J.W. Allen to J.W. Mellor

1 December, 1931

Mellor Papers, Box 9, folder 3

Unpublished

Although Mellor had no children he maintained contact with his nephews and nieces in New Zealand, writing letters and telling them of humorous episodes and anecdotes. He illustrated many of the letters with his cartoons. Mellor first approached Longmans, Green and Co., to publish the letters and sketches. Although Longmans had promised Mellor that they would publish anything he wrote, this letter by J. W. Allen carries a refusal, claiming that ‘there would be no money in its publication’ and that the audience for the book would be far too narrow. Uncle Joe’s Nonsense for Young and Old Children was eventually published in 1934 by the Ceramic Society.