Box 1

Transcribed copy of the letter.

Transcribed copy of the letter.

"Dear Madam, I am asked by Sir James Barrie to thank you for your letter and express his regret that he never had the pleasure of meeting "E. Nesbit"..."

"My dear Paul, In a dream I have remembered that [...] of pure illness, I drew the broad arrow heads upside down..."

"Dear Paul, As your friend says, very rightly, those bits of heraldry are done very badly. A banner ought to be of the proportion which I draw in this sketch..."

Recipient is inferred to be Doris Langley Moore based on the date and on Barron's request to not use an anecdote about himself—something Moore dealt with a lot in her letters to Nesbit's acquaintances while doing her research.

"Dear Mrs. Moore, If I had not been away in the country I would surely have answered your letter. Indeed I do now know any useful word for you about Mrs. Bland's first reason for writing children's tales. Why do I write for grown-ups? Because that has been my fashion of getting my honest living..."

"Dear Madam, As you will see by my handwriting, I have not yet recovered from my illness of more than two year sago. It is hard for me to write much and I am careful not to strain my memory..."

"Dear Mrs. Bland, The Director of Programmes has passed your letter to me, as I was the producer of The Edwardians and thus of 'E. Nesbit'. We are extremely sorry if this play caused you disappointment and distress. Ken Taylor, the writer, took most of his material from the biography by Doris Langley Moore. What you have to tell us in the letter is very interesting but we did not, alas, know that you were available to discuss the project at the writing stage..."

Recipient is inferred to be Julia Briggs based on the date and the handwritten notes on the card, which is identical to Briggs's handwriting in other notes.