Author:
Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), Scottish biologist and pharmacologist, discoverer of penicillin and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine in 1945
Publication details:
31 October 1953; on letterhead of 20A Danvers Street, Cheyne Walk, London, S.W.3.
8vo: 1 p. Good, laid down on the reverse of the front free endpaper of a copy of Andre Maurois's 'The Life of Sir Alexander Fleming' (London, 2nd imp., 1959). Reads 'Thank you very much. We would be delighted to be with you on Nov 12th. I think all is well with me now & I am off to Edinburgh on Monday. | Yours sincerely | [signed] Alec. Fleming'. The context is explained on pp. 265-6 of the book. 'In October 1953 he was due to make a speech at the opening of 'Les Journees Medicales' in Nice. Two days before the appointed date, he woke up with a high fever. He himself diagnosed pneumonia.