Lot 120

King, J.M. and a collection of books from the library of Vera Holme [and others], including Goldberg, Isaac

Scottish Design

Auction: 13 August 2014 at 12:00 BST

£325

Description

The story of Gilbert and Sullivan..., New York: Simon and Schuster, 1928. 8vo, Vera Holme bookplate designed by J.M. King, inscription to endpaper; Fortescue, J.W. The story of a red deer, 1912. 8vo, Vera Holme bookplate designed by J.M. King, inscribed to Vera Holme from Haverfield; Lambton, Gervase Gilbertian characters..., 1931. 12mo, Vera Holme bookplate designed by J.M. King; Fitzgerald, S.J. Adair The story of the Savoy Opera..., 1924. 8vo, Vera Holme bookplate designed by J.M. King; Kinglake, A.W. Eothen, [n.d.] 12mo, calf, Vera Holme bookplate designed by J.M. King; Sitwell, Sacheverell Mozart..., 1932. 8vo, Vera Holme bookplate designed by J.M. King; King, J.M. 6 further works, many relating to fishing, with Vera Holme bookplates designed by J.M. King; Shakespeare, William Works..., 1934. Large 8vo, calligraphic inscription from Holme to Patricia Trotter dated 19th November 1939, "We must be free or die, who speak the tongue/ That Shakespeare spake" - Wordsworth"; Crawford, Francis M. The rulers of the South..., 1900. 2 volumes, 8vo, bookplate of Wilhelmina A.C. Greenlees designed by De Courcy Lewthwaite Dewar; and another by Crawford; Pupin, Michael J. South Slav monuments 1, Serbian Orthodox church, 1918. Folio, inscribed to Vera Holme in 1918 whilst she was working for the Serbian ambulance service during WW1; Masters of Modern Etching 5 volumes comprising: James McBey, 1924; Frank Short, 1925; D.Y. Cameron, 1925; Edmund Blampied, 1926; Francis Seymour Haden, 1926; all published by The Studio, London; sold with all faults, not subject to return (23)

Footnote

Note: Vera Holme, 1881-1969, was a talented violinist and singer, and member of the Actresses' Franchise League, a group open to all theatre professionals with the aim to promote women's suffrage through the medium. Holme was also a member of the Women's Social and Political Union and, in 1909, was appointed as Emmeline Pankhurst's chauffeur, despite Sylvia Pankhurst having described Holme as, "... a noisy, explosive young person, frequently rebuked by her elders for lack of dignity."

Holme is also believed to have been in a long-standing relationship with Evelina Haverfield, daughter of Lord Arbinger and Commandant in Chief of the Women's Reserve Ambulance Corps during the first World War. Through this link Holme was dispatched to Serbia and appointed to manage horses and trucks in the Scottish Women's Hospital Units. Sadly, Haverfield died in 1920. Holme outlived her partner by 49 years and died in Glasgow in 1969.