Autograph letter signed to a literary agent - photo 1
Autograph letter signed to a literary agent - photo 2

Autograph letter signed to a literary agent

Lot 1283
17.12.2024 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1336809
Lot 1283 | Autograph letter signed to a literary agent
Estimate value
$ 600 – 800
WELLS, Herbert George (1866–1946). ALS, 'H.G. Wells', to William Morris Colles, [not before 1914].

Wells rails against devious agents falsely offering film rights, to literary agent William Morris Colles. In the September of 1914, H.G. Wells wrote to William Morris Colles (1855–1926) to discuss the serialization of his novel The World Set Free published earlier that year. Evidently, Colles and other agents were liberally offering adaptation rights for Wells works – which at this point included The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and scores of other titles – and Wells caught wind of it. He opens his letter, ‘I’m out with sword [and] brand to kill all agents who “but in” between publishers [and] authors’, concluding with a warning to Colles: ‘I am setting off guns to kill intrusive agents [and] I’d grin beyond measure if a flying fragment came your way.’

1 page in ink on ‘Little Easton Rectory, Dunmow’ letterhead, signed "H.G. Wells" (172 × 210 mm, by sight). Framed and matted by Bryan L. Nerone & Co., Beverly Hills, with photograph portrait of Wells. Not inspected out of frame.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
04.12.2024 – 17.12.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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