KING CHARLES II.

by ORWELL, George; pseudonym of BLAIR, Eric Arthur:

$61,655 · Offered by Biblio

Unpublished Typescript. 1932. Typescript comprising two sections: first, three pages of carbon copy with Orwell s autograph pencil side-notes recording sound effects, the name Geoffrey written twice in red crayon; second, twelve roneograph pages with some pencil markings probably in the hand of one of the boy actors [Geoffrey Stevens], 15 pages, folio and 4to, spindle holes, some slight wear and creasing, marginal fraying at outer leaves, final leaf torn and reinforced; together with an original photograph of Orwell and his school at this time, mounted and labelled. Housed in a purpose made quarter black morocco solander box. Provenance: Geoffrey Stevens; sold Sothebys, London Dec. 15th 1988; Private Collection. This short historical play, which is written partly in blank verse, was composed by the twenty-nine-year-old Eric Blair when he was headmaster at the Hawthorns High School for Boys in Hayes, Middlesex, a small private school having little more than a dozen pupils (as the accompanying photograph shows). It was performed as the school s Christmas play at St Mary s Church Hall in Hayes in 1932. This was in a period when Orwell had finished Down and Out in Paris and London (or Days in London and Paris, as it was originally titled) and was looking for a publisher. He was working on Burmese Days and had only sought the job at Hawthorns because he needed an income. Fed up with his job and his lack of disposable income, he then spent the best part of a term writing and rehear

• Publisher: Unpublished Typescript. 1932
• Binding: unknown

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