John Betjeman | Series of 22 letters and cards to C.J. Pennethorne Hughes, 1939-67

John Betjeman

Series of 22 letters and cards, to C.J. Pennethorne Hughes

comprising 14 autograph letters signed (several signed with whimsical aliases including "George IV" and "James Gibbs") 5 typed letters signed, and three cards, the early letters expressing his enthusiasm for Pennethorne Hughes's poetry, encouraging him to publish, promising to send some to T.S. Eliot and quoting Eliot's thoughtful rejection ("...He seems to have appreciated that fatal twist you make at the end of so many of the poems, when you turn back & look at yourself...", 9 August 1939), followed by several wartime letters, informing him of his new job as press attache in Dublin then in later letters describing his life in Ireland and the challenges of working for the British government in Dublin during World War II ("...Life here is a great strain. One has to be cheerful all the time & the Irish are either (1) Guilty complexed & therefore very pro-Irish, anti-British & aggressively neutral. (2) pro-Nazi especially among professional men of the time-serving, place-hunting variety, because they all think Germany is going to win (3) embarrassingly pro-British...", 19 April 1941), the letters becoming more sporadic after the War but discussing as editor of the series his "ecstatic delight" at Pennethorne Hughes's manuscript for his Shell Guide on the Isle of Wight ("...the island is over-photographed and unfortunately most of the well known things are objects that can hardly be left out..."), 34 pages, chiefly 8vo, 3 August 1939 to 25 August 1967, one letter incomplete (lacking first leaf), some minor nicks and staining

A LIVELY SERIES OF LETTERS BY JOHN BETJEMAN. C.J. Pennethorne Hughes (1907-67) was a poet and writer who published on subjects ranging from witchcraft to the origin of surnames, although he made his career in the BBC. Betjeman was a longstanding enthusiast for his poetry: these letters describe how he submitted them to Faber and Faber on the author's behalf in 1939; more than thirty years later, Betjeman wrote a recollection of their author in the posthumously published Thirty Eight Poems, to which their mutual friend John Arlott also contributed. Hughes and Betjeman maintained a regular correspondence during the war years. Betjeman's letters from Ireland are particularly revealing, whether it be his discomfort at being a representative of the British government in neutral Ireland ("...I have to say here all the time that we are winning. But I never know whether we are on not. Do you?...") or his evident pleasure at a visit to Ballynatray House, a Georgian remnant of Ascendancy Ireland. A letter from November 1944 also provides a glimpse of Betjeman's apprehension at the post-war political landscape: "So far as I can see there is no longer left and right but those who want to run us Morrison Bevin Quintin Hogg the plansters and the community this and that and those who dont want to be run and I am among those".