Typescript, with autograph corrections, of an essay titled 'A Thought About Christmas. Laurens van der Post', written for a magazine edited by Rev. Austin Williams, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and with two Typed Letters Signed to Williams.

The three items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper; the essay and first letter having punch-holes in the margin. The essay is 3pp., foolscap 8vo. The title, corrections and emendations are all in van der Post's hand. 'To someone like myself who believes that coincidence is the manifestation of a great law of which we are not yet properly aware, this timing of the birth of Christ is not accidental. Perhaps Christ could not have been born on any other day because the power that brings forth Spring out of Winter, and the power that raises man again out of his dead self are one.' In the first letter (1p., 4to) van der Post declares that, despite 'various family complications and tragedies', neither he nor his wife 'want to lose touch with you and St. Martin's'; and that as 'our future is going to be more even now', he would like to try his hand at 'an article for your Magazine'. In the second letter (1p., 12mo) he accepts a lunch invitation, adding 'Please use the short piece I wrote you in 1959 in any way you like.'