Letter from Walter de la Mare, Penn, Buckinghamshire, to Edward Wagenknecht, 1940 August 5 : typescript signed.

Thanking for the letter recieved that morning; agreeing that it is "quite impracticable to spend a great deal of time on a project that may eventually not be acceptable" regarding proposal to Holt; hoping to begin a fiction book "but these are not very auspicious times for enterprises of that kind"; wishing to have heard the readings; wondering how long it took to read "Seaton's Aunt"; saying "One thing in your letter a little disquiets me" referring to the recent publication of "Poetry and Prose" which was "delivered as a lecture before the British Academy"; guessing this lecture is the one previously referenced; arranging an American edition of "Pleasures and Speculations" proving to be "improbable"; asking for publisher suggestions; sharing that reviews have been good and a new story will be finished by the end of November; saying "I don't think I have ever met Tom Wilson, but remember Richard Thornton very well," and asking Wagenknecht to "do what you think best about suggesting the anthology to either of them"; expressing uncertainty about collaborating "but there is no need to say how delighted I shall be if I can."