Lessing, Doris

mostly typed, including c.20 postcards, sending him manuscripts, proofs, articles and blurbs, thanking him for books, complaining about Cape ("...I was sent the blurb for The Fifth Child - so awful, illiterate and stupid that I couldn't believe it..."), giving her opinions on the world of publishing, promoting the inspirational Sufi writer Idries Shah, and discussing personal subjects (including her son Peter), social engagements ("...my career as a matchmaker has been very undistinguished...") and Maschler's memoir, c.80 pages, various sizes, 25 Langham Street, 58 Warwick Road, 60 Charrington Street, 11 Kingscroft Road, and 24 Gondar Gardens, London, 15 July 1957 to 27 February 2005 (where dated)
[with:] articles on civic defence (4 pages), the Harrod's bombing (3 pages), and Zimbabwe (3 pages), a review of Desmond Morris's Catlore (2 pages), prefaces for a Shikasta (3 pages) and Doris Lessing Reader (3 pages) and her own blurbs for The Four-Gated City, Canopus in Argos, and Shikasta (10 pages), also retained copies of letters by Maschler to Lessing, and other related material, loose in a folder, nicks and creases, occasional staining

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A revealing series of letters by the Nobel Prize winning novelist widely acknowledged as one of the most important voices in post-war writing in English. Lessing moved from Michael Joseph to MacGibbon & Kee in 1957 after meeting Maschler, and later followed him to Cape. The firm published Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971) and most of the books that followed over the next twenty years. These letters reveal Lessing's close and critical eye on the business of publishing: she grumbles about poor marketing copy, ill-planned publicity, and the availability of her books, among other things. These letters also chronicle forty years of friendship through invitations ("...you are so nice to have at dinner parties..."), favours and personal advice ("...I tell you it's no use your trying to be a bourgeois - you'll see...")

Tom Maschler
This lot is from the personal archive of Tom Maschler (b.1933), one of the leading figures of modern British publishing and identified by the Bookseller as one of the ten most influential figures in publishing of the twentieth century. As editorial director at Jonathan Cape from 1960, he was responsible for shaping the literary scene through the publication of authors including Joseph Heller, John Fowles, Doris Lessing, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Philip Roth, as well as many of the best English novelists to emerge in the 70s – Amis, Barnes, Chatwin, McEwan, Rushdie. Under his leadership Cape published some 15 Nobel laureates, and his forays into children’s books included bringing together Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake. The ten lots from his collection (lots 188-197) give significant insights into his varied career and literary interests, from Declaration, the collection of essays that made his name, to correspondence with two very different writers with whom he developed a particular rapport – John Fowles and Doris Lessing. They also include a small number of letters by an earlier generation of authors (Raymond Chandler and Malcolm Lowry) that were acquired by Maschler.