MARK

ONE: Typed Letter Signed from Clemens to Pitt. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Expansive signature in blue ink. Letterhead with printed quotations from President Ford, Carl Van Doren, William Faulkener, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Message reads: 'Dear Barrie Pitt | In recognition of your outstanding contribution to Biography, you have been unanimously elected, in succession to the late Captain Basil Liddell Hart | A KNIGHT | of | MARK TWAIN'. TWO: Photocopy of letter from Churchill to Clemens.

The four items in good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. ONE: TLS by Spicer, 31 December 1943. 4pp., 12mo. With a couple of minor autograph emendations. A long and wide-ranging letter, discussing the aims of the group (in response to Item Three below). Topics include: 'intellectuals in the Group', whether it is 'disuniting the Party', 'the future of the Party', 'going into opposition', 'the position of the Liberal Party at the next General Election, or at the conclusion of the European War', and whether Radical Action is 'pin-pricking the Parliamentary Party'.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, creased and lightly aged. Addressed to 'Mr. Mark R. Bonham Carter | c/o The Commonwealth Fund | 41 East 57th Street | New York 22, New York'. He writes having just returned 'from another trip to Paris', and has seen Bonham-Carter's 'note of farewell - with the conspicuous marks of the Wegener influence'. He is glad Bonham-Carter enjoyed his visit to Chicago, and looks forward to a visit to England by 'one or more of the McKeons', which will give him 'an opportunity to retaliate for some of the ragging that constitutes the American conception of hospitality'.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Headed '"Mark Lemon Fund."' Begins with communication from 'J. M. Montefiore, Chairman', dated 'Crawley, Oct. 1871', appealing for assistance for the 'Widow and unmarried Daughters of the late MARK LEMON - for thirty years Editor of "Punch"'', who are in 'straitened circumstances'. A list of 154 subscribers follows, each with the amount pledged, beginning with 'Joseph M. Montefiore, Esq.' (£35) and including 'Wilkie Collins, Esq.' (£5), 'Mrs.

4pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly-aged. She is especially pleased that he has agreed to speak at 'our meeting', as the League is 'always so anxious to have our meetings all-party ones - this one more especially so'. The theme of the meeting is the role of the Poles in the Second World War, and she describes the plan of the meeting, which is to include a speech by 'Major Beamish' on 'conditions in Poland'; and a resolution by the Dean of Chichester ('our Vice-Chairman'), seconded by 'Mr. O'Brien M.P. (Labour)'.

ALS, on his presidential letterhead; 14 July 1932, 2pp., 8vo, good condition, with enclosure. His 'Little Visits to the Great' is 'almost ready to go to press, but we are holding things up for the Chapter on "Robert and Sylvia Lynd." If you and Mrs Lynd could glance it over and scratch out any thing that I remembered inaccurately, [...]'. With a mimeographed typewritten copy (1 p, fol.), transcribing three 1937 letters to Clemens, two from Douglas Hyde and the last from W. B. Yeats.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

The Simplified Spelling Board was founded in 1906, funded by Andrew Carnegie, and counted Mark Twain and President Theodore Roosevelt, and the English lexicographers James A. H. Murray, Walter W. Skeat and Joseph Wright among its members. The present collection of the Board's Circulars consists of 25 uniform items, all unbound and stapled. The collection is in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with occasional wear. Stamps, shelfmarks and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library, London.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on aged paper. With envelope addressed by Woodin to 'W. C. M. Kent Esqr | Sun Office', on which is written 'Your Card of course will admit any Friends'. The letter begins: 'My very dear Sir, | I have taken the Salle Robin and called it The Myriographic Hall, now I intend inviting the gentlemen of the Press on Thursday Evening March 3rd.

1p., landscape 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper. He begins: 'This is just a line to say how very good I thought your answer to Quintin Hogg.' He next turns to his desire for a meeting and 'walk in the afternoon', although he knows 'this is a long way off and you are very busy'. He ends with transport information and the news: 'However I am going away on Monday for 3 weeks.' The valediction is in Murray's autograph: 'Yours sincerely, | G. M.'

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with reverse of second leaf laid down on part of leaf removed from album. Addressed to 'Fredk Chapman Esq', the letter reads: 'My dear Sir, | Will you hear what Mr Swaine [sic] (long since principal engraver upon Punch) has to say & if you can serve him you will oblige | Yours very truly | Mark Lemon'.

