Collection of 25 newspaper cuttings from Fleet Street newspapers relating to the final illness of King George V, collected and presented on letterheads for Lord Dawson of Penn, who attended on the king, by the advertising agency G. Street & Co.

An interesting collection, casting light on media attitudes to the British Royal family and news management in the interwar years. Dawson was clearly mindful of publicity. As his entry in the Oxford DNB explains: 'It was Dawson who composed on a menu card the celebrated lines, ‘the King's life is moving peacefully towards its close’, having modified this from what he described as "a very commonplace" final bulletin used for Edward VII.' Penn's attendance during the King's final illness was controversial: it was later revealed that he hastened his end with morphine and cocaine. (Doubting Dawsons' competence Lord Moynihan had previously composed the rhyme: 'Lord Dawson of Penn | Has killed lots of men | So that's why we sing | God Save the King.') The present collection contains 25 cuttings relating to 'The King's Bronchitis', mainly intended to reassure, with much talk of 'progress' and 'improvement'. There photographs of Dawson (as one of the 'Three Doctors' at Windsor) are reproduced. The following Fleet Street newspapers are represented: Daily Express, Daily Herald, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Sketch, Daily Telegraph, Evening News, Evening Standard, Morning Chronicle, Morning Post, News Chronicle, The Star, The Times. They are tipped in onto 17 foolscap 8vo letterheads, two of which have the firm's full heading ('Incorporated Practitioners in Advertising') at the top, the rest having 'With Compliments from | G. STREET & CO., LTD., | 6, Gracechurch Street, E.C.3.' at the foot. Most stamped in purple with name of newspaper and date. Twenty-one of the cuttings in good condition, on folded aged high-acidity paper, with the letterheads on which they are presented also in good condition, folded vertically twice. The four other cuttings are in poor condition, torn into pieces, on three letterheads, one of which is also in pieces.