My grandfather was a magazine publisher; mostly he seems to have published a magazine in India in the 1920s called, simply, Business. There was another one called Indian Ink. These letters are from and to George Bernard Shaw. The first letter is missing. My grandfather presumably requested that he contribute some articles to the magazine. GBS responds in a delightfully caustic and discouraging way, but my grandfather seemed undeterred. He must have written to GBS again in 1932 but that letter is missing. GBS’s second response is more detailed, and gives some interesting insights into the remuneration provided by The Observer at the time.
I didn’t know these existed until today (indeed, I knew almost nothing about my grandfather, who died before I was born, until very recently). I’m quite excited by them, and about the possibility of discovering more about my grandfather.
How wonderful that you were able to find these in such good order. I love the final line “dismiss the matter from my heavily overburdened consideration” from Mr. Shaw’s 1924 letter to your grandfather that I would love to use when the opportunity arises.
Thank you for sharing these with us.
Glad you enjoyed them. It’s a delight to see such erudite correspondence. I think it’s wonderful that GBS took the time to craft superb sentences even in his letters of rejection to pestering publishers!
Indeed a wordsmith – could you imagine however giving up all hopes, ideas and dreams just because you reached the age of thirty plus seven? such biting wit and sarcasm.