THE LETTERS OF
T. S. ELIOT
VOLUME 1
THE LETTERS OF
T. S. ELIOT
EDITED BY
VALERIE ELIOT
AND
HUGH HAUGHTON
VOLUME 1
18981922
REVISED EDITION
GENERAL EDITOR
JOHN HAFFENDEN
First published in the
United States in 2011 by Yale University Press.
First published in
Great Britain in 2009 by Faber and Faber Limited.
All writings by T. S. Eliot, introductions
and editorial material Set Copyrights Limited 1988, 2009
All writings by Vivien Eliot Valerie Eliot 1988, 2009
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced,
in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S.
Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without
written permission from the publishers.
Yale University Press books may be
purchased in quantity for educational, business, or
promotional use. For information, please e-mail sales.press@yale.edu
(U.S. office) or sales@yaleup.co.uk (U.K. office).
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011928724
ISBN 978-0-300-17645-2 (hardcover: alk. paper)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The desire to write a letter, to put down what you dont want anybody else to see but the person you are writing to, but which you do not want to be destroyed, but perhaps hope may be preserved for complete strangers to read, is ineradicable. We want to confess ourselves in writing to a few friends, and we do not always want to feel that no one but those friends will ever read what we have written.
from English Poets as Letter Writers,
an unpreserved lecture given by TSE
at Sprague Memorial Hall, Yale University,
23 November 1933.
This fragment was recorded by his brother.
(Ms Houghton)
ILLUSTRATIONS
| TSE aged about three, holding Toby. Photographer: F. W. Guerin, 12th St. and Washington Avenue, St Louis. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (154a) |
2A | The Revd William Greenleaf Eliot, TSEs grandfather. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (251) |
B | TSEs birthplace, 2635 Locust Street, St Louis, which no longer exists. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (262) |
| His parents. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (233 [CCE]; 234 [HWE]) |
4A | Ada with Henry. Collection Valerie Eliot |
B | Henry with TSE. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (154) |
C | A baby face with golden promise fraught. TSE aged about four. Photographer: A. S. Robertson, Proprietor, Canova Studio, 3424 Olive Street, St Louis, Mo. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (155) |
| Daguerreotype of TSE with his sister Margaret. Collection Valerie Eliot |
| With his Irish nursemaid, Annie Dunne, c. 1895. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (161) |
7A | With his mother at East Gloucester, 1895. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (158) |
B | In the schoolyard at the Mary Institute, St Louis, 1896. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (156) |
8A | On the porch at Eastern Point, 1896. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (163) |
B | With T. L. McKittrick, a future President of the World Bank, 1896. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (159) |
9A | With his Hinkley cousins and their nannies on the beach at East Gloucester, 1896. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (165) |
B | Eleanor and Barbara Hinkley with TSE in 1897. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (167) |
10A | Charlotte, the sister who painted his portrait. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (233) |
B | His sister Marian. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (245) |
C | At the front gate of 2635 on the morning after the cyclone of 27 May 1896, with his mother and, left, cousin Henrietta and sister Margaret. Marian is hidden. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (162) |
11A | With his father, 1895. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (160) |
B | And in 1898. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (154) |
| TSE in his bedroom at St Louis, c. 1900. Collection Valerie Eliot |
13A | With his cousins Abigail, Martha and Frederick Eliot. Collection Valerie Eliot |
B | At the piano, c. 1899. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (170) |
C | One of his fathers cat drawings. Collection Valerie Eliot |
14A | His mothers bedroom at Locust Street. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (262) |
B | Interior of the house at Eastern Point. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (260) |
| Charlottes oil portrait (18 x 23in) c. 19001. TSE is reading a volume of his red Shakespeare set, which remains in his library. Original in the possession of Theodora Eliot Smith. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (172) |
| Aged about twelve. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (171) |
17A | The view from the Eliot home at Eastern Point. Collection Valerie Eliot |
B | TSE. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (179b) |
C | Henry, 1895. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (236) |
18A | 1907. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (177) |
B | 1908. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (178) |
C | On other occasions. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (179b, 188a) |
19A | Henry (who is taking the photograph) with his parents at the breakfast table, 4446 Westminster Place, St Louis. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (235) |
B | Henry. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (236) |
C | TSE in 1910. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (179a) |
| Sailing off the Dry Salvages. |
21A | TSE in the Elsa. Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (219b) |
B | At the helm with a friend (probably Harold Peters). Collection Valerie Eliot |
| Jean Verdenal, January 1915. Courtesy of Dr George Watson |
| His mother at her bedroom desk (see letter of 30 December 1917). Houghton Library MS Am 2560 (233) |
| Etching of Vivien Haigh-Wood as a child, by her father, which she gave to Enid Faber on 23 March 1933. Collection Valerie Eliot |
25A | Vivien and TSE at 18 Crawford Mansions, 1916.
|
Next page