Queer Places:
The Bohemia Bookshop, 116 Bohemia Road, Saint
Leonard's-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN37 6RL, UK
Frank Letchford (July 2, 1916 - December 30, 1998) was a friend to and biographer of
Austin Osman Spare. In
2002 Gavin W. Semple published a monograph, Study for a Portrait of Frank Letchford: a brief memoir, in a limited edition as follows: five copies for private distribution in morocco backed boards, forty-five numbered copies in blue boards with slip cases, and 400 copies in wrappers. Rich in accounts of the relationship between the pair, and illustrated with photographs of Spare and his artworks.
Letchford, a young art collector, approached Spare in 1937; Letchford was
interested in both Spare's artistic and esoteric work. The two men
subsequently became close friends and associates.
Letchford run the Bohemia Bookshop, specialized in aviation.
In failing health, in May 1956 Spare was submitted to the
South Western Hospital in Stockwell with a burst appendix; the doctor
noted that he had also been suffering from
anaemia,
bronchitis,
high blood pressure and
gall stones. Rushing to see him at his hospital bed, it was here that
Spare's two dearest friends,
Kenneth Grant and Frank Letchford, met one
another for the first time. Spare died on the afternoon of 15 May 1956, at the
age of 69.[96]
In his will, Spare left Letchford his first choice of 15 pictures, with Grant
getting the second choice of 10 others, along with all of his books and
papers. His funeral was paid for by his friend
Hannen Swaffer, and he was
buried alongside his father at St. Mary's Church in
Ilford.[96]
Study for a Portrait of Frank Letchford (July 2nd, 1916 - December 19th, 1998): SEMPLE, Gavin W.
My published books:
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