EVERYBODY'S POLITICAL WHAT'S WHAT? Manuscript Page, Page Proofs and 3 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED (ALSs) by SHAW

London: Constable and Company Ltd., 1943 and 1944. First Edition. Letter. Very Good to Near Fine in a custom slipcase. Laurence A246 for the printed book. This collection, all housed in a green cloth chemise within a half green morocco slipcase gilt-lettered on the spine and front cover, consists of seven items related to the book: a single page typed Manuscript Revised Contents Table dated 21 August 1943 with several corrections in Shaw's hand numbering about 30 words; three examples of proof pages for the title page with simple corrections by Shaw including the elimination of "Machiavelli Modernized" from the title (noted by Laurence as being eliminated by Shaw in the final page-proof); and three AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED by Shaw with his initials (two on postcards and one on both sides of a small sheet of paper), one letter in Pitman's Shorthand (with a typed transcript), all to John Wardrop regarding proofs and the index for the book as well as Shaw's wife's illness. Some excerpts: "I always sign G. Bernard Shaw, and my professional name is Bernard Shaw without the George, which I loathe." "I am putting the book together fast, and hope soon to send you the final revise in chapters and indexable. It has been a devil of a job, and has cost me a play or two or perhaps three." "At your age I undertook an index to the works of Thomas Lodge for an Elizabethan Society. Being inexperienced and conscientious I did not know when to stop." Though there is no evidence of ownership, these items came from the collection of Harold Ackert.