6 Autograph Letters Signed and 4 Typed Letters Signed (all 'J. A. Hammerton) to Richards, with one Autograph Letter Signed to Richards' assistant Lyons, and a Typed copy of a letter from Richards to Hammerton.

Twelve items. All texts clear and complete. In a variety of formats from 4to to 12mo. The collection is in fair condition, on aged and grubby paper. An interesting series of letters from one leading figure in the publishing circles of Edwardian London to another, revealing Hammerton's energetic no-nonsense approach. Much of the correspondence concerns the publication by Richards of Hammerton's 'Stevensoniana' (including a typed copy of a letter from Richards to Hammerton, 2 February 1903, stating terms). The discussion of the book includes references to 'Mrs R. L. S.' ('the person to reckon with & I've heard nothing from her son'), to the playwright A. W. Pinero (whose 'stuff is excellent & is the only matter on RLS as a dramatist'), and to the impossibility of 'any unauthorised edition in America' ('simply because the book swarms with copyrights - Henry James, Barrie, CROCKETT, Conan Doyle, Edmund Gosse! They have copyrights in it & I only possess their sanction to use.'). Other topics a final refusal for an unnamed book, about which Hammerton asks Richards not to 'trouble Mr Gosse further' ('He said that he thought he had talked Mr Colvin round'). Another letter, possibly referring to the same subject, begins: 'I am somewhat surprised to hear that Mr. Gosse objects to the quotations from Henley's article'. In one letter Hammerton writes, regarding Richards' celebrated series of publications: 'The Call of the Town. Do you consider this likely to be in 1999 a "World's Classic", or in 1904 "A Novel of the Year"? The same letter contains an interesting passage relating to 'W. Kinnaird Rose', whom Hammerton describes as 'a friend of mine & a war correspondent of extraordinary experience. He has written (at my instigation) a book of his adventures & rattling good stuff it is'. Other subjects include a story sent by Richards to Hammerton, entitled 'The Leopard's Spots', the author Miss Murrell Marris, and a proposal by Hammerton regarding 'children's papers'. The letter to Richards' assistant 'Mr Lyons' relates to a lost royalty cheque.