A Lock of Her Hair, Cut and Given to Derek Stanford

Item Details

London [Ca. 1950s]. A good chunk of Spark's hair wrapped in tissue and loosely laid in a folded sheet of 8 Sussex Mansions stationary. The whole housed in an envelope with contents written in Derek Stanford's hand. Hair nicely preserved, though admittedly not very closely inspected. Envelope toned.

An intimate item from the collection of British writer and poet, Derek Stanford (1918-2008) with whom Muriel spark maintained a close personal and literary relationship during the early 1950s.  The two collaborated on Tribute to Wordsworth (1950) and My Best Mary (1953).  As Stanford notes on the envelope, the Sussex Mansions address corresponds to Spark's residence during this period, where she wrote The Fanfarlo and Other Verse, among others. 

Stanford and Spark's correspondence is preserved in several institutions, and notably a group of seven letters and notes from Spark to Stanford, acquired by the National Library of Scotland from Maggs. Bros. in 2021, was preserved with a handwritten inventory by Stanford similar to this.  A remarkable personal memento from Spark's formative years as a writer.