Autograph Letter Signed ("Max") to "My dear Mrs Leverson" [almost certainly Ada Leverson (1862-1933)]

3 pages 8vo, 48 Upper Berkeley Street, Saturday n.d.

Beerbohm writes to his good friend, writer Ada Leverson, who Oscar Wilde (another close friend) amicably nicknamed ‘Sphinx’.  

Fresh from a recent social together (“Enjoyed yesterday evening so much”) Beerbohm writes how deeply sad he is to miss a Leverson-proposed event. He is doubly-double-booked and must forego the joy: "I do so wish I could come: it would be most delightful. Only I can’t possibly, I have to lunch and dine out today and tomorrow. And I can’t chuck it for nuts. The lunch today and the dinner tomorrow are such as I might chuck. But the other two are absolutely ineluctable. Such a pity.” He concludes with “Very many thanks”, makes an apology for “bad writing and confused thinking”, explaining, “I am only just (and half) awake.” 

Leverson's work was oft-published in Punch in the 1890s, and her “Kensington home became a meeting-place for writers and artists, particularly those associated with the Yellow Book” (J. W. Speedie, ODNB). Her friends included Beerbohm and Wilde, George Moore and Aubrey Beardsley. “When the Wilde scandal broke in 1895, Ada Leverson stood out against public opinion and took him into her home when he was released on bail, an act of courage and loyalty for which she has become justly renowned. She was one of the few people who rose early in the morning to greet him on his release from prison in 1897” (ibid). 

Very good condition.

Stock Code: 228002