I’m supposed to be going away from April 15th to 29th, but hope to send you another short story before then to see what you think about it. But it’s of no use mentioning it to Janet as she wants everything ready by Monday. I feel there’s some kind of pressure on her, but I don’t know where from, certainly not from me. Meanwhile I’m letting her down because I haven’t been asked to appear at the London Book Fair (?), in fact I didn’t know that it was on, or even what it was. She tells me Peter Ho Davies is coming over for it specially. I’m a bit vague about him too.
I won’t ask you again about your house, but just hope everything is going well –
all best wishes
Penelope
Chris Carduff*
76 Clifton Hill
London, NW8
12 September 1987
Dear Christopher Carduff,
Thankyou very much for your letter and the two admirable biographies you sent me, (not to speak of the others which you said you might send later).
I’m very glad that Charlotte Mew should be in such a series, she is a ‘timeless woman’, I think.
1. May I ask you something? When you reprint, I do hope the illustrations will still be scattered, as I’m told it’s no more expensive than putting them all together in the middle in the old way, even if they don’t come out quite so clearly, and I’m sure it’s much more encouraging for the readers, particularly if they don’t know much about the subject.
2. I’m afraid Ethel Oliver appears as Edith Oliver in the index and throughout the text, except on p. 33. I’ve had quite a few letters about this, but I don’t see how it can be altered now –
3. The poems – they are all out of copyright now, except for those which Carcanet/Virago printed for the first time – The following are reprinted complete in the text of CMM and Her Friends:
Exspecto Resurrectionem, Sea Love, Péri en Mer, The Farmer’s
Bride, Fame, A Quoi Bon Dire?, The Shade-catchers, Fin de Fête.
I suppose they wouldn’t need to be reprinted again in appendix? (Normally a biography wouldn’t quote so much, but I couldn’t rely on the readers knowing them at all.) Apart from these, my list would be:
The Changeling, In Nunhead Cemetery, Ken, Madeleine in Church,
The Quiet House, Rooms, Saturday Market, Domus Caedet Arborem,
Here Lies a Prisoner, The Call.
But I have to leave that to you, and of course as you say it would have to depend on the exact page count.
4. The foreword – Margaret Drabble is a splendid writer, very kind and helpful, and a well-known name, and Michael Holroyd – also kind and helpful! – was certainly an early supporter of Charlotte Mew – but they are both very busy at the moment (and indeed always) – the Bernard Shaw biography having at last got under way with Volume 1 – I’d much rather you wrote to her, as I only know her slightly and it would come better from you! – If she can’t manage the time, then, possibly, the poet Patric Dickinson, who is a great expert on early 20th century poets.
5. The cover – Unfortunately I have never been able to discover a colour-photograph or painting of Charlotte Mew, and the (black-and white) sketch we had for a frontispiece was said (by Mrs Marjorie Watts, who knew her well) not to be at all like her! I see that you got someone to colour the engraving of Margaret Fuller – but don’t know what to suggest. The 1923 Photograph, opposite p. 191 of CMM and Her Friends has a lot of character, I think – but that wasn’t what you were asking for. The chief collector of CMM items is Frederick B. Adams – but he hasn’t got a colour picture either.
Thankyou again for Cassatt and Fuller, which I’m now settling down to read, and for your kind and encouraging remarks about authors and publishers. You’ll let me know, won’t you, if I can do anything –
Yours sincerely
Penelope Fitzgerald
76 Clifton Hill
London, NW8
17 October 1987
Dear Christopher Carduff,
Thankyou so much for your letter and for telling me how Charlotte Mew is getting along. I’m glad the illustrations can be placed in the same way, as I think they help to ‘tell the story’, always a difficulty when you’re trying to write about somebody who is not at all well known, and give an idea of their character and their background – it’s quite a different problem if you’re writing a life (as a friend of mine is doing at the moment) of William Morris – or of Emily Dickinson. I was also very interested to hear about the layout you’re thinking about for the poems – they’re a printer’s nightmare, I know, with their long lines – but the way you suggest doing it would give the feeling of the original Poetry Bookshop editions – and that, I think, would be just right.
The selection of poems I leave to you, of course, with great relief, and I think that the Ethel/Edith is the only error that needs putting right.
I hope you’re successful with Margaret Drabble! I did see her for a few minutes the other evening, but didn’t like to mention this introduction –
best wishes
Penelope Fitzgerald
76 Clifton Hill
London, NW8
7 December 1987
Dear Christopher,
Thankyou so much for your letter. I was a bit dashed to find that Collins had lost the film of the C. Mew illustrations, and I consider it very forgiving of you to say that such things happen in this business, although perhaps they do in all businesses.
I’m sorry about Margaret Drabble – but it was really Michael Holroyd who knew all about Charlotte Mew – and I think Brad Leithauser, whose article needless to say I appreciated very much, will be just the right person particularly as he’s a poet himself.
Who will say a word on the back jacket? Well, I think Robert Gittings might, as I know he is interested in Charlotte Mew, since she was a friend of Florence Hardy’s, and he even thought of writing about her himself at one time, I know. He’s always kind and generous to other writers.
