DOYLE, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930). Autograph manuscript signed ('Arthur Conan Doyle') of a poem, 'Shakespeare's Expostulation', Windlesham, Crowborough, n.d. [c. March 1909];
Lot 580

DOYLE, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930). Autograph manuscript signed ('Arthur Conan Doyle') of a poem, 'Shakespeare's Expostulation', Windlesham, Crowborough, n.d. [c. March 1909];

Closed10 July 2019

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DOYLE, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930). Autograph manuscript signed ('Arthur Conan Doyle') of a poem, 'Shakespeare's Expostulation', Windlesham, Crowborough, n.d. [c. March 1909];

Three pages, 325 x 204mm, on lined paper, pencil annotations on p.1 including 'Cornhill' and 'Proofs quickly' (pin holes in upper left corner; general light browning and soiling; left margin slightly rough; p.1 dust-stained, especially in upper half, browned at upper left margin and with a tear at upper left corner).

Arthur Conan Doyle's contribution to the Shakespeare authorship debate. The poem speaks in the plaintive voice of Shakespeare himself, complaining at the attribution of authorship of his works to Francis Bacon, 'A man whom I remember in old days, / A learned Judge with sly adhesive palms...'. The poem was first published in the Cornhill Magazine in March 1909, before being collected in Doyle's Songs of the Road in 1911.

[With] Autograph letter signed ('A. Conan Doyle') to 'Mr Rose', Greyswood Beeches, Haslemere, n.d. [May 1895], proposing to write a play based on the first half of his historical novel The Refugees, with Henry Irving as Louis XIV and Ellen Terry as Mme de Montespan. One page, 181 x 113mm.