A letter from supernatural writer
Algernon Blackwood, to an unknown recipient, on
Savile Club stationery. The author mentioned his non-affiliation with the
London Mercury. The reference to the individual soliciting a drawing from Blackwood is intriguing.
From my collection (gift of a friend).
Text:
Dear Sir,
I am in difficulty about finding time for the drawing you kindly suggest, as I'm getting ready to go abroad, but I have otherwise no (?) of any kind if you think it of any interest in my art. I have, however, no dealings with the "London Mercury" you mention (if I read you correctly) and I gather they have not commissioned the drawing have they?
Perhaps you would kindly tell me how to reach Farnborough Rd -- from Marble Arch, say?
Yours truly
Algernon Blackwood
"After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, the Danube enters a region of singular loneliness and desolation, where its waters spread away on all sides regardless of a main channel, and the country becomes a swamp for miles upon miles, covered by a vast sea of low willow-bushes. On the big maps this deserted area is painted in a fluffy blue, growing fainter in color as it leaves the banks, and across it may be seen in large straggling letters the word Sümpfe, meaning marshes." Algernon Blackwood, "The Willows"
