[41 Brimmer St., Boston]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Faber & Faber Ltd
Friday, 29 May 1931
Emily dear,

This will be a very tiny note; primarily to tell you that you escaped only by the closest squeak getting a cable from me! After posting Tuesday’s letter to Brimmer Street, it occurred to me that you might have left Boston by June 1st. And particularly as my previous letter had been rather doleful, I did not want so long a time to elapse as the interval between forwarding to Seattle and your indirect journey thither, so I was going to cable to say that there was a letter which you might receive when it was forwarded to Seattle. However, your letter of the 15th arrived on Wednesday – but I should have sent the cable that morning before going to the office had I not been rushed. I confess that it would have been a pleasure to me – because it is rather exhilarating to send a message and know that you will get it within a few hours – though I hope I may never have any reason of serious anxiety for cabling. But I ask you, Madam, to give me the credit for great self-control so far, in cabling you only once – I reserve the right to do so on Christmasses and birthdays.

IJoyce, Jameslunches with TSE at fish shop;a4 have just been lunching with Joyce1 at Overton, a fish shop near Victoria – discussing his publishing problems mostly, and humming bits of Wagner in turn – and now must write a note to SpensSpens, Will;a2 apologising for being unable to come to Cambridge this week end after all; andSiepmann, Charles Arthur;a2 then Mr. Siepmann of the B.B.C. is coming to consult with me; andCrosby, Caresse;a1 then, most difficult, Mrs. Caresse Crosby of Paris is coming, to ask me, I fear, to write a preface for her deceased husband’s poems.2 Anddogs'Polly' (the Eliots' Yorkshire Terrier);c6taken to have wound dressed;a2 then I must go back and whisk the Dog out to the veterinary in Hampstead to have its wound dressed (it lost three toe nails, that’s all). And I shall write again on Monday to Brimmer Street, and after that to Seattle. And when, my dear Lady, is Midsummer, pray? Shall I have a photograph by the middle of June or do you mean the first of August? I shall not breathe Freely until I am sure that it has at least been taken – but then I shall probably hear that you don’t like it and I must wait till Christmas. I am now in such a state that ANY photograph – whatever you think of it yourself – would content me.

I suppose that I am not to expect to hear from you for a period [of] about two weeks, while you are on your meanderings; but even a picture post card would be nourishing.

I can see, I think, that Judith was a difficult and in its way an interesting part to play; and I am much interested in what you tell me about it.

En t’embrassant les bouts des doigts & des orteils, je te prie de reçevoir l’expression de ma consideration parfaite.3

T. S. E.

1.James Joyce.

2.CaresseCrosby, Caresse Crosby (1892–1970), née Jacob (her parents were wealthy New Yorkers), married in 1922 the poet Harry Crosby, with whom she set up in Paris an imprint called Editions Narcisse, which became the Black Sun Press: they published writers including James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Hart Crane and Ezra Pound. Following Harry Crosby’s suicide in Dec. 1929, she continued to expand the Black Sun Press – publishing works including Hart Crane’s The Bridge (1930) and editions of Crosby’s writings – before returning to the USA. In later years she took initiatives in various fields: she opened the Crosby Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, DC; she launched a quarterly journal, Portfolio: An Intercontinental Review; and she became active in the international peace movement, co-founding Citizens of the World and Women Against War. Writings include Poems for Harry Crosby (1931); The Passionate Years (memoir, 1953).

3.‘In kissing your fingertips and toes, I beg you to receive the expression of my perfect consideration.’

Crosby, Caresse,

2.CaresseCrosby, Caresse Crosby (1892–1970), née Jacob (her parents were wealthy New Yorkers), married in 1922 the poet Harry Crosby, with whom she set up in Paris an imprint called Editions Narcisse, which became the Black Sun Press: they published writers including James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Hart Crane and Ezra Pound. Following Harry Crosby’s suicide in Dec. 1929, she continued to expand the Black Sun Press – publishing works including Hart Crane’s The Bridge (1930) and editions of Crosby’s writings – before returning to the USA. In later years she took initiatives in various fields: she opened the Crosby Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, DC; she launched a quarterly journal, Portfolio: An Intercontinental Review; and she became active in the international peace movement, co-founding Citizens of the World and Women Against War. Writings include Poems for Harry Crosby (1931); The Passionate Years (memoir, 1953).