As to the note on myself, I’m answering your letter at once but have only just got it – we’ve been having a postal strike – so I’m afraid it’s too late – but anyway, I’m a niece of Ronald Knox and published a biography of my father (who was editor of Punch) and my three uncles (The Knox Brothers, American ed. Coward, McCann and Geoghegan 1977). I also write novels (on the whole I think you should write biographies of those you admire and respect, and novels about human beings who you think are sadly mistaken) – and two of them, Offshore (Booker Prize 1979) and Innocence, came out with Henry Holt’s in 1987.
The jacket with Dorothy Hawksley’s portrait sounds beautiful and I’m very much looking forward to seeing it – and much regret the extra work you’ve had to do – with best Christmas wishes
Penelope
76 Clifton Hill
London, NW8
3 January 1988
Thankyou so very much for the delightful Christmas card and kind message. I was also very glad to get the jacket design for Charlotte Mew and Her Friends. The water-colour is so much better in colour. Whatever happens to the book, I’m sure it’s in good hands – best wishes for 1988 Penelope
76 Clifton Hill
London, NW8
22 February 1988
Dear Chris,
This to thank you for the proof copy of Charlotte Mew and Her Friends, and for all the trouble you’ve taken over it. I thought the introduction was just right, and I’m very glad that she should have a chance to find friends in America and to find, too, such a helpful book editor –
all best wishes –
Penelope
76 Clifton Hill
London, NW8
[1988]
Charlotte Mew and Her Friends has just arrived, looks magnificent, but at the same time it’s just right for a very unmagnificent and genuine poet. Thankyou so much, I feel proud to have your edition –
best wishes
Penelope
76 Clifton Hill
London, NW8
24 April 1988
Please forgive this unbelievably battered air-letter form, but it is Sunday, and this is the only one I have left. How it got like this? I really can’t tell.
I’m sorry about the pages 112/113 trouble in Charlotte Mew and her Friends, and altogether I’m afraid the book has given you a lot of extra work, and it’s very good of you to say your heart is in it. Thankyou for returning the photographs – they too, I’m afraid, have been another cause of difficulty, but I very much appreciated the piece in Publishers’ Weekly which suggested there might be new appreciation for Charlotte M ‘after years of inexplicable neglect’. Whether or not that turns out to be so, I’m grateful to Addison-Wesley for giving her, so to speak, the chance.
I sympathise with you about the need for growing something out of the earth. It’s strange but I used to believe that Americans didn’t feel this need (and called their gardens ‘yards’). Robert Frost, when he was over here, gardened by going out and digging up wild flowers, which of course refused to grow when he and his wife brought them back to his garden. But I see that nowadays anyway, I’m wrong –
with thanks and best wishes
Penelope
New address: As from June 10th, (if you should ever wish to get in contact with me again!):
27a Bishop’s Road
Highgate, N6
26 May 1988
Dear Christopher
Thankyou for your letter and you are absolutely right about moving, said to be life’s second most traumatic experience, and thankyou, too for the CMews which have arrived safely – also the reviews, which of course I was very interested to see.
About people who it would be useful to send copies to I am afraid I’m not going to be of much use, although I should like to be – the reason is that they were sent copies of the original biography, (without the poems of course) – otherwise I should suggest an American in France, Frederick B. Adams – as he is one of the chief collectors of Charlotte Mew letters &c. best wishes, Penelope
27a Bishop’s Road
London, N6
15 June 1988
Thankyou so much for the notices of Charlotte Mew and Her Friends, particularly the kind words from Gloria Fromm. I’m sure that you’ve done everything possible for the book, and hope there may be a chance of seeing Copenhaver Clumpston.
All moves are dreadful and one’s possessions become hostile and seize the opportunity to disappear however carefully you’ve packed them, but I hope to be settled one of these days –
best wishes, Penelope
27a Bishop’s Road
London
4 August 1988
Dear Christopher, (no, Chris)
This is to thank you for the notices of CMew and Her Friends which have just arrived, and to say how sorry I was to have missed (at least, I’m afraid I’ve missed) your art director.
I’m trying to get Camden Council to put a plaque on Charlotte Mew’s house (which now belongs to the council) – I should so much like to see it there – but Camden, like nearly all the other London authorities, is hopelessly in debt,
best wishes
Penelope
27a Bishop’s Road
London, N6
15 October 1988
Dear Chris,
This is to thank you for the American Scholar and in general for all the kind attention and help you’ve given to Charlotte Mew and Her Friends. I would say that if anyone counts as one of her friends, it’s yourself.
I’m so glad that you’re allowing yourself a week-end – although that doesn’t seem very long – in Maine, and if you really take my Russian novel with you I shall feel flattered – best wishes Penelope
27a Bishop’s Road
London, N6
17 January 1989
Dear Chris,
Thankyou so very much for your letter and the copy of Doris Grumbach’s review, and for letting me know about the paperback of Charlotte Mew and Her Friends. I needn’t say how pleased I am about this, and it would be wonderful if with the paperback we could reach some more readers. You’re right, readers of poetry (and, I might add, poets) aren’t usually rich, but, in my opinion, they’re important.
