Bringing together for the first time an extensive selection of Spencer's key letters and theoretical writings, unpublished manuscripts in the Tate Archive and important sections of his unfinished autobiography.

"Brilliant and insightful, throwing light into the murkiest corners of his art and his mind." (Financial Times)

Adrian Glew has selected from the wealth of Spencer's unpublished manuscripts in the Tate Archive and includes important sections of Spencer's autobiography which remained unfinished at the time of his death. Spencer always believed that his writings were as important as his paintings, and this volume offers a unique insight into Spencer as writer, thinker and artist.

Stanley Spencer is recognised as a British artist of singular vision, but he was also a prolifc and highly individual writer. In moments between painting, Spencer wrote thousands of letters. He filled notebooks, diaries and scraps of paper, recording his daily thoughts and future plans in a distinctly Spencerian manner.