Lot 7
Waugh (Evelyn) Autograph Postcard signed to Robert Byron, 1928.
Hammer Price: £1,600
Description
Waugh (Evelyn) Autograph Postcard signed to Robert Byron, 130 x 90mm., Aston Clinton, Aylesbury, postmarked 13th February 1928, thanking him for a prospectus, discussing belief in God and the writing of Decline and Fall.
*** An unpublished card from a young Evelyn Waugh on the verge of publishing his breakthrough first novel.
"I deal with God as best I can."
In 1928, Waugh was working as a teacher at Aston Clinton while also considering other possible careers and working on the manuscript of what would become Decline and Fall. In the above quote he provides an intriguing and typically pithy summation of his religious struggles at the time (he would convert to Catholicism just two years later). Waugh's uncertainty also appears to extend to his writing: "I am also writing a novel which I find rather funny but I do not suppose anyone else will," whether this is false modesty or genuine doubt, keeping in mind Harold Acton's infamous dismissal of The Temple at Thatch a few years before, it is difficult to determine.
Robert Byron (1905-41) travel writer, art critic and historian, best known as the author of Road to Oxiana. He was part of a group of Oxford friends that included Evelyn Waugh and Christopher Sykes (see lot 54).
Provenance: Given by Robert Byron's sister to the current owner. Included with the lot is the letter from Byron's sister that accompanied the card.
Description
Waugh (Evelyn) Autograph Postcard signed to Robert Byron, 130 x 90mm., Aston Clinton, Aylesbury, postmarked 13th February 1928, thanking him for a prospectus, discussing belief in God and the writing of Decline and Fall.
*** An unpublished card from a young Evelyn Waugh on the verge of publishing his breakthrough first novel.
"I deal with God as best I can."
In 1928, Waugh was working as a teacher at Aston Clinton while also considering other possible careers and working on the manuscript of what would become Decline and Fall. In the above quote he provides an intriguing and typically pithy summation of his religious struggles at the time (he would convert to Catholicism just two years later). Waugh's uncertainty also appears to extend to his writing: "I am also writing a novel which I find rather funny but I do not suppose anyone else will," whether this is false modesty or genuine doubt, keeping in mind Harold Acton's infamous dismissal of The Temple at Thatch a few years before, it is difficult to determine.
Robert Byron (1905-41) travel writer, art critic and historian, best known as the author of Road to Oxiana. He was part of a group of Oxford friends that included Evelyn Waugh and Christopher Sykes (see lot 54).
Provenance: Given by Robert Byron's sister to the current owner. Included with the lot is the letter from Byron's sister that accompanied the card.
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