P.L. Travers Autograph Letter Signed.

TRAVERS, P.L.

$3,500.00

Item Number: 143284

Autograph letter signed by the author of Mary Poppins, Pamela Lyndon Travers, concerning the distressing news of the death of close friend, long-term companion and possible lover Madge Burnand. Quarto, two pages, the letter reads, “‘Salvatore Mundi Hospital Rome – 19th March [1959]. My dear Richard, You will grieve to know that our dear Madge died last night. She had been ill & was in Chichester Christ Hospital. After asking the matron how she was, & being told ‘very ill… it is in higher hands’ she said ‘I know what that means’ – & cheerfully made her will – Then… she fell asleep late in the evening & did not wake up – that, indeed, was God’s mercy, and the world is a lesser place without her. Nurses & Matron were moved by her fortitude – & her last few weeks were happy for I had persuaded her to move to a very cheerful little hotel which she enjoyed. I am in the hospital myself – in Rome – & it is my grief that I could not be with her. The Dr. told me that I would trouble her if  I did not come away on the 8th as planned – So I came – I am not very ill – & wish I had wish I had just put it off for just a fortnight so that I could have been with her. She is to be buried on Monday at Roman Catholic Cemetery, Slindon, near Chichester, Sussex… Please pray for her on Monday & all days – Have a Mass said for her – I have asked a friend to arrange for masses to be said for her for 40 days. I have been advised not to come back for her funeral – it is bitter but there will be friends around her – Do not lose me – come & see us – She has left us a noble pattern for living & dying. Ever yours Pamela Travers.” The recipient, Richard Arnold-Jones, was a poet, teacher and founder of the Redrice School. He was a prominent Anglo-Catholic, and it appears that Travers shared at least some of his beliefs. Travers was reluctant to share details about her personal life and never married. Though she had numerous fleeting relationships with men throughout her life, she lived for more than a decade with Madge Burnand, daughter of Sir Francis Burnand, a playwright and the former editor of Punch. They shared a London flat from 1927 to 1934, then moved to Pound Cottage near Mayfield, East Sussex, where Travers published the first of the Mary Poppins books. Their relationship, in the words of one biographer, was “intense”, but equally ambiguous. In near fine condition. An important letter offering a very rare glimpse into the private life of the very private author.

Best known for the Mary Poppins series of children's books, Australian-born British writer Pamela Lyndon Travers gained a reputation for her stubborn and reclusive nature. Travers insisted on acting as an adviser in Walt Disney's musical film adaptation of Mary Poppins and strongly disapproved of the final product, particularly the use of animation in the film. She received no invitation to the film's star-studded premiere and refused to allow any further adaptations of the series. The film Saving Mr. Banks was produced in 2013, offering a dramatized retelling of the working process during the planning of Mary Poppins starring Emma Thompson as P. L. Travers and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney.