MILNE, A. A — AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) on the Theater

London. Two-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED "A. A. Milne" on both sides of 5-1/2" x 7-3/8" personal 11 Mallord Street stationery to “My dear Darnett” about the development of the theatrical drama. In part: "I salute you. And I prefer my present position -- in your company. But I shall not sit down. I shall rise again and say: 1) Shaw has reformed the drama (and had time for other things). You may not like the reformation --(I do)-- but it is a very different drama from the 80's and 90's." Milne discusses "a well-constructed play" and mentions Ibsen and Shakespeare before elaborating: "that the stage develops an unhealthy hot-house atmosphere unless you have other writers blowing in ... to learn to write first, and the rigid limitations of the stage give for a poor practice-ground. Consequently, the best dramatists will have made a name in other fields of literature first. But you may be right in saying that, having once begun to write plays, they should stick to plays ... ideas being used up so much more quickly in play-writing than in novel-writing.". Light crease. About Fine