FABIAN

The fourteen items are laid down on three pages, on two leaves of grey paper, removed from an album, on the reverse of one leaf are two coloured coaching scenes by Randolph Caldecott, one featuring a highwayman. The overall condition is fair, with creasing and signs of age. The Autograph Letter Signed is from Crane to 'My dear Stanley Little'. 1p., landscape 8vo. With letterhead of Beaumont Lodge, Shepherd's Bush, featuring an illustration by Crane of a shepherd and sheep. 20 September 1892.

Printed in black on 4 x 7.5cm piece of card. Lightly aged and stained, with one indentation. Evidence on reverse of removal from a grey paper mount. Restrained in design, and reading 'G. BERNARD SHAW, | 29, FITZROY SQUARE, | W.' The 'G' and 'S' in Shaw's name with flourishes at head trailing to the right. Shaw lived at this address from 1887 to his marriage in 1898. Virginia Woolf lived there from 1907 to 1911. From a collection of material relating to Walter Crane, who was a member of the Fabian Society with Shaw, and possibly designed by him.

Printed in black ink on one side of a 14 x 11 cm piece of wove paper. At the foot, in blue ink, is a good firm signature: 'E. Nesbit | 1921.' Above a central engraving of the façade of the Cathedral is written in stylised lettering: 'THE RECONSTRUCTION OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL AS A MEMORIAL TO THE ALLIED FALLEN'. Beneath the illustration is printed, in conventional lettering: 'May France and the British Empire ever walk side by side in the paths of Peace!' Restoration of the cathedral began in 1919, and is still in progress.

Written in pencil on a neat small official 'POST CARD', printed with stamp and bearing a Glasgow postmark. In good condition, lightly aged. 'Dear Mr Gimson | I am sorry to say I have so much work that I do not like to undertake any lecture at Leicester this year. Please excuse me this time'. Gimson was president of the Leicester Secular Society and brother of Ernest Gimson (1864-1919), arts and crafts architect and furniture designer.

2pp., folio. Tastefully printed in old-fashioned style on both sides of a sheet of thick wove 37 x 24.5 cm paper. Aged and worn, with chipping and closed tears to three edges. Inscribed by Mitchison at head of first page: 'Robert & Sylvia Lynd with best wishes from N. M. !' Twelve verses, followed by twelve pseud-scholarly 'Notes' (number 10 refers to a 'Prof. Bumpfendorf'). A topical political spoof, with the last verse reading: 'I'll sing you twelve, oh. | Pure Grow the Little Ones, | What is your twelve, oh?

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Warre repeats what he has already told Gye, that 'nothing has given me greater pleasure than the news of your recent appointment, though we will miss you in London'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Worn and with a couple of pinholes. His correspondent's previous letter included a statement which Headlam would like verified: 'I dont think the ordinary customer is quite such a fool as that statement implies'.

Small 4to, 140 pp. Paginated by Whelen. Notebook of good laid paper, in boards covered in patterned paper, with the word 'BIOGRAPHICAL' in faded red manuscript at head of front cover. Text neatly written and clear and complete. Good: internally sound and tight on lightly-aged paper; in worn and chipped boards. The flyleaf is dated 1939, with Whelen's addresses given as the Royal Societies Club, St James's St, and 5 Place de la Taconnerie, Geneva.

Small 4to, 61 pp, with the first four pages unpaginated and the last ones paginated 1-57. In notebook of good laid paper, in decorative boards. Text clear and complete. Very good, on lightly-aged paper; in worn and chipped wraps, with 'U.S.S.R.' on spine and front board. Various addresses by Whelan inside the front cover, with the date 1936 amended to 1945 and 1950. Pages of slogans and abbreviations are followed by the notebook itself. The volume intersperses notes on the visit (ending at p.31) with extracts of quotations, statistics and other matter about the Soviet Union.

12mo, 1 p. Written in Laski's distinctive close hand. Fair, on aged paper, with a little spotting and two tiny pinholes in top left-hand corner. He has enjoyed reading Grinling's pamphlet (possibly 'Fifty Years of Pioneer Work in Woolwich') but, as 'Memory is by definition a traitor', Grinling's 'name doesn't "place" itself' for Laski. 'But you will possibly care one day to come and remind me; at any rate you will be sure of a welcome.'

Good, bold signature on slip of laid paper (presumably cut from letter) roughly 3.5 x 11.5 cm. In good condition. Simply reads 'Beatrice Webb'.

12mo: 1 p. On discoloured paper with wear at head and traces of previous mount adhering to blank reverse. He sent the publishers Chatto & Windus her novel the previous Monday, 'begging them to write to you on the matter, and giving your work my best recommendation'. He has not heard anything from them himself, but expects it will 'take a week or two, before they can give an opinion'. The recipient may be Edith Nesbit, although this is unlikely as Nesbit was her maiden name. She became Edith Bland in 1880. None of her works appear to have been published by Chatto & Windus.

4to: 4 pp. Unbound bifolium. On lightly discoloured and spotted paper, lightly worn at extremities. Central horizontal fold. Gives details of eight lectures, by, successively, H. Finer ('Impressions of America'), Montague Fordham ('The Rural Problem'), R. B. Forrester ('Co-operative Marketing'), Professor R. Peers ('Can we educate the Community?'), Arthur Greenwood, M.P. ('The Present Position and Future Policy in regard to Housing'), C. S. Orwin ('Land Tenure'), Rt. Hon. [sic] Sidney Webb, M.P. ('Poor-Law Reform'), and (with the 'syllabus' covering an entire page) H. St. J. B.

All items one page, quarto, and all very good. Two docketed and one bearing the Society's stamp. Letter 1: He will be pleased to attend a committee meeting. Letter 2: He has 'a long-standing engagement' and will be unable to attend 'the Architectural Decoration Committee'. Along with Godfrey Giles he has 'had a long discussion' with Mr. Grigsby 'with reference to the conditions of the Lewis Berger Scholarship'. Letter 3: He knows 'Professor Richardson very well, and this is just the information which I am requiring. I will send my man on to see the secretary as you suggest'.

British Labour politician (1865-1944), leader of the Labour Party in the House of Lords, 1935-40. 1 page, 16mo. In good condition, although creased and a little worn at head. 'I am sorry that you found it difficult to reach me. I leave here fairly early on the days that the House is in session & I must be there practically all the time.

Founder-member of the Fabian Society (1857-1955). 12pp. total, 8vo (3) & 4to (1), (1891) He asks Grinling to work with Henry Snell (M.P. for Woolwich) on preparing a Fabian Tract, suggesting a draft could be shown to the S.E. Committee, outlining what they should say. He also wants a leaflet for "the Guardians Elections", and announces that Sidney Webb on Poor Law will be Tract 17. (1901) His opinion on the "Housing Loan question", a meeting on Boards of Guardians, and the disordered office.