Elbridge L. Adams

Elbridge L. Adams varied his law practice, at one time with activity in civic affairs at Rochester, afterwards with occasional literary experiments. Of these the most interesting was his negotiation with Ellen Terry’s executors and George Bernard Shaw, to purchase the originals of the personal correspondence between those two celebrities. The letters were at length procured and published. Ellen Terry’s part was charming and characteristic; Shaw’s letters, after his usual ingratiating fashion, were devoted to eulogies of his own productions and to tactful side-thrusts at “that ass, Shakespeare.” But Shaw very evidently held fast to his vantage-ground in the bargaining; the book carries the somewhat curious imprint, “Copyrighted by George Bernard Shaw and Elbridge L. Adams.”

Alexander Dana Noyes
1935 Century Association Yearbook