Later issue. Pale blue cloth, 1916

Component identifier:

Item 32(f)

Content Summary:

This book conforms in all respects to the preceding copy. Tipped in is a series of autograph notes by Hal Gye, 6pp, relating to the contents of the book, and with much about the poem, 'The Singing Soldiers'. One extract: 'You are off the mark as to where he (Dennis) wrote the poem. He did not write it at Toolangi. He wrote it while he was working at the Wool Exchange in King Street, and at the time he was living at Camberwell, in a room where I used to go up on a Sunday morning...We used to put in the day walking along the Yarra.'

The notes are accompanied by a coloured drawing of The wobbly bridge. Dated July 1963.

Howard White set 'The singing soldiers' to music, and often sang it. He was the husband of Evelyn Scotney, soprano. She was singing at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, with Enrico Caruso, in the case of La Juive, upon the night when he had the seizure. It was his last performance.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The collection was purchased from Harry Chaplin in 1981.

Names:

Chaplin, Harry F.

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