SHAW, George Bernard (1856-1950). Playwright.
Identical pair of letters signed ('G Bernard Shaw' and shorthand signature), one typewritten, one in Shaw's shorthand, to William Maxwell at R & R Clark Ltd On Shaw's writing paper from 4 Whitehall Court, 13 November 1946. The letters congratulate Maxwell on the firm's centenary ('So the great printing form of R.& R. is 100 yuears old; and I am only 90!').

'... ever since it printed my first plays, Pleasant and Unpleasant, in 1898, it has been as natural a part of my workshop as the pen in my hand. It has given me no trouble nor complained when I have given it a good deal, holding up its type sometimes for years. ...'

Shaw claimed to have learned Pitman's shorthand in six weeks whilst still in his teens. In later years he used shorthand for all his writing instead of dictating to a secretary. Blanche Patch, his secretary for the last 30 years of his life, said that his shorthand was excellent and clear, without any vowels left out or abbreviations used. The present item shows both Shaw's shorthand version on a sheet from a green shorthand pad and the finished version presumably typed by Miss Patch. The two letters are laid down and mounted.
 Apparently unpublished, not in Laurence's Collected Letters, where numerous other letters to Maxwell are noted.
[No: 7680]