TUCK

11pp., 4to. Five are signed by Gustave Tuck, three by Desmond A. Tuck and one by Sir Reginald Tuck (the three men being named on the letterhead, together with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as the company's directors). Four are addressed to Adams personally, four to his firm (with one for the attention of 'Miss Dorothy Clarke'), and one to Bertram Adams, another royal photographer, with whom Adams shared premises at 43 Dover Street, Mayfair. The ornate letterhead, printed in brown, carries royal warrants and an engraving of Raphael House. On aged and worn paper, with slight damp staining.

On a gilt-edged piece of card, 13 x 11.5 cm., with rounded edges. In good condition, lightly aged. The illustration by 'E M W' on one side is printed in silver, yellow, light blue, grey and brown, and shows a snowy country scene with two tiny figures beneath a shining sun on a stone bridge over a stream. Captioned 'The Joy of Christmas be in your heart.' Cowan's eight-line poem, on the other side, is printed in grey, in variety of gothic fonts. It begins: 'Only its best and brightest history | May Memory relate you!

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 24 x 14.5 cm. With card backing. Good, though lightly aged. Headed by the Royal warrant, the top-half of the handbill features, in a variety of types and point sizes, the announcement of Tuck and Sons' intention to award 'Upwards of 4,000 prizes, of the value of 3,000 guineas, and a number of judges' diplomas', with Besant and Stone as judges. The lower part has two columns featuring fifteen testimonials, by newspapers ranging from 'Windsor and Eton Gazette' to the 'Sheffield Telegraph'.