‘The Attic’, 43 Bernard Street, Russell Square, W.C.—His plays have been seized by the Government. He hopes some protest can be made if they are destroyed.
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‘The Attic’, 43 Bernard Street, Russell Square, W.C.
Oct: 27/16.
Dear Mrs Pethwick Lawrence
Thank you so very much indeed for your letter about the plays. It is good to know that people like you think that they might be of some use.
But alas—yesterday the War Office or Home Office (I do not know yet by whose authority) descended upon Hendersons the publishers and seized every copy. They have forbidden its distribution or sale. And there for the present the matter stands! Needless to day I am not particularly concerned for myself whether they prosecute for the sin of having written them—but I do hope, if they destroy them, that some protest can be made. Here we are at a most critical period in history—at the very cross-roads—& we have to face all the extraordinary difficulties & dangers of the years of crisis without freedom of speech or expression one to another. Some friends in the Commons are making enquiries for me—& the Council for Civil Liberties have been told.
I shall look forward to meeting you soon. I will write if I may in a few days to fix an afternoon when I know what the next move in this suppression is to be. Again—thanks for your letter
Yours sincerely,
Miles Malleson
Agrees in deploring the suppression of artistic works. The seizure of Malleson’s plays is evidence of their power to kindle the imagination.
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31st. October, 1916.
Dear Mr. Malleson,
Yes alas—when I sent round next morning after writing my letter to you to purchase copies of your Plays to send away to my friends, my messenger was told that it was too late, {1} that the Authorities had descended upon the publisher and seized every copy. I agree with you that there is something very menacing indeed in the fact that even {2} the work of an artist is subject to suppression. I think it is one of the most serious dangers with which any Community could be confronted. I see that a question is to be asked in Parliament to-day. I am of course extremely sorry that I did not read the Play at once and secure additional copies. I congratulate you again on having written them. The very fact that they have been suppressed is in itself an evidence of the power that is in them to kindle the imagination.
You won’t forget your promise to write to me in a day or two to fix an afternoon when you could look in and see me, or ring me up over the telephone.
Yours with all good wishes,
[blank]
Miles Malleson Esq.,
“The Attic”,
43, Bernard Street,
Russell Sqre. W.C.
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{1} Mistyped ‘thateven’.