A collection of fragments, of interest to TS Eliot enthusiasts
Eliot’s Preoccupations, “A unique window onto Eliot’s concerns and enthusiasms, from America and Culture to Religion and Rhyme.”
Documents
Eliot’s first magazine – his Fireside, created when age 10
TS Eliot in the 1910 Class Album at Harvard
The marriage certificate of TS Eliot, “Of No Occupation” and Vivienne Haigh-Wood, 26th June 1915
Eliot’s 1918 registration card
Eliot’s staff card at Lloyds Bank
Eliot’s resignation statement as Editor of The Criterion, issue 18, January 1939
TS Eliot’s membership application to The London Library
Christmas card, sent by TS Eliot to Lawrence Durrell in 1945, the first year of peace
Christmas card, sent by TS Eliot in 1946
Christmas card, sent by TS Eliot in 1947
An envelope addressed in rhyme by TS Eliot
The Order of Service for TS Eliot’s interment at East Coker (PDF download)
In Eliot’s hand
The Waste Land, pages from the manuscript displayed by The British Library
The notebook manuscript of Fourth Caprice in Montparnasse in Eliot’s hand
Typescript of Ash Wednesday II
Manuscript draft of part of Little Gidding, Section II
An autographed quotation from Little Gidding, written on a Faber & Faber correspondence card
An autographed quotation from Little Gidding, dated 17 iii 45
An unusually intimate signature, on a letter to his second cousin Henrietta, 29 July 1956
Virginia (1959), in Eliot’s hand
TS Eliot’s drawings
(See also books inscribed or signed by Eliot on the Rare Books & Manuscripts page)
Quotes
Popular Quotes Attributed to Eliot – a table which confirms the source, or denies the attribution, of the quotations most commonly attributed to Eliot.
“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal” – an investigation into one of Eliot’s most oft-quoted statements
Residences
TS Eliot’s birthplace plaque, in the pavement of St Louis (the location is now, it seems, a car park)
The Eliot family summer house in Gloucester, Massachusetts, converted into a writers’ retreat by the TS Eliot Foundation
TS Eliot’s life in Crawford Mansions, Marylebone
TS Eliot’s residence (now a restaurant) and plaque in West Street, Marlow
Carlyle Mansions, Chelsea, where Eliot shared a flat with John Hayward from 1946-1957
Details of TS Eliot’s blue English Heritage plaque, at his home in Kensington from 1957 to his death
Locations
A pilgrimage to The Dry Salvages, Boston
A pilgrimage to Margate Sands
TS Eliot’s blue plaque at Nayland Rock shelter, Margate
A visit to St Michael’s, East Coker
A visit to Little Gidding
TS Eliot’s Faber & Faber office plaque, Bloomsbury
The photographs on TS Eliot’s office wall at Faber & Faber
TS Eliot’s memorial stone in Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey
Possessions
TS Eliot’s fountain pen, held by the Royal Society of Literature, and available for newly elected Fellows to sign into the Society; the Waterman’s pen bears Eliot’s initials. An article explains the donation of “Tom’s pen” to the RSL.
TS Eliot’s Panama hat, “quaintly emblematic of an earlier age”
The bookplate designed for TS & Valerie Eliot by David Jones
Valerie Eliot’s charm bracelet, made by Garrard’s, with one charm for each of her husband’s major works.
Recollections
TS Eliot’s Table Talk – including what is said to be his favourite quotation…
A letter in The Times recalls what Valerie Eliot described as TS Eliot’s favourite anecdote
TS Eliot in the theatre – the recollections of his Director, E Martin Browne
TS Eliot and Groucho Marx – an article explores their unexpected relationship, while a letter from Groucho to Gummo recalls their dinner together.
TS Eliot and cheese – an extraordinary reminiscence of Eliot at the Garrick by Hugh Kenner
Parodies
The Waste Land – Five Limericks – by Wendy Cope
Chard Whitlow, a parody of Eliot by Henry Reed
A parody of The Waste Land by James Joyce
A parody of The Waste Land by HP Lovecraft
Waste Land Clearance, by DA Wilkinson, Punch 1953 (illustrated by EH Shepard)
Miscellaneous
The story of Homage to TS Eliot, staged at The Globe for The London Library after his death. (An audio recording of Groucho Marx’s contribution to this evening, mistakenly described as at Eliot’s funeral, can be heard here on YouTube, and a recording of the evening’s production of Sweeney Agonistes is here.
Allen Ginsberg on The Waste Land, and its connections with Apollinaire – with an image of Ginsberg’s annotated copy
How Eliot used the Oxford English Dictionary – and how the Oxford English Dictionary used Eliot
An advertisement for Prufrock-Litton, the furniture store whose name may have inspired Eliot
Mrs Runcie’s Pudding, a recipe submitted by Eliot in 1954 to Symphony of Cooking compiled for the Women’s Association of the St. Louis Symphony Society.
The description of Cat Morgan by TS Eliot, as it first appeared in Faber Book News
Practical Cats, illustrated by Andy Warhol – the story and images as they appeared in Sports Illustrated (!) in January 1957.
The original sales ledger for copies of the first edition of Prufrock (PDF download)
Admission tickets for TS Eliot and his father Henry Ware Eliot to the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair, formally titled the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company.
“This man, Eliot” – an extraordinary US advertisement for The Confidential Clerk