Beschreibung:

Autograph draft, unsigned, of a letter to Dr. C[handler], forcefully pointing out the failings of the doctors who have been treating his lover Stephen Tennant for tuberculosis: he urges him to find a doctor who can come and live nearby and treat Tennant on a daily basis, and emphasises the strain it is having on himself ("...I have been with S. almost continuously for the last 12 months...present conditions are imposing a great strain on me...As far as I am concerned, this is an S.O.S. I am sending you…"), 2 pages, large 8vo, no date; together with an autograph letter by Stephen Tennant to his German friend and carer "Tante Joanna" [Hirth] saying that he wants to convalesce with her (3 pages); four autograph letters by Christopher [Hassall], to Tennant and Sassoon on the same matter, the ill-health of "Nannie" and his own social life (26 pages); two typed letters signed by Dr. Chandler, commenting on Sassoon's strictures on the other doctors and urging Sassoon to look after himself; a letter from another doctor to Mrs Tennant; and a carbon copy of a letter from Tennant's brother to Dr. Snowdon, soliciting his opinion on Stephen's case (against the sentence "We shall also be glad to have your expert views on his condition" Sassoon has pencilled "how Kind!"), in all 39 pages, June-September 1930 where dated; together with a photograph of Tennant "swooning" in the sun, blind stamped by A. Maltese Siracusa ( c. 180 x 268 mm.)