GEOFFREY

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[ Geoffrey Household, thriller writer. ] Three Autograph Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed to military historian Barrie Pitt

Author: 
Geoffrey Household [ Geoffrey Edward West Household ] (1900-1988), English thriller writer [ Barrie Pitt (1918-2006), military historian ]
Publication details: 
All four letters on letterheads of Church Headland, Whitchurch, Aylesbury. Three dating from 1974 and one from 1980.
£450.00

The four letters in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Also present are carbons of four letters from Pitt to Household (three from 1974 and one from 1981). ONE: ALS. 11 April 1974. 2pp., 4to. He is delighted 'to be appreciated by a fellow craftsman' and is sending a copy of his 'Time to Kill', which he asks him to accept, as he has 'a number of them taking up useful shelf room'. TWO: TLS. 24 April 1974. 2pp., 4to.

[ Offprint, inscribed by the author toA.N.L. Munby. ] The Wilkins Lecture, 1967 | Bacon, Harvey and the originators of the Royal Society | By Sir Geoffrey Keynes | (Delivered 8 June 1967 - Received 12 June 1967)'.

Author: 
Sir Geoffrey Keynes (1887-1982), scholar, surgeon and bibliophile, the younger brother of the economist John Maynard Keynes [ The Royal Society, London ]
Publication details: 
From the 'Proceedings of the Royal Society', vol. 169. London, 1967.
£80.00

16pp., 8vo. With three plates, at the foot of the first of which someone (the recipient?) has written 'a modern pastiche'. In fair condition, lightly grubby and creased. Inscribed by Keynes at head of first page: 'Tim Munby | from the author'. Uncommon: four copies on COPAC.

[ Sir Geoffrey Keynes, surgeon and author. ] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Wm. [William]', with reference to Sir Sydney Cockerell.

Author: 
Geoffrey Keynes [ Sir Geoffrey Langdon Keynes ] (1887-1982), surgeon, biographer and book collector, brother of the economist John Maynard Keynes
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, 11 Arkwright Road, Hampstead, London, NW. 5 June 1948.
£38.00

2pp., landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. He thanks him for sending the 'fascinating book', wondering why it was not 'inscribed in suitable Calligraphy'. He ends by explaining that an opportunity to take the recipient to see Cockerell has not yet arisen.

[Dame Eva Turner, English soprano.] Two Autograph Letters Signed and two Autograph Cards Signed (all 'Eva') to Geoffrey Child. The letters concerning LP recordings of her music, and piracies by 'Bill Smith', with reference to Giovanni Martinelli.

Author: 
Dame Eva Turner (1892-1990), English soprano [Giovanni Martinelli (1885-1969), Italian tenor; Geoffrey Child]
Publication details: 
First letter: Michigan, 4 July 1957. Second letter: Oklahoma, 22 September 1957. Cards from 1960 and 1962.
£135.00

All four items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. All four in a bold, expansive hand. The two letters accompanied by their envelopes, addressed to Child in London. Letter One: Address: 'c/o Mr & Mrs G. W. Williams, | 615 East Genesee, | Saginaw | Michigan. U.S.A.' 4 July 1957. 4pp., 4to. She is 'on the first lap of my Vacation' and has asked 'Anne' to contact him. 'During the University year I am so frightfully taxed for time - my own correspondence and my personal affairs suffer in consequence and are perforce relegated to the background.

[Captain G. Skeffington Smyth, Adjutant, The Motor Volunteer Corps.] Typed Letter Signed, a circular requesting that the recipient 'assist the Admiralty [...] by helping to drive the Officers of the French Fleet from London to Maidenhead'.

Author: 
Captain G. Skeffington Smyth [Lt-Col. Geoffrey Henry Julian Skeffington Smyth [FitzPatrick] (1873-1939], DSO, Adjutant, The Motor Volunteer Corps [The Admiralty, London; the Entente Cordiale, 1904]
Publication details: 
29 Sackville Street, London, W. 25 July 1905.
£56.00

1p., 8vo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. An interesting document, from the period immediately following the signing of the Entente Cordiale.

