TWENTIETH

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[C. W. Beaumont, dance writer, bookseller and publisher.] Typed Letter Signed ('Cyril Beaumont') to 'Mr White', dismissing 'would-be Diaghilevs'.

Author: 
Cyril Beaumont [Cyril William Beaumont; C. W. Beaumont] (1891-1976), dance writer, bookseller and publisher
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'C. W. Beaumont | Bookseller & Publisher | At the Sign of the Harlequins Bat', 75 Charing Cross Road, London WC2. 3 April 1954.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He begins by stating that his book 'contains the details' his correspondent requires, and continues: 'I am sorry to say that I made a little mistake when I was talking to you over the telephone about "Pulcinella". I think I said there was a long description of that ballet in my "Diaghilev Ballet in London", but of course it is the "Complete Book of Ballets".

[Beryl de Zoete, dance critic and orientalist.] Autograph Card Signed ('Beryl de Z.) to the anthropologist Erich Alport, regarding peonies and 'flower viewing'.

Author: 
Beryl de Zoete [married name Beryl de Sélincourt] (1879-1962), dance critic, orientalist and translator, partner of the sinologist Arthur Waley [Erich Adolph Alport (1903-1972), anthropologist]
Publication details: 
50 Gordon Square, WC [London]. Postmarked date 28 May 1950.
£65.00

In good condition, on aged card. Addressed to 'Erich Alport Esqe. | 195 Woodstock Rd. | Oxford'. The card reads: 'By dint of putting them up to their necks in water every night, all the peonies came out & are only just scattering their petals. I have been flower viewing all the week - two magnificent gardens & the Chelsea show. It was very nice to see you. I hope you will propose yourself again - after I get back from abroad.'

[Joan Greenwood, actress.] Autograph Letter Signed to the translator Edward Marsh, regarding a 'most interesting and infuriating' 'Cocteau profile', and Henry Sherek's copy of the script of T. S. Eliot's 'Confidential Clerk'.

Author: 
Joan Greenwood (1921-1987), English actress, best-known for her role as Sibella in the film Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) [Edward Marsh, translator; Henry Sherek (1900-1967), theatre manager]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 4 Wentworth Studios, Chelsea, SW3 [London]. 9 September 1953.
£45.00

2pp., 12mo. Written lengthwise across the paper, so that the letterhead runs up the left-hand margin of the first page. She thanks him for his letter and 'the Cocteau profile (most interesting and infuriating - splendid misunderstanding - written down with such authority.)', as well as '"The Holy Terrors" notices'. She has been delayed in sending him the script of 'The Confidential Clerk' as she had to go to King's Lynn. She is sending the script now, and asks for it to be returned 'fairly soon, as it is Henry Sherek's and he may suddenly scream for it!' (Sherek was the play's producer.)

[Offprint from the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society.] The Beauty and Use of the Vintage Pear.

Author: 
Herbert E. Durham, Sc.D., etc. [Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society]
Publication details: 
['Reprinted from the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society. Volume XLIX., Part 2, 1924.'] Printed for the Royal Horticultural Society by Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd. New-Street Square, London E.C.4. 1925.
£30.00

[10]pp., 8vo, paginated 157-166. Stapled. In grey printed wraps. Inscribed at head of front cover: 'to E. Spriggs | with kind regards'. Above this, in another hand in red ink, 'DIETETICS'. One manuscript correction to the text. A historical overview, with a four-page appendix (pp.162-166) giving a list in small type of 'perry pears hitherto heard of, met with, or identified'. This offprint is scarce: no copies traced either on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

[Dilys Powell, journalist and film critic.] Typed Letter Signed to Robert Swan, declining his 'interesting offer' of 'original portrait drawings' by Swan himself.

Author: 
Dilys Powell [Elizabeth Dilys Powell] (1901-1995), British journalist, author and film critic [Robert Swan]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Sunday Times, 135 Fleet Street, London. 14 Octobeer 1936.
£38.00

1p., 4to. On creased and lightly-aged paper, with wear and chipping to edges. She thanks him for his letter 'and for your offer of original potrait drawings by yourself', in which she was 'greatly interested'. She explains that there is a limitation of space, 'and as a general rule we are exhibiting portraits only when we can associate with them some other relic or possession of the writer concerned'. In response to 'our appeal' she has received 'souvenirs of past writers, and I am concentrating on these. This being so, I feel I must very reluctantly decline your interesting offer'.

