[Autograph Lettercard to Elkin Mathews] by Doyle, Arthur Conan - postmarked "27 7 17."

Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex, postmarked "27 7 17.". One page, on blank side of printed lettercard, in ink, addressed in his hand on verso. Some oddly symmetrical tan discoloration to address side, perhaps from having been mounted, else very good. Doyle writes to Mathews, providing an enthusiastic blurb for a forthcoming volume of poetry by Lt. Ernest Armine Wodehouse, in the form of praise for the specific poem, "Before Ginchy." Doyle writes: "'I have read a great deal of the poetry produced by the war, and I think that I would put Wodehouse's 'Before Ginchy; as certainly equal to, and possibly better than anything else that I have seen' A Conan Doyle. You can use that, if any use." Mathews published Wodehouse's collection, ON LEAVE POEMS AND SONNETS, with a Foreword by Arthur Quiller-Couch, in 1917, and "Beyond Ginchy" was included therein. We are unable to ascertain if Doyle's blurb was utilized to promote it, and it is not referenced in Green & Gibson. Wodehouse, the novelist's older brother, served with the Scots Guard, enlisting in 1914 at the age of 35. He had previously been intimately involved with the Theosophists and served as Krishnamurti's tutor. Wodehouse is the subject of an essay on George Simmer's research blog on the literature of the Great War, where "Beyond Ginchy" receives special notice.