The Letters of T. S. Eliot, Volume 1: 1898-1922 (125 page)

1–Printed by Rodker, the ‘Bel Esprit’ circular opened: ‘In order that T. S. Eliot may leave his work in Lloyd’s Bank and devote his whole time to literature, we are raising a fund, to be£300 annually.’ EP wrote to Quinn on 10 Aug.: ‘if you reprint Bel Esprit private circular, please omit name of LLOYD’S bank.’

2–Rémy de Gourmont, Physique de l’Amour: Essai sur l’instinct sexuel (Paris, 1903), trans. by EP as The Natural Philosophy of Love (Boni & Liveright, 1922). 

PC
Texas

Postmark 28 July 1922]

9 Clarence Gate Gdns

I have your MSS. and am looking forward to reading it over the weekend. I am very grateful for your punctuality – it is of the greatest assistance.

With many thanks,

Yours sincerely
T. S. Eliot

MS
Texas

29 July 1922

9 Clarence Gate Gdns

Dear Mr Sturge Moore,

I have read your essay with great pleasure and interest: it would certainly give distinction to any review in which it appeared. On the first reading I seem to find myself wholly in agreement with you. I did not know that [Laurence] Binyon was so good: I have never read anything of his.
²

With many thanks

Sincerely yours
T. S. Eliot

1–Moore, in his critical treatment of Tristram and Isolt in English poetry, praised Laurence Binyon’s
Odes
(1901, rev. 1913). 

TELEGRAM
photocopy Valerie Eliot

29 July 1922

[New York]

LIVERIGHT EXECUTED CONTRACT PREPARED BY ME TYPESCRIPT RECEIVED TODAY SUGGEST MAIL LIVERIGHT NEW YORK BRIEF DESCRIPTION FOR CATALOGUE GLAD EVERYTHING SATISFACTORILY ARRANGED BEFORE GOING MY VACATION TOMORROW WRITING
¹

QUINN

1–Quinn’s letter details his activity over several days: ‘I dictated the contract between you and Liveright, based upon your Knopf contract, late yesterday …you did not give the name of the book. But fortunately, in a postscript in one of his recent letters to me Pound gave me thename’ (28 July). ‘[Y]our letter of July 19th, with the typescript of the poem, came today [and I told Liveright that] you would “rush forward the notes to go at the end” … I have asked one of the careful stenographers in the office to make a copy of the poem from the typescript. I’ll send the typescript to Liveright on Monday morning. When I told him I had it, he asked me to give my opinion of it. I told him that I would read it over Sunday. You wrote that that copy would do for Liveright “to get on with”. But you said nothing about proofs or reading proofs. In a small book, where style and form of printing and the format of the book generally have such a part, I should think you would insist upon having page proofs and not galley proofs. I dare say there will not be time for Liveright to send you first galley proofs and have you correct those galley proofs and return them to him, and then have Liveright send you page proofs and have you correct these and return them to him. So I suggest that you cable him that you want page proofs or write that to him. If the notes that go at the end come to me, I’ll send them at once to Liveright’ (29 July). ‘I received this morning in the mail from Liveright, without letter, a duplicate of the contract signed by him … I am writing to Mr. Liveright this morning sending him (a) the original typescript of the poems, which was received from you last Friday, and (b) a careful copy of it. I read the poems last night between  i11:50 and 12:30 …
Waste Lands
one of the best things you have done, though I imagine that Liveright may be a little disappointed at it, but I think he will go through with it. It is for the elect or the remnant or the select few or the superior guys, or any word that you may choose, for the small number of readers that it is certain to have’ (31 July). ‘[Liveright] may be disappointed in the size of the book. Frankly, if you could add four or five more poems to it, even if it meant delaying the publication of it for a month, I should be inclined to recommend that you do so. But that is only a suggestion. I don’t know how lengthy the notes are, or how many pages they will take, so I am writing a little in the dark. I give you my impression, though, that people are likely to think that the book is a little thin and to compare it with your first volume of poems published by Knopf …You won’t mind my suggestion’ (1 Aug). (See Charles Egleston,
The House of Boni&Liveright
, 1917–1933:
A Documentary Volume
[
Dictionary of Literary Biography
vol. 288, 2004], 264–7.)

TS
Texas

[end July? 1922]

9 Clarence Gate Gdns

My dear Ottoline,

I was very glad to hear from you, and to know that you are now a little better; though your letter is a sad one, and I had not known what a bad time you had been having. I do indeed sympathise with you. I have just returned from a weekend in the country: Vivien is better, but the difficulties of living in the country are so great under such conditions, when it is impossible to get exactly the food necessary for the regime, and impossible to get it properly prepared, and when the weather is so bad – that I cannot feel quite certain that the benefit is enough to compensate for the privations. And she keeps having attacks of the neuritis in her right arm.

I have, too, been buried in correspondence over the review, of which I suppose you have received a notice; and its success must of course be the first thing in my mind at present, and the most important thing to me. But
also I have preferred not to think much about the Bel Esprit. I have been very much impressed by the kindness of my friends and their untiring efforts, but of course the publicity is painful, and I cannot help feeling that I cannot have anything to do with it myself, and in fact must pretend to know nothing about it. Sometimes I simply want to escape from the whole thing and run away. I am sure that you will understand why I feel this way, and why I cannot say anything about a committee or any other details. And why I cannot criticise Pound; and, even though I may not care for some of his methods, I appreciate that it has been part of his method to try to keep me out of the business as much as possible. I am sure you will understand my feelings about this matter, though I put them very lamely. Thank you very much for your letter – I wish that I could answer it and write fully and leisurely.

