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[Hannen Swaffer and Walter Macqueen-Pope.] Collection relating to an abortive collaborative attempt at a 'biography' of Swaffer for Odhams Press, with drafts of chapters (with anecdotes on Churchill,

by Hannen Swaffer (1879-1962), doyen of English journalists, known as 'The Pope of Fleet Street'; Walter Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre manager and historian [Odhams Press; Maurice Barbanell]:

$1,016 · Offered by Biblio

Signed

[London: 1955.]. In very good condition, on aged paper, in a brown card folder. The material in this collection relates to a book that was never published, and included here are copies of two typed letters from WMP to HS, casting light on the nature of this doomed collaborative project. In WMP's first letter, dated 26 July 1955, he writes to 'Dear Swaff' to 'finalise the manner in which your book is to be written'. Presaging future problems he urges him: 'I do entreat you to remember the fact that a book is different to a series of paragraphs. It must have cohesion. [...] I don't mind at all whether my name appears or not. That is really of no consequence to me. But I want to see YOU set forth properly and clearly, frankly and concisely, so that your full genius can be appreciated. | If you would rather make it a species of autobiography with successions of stories linked by comments by me, I do not mind at all - so long as we understand the method to be used. But those stories must be properly placed.' He concludes by urging HS to 'Think all this over - and when once we can agree on a workable form, we shall get a book of which we can both be proud.' The second letter (also 2pp., 4to) is undated, but clearly indicates that the project has hit the buffers: '[...] it was always my intention that you should speak for yourself on the subject of Northcliffe and also Beaverbrook [...] If the Northcliffe story goes in as you have given it to me [...] the whole structure of the book

  • Publisher: [London: 1955.]

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