MANNING, Olivia (1908-80). A collection of fifteen autograph letters and postcards, signed, and seven typed letters, signed, to Count Giacomo Antonini, dated between 1967-77. A correspondence which starts formally but grows in warmth and candour.

MANNING, Olivia (1908-80).  A collection of fifteen autograph letters and postcards, signed, and seven typed letters, signed, to Count Giacomo Antonini, dated between 1967-77. A correspondence which starts formally but grows in warmth and candour, on travel, literature, writers, pets and illness. "I was wondering whether you would like to add Anthony Burgess to your list of authors? He is a brilliantly inventive writer, I think, and also a very genuine and pleasant person ..." (July 1967); "I return Francis' novel [almost certainly Francis King's A Domestic Animal (1970)] & I am most grateful to you for letting me read it. I became more & more impressed by it as I read on - the emotional passages are very powerful & I imagine this is the most frank description of homosexual passion outside the classics. Francis has thrown aside all inhibitions & I think the result justifies his lack of restraint ..." (1st July 1969); "Have you read the new Doris Lessing book? I find her a boring writer & the reviews seem to confirm this but F. [?presumably Francis King] finds it 'terrific' & says she is Bruckner to my Mozart ..." (July 1969); "The Balkan Trilogy is just coming out in Penguin but with very disappointing cover designs ... How grim everything is & what a useless election!" (undated); "I sent you a copy of 'The Rain Forest' soon after it was published and never heard a word from you. I imagined you did not like it and did not care to say so, so felt silence was best" (September 1975); "Yes, 'The Danger Tree' did very well with the critics & has since been on the best-seller list for 5 weeks - quite amazing for me - but well below such sellers as Edna O'Brien & Margaret Drabble" (September 1977). Of Count Giacomo Antonini (1901-83), we have been able to discover little apart from the fact that he was an Italian-born literary critic who died in in the village of Froxfield in Hampshire. His papers are held at the Gabinetto Vieusseux in Florence. Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 20 & 21 July, 1981, lot 543.