FARJEON (Joseph Jefferson, 1883-1955, Detective Novelist and Playwright)

Autograph Letter Signed to Eileen Cond, saying "To many, happiness will be impossible this year, but I believe that those who are more fortunate should express all the happiness they still have, because while we do our jobs in our own particular way, happiness is a virtue in itself ... Do you like Christmas? ... I have never lost my old affection for it, and still feel its queer glamour", he wonders at the reason, "I am not religious, but I can't close the door to wonderful possibilities", he continues "Joan cannot visit us till the New Year (when, alas, I shall be on all-night duty at the Report Post - last year I had Christmas night itself)", as for Christmas itself, "if Mr. Wilfred Pickles is to represent the spirit of Britain on the 25th, as threatened, we shall not turn on the wireless while he is speaking ... I can hardly understand the news ... when he is giving it. He will not allow us to interpret it in our own way, as Frank Phillips and Alvar Lidell do. He seems to me so voice-conscious", he uses the news "to show us what a great Shakespearean actor he is!", with a P.S. "Ours is an odd friendship - but very nice, I think", with a small coloured card of a Christmas tree, inscribed by him inside, he is "delighted" with her calendar, the letter 4 sides 8vo, St. Davids, Ditchling, Sussex, 19th December

Farjeon was an editor for Amalgamated Press, 1910-1920, and, besides his books, contributed to many journals, including 'Punch' as 'Smith Minor'. Miss Cond regularly wrote appreciative letters to writers of new books, sending her bookplate for them to inscribe.

Item Date:  1941

Stock No:  17130