Amis, Kingsley--Science Fiction

Including by: Ian Fleming, Graham Greene, Harold Pinter, Aldous Huxley, Somerset Maugham, John Masters, Roald Dahl, H.E. Bates, John Montgomery, William Golding, Daphne du Maurier (two letters, the second also mentioning that "I saw the film [of The Birds] last week ... Photography and direction brilliant, but my simple story gone west to San Francisco and all about relationships between blondes and mother-ridden lawyers..."), Anthony Burgess, Alan Sillitoe, C.P. Snow, Muriel Spark, J.B. Priestley, Rebecca West, Eric Ambler, C.S. Forester, and Angus Wilson, 38 pages, various sizes, 24 July to 20 September 1963, [together with:] a bundle of duplicate copies of Amis's outbound letter and a bundle of copies of the replies, all loose in a folder

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."

These letters were written in response to a letter sent by Amis on 22 July 1963 soliciting contributions to "a volume of new science fiction stories by prominent writers not generally associated with the field of science fiction" to be published by Penguin for Cape. These letters show that the idea elicited surprising interest, but unfortunately this fascinating project never came to fruition.

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.