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Details
SITWELL, Edith (1887-1964). Series of approximately 99 autograph letters and cards signed to Arthur Waley and (the majority) Beryl de Zoete, Renishaw Hall, London (various addresses), Montagnana (Italy) and elsewhere, 19 October 1925 - 20 November 1960 and n.d. (many 1941-46); with letters by Osbert Sitwell (11), Sacheverell Sitwell (6) and Georgia Sitwell (2); and eight autograph and typescript drafts of poems and essays by Edith Sitwell.
Edith Sitwell's letters to Waley often reflect her admiration for his work, reacting with warmth in 1946 to an essay about her, 'It is most extraordinary: you have even enlightened me as to certain processes in my poetry'; another letter praises Waley's The Pillow-Book of Sei Shonagon (1928), 'Its beauty is incredible, so strange and peaceful like snow falling'; an undated letter pays tribute to Waley's friendship, 'Osbert always says to me and I always say to him, we both say to Sachie and he to us, that you are and have been such a friend to us and to our work that it goes beyond gratitude'. The letters to Beryl de Zoete often refer (sometimes scathingly) to figures in their shared social and literary circles, including T.S. Eliot ('Tom gets very bad headaches'), Harold Acton, Cecil Beaton ('how like sleek Cissie Beaton to worm his way into the Viceregal Circle. I really dislike him very much'), Kathleen Raine ('a nasty messy little woman, whose nasty messy little poems have as much value, and the same effect, -- as a dead mouse under the floor') and others, and occasionally offer insights into domestic life at Renishaw, including Osbert's inspiration in telling the gardener's wife that 'the Death Watch Beetle has got to the child's piano, and that she must have the piano got rid of immediately, otherwise the Death Beetle will tick in every single piece of furniture. You know, it really is an inspiration of Genius, isn't it?'.
Edith Sitwell's letters to Waley often reflect her admiration for his work, reacting with warmth in 1946 to an essay about her, 'It is most extraordinary: you have even enlightened me as to certain processes in my poetry'; another letter praises Waley's The Pillow-Book of Sei Shonagon (1928), 'Its beauty is incredible, so strange and peaceful like snow falling'; an undated letter pays tribute to Waley's friendship, 'Osbert always says to me and I always say to him, we both say to Sachie and he to us, that you are and have been such a friend to us and to our work that it goes beyond gratitude'. The letters to Beryl de Zoete often refer (sometimes scathingly) to figures in their shared social and literary circles, including T.S. Eliot ('Tom gets very bad headaches'), Harold Acton, Cecil Beaton ('how like sleek Cissie Beaton to worm his way into the Viceregal Circle. I really dislike him very much'), Kathleen Raine ('a nasty messy little woman, whose nasty messy little poems have as much value, and the same effect, -- as a dead mouse under the floor') and others, and occasionally offer insights into domestic life at Renishaw, including Osbert's inspiration in telling the gardener's wife that 'the Death Watch Beetle has got to the child's piano, and that she must have the piano got rid of immediately, otherwise the Death Beetle will tick in every single piece of furniture. You know, it really is an inspiration of Genius, isn't it?'.
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