An autograph letter signed ('Agatha Christie') to an Australian fan seeking information about her early works and variant titles
Octavo, two pages (one leaf), on Greenway House, Churston Ferrers, South Devon letterhead, 20 October [1953].
One horizontal crease where folded for posting; top left-hand corner slightly creased, with a tiny closed edge tear; in excellent condition, with the original envelope addressed by Christie herself (as Air Mail). The postmark is 'Wallingford | Berks | 4.15 pm | 4 Nov | 1953'; it is further inkstamped 'Insufficiently prepaid for transmission by air'.
The letter is in response to one from Reverend John Uebergang in Canberra. The reply gets straight down to business, and for enthusiasts and book lovers alike, Christie has a lot to say, and she says it engagingly. 'Dear Mr Uebergang, "The Road of Dreams" was an early book of poems, now out of date. Murder in Retrospect is, I think, the American title of 5 Little Pigs. Three Blind Mice is a book of short stories - I think published in America. "The Under Dog" was originally a long short story. "Murder at the Gallop" is a recent film supposedly from "After the funeral" & I think the latter has been published in a cheap edition under the film title in America. I've never heard of "Morphium"!! Not all the plays have been published. I hope this may be of some help to you. Yours sincerely, Agatha Christie'. Apart from the content, there is a lot to recommend this letter: it is written in the author's hand; it is signed in the name she made famous (and kept using after she divorced her first husband Archibald Christie in 1928, and married Max Mallowan in 1930); the letterhead is from her summer estate, purchased in 1938 (it remained in family hands until given to the National Trust in 2000); and the original cover (also in her hand) substantiates the date the letter was sent (curiously, more than a fortnight after it was written).
Item #131942
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