The earliest surviving letter from T. S. Eliot was written in Gloucester, Massachusetts in June 1898. In the letter, addressed to his “Papa”, 9-year old Eliot writes of the coolness of the house in the morning, a broken microscope, butterfly and spider specimens, and hunting for birds with his sister, Charlotte. READ
An embroidery made by a young T. S. Eliot hinted at things to come. The embroidery, made in 1894, shows a ribbon-collared cat ready to pounce on a ball of wool. It’s believed Eliot first put pen to paper with his cats in a 1931 letter to his young godson, Tom Faber, who had written to Eliot about his cat. READ
During and shortly after the Second World War, T. S. Eliot was invited by the British Council to give lectures, poetry readings and open book exhibitions abroad. The visits were seen as a form of ‘cultural warfare’ at a time when much of Europe was at war. READ
In January 1948, T. S. Eliot was awarded the Order of Merit; in a letter congratulating him, W. H. Auden remarked ‘Now the next thing shall be the Nobel Prize’. Auden’s foretelling came true some months later when Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on 4th November 1948. READ
Included in T. S. Eliot’s personal papers is a collection of appointment diaries – small leather-covered pocket diaries which could fit in the breast pocket of a suit jacket or coat; some of them still have an accompanying pencil tucked in. READ
This Christmas sees the 80th anniversary of the first broadcast of a selection of T. S. Eliot’s Practical Cats poems. The poems, which weren’t published until almost two years later, were read by Eliot’s friend, Geoffrey Tandy – a writer, broadcaster and scientist who worked at the Natural History Museum. READ
‘I have applied for Naturalisation and been accepted, having pulled a few strings with the Home Secretary’ – T. S. Eliot in a letter to his brother, 25th October 1927.
On the 2nd of November 1927 T. S. READ
To celebrate T. S. Eliot’s 129th birthday, we take a look at how he spent some of his birthdays, the gifts he received and a special birthday cake tradition …
Eliot’s letters suggest that he did not make much of his birthday in his twenties and thirties: other than the occasional letter to thank his mother for a birthday cheque, there are no thank-you letters to be found for birthday greetings, gifts, or a shared celebratory meal. READ
T. S. Eliot in a letter to Virginia Woolf, 27 April 1937.
A look through Eliot’s letters and personal papers reveals that he was a member of several clubs – quiet, private places where he could meet or play host to business and personal acquaintances and friends. READ
Included in the latest volume of the Letters of T. S. Eliot is a letter to the Editor of the Times entitled ‘Stilton Cheese’, written on 25 November 1935 and published a few days later. Eliot is replying to a letter from poet and literary editor J. READ