4pp., 4to. 75 lines of neatly-written text. On creased aged paper, with a few closed tears (one of them 11cm long). He begins by praising Bonham-Carters 'objective & informed comments on American opinion' ('I hope you will feel encouraged to publish more of your findings'). 'But gratitude & a thirst for information & about American politics are not my only reason [sic] for writing. I wish you were in England, for I would very much enjoy an exchange of views with you about the position of the Party.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Written in a bold, attractive hand. The letter begins: 'It was with much regret that I was compelled to forgo the honour of attending your Lordship's Conversazione on Wednesday.' He was called to Hastings that day by '[u]navoidable business', but hopes to have 'during the continuance of the Exhibition, an opportunity of waiting on your Lordship'.

In a House of Lords debate on 28 April 1953 Chorley described as 'dastardly' the recent 'Operation Moolah', conceived by the American General Mark W. Clarke, in which more than a million leaflets were dropped on North Korea, offering $100,000 to the first pilot to defect with a MiG-15 fighter plane. The note is 1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Hon. Lord Chorley | House of Lords | London', it simply reads: 'Dear Sir: | Have you ever heard of Benedict Arnold? | Respectfully, | [signed] Robert Warshow'. The letter is 1p., 4to.

Regarded as lost for 35 years this drama documentary, directed by John Alaimo, was discovered in a Barcelona bank vault in 2009, and has recently been released on DVD. The nine items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. One: 'Gaudi | Treatment by Michael J. Cooper | April 1974'. [i] + 4pp., foolscap 8vo, in plastic folder. Two: 'Story Outline' for 'Antonio Gaudi | The Unfinished Vision | A Special Television Film Production'.

1p., foolscap 8vo. On wove paper watermarked 'G R | 1806'. Aged, and with fraying to extremities, with closed tears through three of the signatures, unobtrusively repaired on the reverse with archival tape. Presumably a draft or second copy, as the original must be among the papers of the Society of Antiquaries. The document reads: 'To the Right Hon. George Earl of Leicester, | President of the Society of Antiquaries. | My Lord, | We whose names are hereunto subscribed request leave to signify to your lordship that Edward-Wedlake [sic] Brayley, Esq.

Black and white matt bromide print photograph in card frame with covering flap. Dimensions of photograph 20 x 25 cm. Dimensions of frame 25.5 x 32 cm. A head and shoulders shot of Balcon, staring across the photograph from the right, left hand at right shoulder, with the bust of Day-Lewis facing her from the left. Inscription in pencil on frame beneath photograph: 'London. Mark Gerson. AIBP/ARPS'. Photograph and inscription in excellent condition; frame aged and worn.

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One (27 April 1865): 12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Seventeen lines. He is sorry not to have been able to accept Flower's hospitality: 'Let us hope to meet about Whitsuntide for the pilgrimage to Firle'. He is eager for information for his 'Sussex Worthies'. 'My eldest dau[ghte]r's marriage & the starting of my eldest son on his professional career cost money, & every 30s. [subscription) will help.' Letter Two (9 November 1865): 12mo, 1 p. 13 lines. He has received the 30s.

12mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with thin strip of stub adhering to the reverse of the second leaf. Reads 'Sir John Wrothsley requests Mr. Ridgway will direct his Newspapers [corrected from 'Letters'] Post Office Scarborough. The frank reads 'Doncaster September ten 1835 | Mr. Ridgway | Piccadilly | London | [signed] Wrothsley'. Divided circular Doncaster postmark in black, and frank ('FREE | 11SEP11| 1835') in red.

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Watermarked 'TOWGOOD'S | SUPER FINE | 1859'. Eighty-seven lines of text. Text clear and complete on aged and grubby paper. With little hope of influencing the editor of Punch, the author feels compelled to 'write and tell you what I and many others think about your Publication and the malignant spite you display towards individuals who happen to incur your wrath'. This 'malignity', he feels, 'must be derived from that murderous old ruffian from whom your publication takes its name, and which alone prevents it being an influential publication.

