The Poet & the Pilot: Some years ago English poet John Wain wrote a much publicized poem about Claude Eatherly, the International-Symbol-of-Guilt. That was before William Huie published his book The Hiroshima Pilot, story of the Eatherly hoax. Reviewing Huie’s book for the London Observer, Wain refuses to face the facts, but simply says that his poem was “true” in a larger sense than mere historic detail.
Manuscripts: Among the most interesting material for sale in London at the moment is the manuscript of Samuel Beckett’s first novel, Murphy. It takes up six quarto notebooks and is heavily revised, containing many passages left out of the final version. It is being offered by Bertram Rota, whose shop in Vigo Street, London is probably the most important in the world for modern first editions and manuscripts. Other material at Rota’s includes the manuscript of Richard Llewellyn’s first and most famous novel, How Green Was My Valley and a batch of letters and scripts to do with the “Homage to Dylan Thomas” recital held at the Globe Theatre in London on 24 January 1954. An autograph note from Augustus John concerning his portrait of Thomas says “Dylan’s sittings could be measured by the pint. This portrait took about a dozen pints of light ale.”
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