* Le Carre (John, 1931-2020, British espionage author). 16 autograph letters and notecards, all written to David Gillard MBE, 2008-2020, each signed 'David Cornwell', 'David C' or mostly ''David', on headed paper and notecards discussing a variety of topics, the earliest letter, 2 pp., dated December 16, 2008, 'Thank you very much for your kind words, and of course for the correction to old Brue's OBE, which I have passed to all my publishers, and will be picked up in the paperback (congratulations also on your own award!). As a journalist, you will surely know how, never mind how much you check things out, there's always some damn detail you missed. I pray this is the only one!...' , a notecard, written to both sides, envelope dated 08. 02. 10, 'Dear David G, thanks for yours. Here are the bookplates, signed but if you'd like to send books too, please do so... I have a new novel coming out in October, so life is not dull. And - extraordinarily - some of my novels are being adapted simultaneously for film... we'll see!', a notecard dated 19 October 2011, 'We sit here waiting for a huge influx of family - 13 grandchildren at last count - and thinking how incredibly fortunate we have been in almost every department of life: almost eerily so. Yes, I hope you enjoyed the film as much as I do. Such care, such direction and performances...', another 1 p. letter dated 11 January, 2011, '... Yes, Snow is an inestimably charming man of great good heart. I never felt so unprotected as when we spoke. Never again!, a 2 pp. letter, dated 22 October 2012, '... Yes, I was tempted to act, & am just off to Hamburg to deliver another cameo part opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman in the movie of 'A Most Wanted Man', now in mid-shoot (I'm growing a beard for the part!) But I also wanted to paint & illustrate, did both, but in the end it was the writing that got me. New novel out in May...', a notecard, written to both sides, dated 24 May 2013, '... Very glad you enjoyed ADT. It's getting a good, rumbustuous reception - some hate it, as they should, and were meant to! To Hay next week for my swansong appearance - geriatrics? medal for long service to God knows whom - and then back to Cornwall, work, & a new novel, a new life, long overdue!', a notecard dated 20 May 2015, '... No, no new novel yet, but the memoir next September. 'The Night Manager' looks very good, 'Our Kind of Traitor deplorable...', a 1 pp. letter dated 25 October 2016, 'A perfect family evening, & now I can go back to being 23.. Yes, just turned in a novel for next year. Keep the Bastille well, The storming, as you know, was largely a lie...', a 2 pp. letter dated 22 October 2017, ' Glad you enjoyed the RFH number; I just returned from Hamburg, where I gave a version of the speech in German at the Elbphilharmonie, the amazing new concert hall on the waterfront that is designed, partly like a ship. The audience inscrutable, but I think appreciative, & self-irony not on the menu... I love Larry O's effusive letters, so rich in insincerity and honeyed rhetoric ('beyond words... quite overwhelmed?'). Denholm was extraordinary: ex rear gunner, POW, gay, married, uberintelligent in an actorish way, and utterly endearing - and unreconciled...', a 1 pp. letter dated 21 October 2018, '... Yes, just finished a new novel, like it, out next year some time. And 'Spy Who...' & 'Legacy of ...' are in pre-production for a 6-hour BBC series, so life bobs along. Enjoy Poole. I was born there. My grandfather was mayor, & my father got his first gaol sentence for fraud there.', and, poignantly the final letter, dated 21 October 2020, 'Thanks for your good wishes, and the accurate guess: lobster it was. We are in bad shape & I'm afraid I may dwindle from your mailing list while we sort ourselves out. My wife Jane is on a severe course of chemo, & I am in similar shape, about to undergo an experimental therapy which involves nuking me. The grandchildren are enchanted. Thanks for being so supportive and forgive me if I go off air. We have a lot to sort out. Best as ever, David', all the letters and notecards bar one with addressed envelopes QTY: (16)NOTE:An insightful warm and personal archive of letters from John Le Carre to David Gillard MBE, arts journalist and critic. He was Classical Music Editor and Radio Correspondent for BBC Radio Times, and for 46 years, the opera critic of the Daily Mail.