Autograph letter signed by Lord Dunsany to his publishers dated 1921

DUNSANY, Lord (Edward J.M.D Plunkett) Autograph letter signed to publishers G. P. Putnam’s Sons about his play "If: A play in four acts". 
 
Dunsany Castle, September 1921
 
4to, 222 x 177 mm. Three sheets, folded, written on eleven sides in black ink, written on good quality wove paper (watermarked Arches). Some ink bleed in places from a heavy nib; light creasing and handling wear; otherwise in very good, entirely legible condition.
 
A substantial and content-rich letter concerning Dunsany’s play If: A Play in Four Acts, written to his publishers. Putnam's published IF in the UK in 1921 and in the US in 1922. He reflects at length on the reception of the work, rejecting contemporary critical interpretations, particularly the suggestion that the play is allegorical, and expressing irritation at reviewers (notably Edward Shanks) whom he considers to have misunderstood its intent. Dunsany instead emphasises the simplicity of the play’s conception, its setting in “the East,” and the central device of the “magic crystal,” clarifying its narrative function and explicitly denying that the work was intended as a dream.
 
The letter further includes practical publishing matters, with discussion of design and presentation, including a preference for plain styling over decorative “Florentine paper,” with reference to his earlier works The Gods of Pegana and Time and the Gods. 
 
A lengthy literary letter. Letters of this extent and substance between Dunsany and his publisher are uncommon in the market.