Author Richard Wilson Webb Handwritten Diary 1924 Richard Wilson Webb Hand-Written

Richard Wilson Webb (1901-1966) wrote under the pseudonym "Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge with other collaborators, including Hugh Callingham Wheeler (who went on to work with Steven Sondheim). The majority their writings feature a recurring character named Peter Duluth, a Broadway director, WWII veteran and recovering alcoholic who, with his wife, always seem to stumble across murders. Here is a 6.25" x 8" handwritten diary by Webb, with 18 pages starting in 1924, which tell of his moving from the United Kingdom to South Africa. I believe he was teaching at the Saint Andrew's School in Bloemfontein. He was happy to leave England, but in these few pages, with dates few and far between, he seems to be unhappy and is hoping to find himself. Also in this journal are another 22 pages of notes, including a story that he was starting to write called "The Puff Adder," and another called "The Strong Silent Man." Part of these notes include "Plots, etc," in which he writes about "A scandal in suburbia," which takes place in Philadelphia, which is where Webb landed after South Africa. Within the pages of the journal are seven letters that mostly seem to be recommendation letters about Webb. There is also some more biographical information, including that he graduated from Cambridge and that he worked on newspapers in both the UK and Paris. There is some damp staining and some pages have been torn out. There are not a lot of pages used in this journal, though it is packed with information about an author of several books that were very popular in the 1930s and 40s.