Mrs Wallis Simpson (3 results)
- Softcover
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.Better World Books
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Condition: Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
[The Abdication Crisis, 1936: Sir Osbert Sitwell.] Mimeographed copy, marked 'Private', of the unexpurgated version of the satirical poem 'RAT WEEK. / by Osbert Sitwell', the cause of a legal action with 'Cavalcade'.
The Abdication Crisis, 1936 Sir Osbert Sitwell [Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet] (1892-1969) [King Edward VIII and Mrs Wallis Simpson; Abdication, 1936; Cavalcade]
Published by Undated but circa On paper watermarked 'BELFAST BOND / MADE IN CANADA', 1936
- Softcover
- First Edition
- Manuscript / Paper Collectible
Seller: Richard M. Ford Ltd, London, United KingdomRichard M. Ford Ltd
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£ 180.00
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Add to basketSee Sitwell's entry in the Oxford DNB. In his 1999 biography Philip Ziegler describes how the 'doggerel polemic Rat Week' 'excoriated' the supporters of the Edward VII and Mrs Simpson: 'Osbert realised that this diatribe, if published, might land him in a flurry of libel actions, but he could not resist having a few copies made…and distributed to his closer cronies; Mrs. Greville, Lady Aberconway, Lady Cholmondeley and Philip Frere among them. They showed it to their closer friends, copies were made, word of it passed around, soon it was known to everyone who was anyone in London.' Sitwell himself has described how it spread 'with the force and urgency of an eighteenth-century ballad: little did I know that it had multiplied and taken to itself wings, that it was being declaimed in drawing-rooms and saloon-bars and the public rooms of hotels, and that strangers were handing garbled versions of it to one another, later to be read aloud in crowded omnibuses or over the subterranean roar of the tube-trains. No contemporary work of which I am cognisant ever obtained a similar immediate popular response.' When the editor of the magazine 'Cavalcade' published an expurgated version, Sitwell sued for breach of copyright. After some litigation the magazine settled out of court for £500. Mimeograph typescript. 3pp, 4to. Fifty-six irregular lines of rhymed verse, in six stanzas. Paginated. On three loose leaves. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Underlined at top right of first page: 'Private.' Considering the mimeographed nature of the document, the typewriting style, the watermark, and not least the word 'Private', there is every indication that the present item is one of the 'few copies' Sitwell had made. Begins: 'Where are the friends of yesterday | That fawned on Him, | That flattered Her? | Where are the friends of yesterday, | Submitting to His every whim, | Offering praise of Her as myrrh | to Him?' Individuals whose names were suppressed in the 'Cavalcade' version are 'sweet Maid Mendl', 'Colefax - in her iron cage / of curls' and John McMullen. There are also references to 'Balmoral's Coburg Towers', 'dear Fort Belvedere' and 'the Ritz Bar'. Published (Penguin) 1986 (described by dealteers as "First Edition").
['Rat Week by Osbert Sitwell': Mimeographed typescript of the unexpurgated version of Osbert Sitwell's satirical poem about the abdication of King Edward VIII]
[SITWELL, Osbert]; [King Edward VIII/ & Mrs Wallis SIMPSON]; [CALVACADE]
Published by Privately (re)produced, 1936
- Softcover
Seller: Quair Books PBFA, Leeds, United KingdomQuair Books PBFA
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Condition: Used
£ 175.00
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Add to basketMimeographed typescript. Thin, white paper (25.5 x 20.2cm), pp. 3, titled "RAT WEEK by Osbert Sitwell" and comprising 56 lines of mimeographed black type in eight stanzas, printed on one-side only, final page detached, rusty staple to top left corners, rust echo to bottom of pages, toned, a few fox spots, two-folds, some creasin…g at central fold. Else, clean. Very good An unusual, mimeographed copy of the unexpurgated version of Osbert Sitwell's "doggerel polemic Rat Week," his satirical poem about the abdication of King Edward VIII, which denounced "the [once] gay, courageous pirate crew" of the monarch's (apparent) friends; he named Lady Mendl, Lady Colefax, and the fashion editor Johnny McMullen, who Sitwell considered treacherous sycophants. Sitwell knew that publication would likely lead to libel action, "but he could not resist having a few copies made and distributed to his closer cronies; Mrs Greville, Lady Aberconway, Lady Cholmondley and Philip Frere among them. They showed it to their closer friends, copies were made, word of it passed around, soon it was known to everyone who was anyone in London." (Ziegler, 1999). Retrospectively (and with some glee, it seems), Sitwell likened the spread and popularity of the poem to "an eighteenth-century ballad" and claimed: "little did I know that it had multiplied and taken to itself wings, that it was being declaimed in drawing-rooms and saloon-bars and the public rooms of hotels, and that strangers were handing garbled versions of it to one another, later to be read aloud in crowded omnibuses or over the subterranean roar of the tube-trains." (Sitwell, 1986). It received further attention when the editor of the weekly magazine Cavalcade published an expurgated version of 'Rat Week' the following year; Sitwell took legal action, demanding damages for breach of copyright, an apology, and the withdrawal of all unsold copies of the issue. The magazine eventually settled out of court for £500. A likely contemporary, but "garbled version" (at least compared with the version published in Sitwell's 1986 account of the debacle, Rat week: An essay on the abdication: it differs in stanza number, capitalisation, use of commas and semicolons, and includes an extra word to line 2 of the penultimate verse), with no indication of the agent of reproduction, and twice identifies Sitwell as its author (at its head and foot). Osbert Sitwell (1986) Rat week: An essay on the abdication (London: Michael Joseph); Philip Ziegler (1999) Osbert Sitwell: A biography (London: Pimlico).
