A presentation copy, inscribed by the author ‘Bennett Maxwell from Anthony Powell. Rather late in the day. June, 1962’ to the front free endpaper, along with a 2pp. Typed Letter Signed from Powell to Maxwell dated 7th February 1963, with envelope addressed to Maxwell at the BBC’s Broadcasting House, loosely inserted.
A presentation copy of Anthony Powell’s scarce debut novel, inscribed to the BBC producer Bennett Maxwell who staged a radio play adaptation of Powell’s novel Venusberg on the 4th of February 1963, although the inscription itself is dated a year earlier. In an included two page T.L.S. from Powell, dated three days after the broadcast, the author tells Maxwell ‘how much I enjoyed your production of Venusberg… I still feel a bit dissatisifed with Lushington as a dramatic character… that sort of figure, who has a place in a book, but a much less easily defined one on the stage/radio’. Powell suggests that ‘one straightforward amendment might be for him to talk much quicker. I think one can assume that he was a fairly neurotic type… I feel that he is, for some reason, rather a pain in the neck for any actor to play’.
The letter offers a fascinating insight into a moment in which Powell was given the chance to witness his work as if through other people’s eyes or, in this case, ears. He admits that ‘critics have often complained that my heroes and narrators are colourless, but in a book there is a definite reason for this. When the story is transferred to a play, I see much more what they mean.’
A good copy, covers slightly faded and soiled, spine spotted, lacking dust jacket.
