A[lfred]. E[dward]. Housman | “The only merits of any edition are correctness and legibility.”

A[lfred]. E[dward]. Housman

An extensive and remarkable collection of letters and books by A. E. Housman (1859–1936), supplemented by several manuscripts and other material, all providing an incisive and detailed perspective on the second half of his life, when his fame as the author of A Shropshire Lad outran all his considerable achievements as a classicist.

The core of the collection is the more than one hundred autograph letters signed, a number of which are unpublished and for most of which locations have not been traced in about eighty years. The significance of the letters is bolstered by the great majority of them being written to two of Housman’s closest post-university intimates, his younger brother Laurence Housman (nine letters) and his publisher and friend, Grant Richards (eighty-three letters and six postcards).