Autographs
Group of signed letters
£479
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 19 June 2024 from 10:00 BST
Description
George Macdonald Fraser (1925-2008), typed letter signed to Ion Smeaton Munro (q. v.), Isle of Man, 1969, 2 pp., a superb farewell letter written on Fraser's resignation from the Glasgow Herald, mentioning Flashman and the film ‘Zulu’;
J. M. Barrie (1860-1937), autograph letter signed to Ion Smeaton Munro, 1913, 1 p.;
William Heath Robinson (1872-1944), 2 autograph letters signed, 1927-31, the first to a Miss Smeaton Munro, politely declining an opportunity to illustrate her poems but recommending his brother Charles Robinson and referring to his illustrations for Robert Louis Stevenson's Child's Garden of Verses, 2 pp., the second to a Mrs Bilsland, a very gracious letter concerning a missed engagement in Glasgow ('… I remember quite well the pleasure I had in illustrating “Topsy Turvy Tales”');
Field Marshal Lord Frederick Roberts (1832-1914), letter signed to Ion Smeaton Munro, 1913, 1 p., the body of the letter written in a secretarial hand;
Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson (1853-1937), actor and impresario, autograph letter signed, 1912, 1 p.; and 2 others (8)
Footnote
Ion Smeaton Munro (1883-1970) was a journalist and decorated army officer of Scottish origin who between the wars worked as the Rome correspondent of Glasgow's Morning Post and subsequently the Daily Mail. 'He was appointed press attaché at the British embassy in 1938 and then, on Italy’s declaration of war, he was posted as head of the Italian section at the Ministry of Information. He rejoined the army in 1941 and served on Wavell’s staff in India. When the invasion of Italy was being prepared he flew to North Africa, later entering Rome with the liberating army in June 1944. He was a chief press officer during the Italian campaign, and when demobilised he became press liaison officer in the Foreign Office conference department specially concerned with UN affairs in London. In the 1946 New Year honours list Lieutenant-Colonel Munro was awarded the OBE (Military) for “gallant and distinguished service in Italy”’ (Duncan Beaton, ‘The Notable Descendants of John Munro’, in A. O. M. Clark, ed., The Kist: The Magazine of the Natural History & Antiquarian Society of Mid-Argyll, no. 45 (Spring 1993), pp. 6-7). Ion Smeaton Munro wrote two books on his Italian experiences, Through Fascism to World Power: A History of the Revolution in Italy (1933), and Beyond the Alps (1934); he also wrote Youth of Yesteryear: Campaigns, Battles, Service and Exploits of the Glasgow Territorials in the Last Great War (1939), and co-edited The Seventeenth Highland Light Infantry: Record of War Service 1914-1918 (1920).