[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
HereCourtfield RoadTSE moves into;a3 ICourtfield Roaddescribed for EH;a4 am in London again, perching in a genteel boarding-house in South Kensington, just off Cromwell Road by Gloucester Road Station. InHayward, JohnTSE's new chess-playing neighbour;a7 this vicinity are John Hayward, with whom I am to have supper and play chess tonight; myCulpin, Johanna ('Aunt Johanna', née Staengel)TSE's South Kensington neighbour;a3 old German lady, Johanna Culpin, with whom I also expect to play chess, andRichmonds, theTSE's new South Kensington neighbours;a1Richmond, Bruce
LunchedFaber, Geoffrey;c5 with Geoffrey andWalpole, Hugh;a2 Hugh Walpole (whom I had not seen for years) on Friday, and went back to the office with G. afterwards; my first visit there. WasSwan, Ethel;a1 well received by Miss Swan, the telephone operator,2 and visited by Mr. Baker the accountant and subsequently by Mr. Wortham, Mr. Baker’s rival, head of the Stock Department, to pay their respects. InspectedGilbert, Tacon;a1 the secretary who arrived in January, and whom I had never seen before, Miss Gilbert: large, eager, earnest, said to be over-officious, and not popular with the Fabers, so she may not last long.3 She is always grateful for free tickets to lectures. DashedBrowne, Elliott Martinproduction of The Rock;a2delighted with Rock choruses;a4 off at 5 to meet Martin Browne andShaw, Martinwhich later he chants;a2 Martin Shaw, the latter of whom had set one of my choruses to a kind of chant of his own composition. AtFogerty, Elsieto collaborate on The Rock;a1 last decided that Browne should get Miss Elsie Fogarty [sc. Fogerty] to have some of her pupils learn to recite it, to see how it goes that way. Question whether words are more audible chanted or recited. Do you know anything about chorus recitation on the stage?
SoPike's FarmTSE missing;a9 farEnglandSurrey;j4TSE misses;a3, regret the country, but no doubt will settle down to town easily enough, having had nothing else most of my life. TheChristianityasceticism, discipline, rigour;a9the necessity for;a1 great objection to the country – apart from my dependence on the Morleys for both supper and transport, and the fatigue of the journey – wasEnglandLondon;h1contrasted to country life;a4 the absence of a good church. I do need regular public devotions to keep my mind in order and my life regular, and not being able to go to an early mass two or three days a week, and evening offices when convenient, was very unsettling. There is a very good church close by, and as I am more likely to find lodgings through some local vicar than in any other way, I shall probably be quite near to another.
Ohtravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 tour of Scotland;b2described for EH;a4 the Tour was very successful, and just what one wanted between country and town. BraceBrace, Donaldon TSE's 1933 tour of Scotland;a4, MorleyMorley, Frank Vigoron TSE's 1933 tour of Scotland;c6 and I took a night train – 3d class sleepers – from Kings Cross, afterFaber, Geoffreyblesses Scotland tour with whisky;c6 dining in company with Geoffrey. The party was rather put into disorder at the beginning, by Geoffrey’s presenting us with a bottle of whisky at the station: fortunately, the Guard on the train was quite willing to help us consume it. ArrivedScotlandGlasgow;b7obscurely glimpsed;a2 at Glasgow early the next morning a little unsettled: what a dismal city, it seems always to be enveloped in a thick smoky fog, which perhaps is for the best, as what one can see of the architecture is not cheering. BreakfastedBlake, Georgeand TSE's 1933 tour of Scotland;a4 withBlakes, the;a1Blake, George
That’s enough of my trifling news at present. I was not at all satisfied with my last letter – I am not clever at explaining things – I am always apt to take for granted just the one point that the other person does not take for granted. So please please, tell me just what you think and feel, and pursue further anything that is not clear and comprehensible, and don’t try to spare my feelings, but tell me exactly what your judgement upon me is. I have been very unhappy about all this. I know too that life is harder for you than for me. My life gives me at least pretty full scope for my abilities such as they are; I am quite aware that it is fully as ‘interesting’ a life as I could ask for; whereas I am always eaten by the thought that you are being and have always been wasted: I can see you so clearly in the life you should have had and in the society you should have had –
Oh dear I can’t write any more about it now. I will try again on Wednesday or Thursday.
