TLS signed “G. Bernard Shaw,” one page, 8 x 10, October 7, 1927. Scathing letter to his friend and fellow journalist George Sylvester Viereck, who was jailed during World War II for pro-German sympathies. In part, “The interview in the Neue Freie Presses was quoted by the Evening Standard here, and provoked a protest from an Admiral, to which I had to reply. In the future I shall avoid you like the plague if you persist in publishing what you can remember of our conversations. You represented me as saying the British Fleet had been completely useless throughout the war: that is, as telling a senseless and obvious lie for the mere sake of lying. I told you that the people at the Admiralty here were divided into a Beatty party and a Jellicoe party: the dispute being as to which of the two made a mess of the Battle of Jutland and let the German admiral get away with the honors of war. You reported me as saying that we disputed as to which of the two won the battle of Jutland. There were other things which obliged me to repudiate the whole interview. In future you must let me speak for myself: I am, like you, a journalist, and need no intermidiary…Therefore, it must be understood that our intercourse henceforward is not for publication. In short, I forgive you this time; but don’t do it again.” Accompanied by a Western Union cablegram from Shaw to Viereck, dated November 22, 1929, in which Viereck has again incurred Shaw’s wrath. Cablegram reads, “No more interviews have had to repudiate last and stop second installment in Sunday Express You never understand a word I say.” In fine condition, with intersecting mailing folds and a paperclip impression to top left edge. Shaw and Viereck would remain friends despite Shaw’s rebuking Viereck for injecting too much of his opinion into interviews. R&R COA.
