A.J. Cronin collection
Date Published: 1927 to 1964
Binding: No binding & hard cover
The collection contains 13 items dating from 1927 to 1964, specifically 3 letters, 2 books, and 1 souvenir typescript, 3 photos, and 4 cards/notes.
A.J. Cronin was a Scottish novelist and physician. During World War I, he served as a surgeon sub-lieutenant in the Royal Medical Volunteer Reserve. Then he trained at various hospitals in Glasgow and Dublin before accepting a short-term position as Medical Inspector of Mines. In 1930, after being diagnosed with a chronic duodenal ulcer, he took six months of leave and wrote his first novel, Hatter’s Castle (1931). Much of Cronin’s fiction pertains to a doctor’s struggle to balance scientific integrity with social obligations.
3 Letters: 1 Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) and 2 Typed Letter Signed (TLS):
• ALS to Mr. Robb, 25 May 1933, thanking Robb for the clipping and hoping that Grand Canary did not displease him.
• TLS to Mr. Guran, 9 October 1962, that he would be pleased to sign his book and that he’ll be departing for the USA on 8 November.
• TLS to Mrs. Soutar, 26 June 1964, re her kind letter, A Song of Sixpence, and her cottage at Crarae.
2 Books:
• Hatter’s Castle. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1931. Black cloth in slightly chipped dust jacket. Affixed to front free endpaper is Cronin’s signature on a card. With an envelope from the autograph dealer, Conway Barker, post-marked 24 October 1976. Cronin’s first novel, set in the fictional town of Levenford on the Firth of Clyde, a story of the life of the hatter, James Brodie, a cruel and tyrannical patriarch of a dysfunctional family. Made into a film by Paramount British Pictures in 1942, starring Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr, and James Mason.
• Investigations in First-Aid Organization at Collieries in Great Britain. London: printed and published at His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1927. Paper covers, wire-stitched. Cronin’s first separate publication, a report on the correlation between coal-dust inhalation and pulmonary disease, commissioned by the Secretary of Mines and completed by Cronin in October 1925 when he worked as a temporary medical officer and inspector of mines.
1 Souvenir Typescript:
• 1 p., the first page of The Citadel, n.d.
3 b&w Photos:
• Cronin in suit and fedora, arriving in New York, 17 November 1937, Associated Press Photo; • • Cronin standing near windows, 23 April 1958;
• Head shot of Cronin in suit, n.d.
4 Cards/Notes:
• Signed card with quotation, “Any morality which is against freedom is a bad morality.”
• Undated written card addressed “Dear Children”, thanking the children for their kind greetings: “I wish you the very best back in return, with something in your stockings and a good helping of Christmas pudding.”
• Signed note with litho print of Cronin and a child.
• Colour card, Wills’s Cigarettes, W.D. & H.O. Wills, issued by the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain & Ireland, Limited, n.d.
Collection on consignment with LDRB.
Good. Item #8514
$1,050.00 USD
$1,434.88 CAD