?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
ADVICE TO YOUNG WRITERS: "LEARN YOUR LANGUAGE . . . SPEAK CORRECTLY" WAUGH, EVELYN. Autograph Letter Signed, to Anne Ford ("Dear Anne"), sending advice: master the language before writing in it. 2 pages, 8vo, personal stationery, written on the recto and verso of a single sheet, pale blue paper; horizontal fold. [Stinchcombe], 13 April [1953?]
"The most valuable advice you can give young writers today is: 'Learn your Language.' This means first a sound but not necessarily outstanding knowledge of Latin, and a smattering of Greek. Don't worry your young heads about your own emotions or opinions. Study the great writers (& stylists particularly) of the past. Read a page [of] Ruskin a day. Enlarge & enrich your vocabulary. Use the dictionary--full sized Oxford if available--constantly, noticing the change of nuances in each word. Learn strict formal grammar. Try & speak correctly & frequent the company of those who do. Get the habit of grammatical construction so that you can't make a mistake. Keep Fowler's 'Modern English Usage' at your elbow. You must own a copy. Practice imitating & parodying the styles of writers such as Boswell, Gibbon, Matthew Arnold, Ruskin, Henry James, etc. Avoid ever reading trash. Then, when you have learned the rudiments of your trade, start thinking about how you will use them."
