Typed Letter Signed ('Ballantrae') from Lord Ballantrae [Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae] to Antony Brett-James of Sandhurst, on topics including his editing of 'The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes' and his wife's death.

1p., 4to. 30 typed lines, with the last two lines in autograph. In good condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Brett-James is addressed as 'Head of Department, War Studies & International Affairs, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst'. He begins by explaining why he cannot attend a conference at Sandhurst: 'On the morning of the 11th, The Queen is coming to open the fourth and latest housing estate of The Scottish Trust for the Physically Disabled, of which I am the Chairman, in Edinburgh, and I must obviously be there: still more so because (although I had no hand in this) it is to be named after my wife, who established the Trust in 1972, and who was killed in an accident four months ago'. He praises the conferences 'programme and cast of lecturers': 'Incidentally, I have read Ronald Lewin's book on Wavell in typescript, and in my view it is as good as anything he has done.' The Oxford University Press, 'in its mercy', has given him 'a year's grace' over the delivery of the typescript of his anthology. 'Furthermore, I have been given lodgings in a Grace & Favour house in London, which will enable me to spend all next winter there, with easy access to libraries.' He praises Sandhurst Library as 'one of the best organised and most congenial to work in', and hopes 'to spend some time there during the winter months, using it as a quarry'. He asks if Brett-James and his staff could 'keep a weather eye lifting for possible material', being 'a great believer in Serendipity'.