[E. Cecil Mornington Roberts.] Holograph Poem (signed 'Cecil Roberts'), a sonnet titled 'Liberty Challenged' ('Not without cause just and unshakeable').

Author: 
E. Cecil Mornington Roberts [Cecil Edric Mornington Roberts] (1892-1976), writer and editor
Publication details: 
On his 'E. CECIL MORNINGTON ROBERTS' letterhead, 'c/o Clarke & Co. | 13 & 14 Fleet St. EC.'
£100.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged, creased and worn paper. The poem features under the title 'Liberty Imperilled' in Roberts's collection 'Charing Cross and Other Poems of the Period' (1919), and the context suggests that the poem was composed at the commencement of the First World War. The sonnet begins: 'Not without cause just and unshakeable | Will we surrender up the cherished prize | Of individual liberty, so well | and nobly held'.

[Pakistan, Palestine and Israel.] Duplicated document, issued by the British Philatelic Association, on 'Export & Import Control', and including sections on 'Palestine' and 'Imports from the United Kingdom into Pakistan'.

Author: 
British Philatelic Association, Ltd., London [Pakistan; Palestine; Israel; postage stamps]
Publication details: 
'B. P. A. [British Philatelic Association] | 3, Berners Street, | [London] W.1. | 4/3/48 [i.e. 4 March 1948].
£56.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. Typed and duplicated on one leaf. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with fold lines. The Pakistan had been established on 14 August 1947, and Israel would be established from part of the British Mandate of Palestine on 14 May 1948. The present document is an interesting artefact of the changes in postal arrangements regarding these two regions at the time. The top half of the first page is headed 'Palestine', and the lower half 'Imports from the United Kingdom into Pakistan'. The reverse carries sections on 'Exports' and 'Imports'.

[Paul Henry, Irish artist.] Autograph Letter Signed to the painter and writer Walter Riddall, describing in evocative terms 'this great country - the west of Ireland', and his view of its effect on the arts of painting, music and poetry.

Author: 
Paul Henry (1877-1958), Irish artist [Walter Riddall (1874-1914), Irish artist and writer; Robert Lynd [Robert Wilson Lynd] (1879-1949), Irish essayist and journalist; Joseph Devlin (1871-1934)]
Publication details: 
The Bungalow, Aarleagh, Leenane, County Galway. 6 October 1913.
£450.00

3pp., 4to. On aged and worn paper (text entirely intact). In a letter deeply evocative of the Irish cultural renaissance, Henry begins on the subject of a piece of his writing on a political meeting of Irish nationalist Joseph Devlin: 'Dear Walter | I am sending you by this post another effort. You had no idea what you were letting yourself in for when you told me to "sling along anything I had got"! This is a little impression of a meeting of Devlins & was held in Sept. So I suppose it would be good to print it now. Altho' a thing like this would I believe go in America.

[Sir William Grey-Wilson, colonial governor.] Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Grey Wilson'), writing to an unnamed female correspondent on his return to England from the Bahamas.

Author: 
Sir William Grey-Wilson (1852-1926), KCMG, Governor of St Helena, 1887-1897; of the Falkland Islands, 1897-1904; and of the Bahamas, 1904-1912
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Midland Grand Hotel, London. 12 June 1912.
£35.00

1p., 8vo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter begins: 'Dear Madam | As I only landed in England yesterday your two letters of May 31st: and June 9th. have only just reached me.' He thanks her for forwarding photographs, which he is returning, and informs her 'that the Isle of Wight is at present not considered a suitable climate for my wife'.

[Marie Lohr, Australian actress.] Autograph Note Signed ('Marie Löhr') to 'dear Miss Stone'.

Author: 
Marie Löhr [Marie Lohr] (1890-1975), Australian stage and screen actress
Publication details: 
Place not stated. Dated in another hand to December 1944.
£30.00

In pencil on one side of a 6 x 9 cm white card, laid down on a 10.5 x 13.5 cm leaf of grey paper, removed from an album, with the date 'December 1944'. Lohr's note reads: 'with all good | wishes dear | Miss Stone | Marie Löhr'.

