Douglas (Lord Alfred, poet and biographer, friend of Oscar Wilde, 1870-1945) 8 Autograph Letters signed "Alfred Douglas" and "Bosie" to the dancer Diana Gould (later Lady Menuhin), 16pp. & 7 envelopes, 4to & 8vo, Hove, St Ann's Court, 22nd October 1942 - 4th July 1944, a warm collection of letters, describing his health and activities, referring to notable contemporaries including Shane Leslie and Martin Secker, and in particular complaining about the confiscation of his manuscript poem, In Excelsis, written while he was in prison in 1924 for having libelled Winston Churchill, "So far I've heard no more about my prison copy-book MS, but there appears to be a regular barrage now directed at the Home Office, so I have hopes that something will come of it", and an oblique reference to Oscar Wilde, "I hardly ever come to London I'm afraid, though as a matter of fact I am going up tomorrow having been invited to lunch and a matinée of The Importance of Being Earnest..."; and 7 other pieces, including: 3 telegrams from Douglas to Gould arranging meetings; 2 copies of Osbert Peake's letters to Alan Lennox Boyd giving the Home Office's reasons for not returning Douglas's manuscript, i.e. prisoners should not make profit from something they have written in prison; a TLs from Harold Nicolson to Douglas admitting the difference between Wilde being allowed to retain De Profundis and the confiscation of In Excelsis, folds, v.s., v.d. (22 pieces).

⁂ Provenance: From the estate of Diana, Lady Menuhin (1912-2003), ballet dancer.