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ALS signed “George,” two pages both sides, 4.75 x 7.25, January 25, 1948. Handwritten letter to novelist Anthony Powell, written while recovering from a diagnosis of tuberculosis at Hairmyres Hospital. In part: "Thanks so much for your letter. It doesn't matter about the saddle. We're supposed to have one coming…The petrol situation is so calamitous that one has to use horses for certain purposes…No, I don't think we would use a side saddle. It would be like shooting a fox sitting on something. I must say in the days when I used to ride I sometimes secretly thought I'd like to try a side saddle, because I believe it's almost impossible to fall off.
I've been here for 6 weeks & I think I'm getting better. I don't feel nearly so deathlike & by day the X rays are beginning to show progress, though very slight. I'd done about half my novel & shan't touch it again till I'm well, but I'm starting to do a very little light work, i.e. book reviews. I've just done one & feel I've broken a spell, as I hadn't even contemplated working for 3 months. My handwriting is so bad because my right arm is badly crippled…it's probably of a tubercles nature…I'd like to do something for the TLS, but if I do it'll have to be handwritten, because even if I had a typewriter here I can't at present get my hand into that position. Did I tell you I was starting a uniform edition, as everyone seems to be doing…I am starting off with the one called 'Coming Up for Air' which was published in 1939.
This is a very nice hospital & everyone is very good to me. I imagine I'll be in bed for months yet, & even when I get out will have to go on being an out-patient, as the treatment lasts about 6 months. In that case I'll have to stay in Glasgow & get down to London or up to Jura for a few days when I can. Of course I can't see Richard till I'm non-infectious…I'm going to have him examined for TB when my sister goes up to London shortly, but I can't believe there's anything wrong with him." In very good to fine condition, with scattered staining.
Suffering from tuberculosis since 1947, Orwell was admitted to Hairmyres Hospital while working on the iconic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. There, he became the first patient to receive streptomycin in Scotland; although his health at first showed improvement, he suffered severe side effects and the treatment had to be suspended after fifty days. In July, he returned to his solitary Barnhill farmhouse on the remote Scottish island of Jura, where he completed his manuscript for Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell's autograph is scarce in any form, and this exemplary letter boasts desirable content on writing—referring to his half-finished Nineteen Eighty-Four manuscript—and his struggles with tuberculosis.
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