[Catalogue by London bookseller Wilfred M. Voynich.] No. 31. An Illustrated Catalogue of Remarkable Incunabula, many with Woodcuts, and a Specimen of an Unknown Xylographical Press, offered by Wilfred M. Voynich.

Author: 
Wilfred M. Voynich, Polish-born London antiquarian bookseller
Publication details: 
Wilfred M. Voynich. London: 68 & 70 Shaftesbury Avenue, W.
£120.00

[2] + 178 + [1]pp., 8vo, with 43 plates on art paper (some fold-out) at the end of the volume. In brown printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. An impressive collection, very well catalogued. The final item, 166 (pp.172-174), is on a subject close to Voynich's heart: 'Xylographic Press in Poland'. Loosely inserted are an unused letterhead for Voynich's premises at 175 Piccadilly, and a business postcard from Myers & Co of 80 New Bond Street, carrying a manuscript note. Six copies of the catalogue on COPAC, but none listed at the British Library, and now scarce.

[Jessica Brett Young, widow of novelist Francis Brett Young.] Four Autograph Letters Signed to 'Mr Jackson', 'Manager, Heinemann & Cassell', discussing her husband's copyrights in an energetic style, with notes on the writing of 'My Brother Jonathan'

Author: 
Jessica Brett Young [née Hankinson], (1883-1970), wife of the English novelist Francis Brett Young (1884-1954)
Publication details: 
All four on letterheads of the Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town. Written in October and November 1967.
£200.00

The first three letters each 1p., 4to; and the fourth 2pp., 4to. In good condition, on aged and creased paper, with three of the four letters stapled together. Letter One: 13 October 1967. She writes 'for information about my position concerning my late husband's books, and my Biography of him which Heinemann's published in London in 1962'. The closing of the firm's Cape Town office has been a shock to her. Letter Two: 4 November 1967.

[The first ten issues of periodical.] The Irish Book Lover. No. I [No. X]. [With Autograph Note by the editor, E. R. McC. Dix.]

Author: 
E. R. Mc C. Dix [Ernest Reginald McClintock Dix (1857-1936)], editor, The Irish Book Lover
Publication details: 
London: 1909-1910. [All ten issues 'Printed and Published by Whyte & Salmond, at the Manor House, Kensal Green, London.]
£100.00

8vo. The ten issues are consecutively paginated from 1-140, not including the printed wraps, which carry advertisements including individual wants of parties ranging from the Irish scholar F. J. Biggar to the London booksellers Maggs Bros. The ten items are all complete and unbound. The first six issues are printed on high-acidity paper, and are in frail condition, with loose leaves and chipping; the last four are in better condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper.

[book, inscribed by an authority on Blake] Catalogue of Loan Exhibition of Works by William Blake. October to December, 1913. [Second Edition.]

Author: 
[Archibald Russell; The National Gallery, British Art; William Blake]
Publication details: 
[The National Gallery, British Art.] London: Printed under the Authority of His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1913.
£38.00

4to, 75 pp. On aged paper, in original purple printed wraps, which are repaired at spine with tape. Inscribed at head of the front wrap to 'Mr. Tregaskis with Mr. Archibald Russell's compliments'. Russell was an authority on Blake's works, the recipient, Tregaskis, a distiguished bookseller.

[Ernest Bloch, composer.] Collection of papers on music criticism by Joseph Sussman, including typewritten drafts of an unpublished monograph titled 'Ernest Bloch, Music's Prophet', an autograph notebook titled 'Ernest Bloch. The Piano Music'..

Author: 
Joseph Sussman, instructor in the pianoforte and music theory [Ernest Bloch (1880-1959), Swiss-born American Jewish composer
Publication details: 
England. Dating from at least between 1963 and 1975.
£650.00

The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper, and can be grouped into three sections. ONE: Complete typewritten draft ([3] + 44pp., 4to) of Sussman's unpublished monograph on Bloch is contained in a large brown envelope, with the following note by Sussman on the front: '2ND COPY (without illustrations) of "Ernest Bloch - Music's Prophet" | JS'. It includes the contents, list of illustrations, introduction, and two-page 'Key and Bibliography'.

