MS 684 02 01 05

MS 684 02 01 05

Thomas Hardy collection: Letters from Hardy to Siegfried Sassoon, two autograph poetry manuscripts and related material

Item

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) was an English poet, writer and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he was one of the leading poets of the First World War. Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war in his "Soldier's Declaration" of 1917, culminating in his admission to a mental hospital. He later became an editor and novelist. Hardy and Sassoon shared a mutual admiration of each other's work, and their friendship developed accordingly.

1917-1925

11 ALS, 3 autograph postcards, 2 manuscripts, 7 photographs, 3 envelopes, 4 items

The volume contains: 11 autograph letters and 3 autograph postcards from Hardy to Siegfried Sassoon between 1917 and 1925 Autograph manuscript of a poem titled 'Going and Staying' by Hardy, first printed in the London Mercury, November 1919. It was later published in 'Late Lyrics and Earlier' with an extra stanza. This is a fair copy and consists only of the two original stanzas Autograph manuscript of a poem by Sassoon about Hardy's death titled 'Catafalque' is loosely inserted 4 photographs of Hardy "taken by Lady Ottoline Morrell in Sept. 1924", a photograph of Hardy and Edmund Gosse and 2 magazine photographs of Hardy that are pasted in at the back 3 envelopes addressed by Hardy and a telegram.

From the library of Siegfried Sassoon. The autograph letters and related material were bound in one volume by Sassoon.

Arranged by Sassoon. The original order and contents have been preserved.