[Privately printed item.] Oxford. A Satire.

Author: 
[Sir Andrew Caldecott (1884-1951) of Exeter College, Oxford, Governor of Ceylon and Hong Kong]
Publication details: 
Edinburgh: Printed by Morrison & Gibb Limited. [1907.]
£250.00

15 + [1]pp., 8vo. In grey printed card wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged, with rusted staples. The author describes his work in an introductory note as 'an elegant and ingenious poem in heroic verse; suggested by the third Satire of Juvenal; wherein the foolishness of the institutions of this University, and the dullness and dishonesty of its inhabitants are for the first time properly exposed'. The influence of Samuel Johnson (another adapter of Juvenal and also an Oxford man) is strong, as the opening indicates: 'Though on my brow there rose an angry frown | When B - ll - l's [i.e.

[Printed periodical of the British Army in Persia.] Percoms Times. 1919.

Author: 
[British Army in Persia and Mesopotamia, 1919; Percoms; F. N. Stead; Charles Geoffrey Lloyd ('Babu Piche Lal')]
Publication details: 
Basrah [Mesopotamia, now Iraq]: Printed by the Superintendent, Governement Press. 1919.
£165.00

14pp., folio. Stapled. In brown wraps with attractive cover illustration of a blockage on a mountain pass by 'D. C. '. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight rust to staples and closed tears to back cover and last leaf. Editorial reads: 'Even had the guns been still roaring on all fronts, I do not think that any apology is needed for the predominantly light, and sometimes flippant, tone of this little number. It is not the habit of the man on the spot to take life too seriously - on its literary side at least.?>

Autograph Letter Signed from Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Surveyor of the Queen's Works of Art, to 'Mr Sawyer', expressing Queen Elizabeth II's gratitude at the opportunity of purchasing a miniature book from the library of Queen Mary's Dolls' House.

Author: 
Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue (1931-2013), Surveyor of the Queen's Works of Art, 1972-1996 [Queen Mary's Dolls' House]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Lord Chamberlain's Office, St James's Palace. 31 August 1973.
£56.00

2pp., 4to. 20 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Signed 'Geoffrey de Bellaigue'. He writes that he has had a reply to a letter (he has written to the Queen) 'concerning the miniature book entitled "Statesmen" which you purchased at the sale at Sothebys on 17 July 1972 (Lot 636)'.

Corrected Autograph Drafts of three works by Dr William MacOubrey, consisting of two poems ('To arms! Patriot gallant band' and 'Away! Away nor strive') and a paper on the Ancient Britons, the Romans and Geoffrey of Monmouth, titled 'Brutus'.

Author: 
William MacOubrey (1800-1884), Irish physican (Trinity College, Dublin), Orangeman and Barrister (Middle Temple, 1839), who married George Borrow's stepdaughter and converted to homeopathy
Publication details: 
None of the three items with place or date (1850s?).
£280.00

None of the three items appears to have been published. They are in fair condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper. First poem: Headed 'By Dr. MacOubrey' and signed 'Wm MacOubrey' at foot. 1p., 12mo. Five four-line stanzas, and a four-line chorus, with a couple of minor corrections. The first stanza reads: 'Away! Away nor strive | To tempt me from the bowl | Away! and let me live | This night without control'. This followed by the chorus: 'Then quaff the Wine, | Spirits of Joy | Oh! Sense Divine! | Without Alloy!' Second Poem: Untitled. 2pp., 12mo.

Typescript of 'The Last Month. By Ernie Wilmott' ['Camp Leader, Lager 31, Stalag IVG, Gaschwitz'], with autograph notes by J. L. H. Batt. With copies three articles, by Lieutenant Commander G. S. Stavert (2) and Norman E. H. Litchfield.

