FIRSTS ONLINE Winter 2020

Item 11

Welcome to our Highlights Catalogue for Firsts Online,
the Chelsea and Edinburgh edition.
We’re sorry not to be able to welcome you in person to either of those events,
and we very much hope that day comes again soon. But for now, here are some
beautiful things to leaf through online. We hope you find what you’re looking for.
You’ll find our contact and payment details at the back of this list and we hope
you’ll visit our website, where we have a lot more to show you.
Stay safe,
And Happy Browsing,
Neil Pearson Rare Books

2. BETJEMAN, John
First And Last Loves
London: John Murray, 1969
8vo, pp. 244. Original pink and white illustrated stiff paper wrappers.
Illustrated throughout, some by John Piper -- one a fold-out panorama of
Cheltenham.Wrappers a little marked, spine dulled, but a very good copy.
Later edition, AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY BETJEMAN ON
HALF-TITLE: ‘To D.E. Howell With best wishes from his old neighbour
+ friend John Betjeman 1969’. 1 pp. ALS FROM BETJEMAN TO
HOWELL LAID IN.
Mr. Howell had clearly sent this copy to Betjeman requesting a
signature, and preserved the letter he received in reply. Dated 27 June
1969, and sent from Betjeman’s Cloth Fair address in the City, the letter
reads:
1. AVEDON, Richard and BALDWIN, James
Nothing Personal
London: Penguin, 1964
4to, pp. 90, unpaginated. Original white boards, black on silver title label to
front panel, black on silver collaborators’ label to rear panel. White slipcase
with labels replicating the book’s boards. Photographic portraits throughout
by Richard Avedon.Scuff to foot of spine, boards just a little marked,
contents clean, a very good copy in the original slipcase, a little scuffed
and marked, and with a small bookseller’s price label, and handwritten price
revisions, to one corner.
‘Dear Mr. Howell, How very kind of you to write to me. I hope my head
won’t get turned by all these kind letters I have had. I especially value
yours + hope you are happy up there in Islington. There are two churches
-- St. Silas Pentonville + St. Saviours Aberdeen Park which are all right.
We miss you down in the City. Yours, John Betjeman’.
A lovely association copy.
£225
First UK edition, published the same year as its US counterpart.
£125
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3. BLYTON, Enid
Signed Contract For My Third Enid Blyton Book
London: N.p., 1953
4pp. typed legal document, horizontal fold across centre.
Some old staining across the lower portion of the document, which is
otherwise very well preserved.
Legal contract dated 1 December 1953, SIGNED BY ENID BLYTON.
The contract is an agreement between Darrell Waters of Darrell Waters
Ltd., the company set up by Enid Blyton in 1950 to handle her affairs;
a representative of the publishers Latimer House Ltd., and Enid Blyton
herself. Under the terms of the contract, Latimer House undertake to
pay a royalty of five per cent to Blyton for the publishing rights to My
Third Enid Blyton Book, which was eventually published in 1955.
A very scarce piece of signed Blyton ephemera.
£1,250 (plus 20% VAT to EU purchasers)
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4. CARROLL, Jock
Bottoms Up
Paris: Olympia Press, 1961
Small 8vo, pp. 210. Original green stiff paper wrappers, lettered in black to
front and rear panels and spine. New price printed faintly to rear panel.
Ownership signature to ffep. (see below), binding a little loose, and with wear
to spine ends.
First edition. CANADIAN PUBLISHER STUART KEATE’S COPY,
WITH HIS OWNERSHIP SIGNATURE TO FRONT FREE
ENDPAPER. WITH A REVIEW OF THE BOOK BY ‘TITUS CANBY’
LAID IN, PUBLISHED IN THE MAY 1962 ISSUE OF INFINITY.
Jock Carroll [1919-1995] was a Canadian photo-journalist and war
correspondent. This was his only work of fiction, and was inspired by
a real -life photographic assignment he had with Marilyn Monroe on
the set of Niagara (1953). His friend Stuart Keate [1913-1987] was a
Canadian newspaper publisher and President of The Canadian Press.
Laid in to the book is an offprint from the May 1962 issue of Infinity,
house journal of the American Society of Magazine Photographers. The
offprint is a review of the book by one ‘Titus Canby’ -- almost certainly
a pseudonym used by Carroll to push his own book. ‘Titus Canby’ was
a character in an American comic strip called Bringing Up Father which
was widely syndicated across continental America at the time. Also, the
review is an absolute rave.
£250
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5. [Cinema History] [ed. BAZIN, André, LO DUCA,
Joseph-Marie and DONIOL-VALCROZE, Jacques]
Cahiers Du Cinema: Revue Mensuelle Du Cinéma Et Du
Télécinéma: Nos. 1-5
Paris: Les Editions De L’Etoile, 1951
Five issues. Uniform yellow photo-illustrated wrappers, lettered in black.
Between 50 and 60 pp., profusely illustrated with b&w photographs
throughout, advertisements at rear.A little light wear to corners and spines,
spine glue detaching from contents in Nos. 4 and 5. L’Age Du Cinéma insert
present in No. 4. A very nice set.
First edition. CANADIAN PUBLISHER STUART KEATE’S COPY,
WITH HIS OWNERSHIP SIGNATURE TO FRONT FREE
ENDPAPER. WITH A REVIEW OF THE BOOK BY ‘TITUS CANBY’
LAID IN, PUBLISHED IN THE MAY 1962 ISSUE OF INFINITY.
First editions. THE FIRST FIVE ISSUES OF THE MOST
INFLUENTIAL CINEMA MAGAZINE EVER PUBLISHED.
Since its inception more than sixty years ago, Cahiers Du Cinéma has
been responsible for fundamental change in both thepractice and the
perception of cinema. Founded by film theorist and critic André Bazin in
1951, the magazine proudly laid out its manifesto from the outset, hailing
cinema as an art form every bit as important as literature, music or
painting, and according its practitioners the title of artist, not artiste. For
sixty years it has championed the serious over the merely entertaining,
the heroic failure over the safe success and, most importantly, a
distinctive European voice over transatlantic homogeneity. The
magazine’s flavour is captured by its list of the 100 best films of all time,
published in 2008. Citizen Kane and Night of the Hunter top a roll call
otherwise dominated by European and World cinema, with an occasional
nod to the likes of Howard Hawks and John Ford. It’s quirkiness is
characteristic of the magazine: there are the names you would expect
to find (Bergman, Fellini, Dreyer) but the chosen films are surprising
(Fanny and Alexander, Amarcord, and Gertrud are their respective
entries).
Cahiers Du Cinema was at its most influential in the late 1950s, when
the magazine became the official headquarters of the young directors of
the French New Wave: Truffaut, Chabrol, Godard, Rohmer and Rivette.
