Here is the fourth and final instalment in the monumental Letters of Samuel Beckett, consisting of a treasure trove of the playwright’s writing to a wide range of correspondents. These include friends, ­theatre-makers, critics, biographers and, surprisingly, even a young man who was to go on to serve as Taoiseach of Ireland, Bertie Ahern. The book has been edited meticulously by an international team of scholars, and Beckett’s many letters in French are translated with considerable wit and style.

Of course, there is a caveat.  As the editors point out, Beckett’s correspondence was voluminous, and so the available material has been brutally filleted.  We are spared a profusion of Beckett’s short workaday notes, although it can feel frustrating to know that there exists a wealth of material just out of reach, such as when one early footnote refers to a letter of 1966 sent to the daughter of playwright Sean O’Casey: a flick through the volume reveals that this letter has not been included.