Author: 
Ernie Wilmott, POW Camp Leader, Lager 31, Stalag IVG, Gaschwitz; Jack Lynden Batt (b.1922), of 155th Battery, 172nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery; Norman E. H. Litchfield; Lieut-Com. G. S. Stavert
Publication details: 
Wilmott's account without place and date (1960s?); describing events in April and May 1945. The other three items from 1970s and 80s.
£400.00

The four items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. In envelope addressed to Mrs P. E. Batt, Beckenham, Kent. ONE: 'The Last Month' by Wilmott. 13pp., foolscap 8vo. A photocopied typescript on thirteen leaves of paper, stapled together, with five original autograph annotations by Batt. The first reads '"Big funf" was one of the German Guards - had no roof to his mouth - spoke funnily' and the fourth 'We had a "Union Jack" which was used for burials when P.O.W.'s died.' Wilmott's account commences: 'There had been gun fire from the west and the south for the last three days.

Three Typed Letters Signed ('Geoffrey Taylor' and 'G. T.') from the poet Geoffrey Taylor of the Poulk Press to Peter and Felicity [Rhodes], on printing and pricing. With signed copy of his Poulk Press chapbook, 'four poems for christmas 1939. g. t.'

Author: 
Geoffrey Taylor [born Geoffrey Phibbs] (1900-1956), poet, co-proprietor of the Poulk Press with Nancy Nicholson (1899-1977), British painter and textile designer (wife of poet Robert Graves, 1918-49)
Publication details: 
All three letters on Poulk Press letterheads, Sutton Veny, Warminster, Wiltshire. Dated 5 November 1938 and 18 August and 26 September [both also 1938?]. Chapbook without place or date [1939].
£280.00

The three letters are in fair condition, on aged paper. On a total of four letterheads, each with the names 'Nancy Nicholson | Geoffrey Taylor' printed in red ink in the top left-hand corner. Letter One: From 'Geoffrey Taylor' to Peter [Rhodes]. 18 August [1938?]. 1p., landscape 12mo. He is enclosing paper, and reports that the 'envelopes will come to two shillings a hundred, which is more than I said.

Three Typed Letters Signed ('Geoffrey Taylor' and 'G. T.') from the poet Geoffrey Taylor of the Poulk Press to Peter and Felicity [Rhodes], on printing and pricing. With signed copy of his Poulk Press chapbook, 'four poems for christmas 1939. g. t.'

Author: 
Geoffrey Taylor [born Geoffrey Phibbs] (1900-1956), poet, co-proprietor of the Poulk Press with Nancy Nicholson (1899-1977), British painter and textile designer (wife of poet Robert Graves, 1918-49)
Publication details: 
All three letters on Poulk Press letterheads, Sutton Veny, Warminster, Wiltshire. Dated 5 November 1938 and 18 August and 26 September [both also 1938?]. Chapbook without place or date [1939].
£280.00

The three letters are in fair condition, on aged paper. On a total of four letterheads, each with the names 'Nancy Nicholson | Geoffrey Taylor' printed in red ink in the top left-hand corner. Letter One: From 'Geoffrey Taylor' to Peter [Rhodes]. 18 August [1938?]. 1p., landscape 12mo. He is enclosing paper, and reports that the 'envelopes will come to two shillings a hundred, which is more than I said.

Attractive and colourful 1930s scrapbook, compiled by G. H. Manchester of Ashton-under-Lyne, mainly devoted to motoring, but with pages of footballers, boxers, cricketers, tennis players, aircraft, film and radio stars, pretty girls, dandies.

Author: 
[Geoffrey H. Manchester of Ashton-under-Lyne; 1930s scrapbook; motoring; transport; motor sports; football; Hollywood stars]
Publication details: 
Mostly compiled between 1934 and 1937, with a few pages at the end from the 1950s and 1980s.
£160.00

Several hundred images (most illustrations rather than photographs and most in colour), many carefully cut out, all laid down on 68pp. in an album made up from a ruled exercise book roughly 20 x 16 cm, including three fold-outs (the first, beneath a decorative flap that reads 'Birds Unfeathered | Worth A Bit Of Study', carrying eight 1930s illustrations women in underwear). The album has been attractively customised with printed illustrations of motor racing over board covers.

