Sophie Cat 56 - Sophie Dupre

Clive Farahar & Sophie Dupré, XV The Green, Calne, Wilts, SN1 8DQ, Tel: (01249) 821121 52
379. SHAW (George Bernard, 1856-1950, Writer)
Autograph letter signed with initials on the bottom of a TLS
to Shaw from Arthur Moss, editor of ‘Gargoyle’, in which
he says that “In Paris we hear that Mr H. G. Wells has been
released from his job on the Daily Mail. I am much
impressed by the foresight shown in your first article on the
Disarmament Conference in the London Nation. I wonder
what will be your next ingenious reason for not visiting the
United States. The only time I have had my faith in you
severely jolted, was when you picked Carpentier to whip
Dempsey ...”, sending him a copy of ‘Gargoyle’. Shaw
replies by thanking him for the magazine which has not yet
arrived, and saying that he “did not pick Carpentier to whip
Dempsey, whom I had never seen. I expressly warned you
not toput that construction on my preliminary article on
the betting . Don’t blame me if you disregarded the
warning. Did you read my article on the fight? ...”, 1 side
4to., with the magazine’s letterhead of a figure with a goat’s
head, Paris XIVth, 3rd December 1928 [SD22845]£495
380. ST. JOHN-MILDMAY (Arthur George, 1824-1883,
Lieutenant, 3rd Bombay European Infantry, late Assistant
to the Governor General for Central India)
Draft letter to Lord Stanley as Commissioner for India,
(1826-1893, 15th E. of Derby), aware that Stanley is “remodelling
the secretariat for India”, offering his services,
and describing his military and political experience in India
from 1844 and 1851 repectively, naming his testimonials
from Sir Robert Hamilton, Sir Henry, General George, and
Sir John Lawrence, and General Van Cortlandt, mentioning
the Governor-General’s thanks “for my services against the
mutineers in Hurriana”, and service in Sindh and Poona, 2
sides folio, endorsed on conjugate leaf, 2 Wilton Crescent,
London, 20th July 1858 [SD50020]£85
General Van Cortlandt, then in civilian employ, raised the
‘Hurriana Field Force’ from loyal Punjabis in 1857, and defeated
the mutineers within a few miles of Delhi.
381. STEED (Henry Wickham, 1871-1956, Editor of the
Times 1919-1922, Historian of Central Europe)
Very interesting archive of letters addressed to Dr
Ferdinand L. Leipnik, (1869-c.1924), the Hungarian
journalist and connoisseur, discussing Central European
politics and articles for The Times, beginning with
Magyar nationalism ,talking of Stephen Bernát and “the
crusade to which you refer”, Steed says “I hardly know
which is more contemptible, - it or the conduct of those who
are engaged in it”, he hopes that “Hungary will perceive the
real causes of the withdrawal of foreign sympathy” and
return to its former “solid liberalism” (9th October 1907).
Steed introduces Basil Williams, 1867-1950, “a writer of
good leaders ... a man after your own heart ... Introduce him
to anybody who is likely to tell him the truth” (1st May
1908), discusses an anonymous pamphlet sent by Leipnik
and has ordered 12 copies, “I have never entirely lost [the
hope] of seeing the Magyars turn from the error of their
ways ... and lead this Monarchy towards ... tolerance and
sincerity” (2nd June 1908), and asks Leipnik to tell
Wilhelm Singer [editor of the Neues Wiener Tagblatt], that
“as Ihad taken no notice of the accusations against Mr
Kossuth, I could not take notice of the latter’s defence” and
suggests the extreme Nationalist Coalition publish “an exact
account of what was done with the Tulipán funds”. He will
find out how Leipnik might write for the London press
outside the main Agencies, asks for an article on the Church
in Hungary and how far it is fulfilling its mission (30th
January 1909). After the outbreak of WWI he repeatedly
accepts or commissions articles for The Times, “Your
information as to the reason for Berchtold’s dismissal is
new” (Count Leopold, Austrian Foreign Minister 1912 -
13th January 1915, letter 30th January 1915), Austria can
only become a vassal of Germany if victorious (“which God
forbid!”) or be dismembered if defeated (24th August
1915), “I gather that amonster treason trial is being
worked up in Banjaluka against 156 Bosnian Serbs ...
an enlarged edition of the Agram [Zagreb] high treason trial
... what is going on?” (14th December 1915), the Morning
Post prints “regular letters dated from Budapest ... I believe
fabricated in England or Holland, by a man named
Szébenyei ... often wide of the mark”, so can Leipnik
supply a little article on the Magyar or German Budapest
papers “say once a week or three times a month?” (1st
February 1916). Steed has “just been in France for three
weeks, giving lectures and ... visiting Verdun during the
battle ... The French Army is beyond praise” (28th March
1916). “The most valid sanction of the future reign of law”,
on which Leipnik proposes action to codify, “is the proof
which the Somme battle has afforded that England ... can
form of her raw human material an army that can thrash the
best troops of the German law-breaker” (10th November
1916), after the war Steed’s commissions turn to
“restoration of the currency in Central Europe” (22nd
January 1920), however money begins to get tighter and
“the paper situation is absolutely prohibitive” (18th
February 1920), Leipnik visits him in London, later Steed
gives him “a note for Benes”, the first Foreign Minister of
Czechoslovakia, later President, and asks Leipnik to note
his “impressions of Prague ... and ... of the real inwardness
of the Horthy regime” established in November in Budapest
(7th April 1920), he is very glad to know “you have found a
good journalistic job & hope the enclosed may help you ...
till your ship comes home” (9th October 1920), Steed will
now have to live up to his “beautiful but over-generous
article in the Graphic” (14th December 1922), together 45
sides, The Times Offices at 9 Schwindgasse, Vienna and
Printing House Square, 7 Lansdowne House, Holland Park
and Kyle House, Skye, 9th October 1907 - 21st August
1923 [SD19039]£475
Steed joined the Times in 1896, was its correspondent in Vienna
1902-1913, culminating in his book ‘The Hapsburg Monarchy’,
and took an immense interest in Hungary and the Balkan
dominions. During WWI he was Foreign Editor and directed
much Allied propaganda.
Leipnik was Budapest correspondent of the London liberal daily
‘The Tribune’, which ran from 1906 to 1908, and from 1907-1911
edited the financial, political and literary ‘Pester Lloyd’. A move
to the new ‘Journal International’ in Paris (1911) was short-lived
when the paper folded. However he had built up a network of
diplomatic contacts, and spent most of WWI in neutral Holland,
obtaining diplomatic papers from Austria-Hungary and Germany
for the British Foreign Office, and acting as a go-between in peace
feelers, especially from Austria. He also visited the U.S.A. in
1917 to assess the movement for peace there, and his summaries
of public opinion in Central European countries and the Balkans
were much used by the Foreign Office. See e.g. the letters in the
Public Record Office, especially in class FO371.