Tippett (Michael) Autograph letter signed ("Michael Tippett")

The letter, to Richard Ward, reads "I feel very conscience stricken about delaying so long to write to you. In fact I read the advance copy of your book a week or so back, & have been wavering. I liked it & I'd doe anything sensible to help but I'm really worried about recommending books publicly. I find it bad enough recommending music, where my judgement is at least tolerably professional. I'm certain I’d much rather you could think of some better way where I could be of help. It's all the more difficult just be- cause the genre is so intimate. A kind of book I like reading (& I think others will) but which must imply a host of professional literary problems. Can you take my personally expressed pleasure as enough? I very much hope so. By the way, did you notice that the dust cover names Leonard East's trade incorrectly?", two pages, folding marks, light yellowing, 4to, Tidebrook, Wadhurst, 26 January 1956.