The Painted Letters of Percy Kelly: Sent to Joan David 1983-1993

Joan David was a retired scientist living in Cumbria. She saw a painting by Percy Kelly in a friend's house December 1982. She wrote to Kelly where he was living in exile in rural norfolk asking to buy a painting. She didn't get a painting but a wonderful painted letter in a beautifully illustrated envelope. He signed his 3rd letter Roberta and a few weeks later wrote in anguish because his wife had left him. This was the beginning of 10 years of beautiful letters some 30 pages long telling of his difficulties, loneliness. problems and retentiveness about his work. He writes about his past life; his childhood, time in the army, the breakdown of his first marriage, his running away with a surgeons wife,his unhappy 7 years in Wales and his final move to rural Norfolk and his change of name to Roberta Penelope. Joan supported and sustained him for 10 years until his death in 1993. During that time she only met him 5 times but she received thousands of letters - each of them a painting with words superimposed. These are selected and illustrated in this lovely book.