Socially, politically and intellectually engaged, these directors were the
engine room of La Nouvelle Vague , a movement which set the future
course not just of European cinema, but also that of the American indie
movement of the 1970s, whose leading lights were weaned on the films
promoted and popularised by Cahiers. Political infighting led to dark days
for the magazine in the early 1970s -- movies and Maoism don’t mix --
and the magazine has always had a tendency to disappear up its own cul
from time to time. But its faults notwithstanding, Cahiers remains the
most influential and respected film magazine ever published.
A lovely run of the first five issues of this magisterial publication -- the
New Yorker of cinema.
£750
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6. [JOY DIVISION] CUMMINS, Kevin
Juvenes: The Joy Division Photographs of Kevin Cummins
London: To Hell With Publishing, 2007
Large 8vo, pp. 192. Original silk-screened boards, the book wrapped in
original, sealed blue paper, with the number ‘38’ pencilled to top left corner.
Original cream cloth covered clamshell box, lettered in black to front panel
and spine. Illustrated throughout with the photographs of Kevin Cummins.
Book design by FUEL. An absolutely fine and unopened copy, in a fine,
original clamshell box.
First edition, no. 38 of 226 copies SIGNED BY CUMMINS, 26 of
which were lettered A-Z and included a gelatin-silver photograph of Ian
Curtis.
‘The book showcases many previously unseen images as well as
Cummins’ already famous pictures of the band. It also contains a
foreword by Natalie Curtis, and specially commissioned personal essays
by Ian Rankin, Cath Carroll, David Peace, Matthew Higgs, Nick Lezard,
Alan Hempsall and Pat Nevin. JUVENES is a brooding investigation into
the intangible quality that makes Joy Division one of the most loved and
respected English bands still to this
day.’ (Publisher’s statement, 2007.)
Kevin Cummins studied photography in Salford, his graduation happily
coinciding with the emergence of Manchester’s punk movement. Initially
dividing his time between the North-West’s theatre and music scenes,
Cummins soon started building a formidable portfolio working both for
City Life, Manchester’s what’s-on magazine, and for the music papers
Sounds and NME (his working partnership with the latter lasted twentyfive
years, ten of which were spent as the paper’s chief photographer).
His work lays strong claim to being the key visual text covering UK
popular musical history from punk to Britpop.
Cummins’ most famous photographs of Joy Division were the result
of an NME commission in January 1979, and were taken in the disused
warehouse where the band rehearsed, as well as a number of snowy,
lugubrious exteriors. These images appear in this collection alongside
many photographs of the band on stage. The book was published in an
edition of just 226 copies and sold out almost immediately.
This particular example, never having been unwrapped, is unexamined;
because it’s unwrapped, there is no reason to suppose its condition is
anything other than mint.
£1,250
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7. DOYLE, Arthur Conan
The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Bound
Volumes I-VI of The Strand Magazine
London: George Newnes, 1891-3
Six bound large 8vo vols. in the standard Strand livery of blue and gilt. The
Holmes stories illustrated by Sidney Paget, Doyle’s contribution to vol. I
illustrated by Walter S. Stacey. Boards a little scuffed and rubbed consistent
with their age, with spines a little faded and worn at ends. Light internal
foxing here and there. Plate in Vol. VI facing p. 111 detached but present, and
pp. 115 and 213 detached but present. In all, a well preserved set.
First appearance of the Sherlock Holmes short stories comprising The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, first published in book form in October
1892, and those comprising The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, first
published in book form in December 1893.
The March 1891 issue bound in Vol. I contains The Voice of Science
by Conan Doyle, with illustrations by Walter S. Stacey. The Adventures
sequence begins in the July issue of Vol. II with the story A Scandal in
Bohemia, and continues through the next eleven monthly issues, a story
in each issue, in the order in which they were first published in book
form in October 1892. The Memoirs monthly sequence begins in the
December 1892 issue with The Adventure of Silver Blaze, through to the
appearance of The Adventure of the Final Problem in December 1893.
Again, the stories appeared in the same order when they were first
published in book form in late 1893 (with a printed publication date of
1894) -- but this time omitting the story The Adventure of the Cardboard
Box, which had appeared in the January 1893 issue of The Strand. The
story, the subject matter of which includes adultery, was withheld at
Doyle’s insistence as being unsuitable for a family readership who would
be expecting altogether more wholesome fare, like murder.
£500
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8. ELIOT, T. S.
Poetry And Drama
London: Faber, 1951
8vo, pp. 35. Original red boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Printed
dustwrapper. Light age-toning to text block, but a near fine copy in a very
good dustwrapper, closed tears to spine ends and some wear at corners.
First UK edition of this lecture, first delivered at Harvard University the
previous year. NEVILL COGHILL’S COPY, WITH HIS OWNERSHIP
SIGNATURE TO FRONT FREE ENDPAPER.
The literary scholar Nevill Coghill [1899-1980] was Tutor of English
Literature at Exeter College, Oxford, for more than thirty years, and
wrote introductions and notes for many editions of Eliot’s work.
A splendid association.
£150
9. HEGLEY, John
Uncut Confetti
London: Methuen, 2006
8vo, pp. 85. Original illustrated stiff paper wrappers with fold-over flaps.
Line drawings by the author throughout.A fine copy.
First edition, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO ALAN RICKMAN:
‘To Mr. Rickman thank you for the pleasures you’ve given me love Mr.
Hegley.’
A fine copy.
£295
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10. [MacDONALD, George] [LEWIS, C.S.]
A Collection of Papers from the Archive of Publisher
Victor Gollancz, Relating to the Publication of the
Gollancz Edition of Phantastes and Lilith
V.p.: N.p., V.d.
A small quantity of typed and holograph correspondence, and associated
materials, between and concerning C.S. Lewis, his publisher, and interested
parties, relating to the publication of Phantastes and Lilith, various sizes
