PINTER, Harold.

£2,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Arthur Wellard 1902-1980 (Somerset, England and Gaieties); [together with] -- Mac. First editions, presentation copies, sent with an autograph letter signed from the playwright to the economist Peter Jay (1937-2024) and his then girlfriend Lizzie Spender. Jay and Pinter knew each other through the playwright's wife Antonia Fraser. Spender is the daughter of the poet Stephen Spender and later the wife of Barry Humphries. The letter thanks the two for a "smashing evening" and gifts them the two books.Both works are eulogies, one of the cricketer Arthur Wellard and the other of the Shakespearean actor Andrew McMaster. Jay was well known for his eulogies, which may explain why Pinter sent him these two works; they also shared a passion for cricket. Arthur Wellard is a rare work, with only four institutional copies held. Loosely inserted as issued is a picture of the Gaieties cricket team, with Pinter seated on the second left and Wellard seated on the right. Mac is the signed limited edition, number 870 of 2,000 copies. Jay's book labels are present in each work.

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