George Bernard Shaw — Autograph Response on Calendar Reform, 1922

Item Details

London,, E. J. Larby Ltd., 1921-22,, Single Sheet

N/A, Good

Autograph Response on Calendar Reform, January 8, 1922. Typed letter from E. J. Larby, Ltd., London, December 29, 1921, with Shaw's handwritten response and signature on verso.

PURE INERTIA — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW ON CHANGING THE CALENDAR.
An interesting correspondence documenting George Bernard Shaw's endorsement of a proposed calendar reform in January 1922. The accompanying letter from London diary and calendar specialists E. J. Larby, Ltd., solicits Shaw's opinion of an advance pamphlet advocating a revised calendar and requests permission to publish his response.

Shaw responds in his own hand, stating that he would greatly prefer Mr. Arnold's proposed calendar to the existing system. Drawing upon nearly 66 years of experience with the conventional calendar, he concludes that the only obstacle to change is 'pure inertia.'

A PLAYWRIGHT'S VERDICT ON TIME ITSELF.
The original solicitation and Shaw's substantive manuscript reply remain together on a single sheet, providing both the context and the response. A concise but revealing example of Shaw's engagement with a practical reform issue beyond his literary and theatrical work.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
One-sheet, typewritten circular letter, apparently a carbon copy, on the printed letterhead of E. J. Larby, Ltd., London. The recto contains the firm's solicitation, dated December 29, 1921; the verso carries Shaw's handwritten response in ink, signed and dated January 8, 1922. The sheet is folded horizontally for mailing. No separate pamphlet is present.

CONDITION: Good. The sheet is age-toned, with a horizontal fold, several small edge tears, and minor losses along the lower edge and at the margins. The typed text and handwritten response remain legible. Shaw's manuscript and signature are clear.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE — SHAW AND THE CALENDAR REFORM MOVEMENT.

BANK HOLIDAYS FIXED — FATHER TIME INTERVIEWED.
The pamphlet referenced in the solicitation can be identified as Bank Holidays Fixed, subtitled Father Time Interviewed, by W. Arnold, LL.B. Lond. Published in London toward the end of 1921, it advocated simplification of the calendar. A contemporary account in The Swiss Observer, April 1, 1922, identifies Arnold's proposal and describes its relationship to other international calendar-reform schemes. 

THE PROPOSED REFORM.
Arnold's scheme sought to make the calendar more regular. Among its proposals were a fixed date for Easter, an additional day outside the ordinary weekly calendar, and adjustments to leap-year arrangements.

The subject was receiving international attention. A meeting in Rome was scheduled for 1922 to consider calendar questions, and the January 12, 1922 issue of Nature published a further discussion of calendar reform. 

SHAW'S RESPONSE.
Shaw's endorsement is particularly appealing because it is direct and unequivocal. He preferred Arnold's proposal to the existing calendar and regarded public inertia, rather than any substantive objection, as the principal barrier to reform.

The response provides a small but revealing example of Shaw's interest in practical social reform and his willingness to lend his public standing to contemporary proposals.

AN AUTOGRAPH DOCUMENT WITH ITS ORIGINAL CONTEXT.
The survival of both sides of the sheet is an important feature. The solicitation explains why Shaw was approached, identifies the proposal under consideration, and establishes the circumstances in which his response was obtained. The manuscript endorsement can therefore be read as a historical document rather than simply an isolated signature.

GENRES: Autograph Letters & Manuscripts, Literary Memorabilia, Historical Documents, Social Reform Ephemera.

SUBJECTS: George Bernard Shaw, Calendar Reform, Calendar History, British Social History, W. Arnold, Bank Holidays Fixed, Early Twentieth-Century Reform Movements, Autographs.

TRANSCRIPTIONS: Printed letterhead:
E. J. LARBY, LTD.,
THE DIARY AND CALENDAR SPECIALISTS.
Telephone CITY 3991.
GOVERNING DIRECTOR
E. J. LARBY, F.R.G.S.
30, PATERNOSTER ROW,
LONDON, E.C.4.

29th December, 1921.

[Typed letter:]
Dear Sir,
May we ask your acceptance of enclosed advance-copy of a pamphlet which will be published on Monday next, the 2nd January, 1922.
At the Author's request, and in accordance with one of his suggestions on page 29, we venture to ask you, as a well-known leader of public opinion, to favour us with a brief expression of your views on the proposal, with permission to publish the same.
Thanking you in advance on behalf of the Author,
We are,
Yours faithfully,
E. J. LARBY, LTD.
P.S.—We enclose stamped addressed envelope for reply.
G. Bernard Shaw, Esq.

VERSO
[Manuscript response by George Bernard Shaw:]
'I should greatly prefer the calendar suggested by Mr. Arnold to the present one; of the working of which I have nearly 66 years experience. As my interest in the matter is the same as everybody else's I can see no obstacle to the change but pure inertia.'
G. Bernard Shaw
8/1/22

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