Signed Typescript of the unpublished Second World War memoir of Commander Geoffrey Scott Stavert, Royal Artillery, 'Goodbye Campo 49. (A Slow March through Occupied Italy)', regarding his imprisonment and escape from a POW camp. With autograph note.

Author: 
Commander Geoffrey Scott Stavert (d.2002), of 155th Battery, 172nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery [J. L. H. Batt [Jack Lynden Batt] (b.1922],
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated. [Southsea, 1970s?]
£900.00

298pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper in blue ring binder. From the collection of J. L. H. Batt, who writes the following autograph note: 'Lt. Geoff. Stavert was E. Troop Commander of 155 Battery at Sidi Nsir Feb. 1943, & was my Troop Commander. On 26. 2. 43 I was up at the O.P as a Signaller on Hill 609.

Nine Autograph Letters Signed from the poet Herbert Palmer to Rev. Harry Escott of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, editing a book of Escott's poetry, discussing Christian verse, and attacking T. S. Eliot, the Faber poets and modernism.

Author: 
Herbert Palmer [Herbert Edward Palmer] (1880-1961), English poet and critic [Rev. Harry Escott (1905-1987), MA, Congregational Minister at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire]
Publication details: 
All from 22 Batchwood View, St Albans, Hertfordshire. One from 1938, two from 1942, one from 1943, and the rest undated.
£280.00

Totalling 36pp., 4to. In fair condition, bound by Escott with brown paper into paper wraps, with the front wrap signed by Escott and bearing the typed label 'LETTERS from HERBERT PALMER on "Minstrels of Christ" and my second book of verse "Soar for Victory", amended in February 1948 to "Back to the Fountain."' An interesting correspondence, casting light on the workings of the mid-twentieth century publishing industry, from the point of view of a successful traditional poet strongly opposed to modernism.

Mimeographed typescript history of a club for New York antiquarian booksellers, titled 'The Old Book Table | A Social Organisation | An Informal Record 1931-1970 | Lists of Officers & Members and of Guests of The Old Book Table | &c., &c.'

Author: 
The Old Book Table, club for New York antiquarian booksellers, founded 1931 [Ernest R. Gee; E. Byrne Hackett, Brick Row Bookshop; Frank R. Thoms (Thoms and Eron); Edgar H. Wells; Geoffrey J. L. Gomme]
Publication details: 
Undated [1971]. New York: The OBT [i.e. The Old Book Table].
£600.00

[iv] + 39 + 7 pp, with a further 17 pp loosely inserted at back (making a total of 67 pp), 4to. Good, in maroon plastic folder. Preface followed by list of 'Past Officers, Roster of Members, etc.', 'Chronology of The Old Book Table [1931-1970]' and 'Alphabetical List of Guests 1933-1970'. The loose leaves mainly consist of 'Extracts from the Minutes: 1931-1954'. The preface begins: 'Five members of the antiquarian booktrade in New York City met for a friendly dinner on the night of 9 January 1931. They were: Ernest R. Gee, a leading specialist in sporting and color plate books; E.

Typed Letter Signed by J. Wilson Taylor, Honorary Secretary, The Pilgrims [The Pilgrims Society of Great Britain], to G. R. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
J. Wilson Taylor, Honorary Secretary [1919 to 1943], The Pilgrims Society of Great Britain
Publication details: 
31 December 1926; on letterhead of The Pilgrims [The Pilgrims Society of Great Britain], Hotel Victoria, London.
£56.00
Typed Letter Signed by J. Wilson Taylor, Honorary Secretary, The Pilgrims

4to, 1 p. Thirteen lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged and lightly-creased paper. The letterhead features an engraving of Chaucer with a lion and eagle. Stating that 'the Pilgrims Society has no funds available' to pay for the sending of 'a representative to the Conference that you are holding with the object of preserving the Old Cottages of England', although 'individual Pilgrims might be willing to subscribe' and the Society is 'in full sympathy with your object'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Holbrook Jackson') to G. S. Tomkinson of Whitville, Kidderminster.

