KEIR

Twelve unpaginated pages,19.5 x 9 cm. Stitched into printed card wraps. Printed on shiny art paper, with a full-page reproduction of a caricature from Vanity Fair, and a half-page reproduction of a cartoon from the Daily Despatch. Beginning with the lyrics of 'Annie Laurie' and ending with those of 'England, Arise', 'Sons of Labour' and 'The Red Flag', and including 'A Reminiscence and a Welcome' (three pages) and 'From Pit to Parliament' (two pages). Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at the National Library of Scotland.

Typescript of 'The Balloon': landscape 8vo, 24 pp. Text clear and complete. On aged paper. With pencil emendations (including the deletion of a number of passages) on practically every page. Described by Cross as a 'radio composition' and a 'fantasy for broadcasting', 'The Balloon' presents an absurd take on T. S. Eliot's verse plays. It was transmitted on the Scottish Home Service of the BBC in 1946, with music by Cedric Thorpe Davie (1913-1983). There is no record of it having been published. The five typed letters total seven 4to pages. The autograph letter is landscape 12mo, 1 p.

Folio, [ii] + 16 pp. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and spotted paper. First page headed in pencil 'Mr. John Keir Cross' and with the following, also in pencil, at foot: 'Transmission: Sat. 29th January, 1949. | 7.45-8.25 p.m. Third Prog.' First two pages give details of the production, including the names of the producer Noel Iliff and of the seven 'Speakers': Alan Wheatley, Laidman Browne, Valentine Dyall, Patricia Jessel, Anthony Jacob, Robert Marsden and Raf de la Torre. Second page includes instructions regarding the characters of the 'Voices' and a 'Production Suggestion'.