Text of all three items clear and complete. All three on lightly aged paper, creased and with some wear to extremities. Letter One (8vo, 1 p; 20 lines of text): She thanks Bonham Carter for her 'kind and appreciative letter' and 'will see that through the English Embassy' she receives 'a copy of my short story: "I due prigionieri", of which your son is the protagonist'. (An officer in the Grenadier Guards, during the war Mark Bonham Carter had escaped from a prison camp in northern Italy.) Describes material she is sending relating to her 'literary career'.

Printed in black and sepia on both sides of a leaf of watermarked wove paper, 45 x 30 cm. On lightly-aged paper with one vertical and two horizontal fold lines. The seven sample pages feature a total of six illustrations, in a variety of styles, two by Herb Roth. The arrangement is as follows. Recto: Title ('Specimen Pages from Books made at the Walpole Printing Office in New Rochelle, N.Y. 1929-1932') with vignette of Walpole. Specimen One, titled 'Piratical Barbarity, &c.', with illustration of pirate ship by Roth. Specimen Two, title-page of T. S. Eliot's 'John Dryden. The Poet.

One page, 12mo. Very good, on lightly aged paper mounted on piece of card. Reads 'London | July 28/13 | Master M. Bull | I append autograph as requested | Yours truly | John Oxenham'.

On irregular piece of lightly creased and aged paper (roughly seven and a half by four and a half inches), with some chipping to extremities. Headed 'Punch Photographs'. 'Mr Mark Lemon [1809-1870, Punch editor] wishes me to come up to you & be photographed. I propose being with you at one tomorrow Saturday, if I am not unavoidably detained in Westminster on a trial.'

One page, quarto. Very good, with staple holes in one corner. He thanks Samson for his letter 'about the enquiry from the Esso Petroleum Company concerning a sculptured commemorative tablet. I should be pleased to take part in any limited competition for this project and could carry out the work this year if I were commissioned to do so within the scheme of my existing commitments.' The context is explained by an accompanying photocopy of a carbon of a typed letter (one page, quarto) of 5 May 1960 from Samson to the sculptor Professor R. Y.

English Camden Town Group Painter (1878-1914). Dimensions seven inches by ten inches. Grubby, but in good condition. From the Mark Bonham Carter collection. Captioned 'Spencer Gore | Freddy', with an arrow pointing to impressionistic representation of figure, nine inches high, of the artist in a suit, with high-collared shirt, holding a palette in his left hand and with his right hand outstretched and painting onto a canvas. Around the figure dabs of watercolour and a representation of a foot. Crude drawing of seascape on reverse. Together with scrap of paper reading 'MR.

American educator and philosopher (1921-2002), one of the key figures during the reorganization of the University of Chicago’s undergraduate college in the 1960s and 70s. All ten items quarto: five items one page in length and five two pages in length. Text legible throughout, but all items creased and some on paper discoloured with age. With occasional fraying to edges and a few closed tears. Several with pencil notes by Bonham-Carter on reverse.

For this eccentric club see 'The History of I Zingari' by R. L. Arrowsmith & B. J. W. Hill (1982). From the Mark Bonham Carter archive. Roughly five inches square. In poor condition: grubby and creased with several closed tears. Text entirely legible. Ink notes on back (by Bonham Carter?) including picture of sailing ship and reference to Somerset Maugham Prize. Reads 'The Governor, I Zingari, has pleasure in sending you a "Testamur" as a proof that you have successfully passed the probationary period.

English historian (1882-1959). All three items, two pages, quarto. All good, though grubby and lightly creased. Three intimate and revealing letters. ITEM ONE apparently sent to Bonham-Carter in America. 'You will soon be back, I think. Are you now occupied in assembling and correlating your observations? [...] I should guess it was quite impossible to think when a Presidential election is going on. | I have been spending a fortnight in Oxford and I asked some of the early-middle-aged dons what the undergraduates were thinking.

Barbara Hastings, daughter of the jurist Sir Patrick Hastings, married Nicolas Bentley (1907-78) in October 1934. In the 1940s she wrote a series of children's books which he illustrated. Two pages, octavo. good, but folded twice and with some creases. An important letter, in which she describes the circumstances of her husband's death. She is very grateful for his letter. 'It was an enormous pleasure to have you here with Kenneth and Billie [bookseller Kenneth Bredon and his wife], but do you know I think it was that dreadful fire that killed poor Nick - indirectly.