[Williams, Tennessee]

Papers and documents as described below.

Lady St. Just, hence by descent.

Condition as described in catalogue entry.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot provided by Sotheby's. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colours and shades which are different to the lot's actual colour and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation because Sotheby's is not a professional conservator or restorer but rather the condition report is a statement of opinion genuinely held by Sotheby's. For that reason, Sotheby's condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot.

Lady St. Just first met Tennessee Williams at a London party given by her friend the celebrated actor John Gielgud. Most of Gielgud's letters, in his neat minuscule hand, were written to Maria Britneva in the late 1940s and early 1950s when he was acting and directing in New York and touring North America. The group comprises: 15 autograph letters signed, 2 types letters signed, 2 autograph postcards signed, and 2 telegrams, 35pp., on Gielgud's letterhead and on hotel stationery, New York, London, Toronto, Philadelphia, and v.p., 1948–1952. These amusing, gossipy letters provide a glimpse of the life of an actor on tour.  In February 1948, Gielgud was in New York, staying on West 52nd St.: "I am living quietly in a shabby little Bohemian flat with a big BED and a colored boy who has flopping ears like Noel Coward and cooks extremely well, so I entertain at home and sleep late in the mornings — the weather is arctic but indoors it is usually too hot. I might direct another nice little comedy for the Gish girls before I come home, then I hope to have a holiday in Mexico or Jamaica — perhaps both — and return burned and bouncing to London in a few weeks time — probably end of March."Also of interest is a draft in Williams's hand of a letter to be sent by Lady St. Just to Lord St. Just's physician.  Autograph letter, 2 pages on Hotel Elysee stationary, to Dr. Frick, New York, 9 December 1975. "This is to let you know that after my husband disappeared, we spoke on the phone as I'd hoped he'd gone to your hospital or to Scotland. I discovered he was in neither place and was actually very concerned, in view of the fantastic invention about having killed a man in a motor-car accident, I called the House of Lords and was astonished to hear from the teller that he had been there that day..."

The archive includes a copy of Tennessee Williams's last will and testament and other papers relating to his estate.  There are copies of a few letters from Lady St. Just to Williams, letters from agent Audrey Wood and publisher James Laughlin.