Always yours affectionately,
[Unsigned.]

I need hardly say that this is a
confidential
letter – what I have said would be certain to be
misunderstood
by most people and would give the impression that I was ungracious and ungrateful. The last thing I want to do is to offend against or hurt the feelings of my good friends who have toiled so hard and disinterestedly for me. But I am sure you will understand that appreciation of this kindness is part of the pain and embarrassment that I feel; and I am sure that you will understand my feelings on this matter if anyone will. – The committee would, I am sure, make the project much more impressive to the public. I started this letter on Monday! and have had to put it aside for work on the review: difficulties start up quite unexpectedly now and then.

CC
Valerie Eliot

2 August 1922

9 Clarence Gate Gdns

My dear Sydney,

Thank you for your letter
¹
and enclosures. Your view of the matter is very similar to mine, which I have already expressed, and unfortunately is not that of those who are accustomed to small and precarious incomes and therefore cannot take my circumstances into account and realise why
I should need more money or more security. About the precise sum needed they are as free to differ with me as I am to decline; but about the guarantee I see no room for doubt. The sum of £300 is based upon the assumption that I shall make £300 more out of periodical writing; so that even upon their own figures an absolute guarantee of the fund is necessary. I see no evidence that this guarantee is forthcoming.

You will of course understand that I am in a difficult position; I cannot take any part in the affair beyond expressing my opinion to Pound and Aldington. At the same time, if the affair becomes public in such a way as to jeopardise my present position or make me ridiculous, I shall be forced publicly to discountenance it. As it is, no one could find it agreeable to have his private needs and way of life a subject of public scrutiny and criticism, however devoted it shows his friends to be.

subscribe to your attitude in the enclosed letters. I appreciate warmly the trouble you have taken.

Yours always affectionately,
[T. S. E.] 

1–SS wrote on 1 Aug., ‘Admirable as the intention of your admirers is, so far as I know the facts, their method has not been practical … For me a guarantee is worthless unless it is based upon a forfeitable material value and a signature guarantees only that which the law,
when invoked
, can enforce.’ 

MS
Lilly

Friday [4 August 1922]

9 Clarence Gate Gdns

My dear Dorothy

It is very sweet of you to send the lavender – of which we are both very fond. Mine is now buried in shirts, Vivien’s I am taking down to her tomorrow. She has been better as to colitis, but still has bad neuritis in the right arm. She hopes to get strong enough to see you in Paris in October, if, as is probable, she does not come up to town again for some weeks. I hope Dartmoor is doing you good, but you looked too well to need it.

Yours ever
T.S.E.

TS
Tulsa

9 August 1922

9 Clarence Gate Gdns

Dear Mr Randall,

Thank you very much for your letter. Your offer is most valuable, and I should like to see you as soon as I can and discuss Germanic matters with you. I will write to you next week and see if we can fix a date. I am unfortunately confined to the City, in fact to e.c.3, at lunchtime; perhaps you could come to see me some evening?

The review aims at gathering the best foreign writers, but of course it is at present very small, and as the majority of the contributions must of course be English, not more than one of any one foreign nationality can appear in each number. For the first two, I have Hermann Hesse – whom I know – and Ernst Curtius. I want also to get at the best Scandinavians. Preferably men who are unknown here but ought to be known: rather than men like Hamsun
²
and Couperus
³
who are already known here.

Do you know Alfred Kerr?
⁴
I find his style difficult and his vocabulary impossible, but Germans have spoken to me of him very highly.

Sincerely yours,
T. S. Eliot

I enclose a circular for your guidance –

1–Alec (later Sir Alec) Randall (1892–1977), diplomat, entered the Foreign Office in 1920. In the early 1920s he was Second Secretary to the Holy See. He ended his career as Ambassador to Denmark, 1947–52. He became a regular reviewer of German literature for both C. and the TLS.

2–Knut Hamsun (1859–1952), Norwegian writer. Nobel Prize for Literature, 1920.

3–Louis Couperus (1863–1923), Dutch writer whose novel
The Hidden Force
(1900) was published in English in 1922.

4–Alfred Kerr, né Kempner (1867–1948), theatre critic who championed naturalistic drama. 

TS
Beinecke

9 August 1922

9 Clarence Gate Gdns

Dear Cobden-Sanderson,

I enclose cheque for 12s from Mr F. S. Flint for a year’s subscription. Will you kindly send him a receipt.

The letter paper and envelopes seem to me excellent. I notice that the red lettering is a little blurred, but I presume that the type will be quite clear in the finished work. Will you have the paper printed as soon as possible?
For myself I should like a slightly larger envelope of the same shape and I should prefer it to be quite plain with no printing on it.

I think that I can send you nearly all of the material by the beginning of the week. I will indicate the order in which the contributions are to be printed. As I said it is all going in sooner or later and until it is set up I am quite in the dark as to whether we have too much or too little for our pages.

I have seen one or two people who have already received the circular and they appear to be quite pleased with its appearance.

I think that as soon as you get back it would be well if we could meet and discuss the questions you raise of mutual responsibility and we can then make notes about any points which we desire to make explicit.

Yours ever,
T. S. Eliot