DOUGLAS ALFRED: (1870-1945) English Author & Poet, the intimate friend and lover of Oscar Wilde. A.L.S., Alfred Douglas, four pages, 4to, Hove, Sussex, 3rd September 1941, to Mr. [Collin] Brooks. Douglas announces ‘Of course I remember our correspondence about St John Lucas perfectly. You were not the editor of Truth who wrote to me & whose letter I was trying to find, so I presume you have only lately taken over the editorship’ and continues 'I wish someone would reply to H. G. Wells in today's Daily Mail. The way the left wing are trying to impose socialism on the country under cover of the war & in the teeth of the dumb disapproval of 3 quarters of the electorate is sickening. I send you a copy (no longer present) of the last sonnet I wrote (a week or two ago). It happens to be a very complete answer to Wells & his like although it was not written with an eye on Wells & was really intended to “get at” Frank Owen of the Evening Standard to whom I sent a copy which he ignored. I have sent it to Peter Page of the Daily Mail & I know he would print it in the Mail if he had the power to do so. But I rather expect the editor, Mr. Prear, will shy at the kicks in the pants to “Democracy” which the sonnet contains' further asking ‘If the Mail will not publish the sonnet would you care to have it for Truth?’ and adding 'Though I say it, it is a pretty good sonnet & better than the one on Winston Churchill which was published by the Mail on July 4th last. I'm glad to hear you liked my “Blimp” sonnet “The Old Soldier”…..It produced a very laudatory letter from Capt. Margesson at the War Office'. In a postscript Douglas again returns to the subject of his sonnet, remarking that he has sent the Daily Mail a wire explaining ‘”My sonnet is a complete reply to Wells…” But I hardly expect that the Editor will print it. The Latin tag at the foot of the title in my sonnet is from the Dies Irae, Dies Illa.' A letter of good literary content, not least for its references to H. G. Wells. One very minor paperclip rust stain to the upper left corner of each page, otherwise VG
Collin Brooks (1893-1959) British Journalist, Writer, and Broadcaster. Editor of the British periodical publication Truth from 1941-53.
H. G. Wells (1866-1946) English Writer of Science Fiction novels, although his later works became increasingly political and didactic.
Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) a medieval Latin poem that describes the day of judgment, the last trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames.