The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-01-09
MR.. SHAW
AND DIR.
letter from G.. Bernard Shaw Nh1cn
Disposes of a Certain Idle
Newspaper Fiction.

bald Henderson's biography OF 1eoESe
BERNARD Shaw, much silly and vapid
talk has been INDUCED in by amer
lean in regard to the ex-
change Of letters between Mr.. SHAW
and his biographer in the Morning
Post Of London. In his letter 10 the
Morning Post, Mr.. Shaw pronounced
DR.. Henderson's work a most re-
markable achievement" and as near
the facts as it is possible for the
biography Of a living man to be. Very
recently, Mr.. Shaw has written a let
ter to the American publishers OF Dr.
Henderson's book (Stewart q kldo
Co, Cincinnati), in which he makes
abundantly clear the high regard In
which he holds both his b~iographer
and his biography. This letter, which
has just been released by the Stewart
& Kidd Co, appears below, and
speaks for itself:
Go Adelphi Terrace, London, W. Cd
Courmayeur (Torino), Italy,
4th September, 1911.
Dear Sirs: It is very difficult for
me to express an opinion OF Profess
sor Henderson's biography of me.
All autobiographieS prove, when care
fully checked, that no man has an ac-
curate knowledge Of his own life, n
that when an autobiography does not
agree with a biography, the biography
is. probably right and h autobiog-
raphy wrong. Henderson, in an in
tercourse with me which has been
very intimate during his visits to
England and in a correspondence
which has kept the intimacy alive
when the Atlantic was between Us.
has had to put into shape a mass of
unceremonious and irresponsible au-
photography received by him viva
VOce, besides making q desperate at
tempt to recover a biography from
a period of which he, as a man
younger than myself by a whole gen
Grafton, and raised in another cOun-
try at that, has had no direct e X
perience. The very friendliness o.
our relations has been an obstacle tC
him, for l have been less helpful tC
him than / should perhaps have beer
; to n whom l should have had t.
treat with more ceremony. Further
the mass OF silly fiction which is il
circulation concerning me is enor
nous: h American press, in particu
lar, seems to imagine that its read
ers can never tire Of silly and i'll
natured stories which are not only I'm
true Of me, but for the most par
, could not possibly be true of any HUI
ma creature. Yet nobody can quit
: escape the influence-of this rubbish
and Henderson, in his heroic at
tempt to sweep it away and set m,
;, right with his fellow countrymen, ha
been Unable to prevent a few Of it
: cinders and a little of it's dust from
: settling on his own pages.
8 Under these disadvantages. I thin
2 he has done extraordinarily vel
There are mistakes, Of course, bu
they do not matter. Our friend Alvi
Langdon Coburn, for instance, photo
$ graphed q house in which neve
e lived Che got the number right, bu
the street wrong) and led Professo
e Henderson to embellish his book wit
a picture totally ~unconnected with m
q career. But the right house woul
r nave meant no more than the wron
to the-American reader. There ar
It also passages dealing with music ar
Le with painting and the work of Wi
lam Morris which could only hay
+ been made adequate by approachin
them, not from the side Of nv wor,
k put from that of the great musicia,
is and Morris himself; for here T ws
the pupil and the 2ssimilator. not tt
at master; and here, too, Henderson
l. not on his own special ground :
IS literature. AS much as this, howeve
can be sale against any b~iograpt
ever written; and I should not g
n IL were 1t not that my peculiar nos
tlOn as the subject of the book forc,
as me 70 Quality my general and hear
is commentator Of it ty stipulating tn;
IN | u not be held responsible f,
% an It's details. The fact that its on
l!catlon has left my friendly rel
to IONS with the author quite unalters
At -excep in SO far as they are @
HANGED by the service he has do,
me-speaks for itself, and ,eav
T. room for hope hat any future &c
t.on may be still nearer the mark tn;
It's forerunner.
ar Yours faithfully,
tic 6. BERNARD SHAW.
30 The Stewart & Kidd Co..
Cincinnati, u. S. A,