1877-1947), the artists C. R. W.

417pp., 8vo. A fair copy, on lightly aged paper, a little loose in worn publisher's brown cloth binding, with gilt title on spine and decorative cross on front board, and green patterned endpapers. Blind stamp of the W. H. Smith Library, Strand, to front free endpaper. According to Hammond's biographer Bonnie Ellen Blustein, 'The complex plot of Doctor Grattan revolved around the relation of insanity to neurological impairment, and touched on the subjects of neuralgia, headache, kleptomania, and delusions.' This English edition of Hammond's book is now uncommon.

Both 4to, in identical green printed wraps. Both issues in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight chipping and wear to wraps. Same illustration of two women looking out from the deck of a ship on front wrap of both issues, and same advertisements on inside covers and back. The first issue has 'SPECIMEN.' stamped in red on the front. First issue: frontispiece and 50pp., preceded by four pages of advertisements and leaf carrying an address to the public from the publishers, and succeeded by leaf whose recto is headed 'Gardening for September' and whose verso is headed 'New Books.

The seven items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Totalling 10pp, 12mo. A correspondence between two Yale men. The first six items (between 11 April and 29 June 1871) relate to Lounsbury's 'paper on old English verb forms, for publication in the Transactions [of the Amerian Philological Association]'. A letter of 8 May 1871 is revealing of the difficulties encountered by Trumbull in editing the journal: 'Your paper is safe in hand, and I do not apprehend any trouble with it, typographical or other.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He begins: 'It would be tolerably easy to write a duodecimo of a couple of hundred pages by way of answer to yours of the 22d, but really I do not know how to talk about it in a letter of modest length.' He refers him to 'newspapers, magazines, special biographies, encyclopaedias, histories of the several colonies, and of the Revolution, - passim'. He concludes: 'Such a subject must be worked up like a patchwork quilt. There is no one book better than another, in which to look for facts and authorities.'

12mo, 3 pp. Ruckled and stained, with the verso of the second leaf of the bifolium (carrying the address) laid down on a leaf detached from an autograph album. The 'Royal Family of France' are causing 'a very deep interest' and 'a portion of them have found their way to this Island'. He reports that the 'Duchesse d'Orleans and her two Sons, and the Duc de Montpensier have arrived here from Granville - they were brought over by a Jersey Boat the Master of which has been most liberally rewarded'.

English novelist and politician (1765-1846). The recipient (1763-1853) was a diplomat, and joint-editor of the 'Anti-Jacobin'. Three pages, 12mo. On discoloured, lightly-stained paper, with one corner of second leaf of bifoliate (with two words of text) broken off in breaking open letter, and still adhering to wafer. Had Hammond given 'a days notice' of his 'intention to come up', he might have been spared 'some hours of unnecessary Solitude'.