BETJEMAN, Sir John, letters, autographs, documents, manuscripts



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The image is of Manuscript 2 (first page).

BETJEMAN, Sir John (1906-1984). Poet.
Fine collection of five autograph Manuscripts and two typescripts.
The collection comprises:
1. The autograph manuscript notes made for Betjeman's address at the memorial service of Noël Coward at St Paul's, Covent Garden, on 24 May 1973. One page folio on lined paper, with numerous deletions and additions.
'We are here to thank the Lord for the life of Noël Coward,
Noël with the two dots over the 'e'
... we can all see him in our mind's eye. ...'
2. Working autograph draft of the poem 'Chelsea 1977'. Two conjugate leaves folio on lined paper (slight creasing and soiling), ca 35 lines plus 7 on page 2 and 11 on the fourth page (page three blank), heavily revised, with major deletions and amendments.
'The street was bathed in winter [substituted for another word, illegible] sunset pink
The air was redolent of kitchen sink. ...'
3. Another autograph draft of the same poem, 1 page folio on lined paper, rather creased and slightly soiled, with revisions and deletions, ca 32 lines.
4. A further autograph draft on a small piece, 152 x 102 mm (6 x 4 inches), ca 18 lines, with a few alterations.
5. Typescript of the same, 22 lines in carbon, with 9 autograph corrections, and two further lines in black typewriting below.
6. Final (carbon) typescript of the finished poem, 14 lines as published, on 1 page 4to.
7. Autograph manuscript, probably of a review of Hamilton Ellis's British Railway History [two vols. 1954 and 1959], 1 page folio (with some creasing and tears), on plain unlined paper.
[No: 20377]


The image is of Manuscript 2 (first page).


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