BEAUTY

[Countess of Blessington] Autograph Letter Signed M. Blessington to [F. Mansell Reynolds, novelist and editor of The Keepsake(?)]. See description below.

Author: 
Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (n?e Power; 1789?1849), Irish novelist, journalist, and literary hostess
Publication details: 
Monday Ev[enin]g [4 March 1833]. See description below.
£350.00

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition, in her sprawling hand, 1/4in. strip of glue from previous laying down on blank page 4. My dear Sir | Pray do not think me forgetful towards you in not answering your note received many days ago, but I am so occupied and fatigued with writing that I have not a [moment?] to myself, and after all I fear it will be impossible for me to fulfill [sic] my engagement with [publisher] Mr Bentley - | Excuse the brevity of this, I thank you for the [?], and I expect your book is universally read and as universally praised - | Always sincerely yours | M.

[Lady Diana Cooper, English society beauty, actress and memoirist.] Autograph Signature on publicity photograph of her dressed as a nun, from the play 'The Miracle'.

Author: 
Lady Diana Cooper [née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners, later, as wife of Duff Cooper, Viscountess Norwich] (1892-1986), English society beauty, actress and memoirist
Diana
Publication details: 
1932. No place.
£45.00
Diana

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, which describes how she accepted Max Reinhardt's offer ‘to play the Madonna in a mime play, The Miracle. This was first staged in the USA from November 1923 to the following May, and again for the following three autumns and winters. It toured Europe in 1927, and London and the provinces in 1932; the last performance was in January 1933.

[Countess of Blessington (Marguerite Gardiner), Irish author and literary hostess.] Autograph Note in the third person to editor Samuel Carter Hall, wishing 'to consult him, about having an Enquiry executed'.

Author: 
Marguerite Gardiner [née Power], Countess of Blessington (1789-1849), Irish author and literary hostess, beauty and lover of Count d'Orsay [Samuel Carter Hall [S. C. Hall] (1800-1889), editor]
Publication details: 
'Saturday Evening' [no place or date, but on paper with watermarked date 1831].
£100.00

1p, 12mo. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of the second leaf, with broken seal in red wax, 'To / | S. C. Hall Esqre | 59 Sloane Street'. In fair condition, on aged paper. Folded by Blessington into a diamond-shaped packet. Reads: 'Saturday Evening. | Lady Blessingtons Compts. To Mr Hall, and requests that he will call on her, as soon as may suit his convenience, as she wishes to consult him, about having an Enquiry executed.'

[Rosa Hollay, Helena Rubinstein's London manager, successor of Suzanne Verdi, 'Beauty Specialist', Old Bond Street, London.] Typed Letter Signed ('Rosa Hollay | Suzanne Verdi') to journaist 'Miss Coury', with Autograph Postscript,

Author: 
Rosa Hollay [née Bird] (c.1886-1979), London manager of Helena Rubinstein from 1914 [ Suzanne Verdi, 'Beauty Specialist', Old Bond Street, London]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 44 Old Bond Street, W.1. [London] 30 September 1931.
£50.00

The Sunday Times, 20 March 2002, carries an article by Ann Treneman, 'The real face of Rubinstein', discussing the discovery among Hollay's papers of her correspondence with Helena Rubinstein. The correspondence was made use of by Lindy Woodhead in her 2017 book 'War Paint: Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein: Their Lives, their Times, Their Rivalry'. Hollay was Rubinstein's London manager from 1914.

Manuscript anonymous contemporary ribald spoof titled 'Mrs. Pankhursts Address to the Suffragettes'. [With two small photographs (one of Emmeline Pankhurst and the other of Sylvia Pankhurst?).]

Author: 
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), British political activist and leader of the suffragette movement [female suffrage; Victorian humour; sexuality; social history]
Pankhurst
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [England, 1890s?]
£200.00
Pankhurst

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on aged and worn paper, folded twice. Written in a late Victorian or Edwardian hand. The 'Address' is an interesting survival: the sort of ribald saloon-bar joke through which male opponents of the movement sought to tame it through ridicule. Similar examples survive, attributed to Lady Astor speaking in parliament, but this version clearly predates these. Here is a transcript of what is a concentrated dose of double-entendre: 'Mrs.

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