Autograph Letter Signed from the anthropologist Meyer Fortes to Driberg

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with the slightest bloom to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Addressed to 'Dear Driberg'. He begins by reminding him that 'E. P.' had 'recommended me to the authorities of Cairo University for Hocart's vacant post [Arthur Maurice Hocart (1883-1939)], & had mentioned your name, at my request, as a referee'. With casual racism, he now remarks that 'the Gippies have acted promptly & E. P has just had a letter from a former colleague of his telling him that they are making inquiries with a view to offering me the post'. He asks Driberg for his help: 'E. P. says the Gippies want eulogies - well, you know them better than I.' In the final paragraph he enquires after the state of Driberg's leg, and expresses anticipation for his 'visit to Cambridge', when he will 'talk about the ancestor cult & try to develop some of the points we discussed when I was at Cambridge last'. Fortes was not successful in his application, and he spent the first two years of the war as an Oxford research fellow.