It is no use my trying to think of the things I have as in any way compensations for what I have not – in that respect they only seem to me like mockeries and I loathe them, and I know I would give them all up gladly in exchange. I have to think of them just as jobs to be done, roles to be carried out, and draw no comparisons between this life I have and the one I would have.
SoMcPherrin, Jeanette;a2 it is MacPherrin [sic]. Sounds Scots rather than Irish – but I did not come across the name. Perhaps they come from the Hebrides, and are a ‘sept’ of some larger clan.
1.TheLangton, Revd Stephen Revd Stephen Langton, Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer, Clerkenwell.
2.EthelSwan, Ethel Swan, a Faber & Gwyer ‘pioneer’, joined the firm on 12 Oct. 1925, as telephonist and receptionist, retiring in 1972 after 47 years. PeterSwan, EthelPeter du Sautoy's tribute to;a2n du Sautoy reported in 1971: ‘These duties she still performs with admirable skill and charm … SheJoyce, Jameson the phone to the F&F receptionist;c1n has an amazing memory for voices and it is certain that if James Joyce were to return to earth to telephone a complaint (he called us “Feebler and Fumbler”) she would say “Good morning, Mr Joyce” before he could introduce himself, as if he had previously been telephoning only yesterday. Many a visiting author or publisher from overseas has felt more kindly towards Faber & Faber as a result of Miss Swan’s friendly recognition’ (‘Farewell, Russell Square’, The Bookseller no. 3410 [1 May 1971], 2040).
ASwan, Ethelprofiled;a3n profile of ‘Swannie’ in retirement noted that she had built up an ‘extraordinary range of warm and wide personal friendships which later made her a unique character in the publishing trade’: ‘She remembers some of the many people she met: T. E. Lawrence, whose eyes were curiously vivid, gave his name as Shaw, and would not in any circumstances admit to being Lawrence of Arabia; Ezra Pound, W. H. AudenAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.')remembered by Ethel Swan;a4nIsherwood, Christopher
‘Miss Swan had a great affection and respect for Walter de la Mare, but her favourite was T. S. Eliot, whom she admired both as poet and playwright and also as a Faber colleague … He was a devoted sender of postcards to “Swannie”: over the years there are cards from Montreal, Morocco, Switzerland, Canada, Barbados (where he flourished and was very dark brown) St Louis (where the best waffles were to be had) and many other places. The later postcards are cheerful collaborations between Eliot and his second wife, Valerie’ (‘At the Faber Switchboard’, The Bookseller, 2 June 1971, 2662).
Frank Herrmann noted in his memoirs of F&F in the years immediately following WW2 that ‘Swannie’ was ‘a tiny, dumpy lady of uncertain years’, but of ‘insatiable curiosity’: ‘any outgoing or incoming call had to go through Miss Swan’s switchboard and it was only she who could obtain any number we wanted … Miss Swan knew everybody who was anybody in the literary world. She had a fabulous memory for facts and faces and many of Mr Eliot’s famous poetical friends looked upon her as a confidante in their troubles. I have always regarded it as a great loss to publishing history that Miss Swan never wrote or published her memoirs.’
InCocktail Party, Thecopy inscribed to Miss Swan;a1 aSwan, EthelCocktail Party inscribed to;a4n copy of the first edn of The Cocktail Party: ‘Inscribed for Ethel Swan by her old friend T. S. Eliot’ (TSE Library).
3.TaconGilbert, Tacon Gilbert, who started work at F&F in Jan. 1933, wrote to Montgomery Belgion, 16 Dec. 1932: ‘Miss Wilberforce has suddenly decided to get married, and I have taken her place at short notice.’ To L. C. Knights, 9 May 1933: ‘No, you are quite right; I am dear Madam. But I am quite accustomed to being Sir-ed: it is my own fault for having such an improbable name!’
4.See ‘Rannoch, by Glencoe’.
5.Macbeth, I. vi. 1-3:
This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses ...
