James Courage, A Way of Love (1959), with letters from the author

A copy of James Courage's novel, A Way of Love (London: Jonathan Cape, 1959), which deals with a love affair between an older professional man and a younger man: "a dignified novel upon an important subject", published shortly after the report of the Wolfenden Committee which advised decriminalising homosexual relations between adult men in private.
"From the Library of Herbert Boyce Satcher", with two letters from Courage to Satcher (a clergyman in Philadelphia) expressing his gratification at Satcher's appreciation of the work and describing the response it had received more generally, and a Christmas card.
Courage was born in New Zealand but spent most of his life in England. This book, which is considered "New Zealand's first gay novel" although it is set in London, was banned from libraries and bookstores in New Zealand in 1961, but in 1998 the New Zealand Society of Authors inaugurated "Courage Day" to highlight concerns about freedom of expression.

1959

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Purchased from David J Holmes Autographs, July 2014