George Orwell Typed Letter Signed.

ORWELL, George.

$19,500.00

Item Number: 142701

Rare typed letter signed “Geo. Orwell“, to Gerry Byrne announcing that “my wife died three months ago, very suddenly and unexpectedly”, writing about the aftermath of her death including his relief that their son Richard was too young to to miss her (“…He is now 13 1/2 months old and is extremely well. He has twelve teeth and is almost able to walk…”), apologising that he cannot come to speak at a Labour Party campaign meeting (“…I am up to the eyes in the election myself, apart from other work. I don’t even know of anyone suitable…”), 1 page, 4to, 27b Canonbury Square, Islington, London, 28 June 1945, “…She was to have an operation which should not have been very serious in itself and was expected to cure the trouble she suffered from, but she appears to have died as soon as the operation began, as a result of the anaesthetic…” Although Orwell here relates the immediate cause of Eileen’s death under anaesthetic for a hysterectomy, “the trouble she suffered from” was advanced cancer. Orwell was in France when she died, on 29 March 1945, reporting on the final stages of the war in Europe, and he here explains to Byrne that he returned as soon as he could after the funeral, escaping his grief through work (“…I felt better when I was moving about…”) and leaving his son Richard “with an aunt in Greenwich”. He was back in England covering the Election, which was just a week away, and explains to Byrne that he had just taken on a housekeeper – Susan Watson – which would make it practical for his son to rejoin him in Islington. Orwell‘s correspondent here is Gerry Byrne, the husband of Amy Charlesworth, with whom he had corresponded since 1937. (The Complete Works of George Orwell: Volume 17 (1998) pp. 198-99).