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Title: Typed Letter Signed - Recuperating from a major illness, Shaw tells a New York editor who asked him to contribute to his weekly, “At present I am trying to extricate myself from journalism rather than to strike fresh roots in it.” Author: Shaw, George Bernard Place: Haslemere, Surrey [England] Publisher: Date: May 1, 1899 Description: Typed Letter, Signed “G. Bernard Shaw.” 1 pp. 8x6½". Matted with a valuable 14¾x10½" photograph of Shaw by Dorothy Wilding signed by her in pencil in the lower left margin. Framed under glass to 19¼x22½". To Hamilton Holt Esq, The Independent, New York. Dorothy Wilding (1893-1976) was the first woman to be appointed as the Official Royal Photographer for the 1937 Coronation of King George VI. Her 1952 photograph of Queen Elizabeth II was used on all British definitive and commemorative stamps from 1952-1968. In full, “I have been an invalid since May last year; and just at present I am trying to extricate myself from journalism rather than to strike fresh roots in it. And I am deeply in arrear with promised articles. I shall, however, bear your kind invitation in mind, and avail myself of your columns when I have anything to say that would interest your readers. Perhaps you will be good enough to send me a spare copy of your last issue but one, as I confess to knowing The Independent by reputation only. Yours faithfully.” Hamilton Holt (1872-1951) was editor and publisher of “The Independent,” a liberal weekly, from 1897-1921. A founding member of the NAACP in 1909, Holt was an outspoken advocate for reform, temperance, immigrant rights, and international peace. In 1898, Shaw published three plays as “Plays Pleasant” and three plays as “Plays Unpleasant.” His essay “The Perfect Wagnerite, Commentary on the Ring” was also published in 1898. The strain of writing plays, while his critical and political work went on unabated, so sapped Shaw’s strength that a minor illness became a major one. He resigned as the drama critic for Frank Harris’ “Saturday Review,” a position he had held since 1895. On June 1, 1898, during the process of recuperation, he moved out of his mother’s house and married his unofficial nurse, Charlotte Payne-Townshend, an Irish heiress. Both in their 40s, they were married until her death in 1943. Lot Amendments Condition: Lightly soiled, a few tiny nicks to frame; near fine. Item number: 238456