235x185mm. Four sheets, single sided. Undated, but circa 1923. Written entirely in Bentley’s hand in black ink. Titled ‘Outward Bound a review by Nicholas Bentley’. An apparently contemporary manuscript review, written by Bentley when he was just 16 and a student at University College School, Hampstead. The play opened at Everyman Theatre, Hampstead, on September 17th 1923. Bentley writes: “From his views as expressed in Outward Bound | it is to be seen that Mr Vane is an | upholder of the more advanced theories upon | the subject of the hereafter. His treatment of | the subject is calculated to attract by its | simplicity and its clarity of expression and | yet to attract also by its suspense and | mystery. | The author has beautiful ideas which | he has beautifully expressed yet there are moments | when one feels that Mr Vane has not quite | caught the night.” It continues. The following year, the future illustrator started at the Heatherley School of Art. He only lasted a few months. He would then work without pay as a clown in the circus. This terribly interesting manuscript, written when Bentley was just 16, shows the beginning of what would be a long and illustrious career in the arts.