[The Jewish national anthem 'Hatikvah', sung in London at Gardiner's Corner ('the gateway to the East End').]

Author: 
[Joseph Sussman of London, instructor in the pianoforte and music theory; 'Hatikvah', the Israeli national anthem; the establishment of the State of Israel; the East End of London]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [1940s]. With manuscript map of the Aldgate East area of the East End of London.
£350.00

Six items, in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. In addition to manuscript scores by Sussman of five parts (soprano, tenor, bass, alto and conductor) of 'Hatikvah' (the five parts totalling 6pp., 4to, with staves also drawn out in manuscript), there is a duplicated typescript of an English translation of 'Hatikvah', titled 'Men Awake!' ('Workers all!

[No. 41 of 65 copies, with original etching and lithograph, both signed by Brangwyn.] Prints & Drawings by Frank Brangwyn with some other Phases of his Art: By Walter Shaw Sparrow.

Author: 
Walter Shaw Sparrow [Frank Brangwyn]
Publication details: 
London: John Lane, The Bodley Head. New York: John Lane Company. 1919.
£1,200.00

[10] + 288pp., 4to. In original quarter-binding, with blue paper boards and cream buckram spine with gilt lettering. A handsome book, profusely illustrated, with 49 plates (some with guards) and the two signed 'Extra Plates', and numerous illustrations in text. Announcement on reverse of first page: 'THIS edition, with an original etching and an original lithograph by Frank Brangwyn, is limited to 65 copies, of which this is No. 41'. The etching, facing p.1, is titled 'A Back Street, Tours', and the lithograph, facing page 180, is titled 'Newcastle'. Both are signed by Brangwyn in pencil.

[St James's Theatre, London.] 'Treasury Sheet' completed in manuscript, giving accounts for seven performances of '"By Candlelight" - Southampton', with 'Artistes' Salaries' including Leslie Howard and expenses for Max Miller and Gertrude Lawrence

Author: 
St James's Theatre, Duke Street, St James's, London [Leslie Howard; Max Miller; Gertrude Lawrence]
Publication details: 
St James's Theatre [Duke Street, St James's, London]. 'Treasury Sheet for Week ending 31st August 1929'.
£220.00

On one side of a piece of 33 x 52 cm paper. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. A form printed in black and red, completed in manuscript. Divided into sections on: Artiste's Salaries; Advertising; Stage Expenses; Front of House Expenses; Gas and Electricity; Printing & Stationery; Author's Fees; Miscellaneous; Receipts; Summary of Expenses. The 'Artiste's Salaries' were: Leslie Howard £20; Reginald Owen £40; Betty Schuster £20; Adrienne Allen £40; Robert English £15; Duncan McRae £15; Jack Carlton £8.

[Margaret, Lady Rhondda.] Autograph Card Signed ('M. R.') to 'Dear John', apologising for 'having been so rude to my fellow guest' at a lunch, and admitting that she is 'ridiculously [...] touchy' about her magazine 'Time and Tide'.

Author: 
Margaret, Lady Rhondda [Margaret Haig Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda] (1857-1958)], suffragette and nfounder of the magazine Time and Tide
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'Time and Tide', 32 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1. 10 December 1952.
£80.00

Written over 13 lines on both sides of the 9 x 11 cm card. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. 'Dear John, | I do feel ashamed of having been so rude to my fellow guest yesterday - It was a dreadful thing to do! The fact is I am, I suppose, very touchy about Time & Tide - ridiculously so really - I don't think he had read it - but after all why should he, poor man - I really wasn't very fair - | Please forgive me - except for feeling that I had behaved abominab[ly], just at the end, I thoroughly enjoyed my most excellent luncheon'.

