Quentin Crisp The Naked Civil Servant The Authors Remington Typewriter And Angus McBean Portrait 1938

Quentin Crisp 1908-1999. The authors personal Remington Typewriter in original carrying case, on which he wrote "The Naked Civil Servant", a yellow label attached to the handle with inscription "Crisp/129 Beaufort St London England" (this being the famously squalid bed-sit, where he wrote the Penguin Classic "The Naked Civil Servant" and which inspired Harold Pinter's first play 'The Room'). Evidence of use but in overall good condition.

Included is an autograph letter signed by Crisp:- "Many long, dark years ago, my career as a writer was launched on and with this typewriter. Painfully it spelt out The Naked Civil Servant and many more trivial works. As you will find this machine is still operable. It is only I who am broken by time, useless, defunct."

Provenance: Louis Colaianni, New York. Bonhams, London 26/06/2007. Private Collection U.K.

Crisp brought the typewriter with him from England to America when he moved to New York City, in 1981. There, for many years, it sat in his apartment atop a pile of books and papers. He no longer used it because his hands had become frozen with arthritis.

Also included is a wonderfully glamorous photographic print of Crisp by Angus McBean, Signed and Dated 1938, (most intriguing as Crisp stated that he and McBean had had their first encounter in a dark London street during World War Two). McBean's early photographs of Crisp became the definitive image of the young author. The two men were lovers and shared a long friendship. McBean was highly drawn to Crisp's unique, androgynous aesthetic, once remarking that Crisp was "really one of the most beautiful people I have ever photographed".