LAUREATE'S CHOICE. OLOROSCO SECO SHERRY

An empty glass bottle of 'Laureate's Choice', one of approximately 700 bottles of Sherry presented by the Sherry Institute of Spain to Ted Hughes on his becoming Poet Laureate in 1984. Hughes dubbed them "Laureate's Choice". In 1991 he designed and printed a label, each one hand numbered and signed which were attached to the bottles. Over the following years Hughes made gifts of them to friends, including a case sent to the Queen Mother, who wrote in reply "I am not only very grateful but extremely touched that you should wish me to share in this lovely gift". The present example, a little rubbed to the labels has long since been drained by the recipient.

Numbered '481' and signed by Ted Hughes in black ink on the Laureate's Choice label. The recipient of this particular bottle is Hughes' friend, Frank Pike, editor at Faber and Faber for 41 years and from the 1960s onwards responsible for the Faber drama list, recruiting Tom Stoppard, Simon Gray, Brian Friel, Sam Shepard, and Alan Bennett, among others, as well as working closely with authors already publishing with the firm, notably Samuel Beckett.