INC.

[Christopher Fry, playwright.] Two items from his papers: an American first edition of his play 'A Yard of Sun', together with proof leaves of a later printing of the play, entirely reset.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century verse drama
Publication details: 
First edition: O.U.P. [Oxford University Press], New York. 1970. Proofs undated and without publishing details. [New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc. 1998?]
£450.00

The two items are from the playwright's own papers. FIRST EDITION: [8] + 113pp, 8vo. A good tight copy in lightly-aged brown cloth and price-clipped cream dustwrapper with attractive design by Edward Blakeney in brown and black on front cover, and slight chipping to bottom edge at back. Label with English price on back of dustwrapper. No autograph interpolations. PROOFS: 96pp, 8vo. Duplicated printed pages, each page on a separate leaf. Paginated 1-96.

[ Mercedes-Benz of North America Inc. ] Typewritten account of a visit to the firm by English marketing manager B. D. Ryder, in album with photographs and ephemera.

Author: 
Bruce Dudley Ryder [ Bruce D. Ryder ] (born 1942), General Manager, Marketing, Mercedes-Benz (United Kingdom) Ltd [ Mercedes-Benz of North America Inc. ]
Publication details: 
[ Mercedes-Benz of North America Inc., One Mercedes Drive, Montvale, New Jersey. ] 10 to 23 May 1981.
£800.00

The author Bruce Dudley Ryder was a second-cousin of the present Queen – his father Peter Hugh Dudley Ryder (1913-1993; see Who Was Who) having married the Queen's cousin Sarah Susannah Bowes-Lyon – and a great-grandson of the Earl of Harrowby. Ryder had family experience in the fields of business and transport, his father having been for many years head of the transport conglomerate Thomas Tilling Ltd.

Typed Letter Signed ('Arthur') from the science-fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke, sendng personal news to Arthur Bourne of the Academic Press Inc., including that he is 'happily retired with theh completion of my last and best novel.

Author: 
Sir Arthur C. Clarke [Sir Arthur Charles Clarke] (1917-2008), English science and science-fiction writer [Arthur Bourne of the Academic Press Inc, British science journalist]
Publication details: 
'Leslie's House', 25 Barnes Place, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka. 7 November 1978.
£320.00

1p., 12mo. Air mail letter on blue paper, addressed to Arthur Bourne, Academic Press Inc. (London) Ltd, 24-28 Oval Road, London, NW1 7DX, England. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Clarke begins by thanking Bourne for his letter, and informing him that he has 'sent a card of thank [sic] to Dr. Allan Cottey'. 'I am now happily retired with the completion of my last and best novel "The Fountains of Paradise" (Playboy January and February - HBJ; Gollancz, January). I expect to be back in England in August to attend the World S. F.

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