GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856-1950) i) One-page typed letter, signed 'G. Bernard Shaw', from Ayot St Lawrence, Welwyn, Herts, 7th December 1942, 4, to Alfred Ridgway, giving advice on how to become a writer. He suggests acquiring a reader's ticket at the British Museum and making the Reading Room his daily refuge 'as I did for many years and Samuel Butler and Karl Marx did all their lives. You must write your fiction with pen and ink...Quiet is compulsory and the seats and desks very commodious: if you cannot write there you cannot write anywhere...Much of my work has been done in railway carriages and on bus tops.' He suggests learning phonetic shorthand and exhorts Ridgway to 'Live near the Museum if you can'. (creased on folds, some spotting and discolouration), mounted on board. ii) Typed one-page letter, signed 'G. Bernard Shaw', from Ayot St Lawrence, Welwyn, Herts, 29th December 1942, 4, to Alfred Ridgway, in reply to a letter apparently offering to work for Shaw for nothing, 'There is no work that you can do for me', Shaw begins '...do not steal another poor man's job by offering to do it for nothing. You have a duty to your fellows as well as to yourself. If you are not conscious of it you are a fool...you must stifle the parasitical impulse to fasten on and cling to persons who seem to you strong and successful', he continues, and concludes by stating 'You must stand on your own feet, however rickety they may feel. Everybody has to' (creased and torn at edges, extensive spotting and discolouration). iii) Autograph postcard signed with initials 'GBS' to Alfred Ridgway at 29 Park Road, Hendon N.W.4, 18 February 1943, inscribed 'Let the law take its course. The case is one of those in which, as the Duke of Wellington said, "Anything is better than impunity".' (creased and discoloured). iv) Autograph note in red ink signed with initials 'GBS', to Athelstan Ridgway on the end of a letter from Mr Ridgway, 8th August 1944, clearly exasperated, 'Please pursue your literary career without bothering me about it. Your story is a trifle that may have been written by any amateur...', but gives sound advice,'If you have done nothing better since 1942 than the story in Truth you had better either try some other job or else by writing a thousand words a day for five years qualify yourself for writing as a profession. Meanwhile don't make a confounded nuisance of yourself by sending your stuff to authors instead of to publishers and editors.' (slightly smudged). v) Autograph note signed with initials 'GBH', on Alfred Ridgway headed paper, 4, the title page to a story sent to Shaw entitled 'The Oldest Belief in the World', 28th November 1946, saying 'Read my works and don't bother me with this rubbish. Of course I don't believe in such a horror as my living for ever; the thought of your doing so makes me shudder.' (paper torn and creased with some losses at edges, extensively spotted and discoloured). (5)
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856-1950) i) One-page typed letter, signed 'G. Bernard Shaw', from Ayot St Lawrence, Welwyn, Herts, 7th December 1942, 4, to Alfred Ridgway, giving advice on how to become a writer. He suggests acquiring a reader's ticket at the British Museum and making the Reading Room his daily refuge 'as I did for many years and Samuel Butler and Karl Marx did all their lives. You must write your fiction with pen and ink...Quiet is compulsory and the seats and desks very commodious: if you cannot write there you cannot write anywhere...Much of my work has been done in railway carriages and on bus tops.' He suggests learning phonetic shorthand and exhorts Ridgway to 'Live near the Museum if you can'. (creased on folds, some spotting and discolouration), mounted on board. ii) Typed one-page letter, signed 'G. Bernard Shaw', from Ayot St Lawrence, Welwyn, Herts, 29th December 1942, 4, to Alfred Ridgway, in reply to a letter apparently offering to work for Shaw for nothing, 'There is no work that you can do for me', Shaw begins '...do not steal another poor man's job by offering to do it for nothing. You have a duty to your fellows as well as to yourself. If you are not conscious of it you are a fool...you must stifle the parasitical impulse to fasten on and cling to persons who seem to you strong and successful', he continues, and concludes by stating 'You must stand on your own feet, however rickety they may feel. Everybody has to' (creased and torn at edges, extensive spotting and discolouration). iii) Autograph postcard signed with initials 'GBS' to Alfred Ridgway at 29 Park Road, Hendon N.W.4, 18 February 1943, inscribed 'Let the law take its course. The case is one of those in which, as the Duke of Wellington said, "Anything is better than impunity".' (creased and discoloured). iv) Autograph note in red ink signed with initials 'GBS', to Athelstan Ridgway on the end of a letter from Mr Ridgway, 8th August 1944, clearly exasperated, 'Please pursue your literary career without bothering me about it. Your story is a trifle that may have been written by any amateur...', but gives sound advice,'If you have done nothing better since 1942 than the story in Truth you had better either try some other job or else by writing a thousand words a day for five years qualify yourself for writing as a profession. Meanwhile don't make a confounded nuisance of yourself by sending your stuff to authors instead of to publishers and editors.' (slightly smudged). v) Autograph note signed with initials 'GBH', on Alfred Ridgway headed paper, 4, the title page to a story sent to Shaw entitled 'The Oldest Belief in the World', 28th November 1946, saying 'Read my works and don't bother me with this rubbish. Of course I don't believe in such a horror as my living for ever; the thought of your doing so makes me shudder.' (paper torn and creased with some losses at edges, extensively spotted and discoloured). (5)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