Burne-Jones was the first book I ever wrote and I think I’d do it very differently now – it needed colour illustrations, which of course no-one could afford – however I think it’s proved useful to people who wanted to study the period, although the bibliography is now seriously out of date. Hamish Hamilton, however, are re-issuing it as a paperback (with even fewer illustrations, I fear) later this year. The editor in charge is called Rosalind Sanderson, and Hamish Hamilton are now at 27 Wright’s Lane London W8 – This is just in case you’re interested in asking them about it. But although there’s a very large Burne-Jones in the Museo at Puerto Rico, I don’t think he’s ever been a success in the U.S.!
best wishes, Penelope
27a Bishop’s Road
London, N6
24 February 1989
Dear Chris,
Thankyou so much for your letter and I should like to congratulate you on two counts – on your new fiancée, and secondly on the stand you’ve taken over your profession – when I saw that Pearsons had taken over Addison-Wesley I felt that changes might be on the way, and I think you had not only a literary but a moral choice to make (I’m not talking about my book! something much more than that) and that you’ve chosen right and it must turn out well. I do hope your interviews have been successful. I wonder if you went to Henry Holt’s who courageously brought out some of my novels – Marian Wood, who is my book editor there, seems to have some of the same ideas as you.
Needless to say, I was very glad that you are going to write the copy for Charlotte Mew, in spite of everything. I see that a correction is necessary about Netta Syrett (although I’ve checked, with the only person I can find who knew her, that she (Netta) did more than talk about sex – ) and I’ve written to Elizabeth Skinner about this and hope that my letter will arrive in time.
My Edward Burne-Jones is being re-issued in paper-back by Hamish Hamilton, and I hope that a few copies may make their way over to the U.S.
All my very best wishes for April 8th – surely the best date in the year for a wedding –
best wishes Penelope Fitzgerald
27a Bishop’s Road
London, N6
24 February 1989
Dear Elizabeth,*
I had a letter from Chris Carduff giving me his news, and enclosing a page of corrections from the proofs of Charlotte Mew and Her Friends on which, I’m afraid, there’s an error which has been pointed out by a reviewer.
This is page 63. In line 23 (down from the top), could we change ‘uncle’ to ‘friend’? it ought to be ‘friend of the family’, as he was a good deal older than Netta Syrett, but I fear that can’t be fitted in.
Please may I congratulate you and wish you all possible happiness on the 8th of April
Penelope
27a Bishop’s Road
London, N6
25 March 1992
Dear Chris,
Thankyou for your letter – I can remember so well when you left Addison Wesley and married, but since then Emily has been born and you have your new job and I should like to congratulate you most sincerely on both. (I’m expecting my ninth grandchild in August and consider that there’s nothing like them.)
I should like to thank you too for the copies of The New Criterion and say how pleased I am that you’ve printed the Bruce Bawer piece and how honoured I feel to have my work discussed in your very worthwhile magazine, I’m absolutely in sympathy with what you say about the ‘common reader’. We just have to assume they still exist – the common readers, I mean – Emily mustn’t inherit a world without them.
Harvill Collins have brought out Charlotte Mew and Her Friends in trade paperback now – the book for which you did so much. You don’t say anything about your election! And I shan’t say anything about ours –
with best wis
hes – Penelope
27a Bishop’s Road
London, N6
23 April [1992]
Dear Chris,
Thankyou for your letter. What a beautiful word-processor you’ve got! As a matter of fact there is one in this house, up in the spare bedroom, though it’s by no means as beautiful as the New Criterion one, but I still find it easier with pen and ink and I think they will have to last me out.
I should be happy to write something about Punch, but I’m afraid it would have to be recollections and reminiscences rather than any kind of formal account, with just a paragraph about the paper’s decline, because, to tell you the truth, I haven’t read it for a good few years. (Last year Punch gave a party to celebrate the 150th anniversary, but I couldn’t bring myself to go to it.) I think my best course is to send you something in good time for June 22 and see what you think of it.
The election! Well, I’m a Liberal, but my party was abolished, once and for all, while I went out into the kitchen to make a cup of tea, and I can’t give my heart to the parties who are supposed to have inherited the name.
Keep the faith, is all I can say –
Best wishes – Penelope
27a Bishop’s Road
London, N6
14 May 1992
Dear Chris,
Here is a piece about Punch – not its complete history, and certainly not an attempt to say whose fault it was that the paper had to close – just a few thoughts.
I hope you and your wife and daughter are well – my ninth grandchild is due in August but believe me it’s just as exciting as if it was the first –
best wishes
Penelope
27a Bishop’s Road
London, N6
15 June [1992]
Dear Chris,
Here are the page proofs which only seem to have one correction, on p 2, and even there I’m not sure of the title of Mark Twain’s book. It seems to have several titles.
The contributor para. is fine. It still surprises me, after all these years, to think I’ve published anything.
The Charlotte Mew paperback is not going too badly over here. About her I’ve never changed my mind – I still think that at least sometimes she was a great poet.
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