and dates, the whole housed in a manila folder. Some edgewear to larger
(outsize) items, but a well preserved collection.
PAPERS AND CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE ARCHIVE OF
VICTOR GOLLANCZ RELATING TO THE PUBLICATION OF
GEORGE MacDONALD’S PHANTASTES AND LILITH, WITH AN
INTRODUCTION BY C.S. LEWIS, INCLUDING AN ALS FROM
LEWIS TO GOLLANCZ DISCUSSING THE BOOK’S TITLE.
The Gollancz edition of Phantastes and Lilith was published in the UK in
1962, and carried an introduction by C.S. Lewis. The two novels were
first published in 1858 and 1895 respectively, and had been previously
published together in New York by Noonday Press in 1954, under the
title The Visionary Novels of George MacDonald. That edition had carried
an introduction by W.H. Auden. Correspondence in the file shows
that Gollancz’s original intention was to use both Auden’s introduction
and the Noonday edition’s modification of the text. Hilary Rubenstein
(Victor Gollancz’s nephew) soon tired of what he saw as Noonday’s
unreasonable demands, and in a letter dated 12 March 1962 cut all ties
with them in no uncertain terms, writing: ....there is no reason, in these
circumstances, why we should make use of your edition at all. We can
very easily obtain another introduction for our edition and simply set the
books ourselves from the original editions. In view of your letter, this is
what we now plan to do.’
On 3 April Rubenstein wrote to C.S. Lewis: ‘I plan to publish during
the Autumn, in one volume, Phantastes and Lilith. I should very much
like to reprint, as a preface, part of the preface you wrote for the Bles
Anthology [George MacDonald: An Anthology (London: Geoffrey Bles,
1946)]. , ....Could you, I wonder, suggest a title? Farrar, Straus of New
York [of which Noonday was a subsidiary] published edited versions of
the two novels some time ago, calling them “The Visionary Novels of
George MacDonald”. I don’t much like “visionary”, and I am particularly
anxious, anyhow, not to use their title. But I can’t for the life of me think
of an attractive alternative.’ In an undated ALS present in the file, Lewis
replies: ‘As for the title I shd. have thought the plain one Phantastes and
Lilith was the best. No doubt people will misunderstand it and take P. and
L. for the title of a single work, but I don’t see any commercial, literary or
ethical objection to their doing so! I made a similar mistake in boyhood
about the old Heinemann volume Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods,
but neither Heinemann nor I nor Wagner was any the worse for it.’
On October 17 Alfred Knopf writes to Gollancz in a TLS: ‘...you said
at that pleasant lunch at the Savoy that you were reissung in a single
volume ‘Lilith’ and ‘Phantastes’ by George Macdonald, and suggested
that we do likewise. ... Would you be good enough to let me know just
what your plans are...?’ On the reverse of the letter Gollancz has written
his reply in red ink, which was typed up on the 22nd: ‘I am sending you
by separate post our edition of the MacDonald novels, which we are
publishing in January.’ (The finished book, although not published until
January 1963, carries a publication date of 1962.) In a reply dated 21
November, Knopf passes.
A remarkable collection of material, telling in great detail and at first
hand the story of the publication of a book linking Lewis to one of his
most important literary influences. As Lewis notes in his preface: ‘I have
never concealed the fact that I regarded [MacDonald] as my master;
indeed, I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from
him.’
£3,500 (plus 20% VAT to EU purchasers)
On 13 April Bles and Gollancz agreed a fee of six guineas for the use of
Lewis’s (abridged) preface, payable on publication.
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11. [MILLIGAN, Spike]
Roma
N.p. N.p. N.d. [1940s]
Large 8vo, unpaginated. String bound in original illustrated stiff paper
wrappers. 20 b&w photographic plates, engraving to front free endpaper.
Small piece of adhesive tape to front wrapper (not affecting illustration).
(Outsize) wrappers a little rubbed, darkened and edgeworn, but a well
preserved copy.
SPIKE MILLIGAN’S COPY, WITH HIS OWNERSHIP INSCRIPTION
TO FRONT WRAPPER: ‘Bought in Italy when I was a soldier WWII.
S. Milligan’. A well-produced tourist’s brochure of the sights of Rome,
featuring photographic plates of the Trevi Fountain, St. Peter’s Basilica,
the Capitol and the Colosseum, among many others.
Spike Milligan’s military service in Italy during the Second World War is
recalled in his memoir Mussolini: His Part In My Downfall. First stationed
in North Africa, Milligan landed in Italy in September 1943. There he
contracted malaria and was wounded in the Battle of Monte Cassino;
once discharged from hospital he was assigned to a number of noncombat
jobs away from the front line, and spent time in Rome in 1944
(some of it in the company of fellow future Goon, Harry Secombe).
A beautiful survivor. Like Spike.
£295
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12. NEVILLE, Richard
Hippie Hippie Shake
London: Bloomsbury, 1995
8vo, pp. 376. Original purple boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated
endpapers and dustwrapper. 24pp. of b&w and colour photographs.Corners
a little bumped, but a near fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper with just a
little edgewear.
First edition, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO TONY PALMER,
FILM MAKER AND AUTHOR OF THE TRIALS OF OZ: ‘Much love +
memories for Tony Palmer from Richard Neville 1998’.
In 1967 Richard Neville [1941-2016] founded Oz, the infamous
underground magazine which had never stayed underground enough for
the Establishment’s liking. (The magazine’s graphic designer was Neville’s
close friend Martin Sharp, the designer of this book’s dustwrapper.) The
May 1970 issue of Oz was edited by schoolchildren (one of whom was
Charles Shaar Murray), and featured images of a priapic Rupert the
Bear. The result was prosecution, and the Oz trial became one of the
longest -- and certainly one of the silliest -- obscenity trials in British
legal history.
The writer and film maker Tony Palmer had first met Neville in 1968
when, as producer of the BBC show How It Is, Palmer had recruited
him as co-presenter of the show. (The other presenter was John Peel.)
Palmer attended the Oz trial every day as both supporter and researcher,
and wrote The Trials Of Oz, published in 1971. This copy of Neville’s
autobiography is inscribed to Palmer, more than twenty-five years after
the Oz publishers were (eventually) acquitted.
A wonderful association copy, bearing witness to an enduring friendship.
£350
15

