Literature
ELIOT, T[homas] S[tearns].
The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism.
Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1920. First edition. 12mo. Publisher's blue cloth boards, title blindstamped on front cover, spine lettered in gilt, first issue with type of publisher at foot of spine measuring approx. 3mm. Small unobtrusive ownership inscription on first flyleaf, some wear with rubbing to edges and particularly to joints and head and tail of spine causing slight loss of cloth, spine somewhat darkened, lacking the rare dust jacket. A good copy.
In early 1920 Eliot very much felt that he needed to produce a substantial piece of work and of "serious" literary criticism. After negotiations with the publishers he collected essays taken from the Egoist, Athenaeum, The Times Literary Supplement and Art and Letter and wrote additional pieces. The Sacred Wood which contains the crucial 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' was completed and published in November but received mixed reviews. It appears that he was hurt most by what he felt to be a personal, and unjust, remark on his character, "The critics say I am learned and cold [...] The truth is I am neither," he confessed to Virginia Woolf on one of their walks together. (VW Diary II; 16 February 1921) Gallup A5a.
Price: £ 330
US Dollar Price: $ 500
Stock Number: 43318