W. H. Davies letters

Some fifty-eight letters and postcards, 1905-1938, from W. H. Davies to various correspondents, mainly concerning his own work and its publication, including some poetry. The letters were collected by E. E. Bissell.
The correspondents include T. I. F. Armstrong (John Gawsworth), 1931-1938 (ff. 1-22), John Freeman, [?early 1914]-1928 (ff. 24-34), Harold Monro, 1905-1927 (ff. 38-39, 41, 45-70), [James Brand] Pinker, 18 December 1905 (f. 72), [M. P.] Shiel, 1 June 1935 (f. 75), [John Collings] Squire, 1914, 1919 (ff. 76-77), and Edward Thomas, 7 December 1907 (f. 78). Also included are carbon copies of letters to Davies from Gawsworth, 19 August 1932 (f. 10), and Monro, 6 October 1920 (f. 44), and from Monro to Conrad Aiken, 20 July 1925 (f. 71); autograph manuscripts, with printers' markings, of Davies' poems 'The Bird of Paradise', [1913] (f. 40), and 'Body and Spirit', [1914] (ff. 42-43), for publication in Poetry and Drama, 1.4 (December 1913), 421, and 2.4 (December 1914), 350, respectively, and 'When Autumn's Fruit', [1920], published in the New Republic, 26 January 1921, p. 251 (f. 80); a signed typescript of Davies' 'In Winter', [October 1931], published by Gawsworth as a limited edition (f. 2); cuttings of 'Come, Melancholy' and 'Age and Youth' from the New Statesman and Nation, 16 January 1932, pp. 47, 65 (ff. 83-84; see also f. 11); proof pages for Davies' contributions to Known Signatures, ed. by John Gawsworth (London, 1932), pp. 31-33, comprising 'Come, Melancholy', 'Age and Youth' and 'In Winter' (ff. 81-82; see also ff. 10-11, 13-16); fragments of an apparently unpublished poem in Davies' hand entitled 'Sally', cut into five strips (f. 23/1-5); 'Bright Flowers', a autograph poem by John Freeman (f. 35); and a signed carte-de-visite photograph of Davies, [early 1900s], apparently presented by him to Edward Thomas.

Edward Thomas (1878-1917), poet and writer, was born Philip Edward Thomas in Lambeth to Welsh-born parents on 3 March 1878. He was educated at St Paul's School, London and Lincoln College, Oxford. Having left St Paul's, Thomas studied for the civil service examination, a move which expressed parental ambition rather than his own as he had reacted against the wordly views of his father, who worked for the Board of Trade and was prominent in Liberal politics. He was encouraged in his early literary ambitions by the critic James Ashcroft Noble and Thomas's first book, The Woodland Life, inspired by his love of the natural world, appeared as early as 1897. Thomas married Noble's daughter Helen (1877-1967) in 1899 and, having graduated from Lincoln College in 1900, made a precarious living as a literary reviewer for the Daily Chronicle whilst also writing essays, anthologies, guidebooks and folk-tales. He also published further books, including The Heart of England (1906), as well as biographical writings, most notably those on Richard Jefferies (1909), Maurice Maeterlinck (1911), Algernon Charles Swinburne (1912) and Walter Pater (1913). This period also produced his autobiographical works The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans (1913), The Icknield Way (1913) and In Pursuit of Spring (1914). Possibly from an overwhelming feeling that his creativity was shackled and frustrated, Thomas at this time suffered recurrent physical and psychological breakdowns which once took him to the brink of suicide. It was not until 1914 that he wrote his first 'real' poem, entitled 'Up in the Wind'. The wartime collapse of the literary market at last afforded Thomas more time to write poetry; over a space of two years, he was to write over one hundred and forty poems. In 1915 Thomas joined the Artists' Rifles; he was commissioned second lieutenant in 1916 and volunteered for service overseas. In April 1917 he was killed during the first hour of the battle of Arras in northern France and buried the following day on the outskirts of the town; he therefore did not live to see the publication of his Poems (1917) (under his pseudonym Edward Eastaway), nor the subsequent Last Poems (1918) and Collected Poems (1920). His wife Helen wrote of their time together in As It Was (1926) and World Without End (1931). Thomas numbered amongst his poetical and literary influences Robert Frost, Thomas Hardy, W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence, Walter de la Mare, and W. H. Davies.

Arranged alphabetically by correspondent at NLW.

Edward Thomas (1878-1917), poet and writer, was born Philip Edward Thomas in Lambeth to Welsh-born parents on 3 March 1878. He was educated at St Paul's School, London and Lincoln College, Oxford. Having left St Paul's, Thomas studied for the civil service examination, a move which expressed parental ambition rather than his own as he had reacted against the wordly views of his father, who worked for the Board of Trade and was prominent in Liberal politics. He was encouraged in his early literary ambitions by the critic James Ashcroft Noble and Thomas's first book, The Woodland Life, inspired by his love of the natural world, appeared as early as 1897. Thomas married Noble's daughter Helen (1877-1967) in 1899 and, having graduated from Lincoln College in 1900, made a precarious living as a literary reviewer for the Daily Chronicle whilst also writing essays, anthologies, guidebooks and folk-tales. He also published further books, including The Heart of England (1906), as well as biographical writings, most notably those on Richard Jefferies (1909), Maurice Maeterlinck (1911), Algernon Charles Swinburne (1912) and Walter Pater (1913). This period also produced his autobiographical works The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans (1913), The Icknield Way (1913) and In Pursuit of Spring (1914). Possibly from an overwhelming feeling that his creativity was shackled and frustrated, Thomas at this time suffered recurrent physical and psychological breakdowns which once took him to the brink of suicide. It was not until 1914 that he wrote his first 'real' poem, entitled 'Up in the Wind'. The wartime collapse of the literary market at last afforded Thomas more time to write poetry; over a space of two years, he was to write over one hundred and forty poems. In 1915 Thomas joined the Artists' Rifles; he was commissioned second lieutenant in 1916 and volunteered for service overseas. In April 1917 he was killed during the first hour of the battle of Arras in northern France and buried the following day on the outskirts of the town; he therefore did not live to see the publication of his Poems (1917) (under his pseudonym Edward Eastaway), nor the subsequent Last Poems (1918) and Collected Poems (1920). His wife Helen wrote of their time together in As It Was (1926) and World Without End (1931). Thomas numbered amongst his poetical and literary influences Robert Frost, Thomas Hardy, W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence, Walter de la Mare, and W. H. Davies.

Title based on contents.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 23806D.

Some folios repaired at NLW with no loss of text.

Lots 309-10, 313, and part of lot 305 at the Sotheby's sale, 16 July 1998.

Published