13. NORTON, Mary
A Collection of Correspondence between Mary Norton,
her publisher and other Interested Parties, Relating to the
Publication of Are All the Giants Dead?, including 4 ALS
and 11 TLS (one photocopied) from the author
V.p.: N.p., V.d.
A small quantity of typed and holograph correspondence, and associated
materials, between and concerning Mary Norton, her publisher, and
interested parties, relating to the publication of Are All The Giants Dead?,
various sizes and dates, the whole housed in a manila folder. Some papers
(mostly outsized) a little edgeworn, but overall very well preserved.
Mary Norton [1903-1922] is best known as the author of The Borrowers
series, and the creator of the source material for Disney’s 1971 classic,
Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Norton was born in London and travelled
widely, but after the dissolution of her first marriage in 1972 she moved
to Ireland, with her second husband, the writer Lionel Bonsey. It was
here, in Westwood House, Rosscarberry, County Cork, that she
wrote Are All the Giants Dead?, published in 1975, a novel about the
melancholy that befalls the heroes and heroines of fairy stories when
they’re living in a retirement home, their days of adventure behind them.
The earliest documents in the file are two ALS from Norton to the
Children’s Books Editor at Dent, Gwen Marsh. The first, undated,
begins: ‘Dear Gwen, Although I have a new ‘Borrowers’ half written, I
broke off to write the enclosed (‘Are all the Giants Dead?’). It is in one
way not quite a children’s book but I hope the story line may carry it
through to most ages. I am sending it to Mr. Dent who has been so kind
to me over guarantees etc.’ (Dent had published the first five Borrowers
title by this time. It’s interesting to note in the light of this letter that
the sixth and final Borrowers book, was not published until 1982.) In
the second letter, sent from the same Cadogan Place address as the
first and dated 21 March 1974, Norton supplies rewrites to the opening
chapter of the book, and also writes: ‘I so enjoyed my luncheon with you
and Mr. Dent. Thank you both so much!’.
The same month, Marsh wrote to Norton’s agent offering an advance
of £2000 on the book, and outlining proposed royalty arrangements.
Tantalisingly, she also writes: ‘It is understood that if we were to get
involved with Maurice Sendak as an illustrator these royalty rights would
be revised. (The book was eventually illustrated by Brian Froud, who was
contracted by June 1974.) The Editorial Proposal Form is enthusiastic,
and publication is set for 27 June 1975.
In the first of many TLS present in the file, dated 23 November 1974
and written on her Westwood House notepaper, Norton pronounces
herself more than happy with Froud’s work: ‘The drawings are quite
wonderful. Brian is a genius! If you could send me his address, I will write
to him personally. There is so much to see in them. One is always finding
new details. Please thank him.’ Discussions between Norton and Marsh
continue -- the sourcing of the poem which appears at the front of the
book, the choice of author’s photograph (‘I am sending the photograph
back in the forlorn hope you will use it. I am afraid you may have the one
with a terrible (false) toothy smile, which I hate!’) -- and the dedication
is settled: ‘It is ‘TO OLIVER KNOX, WHOSE FAULT IT WAS.’ He
encouraged me to write 200 words a day.’ (In the end, no author’s
photograph was used.)
By January 1975 discussions are well advanced with Harcourt, Brace,
who went on to publish the US edition of the book, using Froud’s
illustrations. And some time early in 1975, in a photocopied TLS,
Norton writes to object to part of the proposed author’s blurb: ‘...that
is the phrase ‘in a Queen Anne house, which they have renovated most
beautifully.’ I know it is not meant to be so, but it sounds so terribly
vulgar, in a nouveau riche, Homes-and-Gardens ‘ours-is-a-nice-’ouse’
sense. I would have liked it to be just ‘lives in County Cork, and it was
here that ARE ALL THE GIANTS DEAD was written. ... I don’t think
it is any business of the world in general whether I am living with my
second husband or my sixth, nor that one’s house is nicely decorated.
Some people might think it awful!’ (Norton lost the argument: the
offending phrase appears in the book’s blurb.)
Published in June 1975 in an initial print run of 20,000 copies, the first
critical response was not heartening. On 18 July, Gwen Marsh wrote
to Norton: ‘What a rubbishy review the Sheffield Morning Telegraph
has given you! ...if he cannot appreciate your simple, subtle, graceful
style he must be blind. ... [T]he whole piece is too stupid. Please, we beg
of you, don’t be downhearted. Of course, they’ll be people who don’t
take to this story or prefer The Borrowers, chacun à son gout....’. In an
ALS reply, Norton writes: ‘ He is at perfect liberty not to like the book
-- but it is not right to attribute imaginary motives etc. to the author. ...
Thank you again, dear Gwen, for writing so kindly and so promptly.’ Later
reviews are more positive, and so is the professional response. Norton
writes: ‘David Heneker (Irma La Douce, Half A Sixpence, Charlie Girl,
etc.) and his wife are coming to stay on Wednesday. He wants us to try
to collaborate on a musical of ‘Giants’. By the same token, I had a long
loving letter from Joshua Logan!’
A handwritten postcard from Elaine Moss to Vanessa Hamilton of Dent,
sent in 1976, brings slightly embarrassing news about the book’s title:
‘The poem by Hilary Pepler which Mary Norton mis-remembered (I’m
afraid) ... begins “Are all the dragons dead...”!! The file is silent on Mary
Norton’s response.
A fine collection of material, never before offered for sale, telling in
great detail the publication history of a book from one of the twentieth
century’s best-loved children’s authors.
£2,500 (plus 20% VAT to EU purchasers)
16

