The Letters of T. S. Eliot: Volume I, 1898–1922

Limited first edition. Published in conjunction with Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in the States. Large 8vo. Pp. xxxix, [1 (blank)], 639, [1 (blank)], with indices of correspondents and recipients, b/w photographic illus., introduction, annotations, biographical commentary. Quarter bound aqua-marine cloth over grey boards, lettered in gilt; matching slipcase with mounted label. First edition limited to 500 copies, incorporating three facsimiles of Eliot's work not available in the trade edition.

Signed by Valerie Eliot and numbered "123L" [of 250 copies for distribution in the UK].

This first volume of correspondence includes all the significant extant letters Eliot wrote up to age 34 as well as many letters written to him by his family, friends, and contemporaries. "[A] vast treasure house... Eliot's letters are like what he once called poetry itself: the highest form of entertainment." –Anthony Brandt