When I lived in the real world and had a proper job I blew my salary on accumulating such ephemera, many of which I still have: an 1870 letter from Sullivan (then at 47 Claverton Terrace) telling an unknown recipient that
The Prodigal Son was unlikely to be performed in Manchester in the near future; Parry AMQS (unidentified, 1901); Elgar AMQS (opening of Symphony No.2, 1927); Bantock AMQS (bass-clef g-b repeated, undated); Vaughan Williams AMQS (treble clef c-g, undated); Holst AMQS (
Hymn of Jesus, year unknown but from a birthday book); Scott AMQS (Piano Concerto No.1, 1920); Boughton AMQS (
The Red International, 1929); a 1963 letter from Malcolm Arnold - "I do not keep records of my works, believing that such things are best forgotten!"
As if!
I will never part with
any of them - must order a larger coffin (
a la Queen Anne)...
:D