Forster (E.M., writer, 1879-1970) Typed Letter signed to "Madan" [Madan Blanchard], 2pp., 4to, West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Dorking, 14th November, 1931, an imagined follow up to 'A Letter to Madan Blanchard' published by the Hogarth Press a few months before, folds; together with A Letter to Madan Blanchard, first edition, light scattered spotting straying onto page margins, original wrappers, [Kirkpatrick A14a; Woolmer 254], 1931; and a letter of provenance, v.s. (3)

⁂ A remarkable unpublished follow up letter to Forster's published work 'A Letter to Madan Blachard' in letter form.

In 1931, Leonard Woolf wrote to Forster asking to help launch a pamphlet series that would take the form of letters to "anyone, dead or alive, real or imaginary, on any subject" (Letters p.303). Though they did not succeed commercially (Harcourt Brace issued the first three individually, and by March, 1932, had sold only 125 copies), the first in the series, Forster's 'A Letter to Madan Blanchard' was the most widely read and remains a pertinent denunciation of Empire as well as a meditative exploration of one's essential humanity.

The character of Blanchard himself is not imaginary, but a real eighteenth-century mariner who deserted his shipmates and captain to remain behind on a Pacific island in the year 1783. Lee Boo, a young black prince, sailed away with the ship's company to be raised in England while Blanchard the sailor was left in his place to go native on the Pellew island.

Allegedly, after the pamphlet was published, a book collector named Hardie wrote an amusing letter to Forster about his piece. Rather than responding directly to his correspondent, Forster here addresses Madan once again, constructing a quasi follow up to the first in epistolary form.

Here, a facetious Forster replies to Madan, and in keeping with the tone of the first, Forster injects this letter with arch bemusement, imagining him to still be alive: "one irregularity invariably leads to another - at least so it still is on this side of the world - and it almost seems as if, as a final misdemeanour, you have declined to die".

In his response to the marooned sailor's imagined questions, Forster quips "I do not think that I have anything else to say, and I do not really know how to answer your questions. 'Airmail' is of course air mail, 'steam packet' a steam packet, and 'Mussolini' a local accelerator, which has hitherto only worked south of the Alps. Pigeons, whom you so quaintly remember, still exist, and wagons stand tipped up when they exist at all".

A delightful follow-up letter, and a singular Forsterian item.