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18

14. [McKern, Leo] OLIVIER, Laurence
TLS Laurence Olivier to Leo McKern
London: N.p., 1982
1p. TLS on headed notepaper. Faint central horizontal fold, two small stains
to lower half. Very well preserved, lacking the original envelope.
1pp. TLS FROM LAURENCE OLIVIER TO LEO McKERN,
WELCOMING HIM TO THE CAST OF KING LEAR.
In 1959, Laurence Olivier hired Leo McKern to direct the Australian
play The Shifting Heart at the Nottingham Playhouse, in a co-production
between London’s Duke of Yorks theatre and Olivier’s own company.
Twenty-three years later the pair were cast together in Michael Elliott’s
made-for-TV production of King Lear, leading a cast which also included
John Hurt, Colin Blakely, Diana Rigg and Brian Cox.
some thirty-three years later, a collection of pieces about theatre and
theatre-going.
Oppenheimer’s lifelong friend Dorothy Parker [1893-1967] was the
basis for the character of Mary Hilliard in his play Here Today, staged
in 1932, and here contributes two pieces: the short poem The Actress,
first published in her collection Death and Taxes (1931), and her theatre
review of The Jest, first published in Vanity Fair in 1919. (‘When the latest
attractions at the local playhouses were so consistently poisonous that
one had just about decided to give up the whole thing and stay at home
in the evenings to see if there was anything in family life -- then along
came Mr. Arthur Hopkins and produced The Jest. And, once again, all’s
well with the world.’)
£750
Olivier’s welcome note, on his own headed stationery, reads:
‘Dearest Leo [handwritten],
I have been meaning to write this ever since I heard the happy news to
tell you how very delighted I am that we are to be together again on
LEAR.
Thank you for making anticipation so pleasurable rather than so
apprehensive.
[signed] Your Larry O.’
An affectionate letter, very well preserved.
£295
15. [PARKER, Dorothy] OPPENHEIMER, George
The Passionate Playgoer
New York: Viking, 1958
8vo, pp. 623. Original pale purple boards, lettered in dark purple to
front panel and gilt on dark purple to spine. Top edge purple. Illustrated
dustwrapper. 16pp. photographic illustrations.Slight offsetting to endpapers,
corners a little bumped, but a very good copy in a worn dustwrapper, front
flap detached but present, and with some loss to spine ends.
First edition. DOROTHY PARKER’S COPY, INSCRIBED TO HER
BY THE AUTHOR: ‘To Dorothy with gratitude, love and hope that
she will like being in here as much as I like having her in a book of mine.
Always, George’.
George Oppenheimer [1900-1977] was a playwright, screenwriter --
and, in 1925, co-founder of Viking Press, the publishers of this book
19

16. ROBSON, Don
Young and Sensitive
London: Hutchinson, 1964
8vo, pp. 175. Uncorrected proof copy. Original printed red stiff paper
wrappers, lettered in black to front panel and spine. Endpapers illustrated
with facsimile manuscript. Offsetting from newspaper clipping to pp. 110-111,
otherwise a near fine copy with just a little age-toning.
Uncorrected proof copy of the author’s first book. Sort of....
Young and Sensitive was written while Don Robson was in inmate of
Dartmoor Prison. It was well reviewed (‘A work of outstanding merit.
It has a crude, jagged sort of vivacity...’), and won the Arthur Koestler
Literary Award, founded to recognise work produced by prisoners,
and judged by such luminaries as J.B. Priestley, Henry Green and V.S.
Pritchett.
Unfortunately, none of these luminaries had read a book called Fires
of Youth by Charles Williams. Don Robson had - it was in the prison
library. To pass the time while serving his four year sentence for car
theft, Robson decided to copy out Williams’ book pretty much word for
word and set himself up as an author. It was only after Hutchinson had
sold more than 3,000 copies, Clive Exton had written a script, and Karel
Reisz was preparing to shoot the film for British Lion, that the deception
was discovered. By that time Robson had been released on licence.
Using the money he’d snaffled by selling the film rights, he got married
and set up home in Wigan. Critics were ridiculed, prison authorities
conducted inquiries, and a Dartmoor prison warder said: ‘I reckon they
ought to give the bloke a Duke of Edinburgh Award for initiative’.
A contemporary account from the Evening Standard is laid in between
pp. 110-111, and has resulted in heavy offsetting to those two pages.
Otherwise, a lovely proof copy of a book whose own story completely
upstages the one it contains.
£175
20