[Printed report.] City of Birmingham Education Committee. Proposed New Buildings for Technical, Commercial and Art Education. Report on Visits made by a Deputation to Continental Technical Colleges and Educational Institutions April 3rd to 17th, 1935

Author: 
P. D. Innes, Chief Education Officer, City of Birmingham Education Committee; W. Byng Kenrick, Chairman of the Education Committee
Publication details: 
Buckler & Webb Ltd., Birmingham. July 1935.
£135.00

32pp., 4to. Stitched, in grey wraps. With photographs in text and three pages of plans (including two floor plans) at rear. Stamp, shelfmarks and label of the Board of Education Reference Library, otherwise in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn wraps. Scarce: no copy in the British Library, or on COPAC.

[Printed report.] City & County Borough of Chester. Education Committee. Report of the Director of Education upon Higher Education within the City of Chester.

Author: 
A. E. Lovell, M.A., Director of Education and Secretary to the Committee, City & County Borough of Chester]
Publication details: 
Chester: Arthur Blayney, Printer, Bridge Street Row, Works - Watergate Street. 24 March 1904.
£80.00

46pp., 8vo, with two fold-out appendices. In good condition, on aged paper, in worn grey wraps. Stamps, shelfmarks and label of the Board of Education Reference Library. Scarce: no copy in the British Library or on WorldCat.

[Printed booklet.] City of Manchester Education Committee | Report on the Reorganisation of the Public Elementary Schools, with reference to the provision of Municipal and Non-Provided Senior School Accommodation.-

Author: 
Manchester Education Committee [Report, 1938]
Publication details: 
[City of Manchester.] Approved by the Education Committee, July 18th, 1938.
£90.00

73pp., 8vo. In grey printed card wraps. With fold-out map. Internally good, on aged paper; chipping to wraps and front cover detached. Stamp and shelfmark of the Board of Education Library on title-page, and label of the Library on rear wrap. In brown OHMS envelope with manuscript details on front. No copy at the British Library, or on COPAC.

[Printed address.] What do Co-operators want from the State in the Matter of Education? Delivered at the Educational Conference, held at Scarborough, in connection with the 53rd Annual Co-operative Congress on Satureday, May 14th, 1921.

Author: 
J. T. Davis, Central Education Committee, Co-operative Union Limited
Publication details: 
Printed by the Co-operative Printing Society Limited, 118 Corporation Street, Manchester; and published by7 the Co-operative Union Limited, Holyoake House, Hanover Street, Manchester. 1921.
£75.00

11pp., 8vo. Stapled. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight rust to staples, with stamp, shelfmarks and label of the Board of Education Library. Scarce: no copy in the British Library or on COPAC.

[Offprint.] An Experiment in Practical Civics. (Revised and Reprinted, with kind permission, from "The Journal of Education" of February, 1917).

Author: 
E. M. White [Ebe Minerva White (b.1875); Civic and Moral Education League]
Publication details: 
London: Watts & Co., 17 Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, EC. 1917.
£56.00

8pp., 8vo. Stitched pamphlet. With stamp, label and shelfmark of the Board of Education Reference Library. Uncommon: copies found at the British Library and LSE, the latter under the imprint of the Civic and Moral Education League.

[City of Cardiff Education Week, 1932.] Printed programme ('Cardiff Juvenile Welfare Council') of the 'Hobbies Exhibition'; and 'Educational Handbook for Citizens and Parents'.

Author: 
[City of Cardiff Education Week, 1932] [Cardiff Juvenile Welfare Council] [Wales; Welsh schools]
Publication details: 
Programme: Territorial Drill Hall, Newport Road, Cardiff (corner of West Grove). 29 February to 5 March 1932. Handbook: Cardiff: Priory Press Ltd., The Friary, Cardiff. [1932.]
£95.00

Both items in good condition (see separate descriptions). ONE: 'City of Cardiff Education Week. Cardiff Juvenile Welfare Council. Hobbies Exhibition and Demonstration of Voluntary Juvenile Organisations' Activities. Programme of Demonstrations and Displays, and Handbook of Stalls and Stallholders.' Cardiff: Territorial Drill Hall, Newport Road (corner of West Grove). 29 February to 5 March 1932. 20pp., 8vo. Stapled pamphlet, in printed wraps. Advertisements throughout. In good condition, on aged paper, with wear along the fore-edge. Photograph on cover of 'H.R.H.

Prospectus for 'The Women's League of Health and Beauty | Object: Racial Health and Beauty', describing the 'Methods for 1932 and after' of this 'Sixpenny Health Movement'. With membership form, filled in by J. Bigg of New Southgate.

