Identify an artist, possibly Bruce Crane.

And I.H.S.S.M. under a drawing of the sun on the left side of the bottom. That could be a good clue.

I don't have time to look right now, but will enjoy looking later to see whether anything has been determined. Lots of clues here, but will take some research.

 

IHSSM makes me think of some Catholic institution, but I'm probably wrong. Still think it's a stork, not a crane. Or, considering the pink allusion, a flamingo...

 

I think it says yours, not James.

It might be 'equestrian' rather than exquisite. Looking at it now, 'exquisite' doesn't fit the bill, but it might be some other word entirely.

It might be 'hot rasher of bacon'.

 

Well, there's a little sketch of a horse in the left margin on the front.

 

Yours looks like it's a better reading. How about the sig. meaning Birdie?

I did google a bit and there were some actresses doing Edwardian comedy that involved manly dress.

 

Maybe it's by your countryman and artist: Walter Crane?

I doubt it, but worth looking into.

That other small drawing is not a horse, it's a roaring bull with a little snake(?) just above and the capital letters: VTE(?) at right.

 

"I am so sorry the Sicilian blighters have gone" might be "Sicilian Highters"

Perhaps someone will know if it could be referring to "Highters Heath" in the West Midlands.

 

II am happy with hot rasher,equestrian and yours as a reading,and I thought the play might be Justice.

 

Can't say I'm happy with blighters. It seems a little low-brow in this context.

 

No, 'blighters' is quite consistent usage.

 

The play could well be 'Justice'.

 

I do think the Bruce Crane attribution has been tossed into deeper doubt.

 

Sounds like the writer may be a female denouncing the wearing of pink for girls.
(just a guess)

When I first looked at this, I wondered if the bird at the end was a pink flamingo.

The little animal on the left appears to be a ram with the "Aries" zodiac sign for April 3rd.

I do think Bakersgma is correct about "Yours" at the end.

And now *I* want a "hot rasher of bacon" too!
=)

 

Antidiem, I think you are right about the ram and Aries.

 

We will probably never get anything to link with anything, and I can't envisage an American being quite so disparaging about the common people.

I will file it back with the bundle of ephemera it came from, for another time.

 

Whomever wrote it has a rather pissy tone,dont they ?"Justice" was a 1910 play about prison conditions,probably radical for the time. I find this thread very interesting.

 

John Galsworthy's (Forsyte Saga) play "Justice" debuted in February 1910.

 

Just to confuddle the issue further, here is Walter Crane's monogram: http://enriqueta.man.ac.uk/luna/ser...6404~110086:Walter-Crane-s-monogram-signature

 

Here are a few samples of Crane's writing that I found from old auctions for comparison.



Crane (Walter) The Claims of Decorative Art,
first edition, presentation copy from the author to James Stanley Little inscribed on half-title, James Stanley Little's copy with his review of Crane's work mounted on front free endpaper, pencil review notes throughout and his bookplate on half-title, original decorated cloth, rubbed, spine faded, frayed at head and foot, 4to, 1892

 

Af, that is a neat piece of ephemera,and I also think its a woman Oh, and a rearing ram.