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ROBERTS, JOHN STUART: : SIEGFRIED SASSOON (1886-1967)

LONDON.RICHARD COHEN BOOKS(METRO PUBLISHING LIMITED),1999.

ISBN 1860661513.

UK,8vo HB+protected dw/dj,1st edn. [Complete number line 10 - 1 descending.] FINE+/FINE+.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,subject's colour pictorial portrait painting by Glynn Warren Philpot,illustrated front panel of dw/dj with white lettering to same and spine,subject's b/w caricature by Max Beerbohm to rear panel of dw/dj; all with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original plain dark green cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,v-xiiipp+ 1354pp [paginated] includes acknowledgements, illustrations list/table,author's introduction, 19 chaptes,16pp contemporary b/w auto+ biographical photographs in 2 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp82/3 and pp210/11 respectively, an appendix,notes a select bibliography and an index; plus [unpaginated] title page,contents list/table with dedication to verso. Laid in loose newspaper cutting of obituary of Mother Margaret Mary McFarlin who after Sasson's published collections of poems 'Sequences' in 1957,wrote to him and in doing so, unintentionally initiated a remarkable friendship and correspondence that flourished and deepened over the next ten years until Sassoon's death. Among the noted poets of World War One, Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) stands out as one of the most courageous and gifted but also a man of contradictions.Although he was essentially a private person,his work nevertheless constitutes a chorus of self revelation.John Stuart Roberts has written the first full-length biography of this complex man. A quintessential Edwardian gentleman,who celebrated the English countryside in his much-loved quasi-autobiography,'The Sherston Trilogy',Sassoon drew his poetic vision in part from his Sephardic Jewish roots abandoned by his dilettante father before his son's birth.In the First World War,Sassoon won a Military Cross for rescuing his men under fire.Shortly afterwards his Statement against the continuance of the war led him to be branded a neurotic embarrassment, with a file released by the Public Record Office only in 1998. He refused to become part of any literary movement,but his friendships and contacts ranged widely from Thomas Hardy and Edmund Gosse to the Sitwells,Wilfred Owen,Edmund Blunden,Robbie Ross,T E Lawrence,Eddie Marsh,Rex Whistler and Stephen Tennant.Sassoon was never at ease with his homosexuality and his relationships brought him temporary ecstasy and searing disappointment.His marriage proved to be an escape into bitterness.Throughout his life, Sassoon never lost his sense of vocation as a poet,nor did he abandon his quest for a personal religious faith.His later poems signpost a pilgrim struggling 'to reach the celestial city'. John Stuart Roberts has had access to much unpublished material,including the Hart-Davis papers which contain the diaries covering the last thirty years of Sassoon's life,and also correspondence between Sassoon and Eddie Marsh,Edmund Blunden and Dame Felictas Corrigan OSB.His interviews have ranged from Sassoon's niece Sister Jessica Gatty and Mother Margaret Mary (McFarlin) to cricketer Dennis Silk and poet Ian Davie.Sassoon's homosexuality is examined sensitively,and the book throws new light on his war experience.His inner journey to Christian belief and Catholicism in his final years is charted with the sympathy and authority which are the hallmarks of this eagerly awaited biography. John Stuart Roberts was the editor of 'Everyman' and 'Heart of the Matter' and is a former Head of Television,BBC Wales. He first read Sassoon's work in a second- hand bookshop in Swansea in 1958,since when he has made the poet a lifetime's study. Please contact seller,because of the weight/value of this item for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

UK,8vo HB+protected dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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