17. SOMERVILLE, E. OE, and ROSS, Martin [pseud.
MARTIN, Violet]
Mount Music
London: Longmans, Green & Co.,1919
8vo, pp. 309. Original green boards, lettered in black to front panel and
gilt to spine. Illustrated dustwrapper. Dustwrapper design by the author.
Lettering faded to spine, offsetting to endpapers, corners a trifle bumped,
but a very good copy in a very good dustwrapper, chip to foot of spine, which
is browned, a couple of small closed tears and light edgewear.
First edition, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR TO TITLE PAGE, AND
ADDITIONALLY INSCRIBED TO HER NIECE: ‘Katharine, from D.,
Christmas 1928.’ ‘D’ was the family diminuitive for Edith. The recipient
was Katharine Johnston (née Coghill).
Violet Martin, Edith Somerville’s lifelong companion and pseudonymous
writing partner, died in 1915, four years before the publication of this
volume. In a prefatory note to the book Somerville writes:
‘This book was planned some years ago by Martin Ross and myself. A
few portions of it were written, and it was then put aside for other work.
Without her help and inspiration, it would not have been begun, and
could not have been completed. I feel, therefore, that to join her name
with mine on the title-page is my duty, as well as my pleasure.’
For the rest of her life Somerville, believer in the afterlife and regular
attender of seances, continued to publish her solo novels under the
authorial description of ‘Somerville and Ross’.
Very scarce in dustwrapper, this copy is also signed and comes with a
fine family association.
£650
21

22

18. [WALLACE, Edgar]
Papers and Correspondence Concerning the Publication
by J.W. Arrowsmith of Angel Esquire (1908) and The
Melody of Death (1915)
V.p.: J.W. Arrowsmith and others, 1925-1959
A small quantity of contracts, correspondence and related materials, housed
in a manila folder. Some inevitable edgewear and age-toning, but a well
preserved collection.
A DETAILED PUBLISHER’S ARCHIVE CONCERNING THE
PUBLICATION OF TWO NOVELS BY EDGAR WALLACE:
ANGEL ESQUIRE (1908) AND THE MELODY OF DEATH
(1915), INCLUDING ORIGINAL CONTRACTS SIGNED BY THE
AUTHOR.
Edgar Wallace [1874-1932] was a soldier, journalist and early sports
commentator before embarking on his prolific career as a writer of
detective stories. Leaving editing to others and dictating the text on to
wax cylinders, Wallace ‘wrote’ at high speed, often producing a new book
in just a few days. His first work was The Four Just Men, self-published in
1905; one of his last was King Kong, one of several scripts he wrote for
RKO, this one completed just weeks before his death in 1932.
over serialisation rights to The Melody of Death. Drawn up by solicitors
Stanley Attenborough & Co. of London, acting for J.W.Arrowsmith, and
with the relevant correspondence between the two parties;
v) Memoranda of Agreement and associated correspondence between
J.W.Arrowsmith and others, ascribing foreign-language rights to the
two books to publishers in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland (late
1920s), and Spanish and Argentinian rights for The Melody of Death
(early 1940s);
vi) Memoranda of Agreement between J.W.Arrowsmith and The
Readers’ Library,13 September and 2 October 1928, for cheap edition
andFrench-language publishing rights to the two books, with associated
correspondence;
vii) Short correspondence between the royalties departments at
J.M.Dent and A.P.Watt, March 1959, confirming reversion of rights
to the two books to the Edgar Wallace estate on the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the author’s death (10 February 1957).
£1,250 (plus 20% VAT to EU purchasers)
J.W. Arrowsmith began life in the nineteenth century as a printer and
publisher based in Bristol. (It was Arrowsmith who published the first
edition of Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men In A Boat in 1889.) When the
imprint restructured in the early twentieth century and the publishing
arm of the business set up in London, existing contracts with authors had
to be redrafted and reaffirmed. The earliest documents in this collection
re-render copyright of the two books to Arrowsmith, and supersede
documents first drawn up in 1908 and 1914 respectively, when the books
were first published.
This collection of papers includes:
i) Two Memoranda of Agreement between Wallace and publisher
J.W.Arrowsmith, 3 April 1925, under which Wallace re-renders
copyright of the two books to J.W.Arrowsmith. BOTH DOCUMENTS
SIGNED BY WALLACE;
ii) Two Memoranda of Agreement between J.W.Arrowsmith and Small
Maynard & Co. of Boston, 3 September and 5 October 1926, assigning
US publishing rights to the two books. With a carbon of a TL from
J.W.Arrowsmith to the Recorder in Bankruptcy, 9 March 1927, giving
notification of Small Maynard’s recent bankruptcy;
iii) Two Memoranda of Agreement between J.W.Arrowsmith and the
Dial Press, New York, undated but 1927, assigning US publishing rights
to the two books. Initialled and with occasional holograph amendments;
iv) Memorandum of Agreement between J.W.Arrowsmith and
Wallace, undated but 1928, giving clarification of the documents in (i),
necessitated by a dispute having arisen between publisher and author
23

