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PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF A. WHITNEY ELLSWORTH
YEATS, William Butler (1865-1939). An important series of 17 autograph letters signed, two typed letters signed (one with long autograph addition), and two autograph poems, all to Florence Farr neé Emery (1860-1917), (whom he addresses as "Mrs. Florence Emery"), various places (Dublin, London, mostly Coole Park), various dates from 1902 to 1908. Together 56pp., (49pp 12o and 7pp 4o), 177 x 110mm. and larger. Cloth protective case.
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YEATS, William Butler (1865-1939). An important series of 17 autograph letters signed, two typed letters signed (one with long autograph addition), and two autograph poems, all to Florence Farr neé Emery (1860-1917), (whom he addresses as "Mrs. Florence Emery"), various places (Dublin, London, mostly Coole Park), various dates from 1902 to 1908. Together 56pp., (49pp 12o and 7pp 4o), 177 x 110mm. and larger. Cloth protective case.
A RICH AND REVEALING LITERARY EXCHANGE, dating from a key formative period in Yeats's development as a poetic dramatist. Farr was his lover, sometimes muse and collaborator in many of his early dramatic works; both were part of a scintillating circle of fin-de-siecle creative spirits including Ezra Pound, John Millington Synge, Lady Gregory, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley and others. These ebullient letters reflect Yeats's creative endeavors, especially his efforts to nourish and energize an Irish theater. Farr was an experienced actor and had played the heroine in Shaw's Arms and the Man; Yeats's The Land of Heart's Desire was written specifically for Farr. In 1899 she came to Dublin to play in the first performance of Yeats's The Countess Cathleen. A number of these letters describe his work on a reworked Deirdra. Farr and Yeats also shared an interest in the occult, and Farr was a high-ranking member of a group which called itself The Golden Dawn.
A few excerpts: 15 July: "I am making a new play of 'The Shadowy Waters.' It is a strong simple drama now, and has actually more poetical passages...." He dismisses a troublesome actor: "he is really impossible as an artist. I had to use the greatest self-control over myself all through these rehearsals. Only my fear of making things difficult for you kept me quiet...." September: Commenting on his recent reading, he observes that Chaucer "follows his simple, Knight's tale with an unspeakable tale told by a drunken miller. If [William] Morris had done the like, everyone would have read his earthly paradise forever...I think one wants that sort of vivid irresistible phrase in all verse spoken out loud -- it rests the imagination as upon the green ground..." In a following letter, he is hopeful that Farr will be able to perform in the new version of The Shadowy Waters: "There are no symbols...and I have into the bargain heightened all the moments of dramatic crisis -- sharpening every knife's edge. The play, as it was, came into existance after years of extreme emotion, of living upon tip- toe, and is only right at its highest moment...." Wednesday: "I am changing Shadowy Waters on almost every page and hope you will be able to play the new version...." Its core, he adds, is expressed in a few lines of verse: "When the world ends The mind is made unchanging for it finds Miracle, ecstasy, the impossible joy The flagstone under all, the fire of fires, The root of the world." -- Sunday September 30: "I am getting restless -- as the swallows do at this time of the year -- but Deirdra has me tied to the table leg. I enclose some lines I wrote this morning..." Following are 12 line of verse beginning "There's nothing here for tears -- a king & queen Who have been true lovers, are about to die And what is that...." Sunday: "Both Lady Gregory and I have been building castles in the air with you as one of their inhabitants. We mean to get you over to play for us presently....I do believe I have made a great play out of Deirdra...The [part of] the musician was written for you -- I always saw your face as I wrote..., your face even more than your voice and built the character out of that." Friday: "...I have a sketch of a strange little play about the capture of a blind Unicorn, and I have written a choral ode about witches which contain these lines..." Following are 18 lines of verse beginning "Or, they hurl a spear at him That he follows with desire Bodies that can never die...." and ending "At the burning wheel of love Till the side of hate comes up.".
[With:] Florence Farr, Bernard Shaw and W. B. Yeats, ed. Clifford Bax, Dublin: Cuala Press, 1941. 8o (210 x 195mm). Original cloth-backed boards, UNCUT. Limited edition, no. 537 of 500 copies. Containing transcripts of the Shaw and Yeats letters to Farr.
A RICH AND REVEALING LITERARY EXCHANGE, dating from a key formative period in Yeats's development as a poetic dramatist. Farr was his lover, sometimes muse and collaborator in many of his early dramatic works; both were part of a scintillating circle of fin-de-siecle creative spirits including Ezra Pound, John Millington Synge, Lady Gregory, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley and others. These ebullient letters reflect Yeats's creative endeavors, especially his efforts to nourish and energize an Irish theater. Farr was an experienced actor and had played the heroine in Shaw's Arms and the Man; Yeats's The Land of Heart's Desire was written specifically for Farr. In 1899 she came to Dublin to play in the first performance of Yeats's The Countess Cathleen. A number of these letters describe his work on a reworked Deirdra. Farr and Yeats also shared an interest in the occult, and Farr was a high-ranking member of a group which called itself The Golden Dawn.
A few excerpts: 15 July: "I am making a new play of 'The Shadowy Waters.' It is a strong simple drama now, and has actually more poetical passages...." He dismisses a troublesome actor: "he is really impossible as an artist. I had to use the greatest self-control over myself all through these rehearsals. Only my fear of making things difficult for you kept me quiet...." September: Commenting on his recent reading, he observes that Chaucer "follows his simple, Knight's tale with an unspeakable tale told by a drunken miller. If [William] Morris had done the like, everyone would have read his earthly paradise forever...I think one wants that sort of vivid irresistible phrase in all verse spoken out loud -- it rests the imagination as upon the green ground..." In a following letter, he is hopeful that Farr will be able to perform in the new version of The Shadowy Waters: "There are no symbols...and I have into the bargain heightened all the moments of dramatic crisis -- sharpening every knife's edge. The play, as it was, came into existance after years of extreme emotion, of living upon tip- toe, and is only right at its highest moment...." Wednesday: "I am changing Shadowy Waters on almost every page and hope you will be able to play the new version...." Its core, he adds, is expressed in a few lines of verse: "When the world ends The mind is made unchanging for it finds Miracle, ecstasy, the impossible joy The flagstone under all, the fire of fires, The root of the world." -- Sunday September 30: "I am getting restless -- as the swallows do at this time of the year -- but Deirdra has me tied to the table leg. I enclose some lines I wrote this morning..." Following are 12 line of verse beginning "There's nothing here for tears -- a king & queen Who have been true lovers, are about to die And what is that...." Sunday: "Both Lady Gregory and I have been building castles in the air with you as one of their inhabitants. We mean to get you over to play for us presently....I do believe I have made a great play out of Deirdra...The [part of] the musician was written for you -- I always saw your face as I wrote..., your face even more than your voice and built the character out of that." Friday: "...I have a sketch of a strange little play about the capture of a blind Unicorn, and I have written a choral ode about witches which contain these lines..." Following are 18 lines of verse beginning "Or, they hurl a spear at him That he follows with desire Bodies that can never die...." and ending "At the burning wheel of love Till the side of hate comes up.".
[With:] Florence Farr, Bernard Shaw and W. B. Yeats, ed. Clifford Bax, Dublin: Cuala Press, 1941. 8o (210 x 195mm). Original cloth-backed boards, UNCUT. Limited edition, no. 537 of 500 copies. Containing transcripts of the Shaw and Yeats letters to Farr.