Bidspirit auction | SHAW GEORGE BERNARD: (1856-1950) Shaw

SHAW GEORGE BERNARD: (1856-1950) Shaw describes himself as an ´ old, used up, dotty nineteenth century spectre´ - SHAW GEORGE BERNARD: (1856-1950) Irish playwright, Nobel Prize winner for Literature, 1925. A.L.S., G. Bernard Shaw , two pages, oblong 8vo, Ayot St. Lawrence, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, 2nd September 1941, to ´My dear Oxford´. Shaw writes, in full, ´The management of this wretched globe has risen to a climax of perverse wickedness. Why should Dulcie be taken in her prime, and we old, used up, dotty nineteenth century spectres be left listening to the daily broadcast of destruction? We have not even Job´s wife to advise us. ”We must abide our going hence even as our coming hither”; but I should have said to Dulcie ”Abstain thee from felicity awhile” if it would have been any use. I can abide my own going hence philosophically enough; but Dulcie´s makes me swear. Charlotte would console you if she could. Damn!!!!!!!´ . Together with a T.L.S. by Dan H. Laurence, editor of The Collected Letters of Bernard Shaw , one page, 4to, San Antonio, Texas, 4th February 1973, to Murray J. Smith. Laurence writes in relation to Shaw´s letter, in part, ´I had to wait until my next trip to Austin to try to research it in the obituary columns of the London Times .....Unfortunately, my efforts were unavailing: I couldn´t turn up any recently deceased Dulcies, and must presume that Shaw received the information, not by perusing his morning paper, but by an epistolary communication. As for the identification of Oxford, I strongly suspect it was the Rev. A. W. Oxford, mentioned early in Letters II. Since Asquith (Earl of Oxford and Asquith) had died years before, and since the only other Oxford listed in Shaw´s address books over the years was A.W. - he apparently lived to a great age (as Shaw´s letter implies), for he is still listed in Shaw´s last address book, covering the period from around 1942 to 1950 - I nominate him as the likeliest candidate.....It is a very beautiful and sad letter....´ . Accompanied by the original envelope. Some very light, minor age wear, VG