19. WODEHOUSE, P.G.
1pp. TLS Discussing the Publication of The Harmonica
Mystery and Something Fresh
New York: N.p., 1915
1pp. TLS. Office annotations in pencil and red ink. Very faint folds from
original postage (envelope not present). Lightly browned, but very well
preserved.
1pp. TLS FROM P.G. WODEHOUSE (SIGNED ‘STEVE’), ALMOST
CERTAINLY TO HIS FORMER CONTACT AT MUNSEY’S
MAGAZINE BOB DAVIS (ADDRESSED HERE AS ‘SQUIRE’), 15
MARCH 1915, DISCUSSING PUBLICATION OF THE HARMONICA
MYSTERY AND SOMETHING FRESH, THE FIRST BLANDINGS
NOVEL.
The Harmonica Mystery was first published in All-Story Cavalier Weekly
of New York on 13 March 1915 [McIlvaine D2.1] -- two days before
the date of this letter. Clearly this had caused some confusion, with
Wodehouse believing the story had been embargoed for the time being:
‘Touching that ‘Harmonica Mystery’ thing, don’t you remember my
calling you up from 27th Street and saying ‘May I have the English
rights’? To which you replied that I was a hog, but that I might. I then
sent the story over to England, and it was accepted by Pearson’s
magazine. They wanted to use it in their Christmas number, so I called
and asked if it would be all right about simultaneous publication. [...] If
you hunt through the archives, you will find that letter. It was one of my
polished, courtly letters, thanking you and just registering the fact that
you had consented to postpone publication. Surely you remember?’
Hope respectively [McIlvaine D41.1 and D41.2]. In a letter written in
1964 to David Magee, Wodehouse remembers ‘...when Bob Davis edited
the Munsey pulps and we young authors used to go to him for plots. He
would take a turn around the room and come up with a complete plot
for a serial, usually horrible but of course saleable to Munsey’s! He gave
me the plot of [The White Hope] and I wrote it, but I have never thought
highly of it...’. The White Hope (later expanded and published in book
form as Their Mutual Child [New York: Boni and Liveright, 1919] and as
The Coming of Bill [London: Herbert Jenkins, 1920]) features a character
called Steve Dingle, a retired boxer, in the habit of addressing people as
‘Squire’ (‘Excuse me, squire’, said Steve, ‘I’ve been playing the part of
Rubberneck Rupert in that little drama you’ve just been starring in...’).
The letter’s markings show that it was filed in Munsey’s records upon
receipt, with ‘Steve’ identified as Wodehouse in pencil alongside the
signature, and another pencilled note recording that a copy was sent to
someone referred to be their initials. In the top right corner, in red ink,
partly overwritten with ticks and deletions in pencil (and thus only partly
legible) a note reads: ‘File -- Wodehouse. [three illegible words] make
copy of Wodehouse l[etter] for rights file return all papers to Mr. D
[illegible initials].’
A remarkable survivor, written just as Wodehouse was about to become
rich, famous, and immortal.
£1,750 (plus 20% VAT to EU purchasers)
(The story was not in the event published by Pearson’s, and did not
appear again after its first publication until June 1955, in The Saint
Detective Magazine [McIlvaine D57.2].)
In the letter Wodehouse goes on to discuss the imminent serialised
publication in the Saturday Evening Post of his new novel, Something New
[McIlvaine D59.1-8]:
‘I have just put my new novel over as a serial with the Saturday Evening
Post. It was that ‘stolen scarab’ thing of which you saw the synopsis, but
which you didn’t care for. I improved a whole lot on the scenario, and it is
now a pretty good story.’
Something New was the first of Wodehouse’s work to appear in the
Saturday Evening Post, the start of a long, successful and highly lucrative
association for both parties. It was also an early success for Wodehouse’s
new US literary agent, Paul Reynolds, who was responsible for placing
the novel with George Lorimer’s flagship magazine. And it was a seismic
event for readers then and now: Something New was the book introduced
Lord Emsworth, Blandings Castle and the porcine Empress to the world.
The recipient of the letter was almost certainly Bob Davis of Munsey’s
Magazine, publishers in 1913 and 1914 of The Little Nugget and The White
24

