EIGHTEEN-NINETIES

Eric Barton's letter: 4to, 1 p. Nineteen lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. His wife wishes him to apologise for not replying: her illness and that of their 'small son' prevented them both from 'attending to a huge mass of correspondence following the Oscar Wilde ceremonies'. He will attend to Bright's order and will also 'put you on our mailing list for books by and about Crowley and Summers. I too met both these gentlemen when they lived in Richmond, and visited Mr. Crowley at his flat in the Paragon'.

Both items good, on lightly-aged paper. Palmer's letter: 4to, 6 pp. Text clear and complete. He begins by apologising if his letter to her 'sounded very ungracious': 'I was unaware at the time that you had made any acknowledgement to me, and as I have had my brains picked so frequently without acknowledgment (including, of course, plagiarisms from my poems) I was again feeling rather depressed & exasperated'. While describing her book as 'really [...] very good' and 'reliable', he suggests a number of changes, giving examples of 'where we clash'.

All three items in very good condition. Interesting series of letters by an obscure 1890s poet. Letter One (12mo, 7 pp): Although he realises that some are 'rather poor', he is sending, through his brother (possibly the artist Alan Wright, 1864-1959), 'all the lyrics I have by me': 'I have not had time to "weed" yet, being veryy busily engaged writing lyrics for a Comedy-Opera ['Ethelinda, or a Philanthropic Fad' (1890), on which he collaborated with Hamilton O. Wylde] - & a libretto for Operetta; also been trying my hand at very sensational prose'.

On piece of laid paper roughly 6.5 x 13. Good, with a couple of spots. Interesting signature, roughly 1.5 x 7 cm. In black ink and with a broad-nibbed pen, giving it a calligraphic quality.