£1,250.00

Oxford: Printed for the author by B.H.Blackwell. 1915.

An archive of letters and poems by Edith and Osbert Sitwell to their cousin Veronica Gilliat together with a copy of the limited, first edition of Edith Sitwell's collection of poems The Mother. 192x150mm. pp. 20. Original wrappers, torn at spine and detached. Inscribed on half title "Veronica Gilliat. December 1916". Housed in a custom made drop-backed box. All have been folded and there is some soiling and the occasional tear but the text is not affected.
The letters and poems are as follows:
1. Manuscript letter (two sheets 227x176mm written on three pages) from Osbert Sitwell. Dated 29th August 1941 and sent from Renishaw Hall, the Sitwell's family house in Derbyshire. No envelope.
2. Manuscript letter (single sheet 202x127mm written on both sides) from Osbert Sitwell. Undated but the envelope postmark is October 1963. In an envelope.
3. Typed letter (single sheet, 202x127mm written on both sides) from Osbert sent from Castello di Montegufoni, near Florence and dated 29th May 1968. In an envelope.
4. Manuscript poem - "Platitudes" by Edith Sitwell addressed "To Veronica". Ten two-line verses in black ink on one side of a single sheet, 227x176mm.
5. Manuscript poem - "Nursery Afternoons" by Edith Sitwell addressed "To Veronica". Fifteen two-line verses in black ink on both sides of a single sheet, 227x176mm.
6. Manuscript poem "Epithalamium" by Edith Sitwell. Forty six lines in black ink on the recto only of three sheets, 252x200mm, fastened at top left corner.
The letters from Osbert to Veronica are essentially gossipy family affairs, the one from Renishaw advising her on where to obtain Buxton spring water but it does end with the desperate cry - "I think the war must end soon. What do you think?"
The poems by Edith are all undated. "Platitudes" was published, with a few alterations, as one of the "Bucolic Comedies" which is where "Nursery Afternoons" in a considerably expanded form appears as "Winter" where it is dedicated "To Veronica". "Epithalamium" was published in 1931. This is a nice collection of manuscript poems from one of the most distinctive, and somewhat surreal voices of twentieth century poetry. That these poems were published in different form (and in one case, radically different form and with a changed title), lends them a scholarly significance.