Details
LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS (1870-1945)
Autograph letter signed to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Shelley's Folly, Lewes, 16 December 1919, 2 pages, 8vo, envelope; with an autograph letter signed (a retained copy) by Conan Doyle of a reply, 17 December [1919].
A hysterical rant and a masterful put-down. Lord Alfred Douglas's letter is a fine example of his almost insane disputatiousness: 'Sir What a disgusting beast you are with your filty caricatures of "Christ". The proper way to deal with such a man as you would be to give you a thrashing with a horse whip', accusing Conan Doyle of promoting Spiritualism for the sake of money and notoriety and 'in short for the same purposes & with the same flat-footed low persistence as you worked your idiot "Sherlock Holmes" business'; accusing him of being an 'apostate Catholic', warning him that his 'blasphemous ravings' will bring on him 'a dreadful judgement', and signing himself 'Yours with the utmost contempt'. Conan Doyle's reply is a masterpiece of concision: 'Sir I was relieved to get your letter. It is only your approval which could in any way annoy me'. (2)
Autograph letter signed to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Shelley's Folly, Lewes, 16 December 1919, 2 pages, 8vo, envelope; with an autograph letter signed (a retained copy) by Conan Doyle of a reply, 17 December [1919].
A hysterical rant and a masterful put-down. Lord Alfred Douglas's letter is a fine example of his almost insane disputatiousness: 'Sir What a disgusting beast you are with your filty caricatures of "Christ". The proper way to deal with such a man as you would be to give you a thrashing with a horse whip', accusing Conan Doyle of promoting Spiritualism for the sake of money and notoriety and 'in short for the same purposes & with the same flat-footed low persistence as you worked your idiot "Sherlock Holmes" business'; accusing him of being an 'apostate Catholic', warning him that his 'blasphemous ravings' will bring on him 'a dreadful judgement', and signing himself 'Yours with the utmost contempt'. Conan Doyle's reply is a masterpiece of concision: 'Sir I was relieved to get your letter. It is only your approval which could in any way annoy me'. (2)
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