Bloomsbury Auctions

Lot 210
210. Royal Flying Corps.- Aspinall (John Vincent, Captain,
RFC, later 11th Squardon RAF, killed in action, son of Herbert
Hackett Aspinall, of St. Kilda, Melbourn, Victoria. d. 1918)
[Co r r e S p o n d e n C e a n d pa p e r S r e l at i n g to Ca p ta i n aS p i n a l l],
including: c. 30 ALs.s. (1 written after the war by a relation), c.
85pp., mostly to his father and mostly from the BEF, France in
1916-17, an ALs from R. Spencer on behalf of an old employee
enquiring where Captain Aspinall is buried, a memorial scroll
issued on behalf of George V commemorating his sacrifice, a TLs
from the Imperial War Graves Commission to his father on doubts
at to the whereabouts of his son’s grave, photographs, flying badge
etc., v.s., v.d. 1904-18 & 1935 (c. 40 pieces). £1,000 - £1,500
*** ae r i a l C o m b at o v e r t h e we S t e r n fr o n t.
(1). 14th April 1916. “... I crashed my fifth Hun yesterday. We had a
hell of a fight & he was able to climb quicker than us but still he got
his height & then dived on us that was his death warrant for he had
a drum of lead put into him (a drum is 97 rounds for machine guns)
fired in about 10 seconds & he got the full blast into his engine he
went down in a vertical dive from 10,000 feet & never pulled out &
crashed just on the Hindenberg line just neat St. Quentin.”
(2). 28th September 1916. “I was over the lines yesterday dropping
a few explosive eggs & got archied (anti aircraft guns) like stink &
got the aeroplane hit in many places with holes in the wings & the
landing wheels. I have wired the black cat in front of the machine
& have had Oh! I say! painted underneath.”
Lot 211
211. First World War.- a C o l l e C t i o n o f p o S t C a r d S S e n t b y a
britiSh S o l d i e r S e rv i n g in t h e t r e n C h e S, c.80 postcards, loosely
inserted in album, ink inscription to pastedown, original pictorial
cloth, a little rubbed, 4to, 1917-18. £200 - £300
212. Locke (W.J., novelist, 1863-1930) wh at iS de m o C r a C y?,
typescript article, 4pp. excluding blanks, browned, ALs from the
author tipped-in at front from his house in Hemel Hempstead, 30th
October 1917 to “Lane” on the status of the article, contemporary
cloth, rubbed, gilt spine, slightly faded, sm. 4to, 1917. £100 - £150
213. Archer (William, theatre critic and journalist, 1856-1924).-
Co l l e C t i o n o f l e t t e r S to wi l l i a m ar C h e r, including letters and
other material: J.A. Spender, Prof. W.F. Barrett, Felix Mansfield,
Lord Bryce, typed minutes from the League of Nations, uncorrected
proofs by William Archer etc., numerous pp., v.s., 1918-19 (sm.
qty). £80 - £120
*** After the First World War Archer worked with various
precursor organisations to the League of Nations and became parttime
secretary for the league of Free Nations Association.
The Property of a Lady
214. Beerbohm (Sir Max, caricaturist and writer, 1872-1956)
au t o g r a p h le t t e r S i g n e d to Jo h n dr i n K wat e r, 9pp. & envelope,
8vo, Rapallo, Italy, 28th July 1920, thanking him sending him his
book and recounting a humorous conversation about Abraham
Lincoln whose biography his wife has been reading, “Apropos of
Abraham Lincoln. My wife, lately, was reading a Life of him by
Norman Hapgood. She read aloud to me, as a sample of the sort
of thing to which Lincoln was subjected in the heat of political
controversy, that some Congressmen had said in Congress that
Abraham Lincoln was the son of a gorilla. I (indignantly): ‘What
a horrible thing to say! (a pause; and then rather vaguely, as it
were:) And of course not a word of truth in it?’ My Wife (American
by birth): ‘I wish I hadn’t read it to you. You were born without any
sort of reverence for anything,” folds. £150 - £200
BLOOMSBURY AUCTIONS
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