6.FrankMorley, Frank Vigorthanks Joyce for hospitality;c5n Morley to Paul Leon, 1 Nov. 1933: ‘Mr Eliot is contemplating a short visit to Paris on the 13th November. Will Mr Joyce be in Paris then? I understand that Mr Eliot wrote to him care of you … I’m very tempted to come to Paris with Mr Eliot.’ Frank Morley to Leon, 21 Nov.: ‘May I express our very great gratitude to you and Mr Joyce for your hospitality; in particular, I would be most grateful if you would thank Mr Joyce for the evening we had together.’
10.W. H. AudenAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.') (1907–73), poet, playwright, librettist, translator, essayist, editor: see Biographical Register.
10.GeorgeBlake, George Blake (1893–1961), novelist, journalist, publisher: see Biographical Register.
6.DonaldBrace, Donald Brace (1881–1955), publisher; co-founder of Harcourt, Brace: see Biographical Register.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
4.MargueriteCaetani, Marguerite (née Chapin) Caetani, née Chapin (1880–1963) – Princesse di Bassiano – literary patron and editor: see Biographical Register. LéliaCaetani, Lélia Caetani (1913–77), sole daughter, was to marry Hubert Howard (1908–87), a scion of the English Catholic House of Howard, who worked to preserve the Caetani heritage at Rome and at the castle of Sermoneta.
11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.
2.ElsieFogerty, Elsie Fogerty, CBE, LRAM (1865–1945), teacher of elocution and drama training; founder in 1906 of the Central School of Speech and Drama (Laurence Olivier and Peggy Ashcroft were favourite pupils). Fogerty was to train the chorus for the Canterbury premiere in 1935 of TSE’s Murder in the Cathedral.
3.TaconGilbert, Tacon Gilbert, who started work at F&F in Jan. 1933, wrote to Montgomery Belgion, 16 Dec. 1932: ‘Miss Wilberforce has suddenly decided to get married, and I have taken her place at short notice.’ To L. C. Knights, 9 May 1933: ‘No, you are quite right; I am dear Madam. But I am quite accustomed to being Sir-ed: it is my own fault for having such an improbable name!’
1.NeilGunn, Neil M. M. Gunn (1891–1973), Scottish novelist who worked as a Customs and Excise officer, 1920–37, was to publish Whisky and Scotland (1935): see Biographical Register.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
1.JamesJoyce, James Joyce (1882–1941), Irish novelist, playwright, poet; author of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922), Finnegans Wake (1939).
1.TheLangton, Revd Stephen Revd Stephen Langton, Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer, Clerkenwell.
2.JeanetteMcPherrin, Jeanette McPherrin (1911–92), postgraduate student at Scripps College; friend of EH: see Biographical Register.
5.Henri MassisMassis, Henri (1886–1970), right-wing Roman Catholic critic; contributor to L’ Action Française; co-founder and editor of La Revue Universelle: see Biographical Register.
4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.
8.KennethPickthorn, Kenneth Pickthorn (1892–1975), historian and politician; Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register.
4.I. A. RichardsRichards, Ivor Armstrong ('I. A.') (1893–1979), theorist of literature, education and communication studies: see Biographical Register.
1.MartinShaw, Martin Shaw (1875–1958), composer of stage works, choral pieces and recital ballads: see Biographical Register.
2.EthelSwan, Ethel Swan, a Faber & Gwyer ‘pioneer’, joined the firm on 12 Oct. 1925, as telephonist and receptionist, retiring in 1972 after 47 years. PeterSwan, EthelPeter du Sautoy's tribute to;a2n du Sautoy reported in 1971: ‘These duties she still performs with admirable skill and charm … SheJoyce, Jameson the phone to the F&F receptionist;c1n has an amazing memory for voices and it is certain that if James Joyce were to return to earth to telephone a complaint (he called us “Feebler and Fumbler”) she would say “Good morning, Mr Joyce” before he could introduce himself, as if he had previously been telephoning only yesterday. Many a visiting author or publisher from overseas has felt more kindly towards Faber & Faber as a result of Miss Swan’s friendly recognition’ (‘Farewell, Russell Square’, The Bookseller no. 3410 [1 May 1971], 2040).