[Alan Hadfield, sculptor and author.] Inscribed copy of his pamphlet 'An Essay on Bernard Shaw (being an account of one man's approach to our Anglo-Irish dramatist)'; with conclusion of Autograph Letter Signed to playwright Christopher Fry.

Author: 
Alan Hadfield (b.1904), sculptor and children's author under name 'Robin Dale', proprietor of the Northern Lights Press, Harrowgate [and latterly Devon] [Christopher Fry, playwright]
Publication details: 
Pamphlet by the Northern Lights Press, Devon, undated, but with inscription dated February 1975. Conclusion of ALS without date or place.
£50.00
SKU: 22755

Both items in good condition, lightly aged. PAMPHLET: 12pp, 8vo. Stapled in green wraps, printed on both sides of covers, and with drawing of Shaw by Hadfield, dated 1974, on front cover. Containing a few autograph emendations. Inscribed on front cover: 'To Christopher Fry, | from | Alan Hadfield, | Greetings! | Feby 1975'. A quirky and highly personal response to Shaw, combining anecdote, reminiscence and original poetry. A 'BACKWORD' reproduces two communications to Hadfield from Shaw, both from 1941, the first commending his 'neo-Elizabethan lilt', the second commending a bust he had sent him ('Whatever you do, don't be a gentleman-artist, or you will eat your heart out, and starve.'). The only copy of the pamphlet on OCLC WorldCat at the British Library. LETTER. Conclusion of Autograph Letter Signed ('Alan Hadfield'), presumably to Fry, on one side of 19.5 x 9.5 cm piece of paper. Numbered 3. Regarding sculptress he knew when living and teaching English in Jamaica, 'some dozen years ago', the wife of Norman Manley. Concludes: 'I should be greatly honoured if I could attempt a worthwhile portrait of you yourself, in the near future - | either here, or there!' From the Christopher Fry papers.