Back Numbers; A Disturbance of the Dust of Yesteryear Written for Back Numbers, by a Back Number

London: Hutchinson, 1954. First Edition stated, Presumed First printing. Hardcover. Good/Fair. 352 pages DJ has wear, tears, soiling and chips. Inscribed by the author on the free end paper. Inscription reads: To Julia--whose book this is. Apart from the dedication, which is from the heart, here is another tribute to a lovely, gracious + wonderful woman whom it is a great privilege to know. God Bless her. From her Friend, Popie W. Macqueen-Pope, 1954. This work was dedicated to Julia Neilson and thus clearly was her personal copy presented to her by the author. Unique and rare association copy between author and to whom the book is dedicated! Includes Explanation, as well as Chapters on This Desirable Residence; Desirable Residents; The Box Room; Cabinets and Cartes des Visites; In Loco Parentis; A Victorian Family; Background to Spinsterhood; Victorian Spinsters; Very Tragical Mirth; Poor Frederica; Interior; Still Below Stairs; Living Room; State Apartments; Upstairs; Victorian Garden; Unwilling to School; Fin de Siecle; Edwardian England; Edwardian Youth; Happy Days; Out of the 'Box Room'; Give Me Yesterday; and Old-Fashioned, Obstinate and Unashamed. Contains 84 black and white illustrations. The author goes back into late Victorian and Edwardian times, depicting life as it was then led, the actual houses and their contents, the roads in which those houses stood, and above all the people who lived in them. He pictures a family of actual Victorians and has their peculiarities under the microscope of his observations--and he observed it at first hand. Walter James MacQueen-Pope (11 April 1888 - 27 June 1960), known familiarly as Popie, was an English theatre historian and publicist. From a theatrical family which could be traced back to contemporaries of Shakespeare, he was in management for the first part of his career, but switched to publicity, in which field he became well-known. He was a prolific writer of books about the theatre, and in particular its more glamorous aspects. He also described himself as an "authority on pantomime". Beginning in 1955, MacQueen-Pope gave a series of fifteen-minute talks about the theatre on BBC television, in a show called "Popie". Sir Alfred Butt appointed him business manager at the Queen's Theatre, and after holding similar posts at other West End theatres, and holding the post of manager and secretary of Alexandra Palace from 1922 to 1925, he was appointed general manager of the Duke of York's Theatre in 1927, and was put in charge of the new Whitehall Theatre before it opened in 1930. The Times said of his career, "it was as press representative at the Palladium in 1925 that he began to develop his special talent for passing on to others ... his love and knowledge of the theatre generally and in particular of Drury Lane, of the Haymarket (Theatre of Perfection) and of the Gaiety (Theatre of Enchantment)." MacQueen-Pope was in charge of publicity at Drury Lane for 21 years, including four years running publicity for the whole of ENSA, which had its headquarters in the building. After World War II he produced books about all the theatres with which he had been principally associated, and many other books, including a biography of Ivor Novello, of whom MacQueen-Pope approved as possessing glamour, the quality he most prized in the theatre and which he felt was in short supply in the post-war world. Julia Emilie Neilson (12 June 1868 - 27 May 1957) was an English actress best known for her numerous performances as Lady Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel, for her roles in many tragedies and historical romances, and for her portrayal of Rosalind in a long-running production of As You Like It. After establishing her reputation in a series of plays by W. S. Gilbert in 1888, Neilson joined the company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree, where she remained for five years, meeting her future husband, Fred Terry. The couple entered into management together in 1900, producing and starring in Sweet Nell of Old Drury by Paul Kester. They would continue to produce plays together for the next 30 years, most notably, The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905 at the New Theatre), which they also starred in and, with J. M. Barstow, adapted for the stage from Baroness Orczy's manuscript. The play was a record-breaking hit and played for more than 2,000 performances, then enjoying numerous revivals. With Terry, she played in London and on tour for nearly three decades. She wrote a memoir entitled, This For Remembrance, which gives an account of her life in the theatre business.