What Is a Classic?
by ELIOT T.S
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
1945. First Edition . Signed. ELIOT, T.S. What Is a Classic? An Address delivered before the Virgil Society on the 16th of October 1944. London: Faber & Faber, (1945). Slim octavo, original light blue cloth, supplied dust jacket. $5200.First edition, ordinary issue, presentation copy, of this presidential address delivered to the Virgil Society in 1944, inscribed in the year of publication to Eliot's beloved first spiritual counselor, a longtime Anglican vicar who served at St. Stephen's in Kensington, where the deeply religious Eliot worshipped and served as churchwarden during the final decades of his life: ""To Fr. Eric Cheetham from T.S. Eliot. Ash Wednesday 1945.""""In his 1944 Presidential Address to the Virgil Society, Eliot placed the Latin poet 'at the center of European civilization'"" (Yeats Eliot Review). Eliot arguedperhaps inspired by British classicist and scholar Jackson Knightthat Virgil was a sort of proto-Christian, embodying what Eliot saw as Christian values (e.g. a sense of duty to family, community, and God). The dust jacket has been supplied from another first edition copy. Gallup A45b. Preceded by the Virgil Society issue published in wrappers earlier the same year. This copy was inscribed on Ash Wednesday to Fr. Eric Cheetham, vicar of St. Stephen's in Kensington, London. Eliot had a deep Anglo-Catholic faith, which he discovered shortly after gaining British citizenship. Eliot lived in South Kensington for much of his life and joined St. Stephen's after he formally separated from his first wife, Vivienne. Between 1933 and 1940, Eliot sought spiritual refuge while living in the vicarage at St. Stephen's, where he came to know the vicar, Fr. Eric Cheetham. Cheetham was something of a friendly eccentric, known for his outgoing personality and his idiosyncratic church newsletter which eschewed standard punctuation in favor of a chatty, stream-of-consciousness style. Attempting to describe him, Eliot wrote: ""He was a wonderfully jolly priest, the kind I always supposed G. K. Chesterton would have loved
He had a miniature motor-bike to make his rounds, and used to say wistfully that he only wished he might have ridden it up the aisle, only the church would frown on him dispensing blessings from a Corgi."" Leaning on Cheetham and St. Stephen's, Eliot found solace in the rites and rituals of the Anglican Church, regularly going to Confession and attending Mass. At his core, Eliot was a seeker and leaned toward historical religious tradition. In fact, he frequently attended silent retreats at Anglican monasteries attempting to grow closer to God. Nevertheless, Eliot committed himself to the more modern worship at St. Stephen's and even became a senior layman (churchwarden), helping to guide the congregation as he had been guided. In the end, Eliot spent over three decades at St. Stephen's.Book with interior quite nice, faint soiling to cloth, and a bit of toning to extremities. Dust jacket with a few tiny water spots and only light wear and toning to extremities. A handsome, extremely good copy with outstanding provenance.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Bauman Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 125707
- Title
- What Is a Classic?
- Author
- ELIOT T.S
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Date Published
- 1945
Terms of Sale
Bauman Rare Books
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About the Seller
Bauman Rare Books
Biblio member since 2009
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
About Bauman Rare Books
In business since 1973, Bauman Rare Books now has locations in New York, Philadelphia and Las Vegas.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Miniature
- A book that is less then 3 inches in width and ...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
- G
- Good describes the average used and worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects must be noted. (as defined by AB...
- Wrappers
- The paper covering on the outside of a paperback. Also see the entry for pictorial wraps, color illustrated coverings for...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...