Author: 
George Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948) [Sir Geoffrey Stewart Tomkinson (1881-1963); Lovat Fraser; Flying Fame; Fleuron; New Age Press; fine printing; bibliography]
Publication details: 
26 February 1925; Regent House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2.
£100.00

8vo: 2 pp. 32 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is willing to help Tomkinson with his book 'Modern Presses', but would not 'have time to be responsible for the writing of any chapters'. Offers to answer 'a questionnaire' regarding 'Flying Fame', and directs Jackson to his 'articles on the work of Lovat Fraser in the "Bookman", the "Fleuron", and "To-day".' Paragraph discusses the 'New Age Press', which 'was not a Press at all, but a publishing business'. In the last paragraph changes his mind, and offers to write a brief chapter.

Two Manuscript Diaries, covering the years 1916 and 1917.

Author: 
Geoffrey Clifford Tyndale [Divorce Law; Legal History; Reading Lists; The Times of London]
Publication details: 
1 January 1916 to 3 January 1918.
£450.00

Two 8vo diaries, by Charles Letts, the first 'improved' and the second 'self-opening'. Both in heavily worn covers, lacking spines, but internally clean, on aged paper, and with the text entirely legible. Both diaries end with a brief set of accounts. The diaries are filled with details of the life of a young English lawyer in London during the Great War, including references to the many legal cases in which he was involved.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geoffrey L. Blau') to Beresford-Hope, giving his views (as a British official military interpreter) on the Russian threat to British India.

Author: 
Geoffrey L. Blau [or Blan?], of the Intelligence Branch, Division of the Chief of the Staff, Government of India, Simla [Khud Cottage; Beresford-Hope; Imperial Russia; British Military Intelligence]
Publication details: 
28 September 1908; Khud Cottage, Simla, on letterhead of the Chief of the Staff.
£125.00

12mo, 8 pp. On two bifoliums, both with red oval British governmental letterhead of the 'CHIEF OF THE STAFF'. Text clear and complete. Good on lightly-aged paper. Blau reports that he is now 'fortunately well and returned to my right mind' after 'pretty bad times last autumn and winter - especially when on board ship'. He has 'mended steadily since rejoining in December' and has 'been in Simla since May doing Russian again, and am my own man once more'.

Typed Letter Signed ('G. N. S. Hunt') to Mrs Steward of Beckenham, Kent.

Author: 
G. N. S. Hunt [Geoffrey Hunt] [Oxford University Press; Geoffrey Cumberlege; Amen Corner; Christ Church, Newgate Street]
Publication details: 
2 December 1955; on Oxford University Press letterhead (Amen House, London).
£28.00

4to: 1 page. Twenty-one lines of text. Good, on creased and lightly-aged paper. An impressively-considered letter, declining Mrs Steward's manuscript 'I had rather be a Doorkeeper'. 'As you point out, Christ Church, Newgate Street, is a near neighbour of Amen House, and its ruins are a pathetic sight.

Prospectus for Keynes's 'William Pickering, Publisher. A Memoir & a Hand-list of his Editions.'

Author: 
Geoffrey Keynes; The Fleuron [William Pickering; The Chiswick Press]
Publication details: 
1924. 'London . MCMXXIV | At the office of THE FLEURON'. ['London: Chiswick Press.']
£18.00

Quarto (25.5 x 19 cm) bifolium. Attractively-printed on watermarked laid paper. Unbound. Foxed and lightly-creased. Two short 0.5 cm buff strips of cloth from mount neatly adhering to the margin of the reverse of the second leaf. 'PERENNIS ET FRAGRANS.' enclosed within engraved wreath on title. Eighteen-line prospectus for the work on reverse of first leaf, with the recto of the second carrying a full-page facsimile of the title of Pickering's 1844 edition of John Merbecke's 1550 'The Book of Common Prayer Noted', printed in red and black. Printer's slug on reverse of second leaf.

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