VICTORY

The three items are in good condition, lightly aged and discoloured. Slight traces of glue from mount to the blank last page of the second item. Each with neat creases from folding. ONE: ‘St Giles’ Cathedral / Solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God / for / Victory in Europe / WEDNESDAY, 16th MAY 1945 / This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.’ (‘ORDER OF DIVINE SERVICE’.) [4]pp, 12mo. Bifolium.

An interesting communication from one noted twentieth-century English-language poet to another, and of additional significance as a V-Letter written in the year of publication of Shapiro's first successful collection, the Pulitzer Prize winning 'V-Letter and Other Poems' (1944). (See Diederik Oostdijk, 'The Wartime Success of Karl Shapiro's V-Letter' (2006).) The present item is a V-Mail [Victory Mail] letter: a 13.5 x 11 cm photograph print of an autograph letter bearing the censor's stamp.

One page, 12mo, fold marks, signs on being tipped into an album, good conition. "Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy presents his Compliments to Mr. Glynn and begs to return his best thanks for a Print of a Bridge over the River Aire."