Letter from Thom Gunn, San Antonio, to Oscar Mellor, 1955 November 26 : autograph manuscript signed.

Enclosing the manuscript of the new book he said he was going to send in July, but the delay has allowed him to revise 8 poems, take 2 out, and add a new one; describing the differences in length and amount of poems between this book and Fighting terms; stating that if he included every poem he wanted to print, like he did with Fighting terms, it would have been 40 instead of 23 poems; mentioning how people will miss the inclusion of "Earthborn" in the book, but gives his reasons for leaving it out; stating how all the poems have been printed somewhere else, except "First meeting with a possible mother-in-law," and how he got a prize for 9 of them in Poetry Chicago; inquiring if Mellor would be interested in publishing this book and hoping it will be out this time next year when he will be back in England; asking when the copies of Fighting terms will be sent out so he can give a copy to Isherwood and that he will give permission to reprint to all the appropriate people; discussing the epigraph on the title page of the new book; talking about his teaching experience; writing about Don [Hall]'s winning of a magnificent prize that will insure he sells an extra 1000 copies of his first book that just came out.