BETJEMAN (Sir John, 1906-1982, Poet Laureate)

Small collection of Autograph Letters to Percy MUIR (1894-1979, Antiquarian Bookseller, Collector and Bibliographer) and his wife, the first to “Dear Bibliomuir, thanking him for thinking of him. As a matter of fact I like it very much & have seen other places in that process, but not Brighton. As a little token of thanks I enclose this Chiselhampton thing. The money was substantial, so keep it as a souvenir...”, 1 side 8vo., The Mead Wantage, Berks, 26th November 1955, together with a printed copy of Verses Turned “in aid of A Public Subscription Towards the Restoration of the Church of St Katherine, Chiselhampton, Oxon”, with printed signatures of several of the sponsors and an autograph inscription signed “To BiblioMuir from J Betjeman”, 2 pages 4to., with original autograph envelope, together with another Autograph Letter Signed to “Biblio and Mrs Muir” thanking him for sending the “CRL Fletcher’s Guide to Oxford, I can just remember the book when I was a new boy at the Dragon School. (Lyman’s it was called then) & the prejudices of its author I shared then myself ‘KEBLE... as for the buildings, they were perpetrated - there is no other word for it - by Mr Butterfield in 1870’. I like too the OUP wartime format of the book. It is a gloriously forthright anti-town, pro University... liberal, jingo-istic & patronising book. I find I can’t put it down. It recalls my youth in an agonising way. How quiet was Cumnor then & how many lived who remembered Jowett...”, 2 sides 8vo, The Mead, Wantage, Berks, no date, circa

One of Muir's clients was the author and book collector Ian Fleming. Muir would select books for Fleming who "put himself in Percy’s hands", who said he "wanted to ‘collect 'books that made things happen', and he left it to Percy to suggest suitable titles".
‘Verses Turned’ is in contrast to Betjeman's other works, which often explore themes of urbanization and modern alienation, this poem celebrates the enduring charm and spiritual significance of rural churches.
The original buildings of Keble College were designed by William Butterfield (1814-1900). Although the darling of the Tractarian movement, Butterfield was a controversial choice, as his style (a form of High Victorian Gothic) had long provoked argument in Oxford.

Item Date:  1955

Stock No:  42664      £775

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