E. F. BENSON: Signed Letter By British Horror Writer - Henry James Baron Portsea
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:1316447 | Original/Reproduction: Original |
| Signed by: E. F. Benson |
This is a signed letter by British writer E. F. Benson (1867-1940).
Edward Frederic Benson was a novelist, biographer, archaeologist and short story writer. He was theauthor of dozens of novels, including the popularMAPP AND LUCIA series. He wrote more than one hundred short stories, including many horrorstories that are still being frequently reprinted. Benson also wrote dozens of volumes of non-fiction, including biographies and memoirs.
<...br>The letter is addressed to "Dear Lady Portsea".
This was Mary Greene Hubbard Sturgis Seymour Falle (1851-1942).
She was the daughter of a Boston merchant, Russell Sturgis (1805-1887), who later moved to England and became head of the famous Baring Brothers Bank. In 1871 Mary Sturgis married Leopold Richard Seymour (1841-1904), and had many children with him. Two years after his death, she married Bertram Godfrey Falle(1860-1948); he became Baron Portsea in 1934.
The letter is handwritten in ink on both sides of
a sheet of paper, with Benson's address printed at the top (Lamb House, Rye, Sussex).
Lamb House had previously been the home of the American writer Henry James, in the years from 1897 to 1914. In this letter, E. F. Bensonmentions his landlord, also named Henry James;this landlord was the nephew of the famous writer.
(Also printed at the top left of the letter is what I think may have been Benson's phone number: Rye 271.)
The letter is dated June 18, 1939.
As best as I can tell, the letter reads as follows.
Dear Lady Portsea,
I was delightedto get your letterfirstly because it wasyours, & secondly
because I was veryglad to know thatyou approve of'Daughters'. It hada great success inAmerica & is doing well here, but Ivalue personal
appreciation more thaneditions. It was difficultto work several privatelives simultaneously intoa background of historical events (this whenstated sounds rather a truism).I am stopping ??? hereyet awhile, for HenryJames, my landlord, wants
to come here for a dayor two early in July, &I don't expect to get upto London till after hisvisit. But I have thefirmest intention of lettingyou learn when Iarrive.
Yours very sincerely E. F. Benson
(NOTE: the reference in the letter to 'Daughters' isto his book QUEEN VICTORIA'S DAUGHTERS, which had been published in the USA in 1938.)
Unfolded, the letter is about 10" by 7". It is in good condition, with creases whereit has been folded, and some general wear.
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