BERNARD SHAW AND MRS. PATRICK CAMPBELL: THEIR CORRESPONDENCE

The first publication of this long, intensely personal correspondence which spanned forty years (1899-1939) has not only its permanent interest but reflects the immediate charm and inordinate vivacity and vitality of the great man of letters and the great actress. These letters- here which are rather notes, impetuous, elusive, capricious,- his which are often of greater substance and seriousness, form not only a reflection of this long friendship and deep love (""my most tranquillizing friend and my most agitating heart's darling"") but lend a warmth to the man rarely suspected in his writing- or verbal interchange. From the initial formalities, to the increasing frequency and fervor, and finally to the long altercations- in the later years- when she wished to publish the correspondence, and he refused permission out of deference to his wife- and her husband, the letters also provide a spot commentary on friends and family, his travels and her tours, on accidents and illnesses, on literary and artistic celebrities, on his plays- and her appearances, etc., etc. down to her rather sad last years of ""poverty and discomfort"". The letters to Ellen Terry appeared in print during his life-time- but since ""the Terry affair was all on paper, and ours was lived and not written""- this much more considerable correspondence has been withheld until Shaw's death, and edited here without comment but with notes to provide an orientation on the characters or circumstances which are mentioned.