dogs, TSE imagines himself as EH's dog, Pollicle, endear Hodgson to TSE, EH fond of, TSE wishes to give EH, TSE enthuses over with Ambassador Stimson's wife, death of Lord Lisburne's gun-dog, wish to buy EH dog reaffirmed, James Thurber's dog, wish to buy EH dog develops, TSE's wish that EH choose dog for him, of Shamley Wood, Aberdeen Terrier, belonging to Gerald Graham, TSE against, Alsatian, bites F&F sales manager in Cheltenham, Blue Bedlington Terrier, TSE wishes to bring EH, related to the Kerry Blue, TSE fantasises with Hodgson about breeding, TSE wishes EH might have, 'Boerre' (Norwegian Elkhound), travels to America, described, and right-hand traffic, TSE receives photo of, affords EH exercise, envied by TSE, scourge of Northampton, cuts foot, when chasing squirrel, suspected attempt to abduct, 'disorderly', 'cantankerous', taking unaccompanied exercise, decorated at dog-show, goes missing, not taken to Maine, EH decides to give up, poignant photograph of, dies, Bull Terrier, Ralph Hodgson's 'Picky' bites cat, home found for 'Picky', Hodgson fantasises with TSE about breeding, Dachshund, among TSE's preferred short-legged breeds, Hope Mirrlees's 'Mary', elkhound, belonging to Mrs Eames, as breed for EH, Jack Russell, among TSE's preferred short-legged breeds, possible replacement for Boerre, Kerry Blue, related to Blue Bedlington Terrier, at Army and Navy stores, Labrador, the Morleys' eight puppies, the Morleys', Pekingese, TSE averse to, belonging to Mrs Behrens, 'Polly' (the Eliots' Yorkshire Terrier), falls off roof, taken to have wound dressed, barks at Hungarian language, Poodle, as breed for EH, 'Rag Doll' (Scottish Terrier), travels to Grand Manan, TSE receives photo of, EH gives up, Samoyed, considered for EH, spaniel, belonging to the Fabers, Staffordshire Terrier, Hodgson advises Miss Wilberforce on,
Joyce, James, appears suddenly in London, admired and esteemed by TSE, takes flat in Kensington, lunches with TSE at fish shop, gets on with Osbert Sitwell, GCF on, consumes TSE's morning, dines in company chez Eliot, obstinately unbusinesslike, bank-draft ordered for, indebted to Harriet Weaver, writes to TSE about daughter, his place in history, evening with Lewis, Vanderpyl and, TSE appreciates loneliness of, TSE's excuse for visiting Paris, insists on lavish Parisian dinner, on the phone to the F&F receptionist, TSE's hairdresser asks after, defended by TSE at UCD, for which TSE is attacked, qua poet, his Miltonic ear, requires two F&F directors' attention, anecdotalised by Jane Heap, part of TSE's Paris itinerary, in Paris, strolls with TSE, and David Jones, and EP's gift of shoes, his death lamented, insufficiently commemorated, esteemed by Hugh Walpole, TSE's prose selection of, Indian audience addressed on, TSE opens exhibition dedicated to, TSE on the Joyce corpus, TSE on his letters to, Anna Livia Plurabelle, Joyce's recording of, Dubliners, taught in English 26, Ulysses, modern literature undiscussable without, Harold Monro's funeral calls to mind, its true perversity, likened to Gulliver's Travels, F&F negotiating for, 'Work in Progress' (afterwards Finnegans Wake), negotiations over, conveyed to London by Jolas, 'very troublesome', new MS delivered by Madame Léon,
see also Joyces, the

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).

Siepmann, Charles Arthur,
see also British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

2.CharlesSiepmann, Charles Arthur Arthur Siepmann (1899–1985), radio producer and educator, was awarded the Military Cross in WW1. He joined the BBC in 1927, and became Director of Talks, 1932–5; Regional Relations, 1935–6; Programme Planning, 1936–9. He was University Lecturer, Harvard, 1939–42; worked for the Office of War Information, 1942–5; and was Professor of Education, New York University, 1946–67. Works include Radio’s Second Chance (1946), Radio, Television and Society (1950), TV and Our School Crisis (1959). See Richard J. Meyer, ‘Charles A. Siepmann and Educational Broadcasting’, Educational Technology Research and Development 12: 4 (Winter 1964), 413–30.

Spens, Will, among TSE's Corpus 'friends', described for EH, hosts TSE for degree, and the Boutwood Lectures, and 'A Liberal Manifesto',

7.WillSpens, Will Spens (1882–1962), educator and scientist; Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register.