Author: 
[The Women's League of Health and Beauty, founded in 1930 by Mary Stack and continued by her daughter Prunella Stack (1914-2010] [J. Bigg of New Southgate]
Publication details: 
Prospectus: 'Address: The Mortimer Halls, 43 Gt. Portland St., W1.' Undated (circa 1932). Membership form dated by member to 27 September 1932.
£90.00

In its obituary of Prunella Stack the Guardian describes the League as 'the most innocuous of the interwar mass fitness movements': the present item would indicate otherwise. The prospectus is printed on both sides of a 25 x 31 cm. piece of shiny art paper, irregularly folded to make a 25 x 15 cm. front cover, flanked by two 25 x 7.5 cm flaps (with the front of one listing the members of the committee, and of the other the League's rules).

[Robert Byron, traveller.] Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Strutt, discussing areas in Ceylon and South India that she should visit.

Author: 
Robert Byron (1905-1941), traveller and authority on Byzantine civilization, author of 'The Road to Oxiana'
Publication details: 
'as from 91 Bishopsgate | EC2 [London]'. 2 February 1938.
£1,200.00

2pp., 4to. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. In original envelope addressed to Mrs Strutt at the Galle Face Hotel, Columbo, Ceylon. He lists four locations in Ceylon, and six in South India, with brief comments including:'15 sq. miles of ruins - the oldest tree in the world'; 'lovely temple, Adams Houses, Flaxman monuments'. The regarding the last location he writes: 'Madras itself has charming classical buildings, & in the Old Durbar Hall is to be

[Sir Claude Aurelius Elliott, headmaster of Eton.] Autograph Letter Signed ('C A Elliott') to J. J. S. Driberg, discussing his son J. H. Driberg's 'Poems', inserted in a copy of the book, inscribed by the author to his mother.

Author: 
Sir Claude Aurelius Elliott (1888-1973), headmaster of Eton; Jack Herbert Driberg (1888-1946), Lecturer in Anthropology, Cambridge University, 1934-42 and brother of Labour MP Tom Driberg (1905-1976)
Publication details: 
Elliott's letter on letterhead of Fernwood, Wimbledon Park, London SW; 17 September [no year]. Driberg's book: London: Frank H. Morland, 16 Park Mansions, Fulham, S.W. 1908.
£220.00

ONE (Elliott's letter): 3pp., 12mo. 34 lines. Bifolium. In good condition, on aged paper, loosely attached to the title-leaf of the book by a small piece of gummed paper. The letter begins: 'My dear Driberg | I ought to have acknowledged your letter sooner, but I only received it on my return from abroad, and since then I have been busy struggling with the arears which always accrue during absence.' He thanks him for sending his 'son's little volume', which he has read 'with much interest & congratulate him on the neat & modest appearance he has made in print'.

[First edition.] A Room of One's Own.

Author: 
Virginia Woolf
Publication details: 
Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 52 Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1929.
£120.00

172pp., 12mo. In pink cloth, gilt. No dustwrapper. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in binding with slight spotting and slight wear at tail of spine. Neat small ownership signature in pencil on front free endpaper.

Alexander Fleming cured by Penicillin] Autograph Letter Signed ('Alec. Fleming') to 'Peggy'.

Author: 
Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), Scottish biologist and pharmacologist, discoverer of penicillin and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine in 1945
Publication details: 
31 October 1953; on letterhead of 20A Danvers Street, Cheyne Walk, London, S.W.3.
£950.00

8vo: 1 p. Good, laid down on the reverse of the front free endpaper of a copy of Andre Maurois's 'The Life of Sir Alexander Fleming' (London, 2nd imp., 1959). Reads 'Thank you very much. We would be delighted to be with you on Nov 12th. I think all is well with me now & I am off to Edinburgh on Monday. | Yours sincerely | [signed] Alec. Fleming'. The context is explained on pp. 265-6 of the book. 'In October 1953 he was due to make a speech at the opening of 'Les Journees Medicales' in Nice. Two days before the appointed date, he woke up with a high fever. He himself diagnosed pneumonia.

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