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Lot 111
'Tommy and I are going to be married…..’ DU MAURIER DAPHNE: (1907-1989) British Author. An exceptional, lengthy A.L.S., Daphne, twelve pages, 8vo, Woking, n.d. ('Saturday', 1932), to [Foy Quiller-Couch], on the printed stationery of Pirbright Camp. In a revealing letter, written in bold pencil, Du Maurier announces to her friend 'It is perhaps a strange coincidence that my earliest recollections should be the sound of bugles in Albany Street barracks, the Revelle (sic) to wake me and the Last Post to send me to sleep, that I should once more find myself in the same atmosphere - for many years now pushed back in my dusty memory. But maybe the things that happen to us in life recur again and again, like a strange cycle' and continues 'Tommy and I are going to be married. When I am not sure, probably early one morning in Lanteglos church before anyone is awake, with the grave digger for witness, and so out and away to Helford or beyond', further confessing 'I never thought or intended that this should happen to me; or if it did would have lived carelessly in Walmsley fashion, but he is trying to teach me that those ways of living are messy and stupid and very very young. Your father (unwittingly!) pushed me a step further in the right direction when he spoke to me last week about a code of living, and a standard, and that marriage and children meant more in life than all the novels and successes ever written'. Du Maurier further muses 'Its going to be a bit of a job at first, to change all my old ideas and to have a shot at living “unselfishly” for the first time in my life, and I hope I shan't make too big a mess of it. Having, by a queer stroke of fate, been “picked first” by someone with the ideals and principles and standards of a Sir Courtenay Vyvyan maybe it won't be so difficult. It's a bit of a jolt to discover that the fellow in dirty pants who laughs at me when I make a mistake on a boat is known here as the officer who sets the highest standard of efficiency in the whole Brigade of Guards, that at 32 he was the youngest major in the entire Army!!!'. Du Maurier also writes that she has informed her family of the news, and are suitably agreeable, 'I've already had a typical letter from the Aunt saying how selfish I am not to have a big wedding because mummy would have loved it!!' and also remarks 'There is something agonizing in the gush and publicity of getting married which I know you will feel for me about - I'm not wearing an engagement ring or being different at all and I trust life will go on being the same as ever. I don't see any need to make a scene just because two people find they like each other's company enough not to mind sharing a tooth brush, sort of thing do you? Anyway, there we are'. The writer also explains her immediate plans, 'I'll bring Tommy to the Farm if I may and back to tea, but you do understand that any formal introduction and presentation would be agony and embarrassing - I simply refuse to be looked upon as an engaged young lady!....I've now got to pluck up my best manners and be taken to his home and be introduced to “mother”! I've got a pair of red pants to change into - do you think they will cause a scandal?!'. Du Maurier concludes with a brief reference to her literary work, 'By the way Tommy said all the things to me about Book 2 that your father did, and will go carefully through Book 3'. A remarkable letter in which Du Maurier announces her marriage and hints at the somewhat unconventional circumstances surrounding her engagement. Some very light, minor age wear and a small area of paper loss to the upper right corner of one page, just affecting a few words of text. The signature is slightly rubbed at the fold of the page, although remains legible. About VGFoy Quiller-Couch - daughter of British writer Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944), and a life-long friend of Du Maurier. Indeed, Du Maurier was accompanied by Foy Quiller-Couch when she became inspired with the storyline for her novel Jamaica Inn. Some years previously the two ladies were staying at Jamaica Inn and went riding on Bodmin Moor. They became lost in bad weather conditions and apparently sheltered for some time in a derelict cottage on the moor but were eventually led back to Jamaica Inn by their horses.Sir Frederick Browning (1896-1965) British Lieutenant General of World War II, Commander of the First Allied Airborne Army during Operation Market Garden, September 1944. As the present letter confirms, Browning was promoted to the rank of major in May 1928 and was later posted to the 2nd Battalion of Grenadier Guards at Pirbright from where Du Maurier wrote her letter.In 1931 Browning had read Du Maurier's novel The Loving Spirit and, impressed by the depictions of the Cornish coastline, set out to see it for himself in his boat. The following year he invited Du Maurier out on the boat and after a short romance he proposed to her, however she rejected the offer, not believing in marriage. Browning's friend, Major General Eric Dorman-Smith, then went to see Du Maurier and explained to her (amongst others, as the present letter would suggest) that living together with Browning without being married would be disastrous for the soldier's career. Unconventionally, Du Maurier then proposed to Browning, who accepted. OWING TO RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED BY THE SALEROOM THE COMPLETE DESCRIPTION FOR THIS LOT CAN NOT BE DISPLAYED HERE - PLEASE CONTACT IAA FOR A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION
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