HUBERT

1p., landscape 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. He thanks him for his letter, but as he is 'not doing anything with one act plays' at present, he states: 'I won't trouble you to send me the manuscript'. The Oxford DNB gives the name as 'Gerald Du Maurier', but the signature clearly reads 'Gerald du Maurier'.

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.

16 x 20 cm booklet, consisting of a bifolium stitched with black green thread into covers of thicker paper. In fair condition, aged and worn, with remains of clear plastic front covering. On the front cover is a heavily-inked art photograph superimposing an image of a musical score over the edges of an fanned-out signature. On the inside of the back cover is a facsimile of a calligraphic inscription in Latin, in Renaissance style. The inner contents consists of two facsimiles.

In addition to his pioneering cinematographic work, Herkomer was a theatrical innovator. As Lynda Nead points out in her 'The Haunted Gallery' (Yale, 2007), it was shortly after the opening of his art school that 'he and his students created an auditorium, modelled on Wagner's Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, for public performances of plays, written, directed and, indeed, performed by Herkomer'. See also M. A. K. Taylor, 'The New Stagecraft' (1953); J. Stokes, 'Resistible Theatres' (1972); and L. M. Edwards, 'Herkomer: A Victorian Artist' (1999). These five items all relate to the project.

2pp., 12mo. In very good condition: lightly-aged and creased. Writing to 'My dear Blumenfeld', Gough begins with a few lines on 'your correspondent, Muir' (with reference to Blumenfeld's 'Yankee' origins -which also included strong anti-Communist sentiment), before giving a general analysis. 'This is a most complex situation out here, as there are so many interests pulling different ways - it is not always easy to see one's way clear.

49 photographic prints, laid down on 48pp. of a small (16.5 x 13 cm) contemporary 4to album, quarter-bound with brown leather spine and brown cloth boards, with yellow endpapers. No captions: the only manuscript in the volume being the ownership inscription of 'Sybil M. Hubert | 1883' on the front free endpaper. A fragile survival: aged and discoloured, with occasional staining from damp, which also caused some of the photographs to stick to one another, with slight damage occurring on their being detached; binding also in poor condition, with boards detached and leaves loose.

2pp., 12mo. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. 36 lines. Harewood explains that he 'originally asked Mrs Rankl to think of someone who had known her husband for, at any rate, a portion of his continental career who would be prepared to review his career before he came to this country, and also to give some idea of what he had achieved since arriving here [...] when the moment came she had to say that there appeared to be nobody who had known him abroad who had the necessary musical qualifications. When I saw her about 10 days ago I said I would find someone myself.

12mo, 8 pp. On two bifoliums. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and spotted paper. She writes with compassion but without tact: 'how great your loneliness must be - Dear Alice was so wrapt up in you, so devoted to you that the withdrawal of her love & sympathy must be very hard to bear - Till people lose one whose devotion to you & whose satisfaction in you made the whole world different, till they lose such a one, they can never realise the <?> the emptiness - the bitter years <?> one has to bear - it makes one feel such hopeless solitude Ah!

12mo, 8 pp. On two bifoliums. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and spotted paper. She writes with compassion but without tact: 'how great your loneliness must be - Dear Alice was so wrapt up in you, so devoted to you that the withdrawal of her love & sympathy must be very hard to bear - Till people lose one whose devotion to you & whose satisfaction in you made the whole world different, till they lose such a one, they can never realise the <?> the emptiness - the bitter years <?> one has to bear - it makes one feel such hopeless solitude Ah!

The collection is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with all texts clear and complete. Totaling 223 pp in 4to (67 letters) and 30 pp in 12mo (6 letters). Twelve of the letters (4to, 30 pp; 12mo, 4 pp) date from 1928; thirty-two (4to, 93 pp; 12mo, 14 pp) from 1929; and twenty-nine (4to, 100 pp; 12mo, 12 pp) from 1930. All are addressed to 'My darling Mummy', with Leahy usually signing his name in full, and occasionally as 'A. J. Leahy', 'John Leahy' or 'John'.

12mo, 1 p. Thirteen lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper with some fraying to edges (not affecting text). He would like to show Taylor 'something of interest with reference to Sir Herbert Taylor [sometime soldier and Private Secretary to teh KIng]' and suggests meeting that night. 'It seems rather late, but I shall be at von Herkomer's till then'.

8vo, 2 pp. Good, though a little grubby on the reverse. Printed down the left hand margin of the recto is a long list headed 'Printers and Publishers of Illustrated Guides to'. Printed in large letters at the centre of the letterhead is 'Shropshire: Historical and Biographical', but there is no record of this title being published, or of any volume on Shropshire by Mates & Sons. From the context it appears that Lumley had a hand in Frederick John Snell's 'Devonshire, historical, descriptive, biographical', published by Mate & Sons in 1907.

Two columns of small type, in total seventeen inches long and each two and a half inches wide. Good, on lightly aged paper. Neatly laid down on a piece of blue paper docketed 'Written by | [signature] Hubert Smith | 4 March 1884. Smith was the town clerk of Bridgnorth, but he is best-known as the husband of the Gypsy Esmeralda Lock, who left him for Francis Hindes Groome (1851-1902) and was painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Hubert Smith was a man of many parts: local historian, town clerk of Bridgnorth, Shropshire; author of a book which combines a mountaineering interest with a gipsy interest ("Tent Life with English Gipsies in Norway"); linguist; etc. He was also a passionate pursuer of information about the Guitar and guitar music at a time when the instrument was not popular. [Smith kept autograph copies of all his correspondence.] Letter , 3 pages, 8vo, soiled but clear and complete. He thanks them for the latest payment of royalties on "Tent Life".