KEITH

Three long letters, closely typed. Each 3pp., 4to. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Topics include: his military career; unreliability of field intelligence; the impossibility of 'training future POWs'; his career at the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs. ONE: 20 September 1977. On the subject of 'intelligence garnered in the field.

1p., 4to. On aged and browned paper, chipped at extremities, but with the 30 lines of text intact.

A fine piece of cricket memorabilia: the signatures of all the players in one of the greatest cricket teams of all time, famous for being the first Test match side to play an entire tour of England without losing a match, a feat which earned them the nickname of 'The Invincibles'. On a 16 x 11 cm leaf, removed from an autograph album. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Presented portrait-style, with 'AUSTRALIANS 1948' neatly written at the head.

An interesting and scarce item. There are no copies of any issues of this magazine on either OCLC WorldCat or COPAC, and there is no record whatsoever of 'Group IV' itself. Now acknowledged as one of Britain's finest landscape painters, Keith Grant joined the Working Men's College on finishing his National Service with the RAF; he then enrolled at Willesden Art School, before joining the Royal College of Art, where he studied under Colin Hayes, John Minton and Kenneth Rowntree. 22pp., 4to.

8pp., 12mo. Stapled into beige wraps with deckled edges, with attractive illustration of street musicians on front in brown and red. In good condition, with rusting to staple having loosened the central bifolium. A pleasing memento of an early concert by Elman (he was fifteen at the time). Pp.4-8 carry the 'Words of the Songs'. 'At the Piano - Mr. Charlton Keith. Piano by Bechstein. Suppied by Mr. Arthur Wood, Redhill.' Scarce: no copy on COPAC.

3 pp, folio. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Supporting the application of 'Surgeon [Charles] Lowdell, Officiating Agency Surgeon Baghelkhund, [sic] applying for the Acting Appointment of Medical Officer in Charge Bhopal Battalion in the event of a vacancy occurring in October next'. Lowdell is holding his current post while Surgeon Goldsmith is on furlough, and on his return will be without an appointment. 'His duties in connection with the special charge of the young Maharaja have been difficult and have required the exercise of tact and patience.

12mo, 2 pp. Aged, and with a small hole worn into the centre, without, however, any loss of text. With one side of the leaf printed in double column in the style of an eighteenth-century newspaper, and headed 'Quaint Newspaper Cuttings A.D. 1738. | Ye Fulhame Presse London. S.W.' The other side is laid out to be folded twice, making four small pages (one having 'Not to be cut.' at the foot). One of the four carries an advertisement for Longstaff, with an engraving of his sign, 'Ye stille'. Another puffs 'Keith Longstaff's Autumn Medicine'.

8vo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Docketed on reverse 'pour agit | Salles'. Initial bill of eleven items, from '1 jour de Logement 36 [francs]' to café et thé 12 [francs]', amounting to 306 francs. According to the Oxford DNB, 'In April 1814, with Napoleon on his way to Elba, Keith was at La Rochelle supervising the embarkation of Wellington's army for its return to England. He was back at Plymouth on 29 July and hauled down his flag.' This is added to a running bill for 8027 francs, with two extra items (including 'Domestiques'), making a total of 8618 francs.

A total of twelve 12mo pages and two 4to pages. All texts clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The first letter addressed to 'Mrs Norbury', and the others to 'Grace'. After a first letter of 1948, in which he complains that he is 'becoming more & more a home dweller', the correspondence continues in 1951, with Keith thanking Mrs Norbury for a gift of sugar ('Its arrival made my housekeeper Miss Holman quite elated'), and sending Lionel Norbury encouragement on his Hunterian Oration ('My heart goes out to the Orator & to his Better Half').

Both good, on aged paper. Letter One: 12mo, 1 p. With stamped envelope. Thanking Noon for the 'notes & very instructive X-ray of your case of syringomyelia', about which 'Shattock', who is 'pulling up the W. O. Collection', is 'very keen'. Letter Two: 12mo, 2 pp. Thanking him for 'two very welcome additions to the W. O. Collection': 'You have no idea of how much an X-ray enhances the value of a specimen - we get an opportunity of comparing the shaddow [sic] with the real thing'.

12mo, 16 pp. Stapled pamphlet. Not paginated. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Includes a three-quarter page 'Chart of the Anchorages in Encounter Bay by Wm. Light, Surveyor General'. Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at Oxford (where dated to 1846).

English man of letters (1874-1945), associated with G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Two pages, octavo. A frail item in poor condition: on grubby, discoloured, frayed paper, with slight loss to text and several closed tears. Line of text on fold worn but still legible. Precocious pronouncements from a nineteen-year-old.

Engineer (1865-1941) whose inventions include the speedometer for motor-cars. Two pages, 12mo. Good, though slightly grubby. Docketed on reverse. Small ink smudge beneath letterhead. Reads 'Dear Don Wanchope | Thanks for your letter. My full name is/ | George Keith Buller Elphinstone and by profession I am an Electrical Engineer & Maker of Electrical Instruments | So I hope that will be full enough information for you'. Signed 'G K B Elphinstone'.