[Dame Rose Macaulay, novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Rose Macaulay') to C. V. Wedgwood's companion Jacqueline Hope-Wallace. With 'The Christmas Card Planned by Rose Macaulay for 1958', illustrated by Simon Fleet, in copy of 'Pleasure of Ruins'.

Macaulay's Autograph Letter Signed: '20 H. H. | 29 April'. 2pp., landscape 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Written, in a shaky and difficult hand, in blue ink and signed 'Rose', with 'Macaulay' added in black ink. Addressed to 'Dear Jacqueline'. Apparently written during or immediately after the Second World War, and concerning petrol coupons 'issued so lavishly to the generous & amiable young nobleman

, & by him to me. He said he couldn't possibly use them all before May 16th (note date). There seem to be 12 gallons here - I can't use them, as I am putting my car into docks to

its fast-running in check on May 5th, & when I get back from Italy it will be too late. And as I can't yet do over 30 m.p.h. it will be merely tantalising to go for a country run.' She hopes Hope-Wallace can use or dispose of the allowance before going to Spain, 'where I hope you'll have a charming time in the shadow of the Ifach Rock, & that it won't be too cold for prolonged bathing & that Liverpool & Glasgow bus-loads won't surround you too closely.' she concludes by saying that she enjoyed the previous night, which was 'great fun'. 'Happy travels to us all, & love & thanks to your gay & endearing '. The card is 52 x 16 cm long, and is concertina-folded into eight 13 x 16 cm panels, two of which are blank. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The cover reads: 'The Christmas Card planned by Rose Macaulay for 1958. | Sent in her memory.' The back cover, with 'Drawn by Simon Fleet' at the foot, reads: 'Rose Macaulay intended to paint these pictures, "Gold for the Athena Parthenos helmet, gold for the star in the East, brownish-pink roofs for the little houses clustering round the Mosque, and daubs of bright colour for the tourists' flags."' On the other side of the strip are four sequential panels, each illustrated with a drawing of the front view of the Parthenon, illustrating (as per the note on the back cover) the periods 450 BC to 450 AD; 530 AD to 1458; 1458 to 1853; and 'MID 2OTH CENTURY'. The last illustration features a host of tourists, with flags of different nationalities. Each illustration has a caption in Latin or Greek, and there are five numbered Latin quotations. An unusual and scarce piece of ephemera: no copies traced on COPAC or WorldCat. The copy of 'Pleasure of Ruins' is in good condition: on lightly-aged paper in dulled cloth, with chipped and torn dustwrapper. Loosely inserted is Hermione Lee's full-page review of Sarah LeFanu's biography of Macaulay from the Guardian, 14 June 2003.