BETJEMAN, Sir John (1906-1984). Poet.
Fine early Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent, 1 page 4to, Thorpe House, Oval Way, Gerard's Cross, 6 July 1928. A letter written shortly after Betjeman's rustication from Oxford and during his brief spell as a prep school master. The recipient is identified in a pencilled note as perhaps Bernard Newdigate.
Identifying [James] Hurdis as the editor of the edition of [Michael] Drayton's 'England's Heroicall [Sic] Epistles' mentioned by his correspondent, citing the evidence of the advertisements in 'Tears of Affection' and 'Sir Thomas More, a tragedy'; casting doubt on Hurdis as an authority on Drayton ('if he is able to arrange Shakespeare's plays in a chronological order which starts with Antony & Cleopatra & puts the Holinshed plays among the list'.); and quoting at length from a letter from Hurdis to [William] Cowper (19 January 1793) giving his opinion of the publisher J[oseph] Johnson.
Not in John Betjeman / Letters, ed. Candida Lycett Green (2 vols, 1994 and 1995), where there is no mention of Newdigate, and apparently unpublished.
[No: 22848]