DU MAURIER DAPHNE: (1907-1989) British Author. T.L.S., Daphne du Maurier, two pages, 8vo, Menabilly, Par, Cornwall, 1^st December 1962, to Mr. [Meaburn] Staniland. Du Maurier thanks her correspondent for their letter and continues to inform him 'We are safe at Menabilly for at least seven years - I have just signed a new lease - after that, I don't know' and further commenting 'I would think it safe enough to leave the name Menabilly in the autobiography in the front of the book. The paper-backs will probably be out of print by 1970!'. Du Maurier also refers to one of her most famous works, 'Re The Birds, I had a letter from a man the other day saying he had written a novel called The Birds, on an identical theme, many years ago. 1936. The name Frank Baker. Here we go, I thought, another damn plagarism (sic) case (I'd never heard of his book) and I wrote back politely, and thank goodness he replied just as politely, agreeing it was a coincidence. However, when you publish The Birds I will send him a copy.' The author also writes of an article that has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, wondering if Staniland had seen it too, and remarking 'Very fair, if a bit superior. I long to know who did it. I would think a woman. Margaret Lane perhaps, or Hansford Johnson? It was quite a coup even to be noticed'. A letter of good content. About EX

 

Meaburn Staniland (1914-1992) English Editor, Author and Antiquarian Bookseller who worked at Penguin books in the 1960s and 1970s.