Pitt-Rivers (Michael)

Correspondence collection comprising nine typed letters and two autograph letters ('Michael'), all to Philip Dosse of Hansom Books, discussing various reviews for Books and Bookmen, including titles relating to Bristol, the history of Australia, Nancy Mitford’s Frederick the Great etc. "‘It is a pity about the air tickets as I always have to go to Australia at this time of year. I should like to continue writing reviews for ‘Books and Bookmen’ but if the air travel is to be permanently out in future, I think perhaps we should discuss terms for future articles, that is to say, if you want to have them. I have not seen Dicky (Buckle, the ballet critic) since Cecil Beaton’s Boxing Day party but my people are doing a job on his garden and I think it will start to look very nice next summer" (18^th January 1974); "Is there any chance of you coming down here to stay with Dickie, or indeed would you like to come and stay a night on your own account. As you know I shall be very pleased to see you…."(18^th April 1974); "I am glad to hear that you are going to change your editor of Art and Artists for I have always thought he specialised far too much in the way-out, with-it modern anti-art. I am afraid that William (Gronow-Davis, his partner) would not be able to undertake anything that entails living permanently in London……I think you want more of a literary man rather than a painter, don’t you?’"(6^th August 1974); "Your “Art & Artists” is quite transformed. It is now a fascinating magazine, full of diversity and interest and as usual beautifully produced. Please give my congratulations to the new editor" (27^th February 1976); "Thank you for your note sending on yet another History of Australia. I now have two. The first one is very hard going, written by a left-wing don with a bias toward the Australian Labour Party"(27^th September 1978); thirteen pages in total, 4to, King John’s House, Tollard Royal, Wiltshire, January 1974 – September 1980; with two further letters from Pitt-Rivers’s secretary. (13)

***Michael Pitt-Rivers (1917-1999) British landowner who gained notoriety in the 1950s when he was put on trial and charged with buggery, for which he was sentenced and imprisoned for 18 months. The case eventually led to the Wolfenden Report of 1957 which recommended the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the United Kingdom