JULIAN BELL ESSAYS, POEMS And LETTERS Bell, Julian [David Garnett, E.M. Forster]

THE MEMORIAL VOLUME TO JULIAN BELL IN RARE LETTICE RAMSEY JACKET [Virginia Woolf s nephew]. Quentin Bell, edits. JULIAN BELL - ESSAYS, POEMS and LETTERS, Hogarth Press, 1938, first edition, only 600 copies survived pulping, blue cloth with titles in gilt, THIS COPY WITH THE ULTRA-RARE DUSTJACKET featuring the Lettice Ramsey portrait of Julian; jacket is on cream paper and is in very good shape with minimal loss along lower edges, wear at spine tips, one tear at upper right with tiny loss of print at end; two other small tears hardly visible but the jacket is noticeably without fade; we have not had a copy for many years; complete copies in this condition are extremely rare. Contents: Starting with DAVID GARNETT s very personal reminiscence JULIAN and Julian s own Notes for a Memoir written just before leaving for Spain, there follows a collection of letters from Julian to his mother, his aunt Virginia, Garnett of course and others including Lettice Ramsey (those quite chaste without noting his torrid affair with Hsu Hwa in China; then a collection of poems; followed by three long, unpublished essays the form of letters to E.M. Forster, C. Day Lewis and another concerning ROGER FRY loosely modeled on the Hogarth Letters series published by the Hogarth Press in the early 30s; a substantial 396 pp. book. A word on the cover photo which reproduces the frontispiece photo-portrait. The frontispiece states that the photo is by Helena Thornhill but we can find no reference in the books about Julian to such a person nor does the internet help except to show it is a moderately common name in England and that a photographer by that name has taken portraits at Oxford (see Univ. Of Warwick site); IN FACT, however, the photo is by Julian s mistress and longtime lover, Lettice Ramsey, as confirmed by its being included in the 1990 Charleston Calendar exhibiting a suite of Ramsey s Bloomsbury portraits and by the website postings of her grandson; what is to account for this mistake?-perhaps proceeding from a desire to suppress Julian s relationship with Lettice, the editor and family, who all knew Lettice, mis-remembered his long-term relationship, almost leading to marriage, with Helen Soutar (later Helen Morris) which had ended in 1931or perhaps it was an intentional ploy to protect Lettice s copyright anonymously. At any event there can be no doubt it is Lettice s and the intensity of Julian s glance at the photographer certainly telegraphs a romantic attachment with the camera holder. In sum an excellent copy of this memorial volume to Virginia s nephew with the extremely RARE DUST JACKET. PLEASE NOTE: We specialize in works by Vita Sackville-West and of the HOGARTH PRESS and VIRGINIA WOOLF; most of our books in these specialties are shown on our monthly lists, free upon request.