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other two books in the quartet, and the second pair of letters, dated the following year, conclude this exchange of rights. Graham’s principal contact at Ward, Lock was Eric Shipton, “an ex-soldier with much greater charm and address than [Wilfred Lock], but not a man in the literary swim” (ibid., p. 102). In a typed letter signed, 21 August 1960, Graham tells Shipton that the Bodley Head “have written to me this week asking if the fourth of the series is now out of print . . . I seem to remember in my last statement from Ward, Lock that this book had just been remaindered”. Shipton’s reply a few days later, dated 24 August 1960, confirms that Warleggan “is now officially out of print . . . I do hope that all four books do really well; they certainly deserve to”. “By the time of his death, on 10 July 2003 (at Abbotswood House, Buxted, East Sussex, of heart
failure), [Graham] had produced a host of believable, often off-centre, characters in highly charged emotional and professional situations – while avoiding, he insisted, what he whole-heartedly detested, the so- called ‘bodice-ripper’. He was a real writer of the old school, while drawing on some more contemporary mores, including giving his women an independent strength of character that was far from usual when he began his single-minded career” ( ODNB ). 4 works, octavo. Original cloth, spines lettered in gilt, black, or brown, publisher’s file copy printed shelf sticker pasted to front covers. With dust jackets; Ross Poldark and Warleggan with publisher’s file copy printed label pasted to front panels. Together with 4 publisher’s typed contracts, each comprising 2 typed sheets: a) Ross Poldark ; b) Demelza ; c) Jeremy Poldark and Warleggan ; d) Cordelia ; e) copy of typed letter dated 26 May 1959 from Monica Bax, assistant fiction editor at Ward, Lock to Michael Thomas, Messrs A. M. Heath & Co. Ltd, 35 Dover
Street, London, W1; f) copy of Michael Thomas’s reply to Bax, dated 3 June 1959; g) typed letter signed from Winston Graham to Eric Shipton dated 21 August 1960 on headed paper from Villa Caprice, Avenue Jean-Mermoz, Saint Jean- Cap-Ferrat; h) typed letter from Shipton to Graham dated 24 August 1960; i) undated autograph note to “Miss H” on verso of a Ward, Lock jacket design (“The point of this is, as you will gather, that our agreement regarding Warleggan has determined. T.”; f) undated autograph note “C. J. Lock, sub-sid rights. Please note. TAS.28/8/60”. Books retained by Ward, Lock, & Co. as archive or file copies and stamped as such in ink on the half-titles or title pages. A nice set in bright dust jackets, extremities rubbed, a few shallow chips but well-preserved, not price-clipped. Contracts in excellent condition, a little creased but clean. Correspondence folded for posting, clean, couple of rust marks from paperclip. ¶ Winston Graham, Memoirs of a Private Man , 2003. £10,000 [155160]
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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