HOMOSEXUALITY

The five items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Item One: Autograph Letter Signed (with a crude drawing of Buckle sitting on a rope slung between the printed names of the two magazines). 1p., 4to. On Fleet Street letterhead of 'Ballet Publications Ltd.' Dated by Alport 14 February 1950. The letter concerns an article on the conductor Karl Rankl, and begins: 'Dear Erich | I have just spoken to Harewood [the Earl of Harewood, co-founder with Buckle of 'Opera' magazine].

The nine large prints are in good condition, lightly-aged with slight wear to corners. The smaller print is lightly-creased. In worn blue faux-leather album, with large facsimile signature of 'Lenare' on cover in gilt, with the address 'Portraiture | 28, GEORGE STREET | HANOVER SQUARE | LONDON, W.1.' ONE to FOUR. A series of four head-and-shoulders portraits of Driberg, each signed in pencil by Maurice Beck, and with the stamp on the reverse: 'Photograph by | Maurice Beck | F.R.P.S.' Each on a piece of 37 x 29.5 cm.

Black and white portrait of Driberg from the waist up, by Converse Studios Inc., New York. In good condition, in lightly-worn printed card folder, 35 x 25.5 cm. The image is mounted behind a 23.5 x 18 cm windowpane. Driberg, in his early thirties, in a double-breasted pin-striped suit, white shirt, and tie, faces the camera with hands in pockets. From Driberg's own papers.

1p., 12mo. Very good. Wildeblood writes: 'I would like to thank you for your appreciative reference to my book in Tuesday's debate, and to say how much I admire your efforts to obtain a measure of justice for a section of the community that is necessarily inarticulate. I am proud to be associated with your activities and wish them every possible success.' Rather than homosexuals, the 'section of the community' referred to by Wildeblood was the 'prison population'.

'This Bibliographical Catalogue, compiled by Cecil Woolf and Alan Anderson, is limited to two hundred copies.' 8vo, 9 pp. In original green printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with single manuscript correction in green ink. Full-page introduction on Douglas by Moray McLaren. Scarce: the only copies on COPAC at Oxford, the British Library, and the National Library of Scotland.

All three items lightly aged but good. Driberg has written 'TOM DRIBERG' at the head of the first page of both reviews. First Review (8vo, 7 pp) with slight wear at head (not affecting text) of first four leaves; last three leaves on House of Commons letterheads. With corrections. The subject is Daphne Fielding's 'The Rainbow Picnic' (1974). Second Review (8vo, 7 pp, on House of Commons letterheads) of four books about crossword puzzles, including Roger Millington's 'The Strange World of the Crossword' (1974). With corrections.

Eighteen pages, octavo, with four plates on art paper. In original grey printed wraps. Some light staining, creasing and wear. One of 600 copies. Lists seventy-seven items, with addenda of a further eleven. This milestone catalogue was published, according to Sims (A Life in Catalogues, 1994), in May 1949. At foot of title-page: 'N.B. This collection, with the exception of the Addenda of Books, has been sold.'

One page, A4. Creased, dogeared and with a few small closed tears. The contribution was to be five thousand words in length, 'at the rate of 10 guineas for each thousand words'. Signed by 'Gillian Freeman', and by 'Desmond Brian' on behalf of Blond. Docketed record of two payments of fifty guineas in red ink manuscript in top right-hand corner.

Author and radio producer (1896-1972), 'tall, goodlooking godson of G. K. Chesterton', and friend of Aleister Crowley and E. M. Forster. Two pages, 12mo. Folded once. In good condition, with slight loss at head. A somewhat camp missive: 'My Dear Boy, | (What lovely yellow paper you use!) I am overwhelmed with disappointment - but I cannot dive on Monday. Could you possibly make it Tuesday? I should love to - and am only sorry you did feel that the other evening was a failure - and that you feel I affect you like you say. I will try not to now I know. | Lance'.