25

26

20. [WODEHOUSE, P.G.] FONSCOLOMBE, Benoit de
A Collection of Contracts, Correspondence and
Associated Material Concerning the Post-War French
and German Publication History of the Novels of P.G.
Wodehouse : From the Archives of Wodehouse’s French
Translator and Agent, Benoit de Fonscolombe
V.p.: V.p., V.d.
A small quantity of contracts and correspondence, holograph, typed, and
duplicated. Some age-toning and historical letter-folds, but a very wellpreserved
collection.
AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL
CORRESPONDENCE FROM, TO AND ABOUT P.G.
WODEHOUSE AND HIS FRENCH LITERARY AGENT BENOIT
DE FONSCOLOMBE, CONCERNING THE FRENCH- AND
GERMAN-LANGUAGE PUBLICATION OF WODEHOUSE’S
NOVELS IN MAINLAND EUROPE AFTER THE SECOND
WORLD WAR, INCLUDING CORRESPONDENCE AND
ORIGINAL CONTRACTS WITH A WIDE RANGE OF EUROPEAN
PUBLISHERS.
Although a regular correspondent with Wodehouse immediately after
the war and through the 1950s, Benoit de Fonscolombe [1917-2012]
is rarely cited in Wodehouse biographies, and then only ever described
as Wodehouse’s French translator. He was much more than that. In the
early 1940s De Fonscolombe was contracted to translate Wodehouse’s
middle-period work for the French market, and later became
Wodehouse’s sole literary representative in France and Germany.
Contracts and correspondence present in this archive show that
Wodehouse gave de Fonscolombe complete power of attorney, allowing
him to make all print publication decisions in both countries without any
need to consult his client. In addition, De Fonscolombe’s commission
was 50% of all proceeds. It seems likely these arrangements, generously
weighted in de Fonscolombe’s favour, were agreed by Wodehouse
in the knowledge that, immediately after the war, sale of his work
in Europe might prove to be a sticky commercial proposition. The
broadcasts he made on German radio during his internment had resulted
in a severe backlash in Britain, with some politicians and newspapers
accusing him of treason, and after the war he never set foot in England
again. Rehabilitation of one’s reputation (and one’s sales) after such a
catastrophic misjudgement clearly didn’t come cheap.
De Fonscolombe’s first translation of a Wodehouse novel was Hot
Water, first published in London by Herbert Jenkins in 1932. De
Fonscolombe’s version was published in France with the title Sous
Pression by Nouvelles Editions in 1944. According to a letter dated
2 April 1942 from the German publishers Tauchnitz (present in this
collection), de Fonscolombe had written to them on 11 March that year
seeking to secure French translation rights for the book. He was referred
to Wodehouse himself who, the letter says, was then to be found at the
Hotel Adlon in Berlin, Wodehouse’s address for nearly two years after
his release from internment in 1941. The contract (present in this
collection) was signed by Wodehouse and de Fonscolombe at the Hotel
Bristol in Paris on 24 September 1942. A similar contract for translation
rights to Jeeves and Thank You, Jeeves, also present in this collection,
was drawn up by hand and signed by both parties on 20 November
1944.
Shortly after the war, de Folonscombe became not just Wodehouse’s
translator, but his sole French representative. In a letter from
Wodehouse’s UK literary agent A.P. Watt dated 31 December 1945
(present in this collection), Peter Watt acknowledges de Folonscombe’s
letter of 18 December: ‘I had already heard from Mr. Wodehouse that
you were interested in the possibility of buying the French bookrights
in all his available works...’. on 27 October 1945, Wodehouse signed a
contract signing over all rights to Hot Water to de Fonscolombe (see
Item 1(iv)), and the translation rights to a further four titles followed in
1946. In a letter of 18 July 1947 [see 3(i) below] A.P. Watt confirmed de
Fonscolombe as Wodehouse’s sole representative of his literary affairs in
France.
The archive contains:
1. Correspondence from Wodehouse to de Fonscolombe concerning
French translation rights, 1942 to 1950:
Including:
i) Typed contract, dated 24 September 1942 and signed by both parties,
transferring French translation rights for Hot Water (Sous Pression) to
de Fonscolombe;
ii) Handwritten contract (in de Fonscolombe’s hand), dated 20
November 1944 and signed by both parties, transferring French
translation rights for Thank You, Jeeves (Merci, Jeeves) to de
Fonscolombe;
iii) Handwritten receipt, in de Fonscolombe’s hand and signed by
Wodehouse, dated 27 October 1945 and referring back to monies due
as an advance against the publication of Sous Pression on 7 October
1943.
iv) TLS and signed contract from Wodehouse to de Fonscolombe, in
French, both dated 27 October 1945, signing over all rights to Hot
Water to de Fonscolombe;
v) TLS in French to de Fonscolombe, 12 March 1946, assigning to him
French translation rights to Young Men In Spats, Blandings Castle,
Ukridge Eggs, and Beans and Crumpets: (‘Il est entendu que vous êtes
seul accrédité pour juger au mieux de mes interets en cette matière...’);
vi) TLS and two copies of the signed contract, in French, to de
Fonscolombe, 25 March 1947, assigning to him all rights except cinema
rights to Thank You, Jeeves;
vii) TLS to de Fonscolombe, 6 September 1950, discussing The Small
Bachelor (...’It was done in America as a silent film, somewhere about
27

28

29

30

1929. I should imagine that the talking rights, especially in France, are
quite free. I think you could safely go ahead and sell it...’) and discussing
life in New York, his new home (‘...We are now settled in n apartment on
the top (twelfth) floor of a building in Park Avenue, which is the Avenue
Foch of New York. We moved in a year ago and shall be here for another
four years...’).
A comprehensive collection of material covering Wodehouse’s
publication history in France and Germany immediately following the
Second World War, from the archives of his sole literary agent in the
region.
£9,500 (plus 20% VAT to EU purchasers)
2. 13 items of ALS and TLS correspondence from de Fonscolombe to
Wodehouse, 1947 to 1959, discussing matters relating to the French
publication and theatrical presentation of Wodehouse’s work.
3. 64 items of correspondence from Wodehouse’s UK literary agent
A.P. Watt to de Fonscolombe, discussing translation and publication
arrangements of several Wodehouse titles on mainland Europe, 31
December 1945 to 16 July 1957.
Included in this correspondence is the original TLS from Peter Watt to
de Folonscombe, 18 July 1947, agreeing de Fonscolombe’s new role in
Wodehouse’s literary affairs in France: ‘I am glad to be able to tell you
that I have now received Mr. Wodehouse’s instructions from New York
and he has asked me to say that he is only too glad to leave the agency
of his affairs in France in your good hands.’
4. A small quantity of contracts and correspondence between
Folonscombe and French publishers relating to the publication of
Wodehouse’s books in French, dating between 1945 and 1961.
The correspondence includes:
i) Original typed contract, 6 August 1943, for the French-language
publication of Sous Pression (Hot Water). Signed By de Fonscolombe
on behalf of Wodehouse, and Fernand Sorlot;
ii) Original typed contracts between C.I.C.A.L., and Jean Froissart
and Editions Le Portulan, signed and initialled by de Fonscolombe
and relevant parties. (These contracts were negotiated before de
Fonscolombe’s departure from C.I.C.A.L. to become Wodehouse’s sole
representative in France);
and correspondence between de Fonscolombe and the French
publishers Hachette, Editions Amiot-Dumont, Vent du Large, as well as
typed authorisation from Wodehouse to act on his behalf.
5. A small quantity of contracts and correspondence between
Folonscombe and German publishers relating to the publication of
Wodehouse’s books in German, dating between 1942 and 1959.
6. A folder of contemporary press cuttings, reviews of a number of
Wodehouse titles published in France in the late 1940s.
31

Neil Pearson Rare Books
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32

Item 5
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