A collection of letters between the British authors Kingsley Amis and Elizabeth Jane Howard with their publisher Tom Maschler.

Kingsley Amis (1922-1995) was born in London on April 16; he was the son of William Robert and Rosa Annie (Lucas) Amis. Following service in the British Army from 1942 to 1945 and first-class honors in English at St. John's College, Oxford, Amis was a lecturer in English at University College of Swansea, Wales, from 1949 to 1961. He subsequently became a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge University, from 1961 to 1963, and held visiting professorships at Princeton and Vanderbilt Universities. Amis achieved both popularity and critical acclaim with his first novel, Lucky Jim, whose publication in 1953 instantly marked Amis as a major comic novelist. His many subsequent works have revealed him to be an author of extraordinary range and versatility. His essays, poems, and short stories have been published in magazines, journals, and collected editions. Amis' 1986 novel, The Old Devils, received Britain's prestigious Booker Prize. Amis was married to Hilary Ann Bardwell in 1948 and divorced in 1965; he married Elizabeth Jane Howard in 1965 and was divorced in 1983. Amis died on October 22, 1995.Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923-2014) was born in London, England on March 26; she trained as an actress and, before the Second World War, played at Stratford-upon-Avon as well as repertory theater in Devon. At various times she worked as a model, a broadcaster for the BBC from 1939 to 1946, as an editor for various publishers, and as a writer. She has been widely published as a novelist, journalist, reviewer, and has written plays for stage, film, and television. In 1962, she was the Artistic Director for the Cheltenham Literary Festival, and in 1973, the Artistic Co-Director of the Salisbury Festival of Arts; Howard was awarded a CBE in 2000. She married Sir Peter Scott in 1942, and divorced in 1951; she married James Douglas Henry in 1958, and divorced in 1964; and married Kingsley Amis in 1965, they were divorced in 1983. Elizabeth Jane Howard, died aged 90, at home on January 2, 2014.

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