Letter from Bruce Chatwin, Wotton-under-Edge, England, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1971 : typescript signed.

Thanking Ivory for sending "the checque" [see MA 23840.987] and observing that "it eases the financial situation here somewhat"; noting that he has earned nearly nothing in the last four years, but is about to sell "a feather cape from Peru bought for 300 bucks in 1966 in old N.Y." for which a friend has asked "whether I would accept 22,000 for it. You bet I bloody well would"; quoting from "the letter [underlined]," which he recently found, and which is full of "page upon page" of withering insults-- "I can't tell why I find it so funny"; saying he is feeling "rather washed out" from a "lunch party" for thirteen he and his wife recently threw; saying his manuscript is being typed and he hopes to turn it in to the publisher in November, and then "come with Howard and Julia Hodgkin to Boston and the to N.Y."; pronouncing "I'm appalled at how long everything takes to get done"; predicting, "In the end they'll probably turn the bloody thing down"; describing how two of his former colleages at Sotheby's have resigned from the board over the licensing of the name to a cigarette manufacturer; suddenly bringing up the subject of "ACTION in film," asking Ivory's opinion, and abruptly signing off.