I.

[Dr Innocenz Grafe [Dr I. Grafe], Viennese art historian; Rembrandt.] Typed Letter Signed, asking art historian Giles Robertson, on behalf of Prof. Otto Benesch and his publishers Phaidon, if he will assist with ‘stylistic revision’

Author: 
Dr Innocenz Grafe [Dr I. Grafe], Viennese art historian, translator and book editor, primarily with the London firm Phaidon [Giles Henry Robertson (1913-1987), Italian Renaissance expert]
Publication details: 
11 May 1954. On letterhead of Phaidon Press Ltd, Publishers, 3 Cromwell Place, London SW7.
£80.00

Grafe’s putative intelligence work during the war is referenced in Helen Fry’s ‘The Walls Have Ears | The Greatest Intelligence Operation of World War II’ (2019). He worked as translator and editor from as early as 1950 (for Phaidon) and 1986 (for Thames and Hudson). Nigel Spivey, in his ‘Phaidon 1923-98’ (1999), describes how, during the ‘Harvey Miller period’ at the firm, ‘Steady editorial continuity within the workforce at Cromwell Place was provided by an ex-Viennese scholar called Innocenz Grafe (who for a perhaps obvious reason preferred to be known as simply ‘Dr G.’ ’.

[ Melton Prior, Special Artist of the Illustrated London News. ] Engraved illustrated invitation card to an 'Exhibition of Original Burmese War & Nile Expedition Sketches' at the St James's Gallery of 'Mr Mendozza'.

Author: 
Melton Prior (1845-1910), Special Artist of the Illustrated London News [the St. James's Gallery, London, of I. P. Mendoza; Burma, Burmese; the Nile Expedition, Egypt ]
Publication details: 
St. James's Gallery, 4A King Street, St James's. 20 June 1891.
£56.00

Printed on one side of a piece of 12.5 x 20 cm green card. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with central vertical crease line unobtrusively strengthened with archival tape. To the left of the page is an illustration of a British soldier officer a Burmese temple. The text is written out in a range of lettering characteristic of the period, and reads: 'Exhibition of Original Burmese War & Nile Expedition Sketches by Melton Prior Special Artist of the Illustrated London News. Under the Patronage of His Royal Highness The Duke of Connaught.

Autograph Letter Signed ('I. I. Hayes') from the American arctic explorer Isaac Israel Hayes, providing an autograph for the stock broker and journalist John H. Gourtie.

Author: 
Isaac Israel Hayes (1832-1881), American arctic explorer [John H. Gourtie, stock broker and journalist]
Publication details: 
20c East 15th Street, New York. 15 June 1869.
£800.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of mount to blank second leaf of bifolium. Good, firm signature, with flourish. The letter reads 'Dear Sir | I have recd your favour of April last & am glad so easily to oblige you. - | Truly yours | I. I. Hayes'. Gourtie contributed stock exchange reports to the New-York American.

Writers Against Apartheid [broadsheet magazine containing poems by MacDiarmid, MacNeice, Empson]

Author: 
I. F. White, editor, 'Writers Against Apartheid' [South Africa; racism; Sean O'Casey; Hugh MacDiarmid; Louis MacNeice; William Empson]
I. F. White, editor, 'Writers Against Apartheid'
Publication details: 
Printed by Villiers Publications Ltd., Ingestre Road, London, N.W.5.
£280.00
I. F. White, editor, 'Writers Against Apartheid'

Broadsheet bifolium, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper, worn along fold lines. Poetry collection, containing twenty-eight poems by writers including 'Mazizi Kunene (In Exile, London, 1960)' and Hugh MacDiarmid, whose two poems have the footnote 'We are especially pleased to print these two new poems by Hugh McDiarmid, contributed despite the painful after effects of his recent car smash. We wish him a speedy and complete recovery.' Masthead endorsement by Sean O'Casey: 'I am with you in all efforts to create perfect race equality the world over.

Dorothy Sweete. A Novel.

Author: 
W. I.' [W. Ingram]
Publication details: 
Edinburgh: J. Gardner Hitt, 37 George Street. 1901.
£95.00

12mo, iv + 203 pp. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Rebound in worn green paper wraps, with 'W. I. INGRAM' in manuscript along spine. Unobtrusive 'Sale Duplicate' stamp of the 'BIBLIOTHECA | <?> | EDINENSIS'. The dedication provides a clue to the author: 'To the memory of Jeannie E. D. S. Ingram, once a student in the University of Aberdeen.' Scarce: COPAC only lists copies at the British Library, National Library of Scotland, and Aberdeen.

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