The Oxford Books of English Verse 1250-1900

C W Dawson Changi Prison 1942

A 1924 edition of "The Oxford Books of English Verse; 8vo; original cloth boards. A relic of the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II. Inscribed in pencil on the flyleaf "C W Dawson Changi Prison 1942" and later inscribed on the other side "This book greatly helped me & Jill to survive internment by the Japanese in Singapore from 1942 to 1945", the title page bearing a Japanese stamp with note beneath "This seal of Japanese military enabled me to have this book in Changi Prison C.W.D", also with pencilled notes in the margins and inside the back covers the numbers of those poems that have been read. Enclosed is a page of research of civilians interred in Changi Prison listing five members of the Dawson family with prisoner ID numbers 1185-1189 including Christopher William and Jill Dawson. Changi Prison was first built in 1936 by the British and was designed to house up to 600 prisoners. After the Fall of Singapore, it became notorious for its role as a prisoner-of-war camp for Allied soldiers captured by the Japanese. Many of these prisoners were subjected to brutal treatment and forced labour, and a significant number died from malnutrition, disease, and mistreatment. The Japanese military also detained approximately 3,000 civilians in Changi Prison. Some wear and foxing.

Stones.

MERCHANT, Paul: Illustrated by Barbara Hepworth

Introduction by Ted Hughes. Limited signed edition; 4to; original cloth in glassline dust jacket. Edition of 150, this being one of 75 copies signed by the author and artist. Two colour lithographs. A fine copy.

Autograph letter signed, to Max Aitken, First Baron Beaverbrook, regarding the author's portrait of Winston Churchill

SUTHERLAND, Graham

Autograph letter signed Graham, to Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, West Malling, Kent. Four pages, addressed 'My Dear Max Letters to the author's friend and patron, the newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook. His 1954 portrait of Winston Churchill, loathed by the sitter himself who complained that it made him "look like a down-and-out drunk who has been picked out of the gutter in the Strand". Sutherland writes 'I note from my 'Standard' & Daily Express that in your recent television appearance you expressed belief that Nye Bevan influenced my handling of the form the portrait eventually too.' 'I can't emphasise strongly enough that this is not the truth. Churchill 'asked the first morning "How will you paint me - as a cherub or the Bull Dog?" I replied "It entirely depends what you show me sir." 'He showed me the Bull Dog!! During the Second world war Churchill's most determined and formidable critic was the ardent socialist, Nye Bevan, MP for Ebbw Vale since 1929 and throughout his career a brilliant speaker. He dissected the shortcomings of the government's war strategy in an extremely effective and well-informed manner. No other critic of it marshalled such telling arguments or expounded them so eloquently. Churchill called Bevan "a squalid nuisance." There is however little evidence to suppose that Bevan had any influence over the portrait as Sutherland states in the letter there was no contact between the two.

Three page typed signed letter to Lord Beaverbrook, regarding the acquisition of the artists sketches of Churchill

SUTHERLAND, Graham

Typed letter, signed Graham Sutherland to Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook. Annotated and corrected in pen by the author. Sutherland took to portraiture relatively late in his career, his first portrait was of Somerset Maugham. Following completion of the Maugham portrait Sutherland went on to paint Beaverbrook. This portrait was derided as had the one of Maugham but Beaverbrook was pleased with the work. It was on the back of this that Beaverbrook, proposed that Sutherland paint Churchill. As is now well known the completed portrait was detested by Winston and Lady Churchill. Churchill wrote to Lord Moran describing the painting as 'filthy and malignant'. He then sent a letter to the Sutherlands saying the portrait 'is not suitable as a presentation from both Houses of Parliament' and that he didn't want it to be part of the ceremony. The process by which the painting was produced was typical of Sutherland's practice and involved a great number of sketches, and studies, most of which were acquired by Beaverbrook. The current letter details the acquisition of these sketches and a number of others of Somerset Maugham and Edward Sackville-West and the prices agreed. Sutherland asks for two charcoal sketches of Churchill be returned, "..I would like to do some more work on them, as I am not happy with them as they are. If I am still not happy after having done some more work on them, I undertake to destroy them." "I thought it would be of possible historic interest to have in your collection the sheet of eye studies oif Churchill, done at my last sitting, with my written comments. If you would care to accept this, I would gladly present this to you as well." Sutherland details a number of other Churchill sketches which he wishes to keep for himself as a souvenir, although he is prepared to let Beaverbrook have a three quarter profile in oil for £200. Sutherland goes on to discuss the mounting and framing of the drawings - which will be undertaken by Alfred Hecht. Hecht was gifted another study of Churchill which sold at Sothebys in June 2024 for £660k. Alfred Hecht was a German-Jewish refugee who moved to London in the 1920s, who set up his frame shop on the King's Road. Hecht's trademark gilt and glazed frames with coloured mounts in an incredibly modern style were frequently used by London galleries and artists of the time. Fine, punched holes on left margin for filing.