Sophie Cat 56 - Sophie Dupre

29 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS,MANUSCRIPTS &SIGNED PHOTOS
218. DAVIDSON (Randall Thomas, Baron, 1848-1930,
Archbishop of Canterbury)
ALS when Dean of Windsor to (later Canon) Samuel
Bickersteth, (1857-1937) saying “I am rejoiced at your
appointment to Belvedere”, between Woolwich and Erith,
“a post of immense & growing importance”, he regrets he
has not “a loophole of escape from close & absorbing work
for months to come ... I should greatly like to see you at
your post & to give you, if it may be, a helping hand some
Sunday”, 3 sides 8vo., 44 Grosvenor Road, S.W., 2nd
February 1887, small mark from clip [SD19645]£25
219. DAVIES (John Evan Weston, the writer ‘Berkely
Mather’)
ALS ‘Jasper Davies (Berkely Mather)’ to Eileen Cond,
telling her that “One of the pleasanter things about bringing
out a book is the letter from you, which has now become an
institution”, he has found hers waiting on “return from Italy
... I’m off to Nigeria in the next few days to collect material
for my next one - No mountains in it, I’m afraid”, 1 side
4to, The Banks, Mountfield, near Robertsbridge, Sussex,
2nd September 1970 [SD17036]£30
‘Berkely Mather’ wrote the screen play for MGM’s ‘Genghis
Khan’ (book form, 1965). Other books include ‘The Break in the
Line’, 1970, ‘The Terminators’, 1971, and ‘The White Dacoit’.
220. DE L’ISLE (William Philip Sidney, 1909-1991, 1st
Viscount, VC (1944), KG, Governor General of Australia)
TLS with autograph salutation and subscription to Peter
Evans, saying that he believes “that observers are in a better
position to comment than actual recipients of the Victoria
Cross ... in my case there seemed no other course
available”, 1 side 4to., Penshurst Place, Kent, 20th January
1989, together with a photo signed on the verso
showing him head and shoulders in civilian dress, 2¼” x
2¼” 1989 [SD50039]£75
221. DESBOROUGH (William Henry Grenfell, K.G.,
1855-1945, 1st and last Baron, Cross Channel Oarsman,
Swimmer who swam Niagara Falls)
ALS toRowland Thomas Baring, (1877-1953, from 1917
2nd Earl of Cromer), saying “I had some correspondence
with the President of Leander, and at the Committee
Meeting ... on Friday Prince Henry” of Gloucester, 1900-
1974, the present Queen’s uncle, “was elected, with
acclamation as an Hon. Life Member ... or as an ordinary
member if he preferred it”, and asking “what His Royal
Highness would prefer ... and then a formal letter will be
sent from the Club”, 2 sides 8vo, Carlton Club, Pall Mall
crossed out, Taplow Court, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, 6th
April 1919, fold rather worn and with ashorttear but
without loss [SD17058]£35
‘Willy’ Grenfell was the outstanding sportsman and athlete of his
generation. He swam twice across Niagara, stroked an eight
across the channel, and climbed the Matterhorn and neighbouring
peaks in a record round trip. At one time he was serving on 115
committees besides his main task as chairman of the Thames
Conservancy Board, a post he held for 32 years.
Lord Cromer was Assistant Private Secretary to George V, 1916-
1920, and Lord Chamberlain 1922-1928.
222. DEVONSHIRE (Lady Elizabeth Foster, née Hervey,
1759 or 1760-1824, mistress and from 1809 wife of the 5th
Duke)
ALS toher banker, saying she gave Lady Bessborough,
(Harriet, 1761-1821, sister of the Duke’s first Duchess
Georgiana), “a draft on you for thirty five guineas”, leaving
“a hundred & sixty three pounds of the Christmas quarter”,
which she asks him to send “& an acknowledgement to
sign”, with a P.S. “pray let it be sealed up, & forty of the
sum beinten pound notes”, 1 side 8vo., note of receipt on
conjugate leaf, Devonshire House, Piccadilly, 9th January
1807, very light water stain in fold [SD20133]£225
Lady Elizabeth, ‘Dearest Bess’, lived in an affectionate ménage à
trois with the Duke and his famous Duchess Georgiana, 1757-
1806. She may have been the mother of the 6th Duke. During her
first widowhood she received an offer from Gibbon, who said of
her, ‘If she chose to beckon the Lord Chancellor from his
woolsack, he could not resist obedience’.
THE HOME RULE DEBATE &
COERCION
223. DILKE (Sir Charles W., 1843-1911, Radical
Politician)
ALS to Henry W. Massingham, 1860-1924, the radical
journalist, who wrote the ‘Parliamentary Letter’ in the Daily
News, explaining why he is in “a little difficulty” about a
letter Massingham has forwarded, “You may if you ... can
trust your correspondent tell him that Randolph Churchill
and I were at that time good friends with few political
secrets”, (May 1885), the two had special leave to use the
room of the Sergeant-at-Arms, Captain Gossett, “earlier
than 5 p.m.”, for reading or to meet someone in
confidence, in which case the other would withdraw, “at a
dinner party ... Randolph Churchill told the Prince of Wales
and me of the results of his interviews with Parnell on the
one side [of the Irish question] and Lord Salisbury on the
other. We neither of us believed what he said about Ld.
Salisbury ... but ... you will remember that Ld. Salisbury
afterwards named in a public speech the date at which he
made up his mind that it was not necessary to have coercion
... the point on which we were least credulous”, with the
beginning of a P.S. about Lord Randolph’s unusual secrecy
from Dilke on this matter, 4 sides 8vo., 76 Sloane Street,
S.W., 6th December 1898 lacks continuation of P.S. after
fourth side [SD50079]£125
Dilke was in Gladstone’s Cabinet, and Lord Randolph leader of
the progressive Tories, nicknamed ‘the Fourth Party’. The
Government was defeated on July 8th, and Lord Salisbury’s
administration inherited ‘The Irish question’. For this incident see
Dilke’s fascinating biography by Stephen Gwynn and Gertrude
Tuckwell.
224. [DOYLE (Sir Arthur Conan, 1859-1930, Novelist,
Creator of ‘Sherlock Holmes’)]
Secretarial ALS to ‘Dear Sir’, thanking him for his
enclosure, “[‘If’ crossed out] When the time comes, I shall
bear in mind your suggestion”, 1 side 8vo., Undershaw,
Hindhead, Haslemere, 7th March 1903 [SD19885]£75