Boy's own memoir by Pinter

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The manuscript, entitled Queen Of All The Fairies (Chanson Populaire), sketches the places and people of the neighbourhood where he grew up. It was among the archive of the Nobel Prize-winning writer's papers bought for £1.1 million by the library last month.

Highlights are going on display in a free exhibition called His Own Domain: Harold Pinter, A Life In Theatre, which runs until 13 April.

The nine-page reminiscence describes a borough which "brimmed over with milk bars, Italian cafés, Fifty Shilling tailors and barbers".

Jamie Andrews, of the British Library, said: "The writing is much more florid at that time and was eventually pared down, but you get a sense of the themes of Pinter - the violence and the acute observation of what goes on beneath the surface."

The memoir also paints an affectionate portrait of Joe Brearley, a teacher at Hackney Downs Grammar School who encouraged Pinter's love of the English language.

Mr Brearley also directed the teenager as Romeo in a 1948 school play and Pinter describes his mentor as a "theatrical genius, tall, imperious, tempestuous and eccentric".

The exhibition also includes some of their correspondence and early drafts of important Pinter works such as The Homecoming and his love triangle drama Betrayal.