The official Daphne du Maurier website, approved by her Estate
An amazing discovery of previously unseen poems by Daphne du Maurier
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Roddy Lloyd, an auctioneer at Rowley’s Auction House, Ely has discovered a sheet of paper with previously unknown poems written in Daphne’s hand, hidden behind a photograph of Daphne du Maurier. This item is one of the lots up for auction when the Maureen Baker-Munton’s Daphne du Maurier archive goes up for sale on April 27th. It seems likely that Maureen never knew the poems were hidden within the picture frame and it is complete luck that the auctioneer decided to take the photograph out of the frame for a closer look. The photograph is a stunning image of Daphne du Maurier, aged about 20, wearing a swimming costume and standing on rocks poised as if she is about to dive into the sea.
On one side of the paper is a poem called Song of the Happy Prostitute and on the other are a few stanza’s apparently about loneliness. These poems, as with everything in the auction that includes Daphne du Maurier's own words, are protected by copyright and the du Maurier Browning family do not have any plans to publish them.
Articles in both the Times and the Telegraph today (16/4/2019) expand on the story.
Click here to find out more about how Maureen and Monty Baker-Munton's lives were so closely connected with Daphne du Maurier and her husband http://www.dumaurier.org/menu_page.php?id=147.