[Rarebooks] FS: Tennessee Williams Letter: "I returned from the mad-house hungry for a tiny bit of affection...."

[Charles Agvent]

 From our new catalogue of 137 items, nearly all recent acquisitions, by EUDORA 
WELTY and TENNESSEE WILLIAMS now posted on our web site.

WILLIAMS, Tennessee. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). n.p.: 16 May 1970.
SIGNED  and dated as "10," his intimate signature. To Danny [Stirrup],
an  old  friend in Key West who had worked on Williams's house  there,
in  full:  "I waited as long as I could for some word from  you  about
the  erection of the Jane Bowles Summer-house which I want to sit  and
meditate  for  a  while in before I leave for my  summer  abroad  from
which  I  may  not return like a swallow of Capistrano.  And  so  last
night,  not having up till that point, heard any word from you,  asked
Fontis  to  put it up with a good carpenter and a very  simple  little
Gothic,  not Byzantine, design that we'd drawn at a bar-table. He will
start  on it Monday and the top estimate is $1700. which is below  the
amount  that an experienced architect would or should accept but all I
wish  to  expend  on  the project as it will serve only  as  room  for
bridge-playing  and  for solitary reflecting upon the madness  of  the
world.  I  have  not talked to anyone but you about the cause  of  the
interruption  in  our long friendship. But now I will. It can be  said
very  simply.  I returned from the mad-house hungry for a tiny bit  of
affection,  tenderness,  sympathy, understanding, none of  which  were
offered  and they were as necessary to me as the air I breathe.  Then,
being  a  tiger, I turned, for tigers will turn on mortal  adversaries
at  last.  That's  it and that's all. Forget me, Don Quixote,  if  you
choose  to, or remember me as a loyal and patient friend to those  who
are  friends  and I still believe you are one. The best of  luck  with
your  important  project in Palm Beach. Love, 10." Some wrinkling  and
creasing, still Very Good. Superb content!                    $2000.00

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