Autograph postcard signed (“W. W. Skeat”), Cambridge, 10 May 1909. Addressed to Alfred B. Cooper, journalist, editor, librettist, and poet; former editor of The Sunday Strand and Scholars’ Own (George Newnes Ltd.), and a prolific contributor of fiction, verse, and articles to London and provincial periodicals. His published address — “Maplecroft”, Earlsfield Road, Wandsworth Common, S.W. — matches the postcard exactly.

The message side contains two neatly written literary‑moral quotations in Skeat’s hand:

• Luke 16:10 — “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.”
• Milton, Sonnet XIX — “They also serve who only stand and wait.”

These short extracts are characteristic of Skeat’s late‑life correspondence, in which he often supplied biblical or literary references to editors and writers for use in periodical work — a natural fit for Cooper’s devotional and inspirational output.

Postmark: CAMBRIDGE / MY 10 / 09. Stamp: ½d green. Pencil note: “Professor Skeat” (in Skeat’s own hand).

Included: A contemporary magazine portrait of Professor Skeat, cut from an illustrated periodical and mounted on an old album leaf. The photograph shows Skeat in his Cambridge study, surrounded by books and papers, with a printed caption identifying him as the Professor of Anglo‑Saxon at Cambridge and noting his authorship of the Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. A useful contextual piece to accompany the postcard.

A well‑preserved example of Skeat’s late correspondence, with a securely identified literary recipient and a period portrait for context.

PROVENANCE:

One of c.2,500+ items once from the collection or dealer stock of Winifred A Myers (Autographs) Ltd, St Martins Lane, London, evidenced by the quantity of Myers pre-printed envelopes and paper folders and the general ‘presentation’ of the items, many having Myers identification notes in pencil. 

Winifred Alice Myers (1909 – 1985) served as ABA (Antiquarian Booksellers Assoc) president, 1950-1952. See the ABA website for an extended article on Myers. Myers left her business, in 1985, to Ruth Shepherd, who traded from home until 2004.  

Walter William Skeat (1835–1912) Elrington & Bosworth Professor of Anglo‑Saxon at Cambridge from 1878; Fellow of Christ’s College and founder of the English Dialect Society (1873–96). Major editor of Middle English texts and author of the Etymological Dictionary of the English Language; resident at 2 Salisbury Villas, Cambridge.

Alfred B. Cooper (fl. 1890s–1910s) Journalist, editor, librettist, and poet; former editor of The Sunday Strand and Scholars’ Own (George Newnes Ltd.). Author of Clerical Love Stories (1903), Flood‑Tides and Other Poems (1906), and a prolific contributor of fiction, verse, and articles to London and provincial periodicals; resident at “Maplecroft”, Earlsfield Road, Wandsworth Common, S.W.