BEDDOES, Thomas Lovell.
The Letters of Thomas Lovell Beddoes.
Beddoes (described by Lytton Strachey as “The Last Elizabethan”) is best known for his verse dramas The Bride’s Tragedy and Death’s Jest Book, and is celebrated more for his lyrical expression than for his innovative plotting. Beddoes’ correspondence in this collection is almost entirely with Bryan Waller Proctor and Thomas Forbes Kelsall. Gosse writes in his introduction “Few collections of letters exist in which the discussion of literary topics holds so prominent a place as it does in these of Beddoes. If any excuse were needed for bringing them before the public, it would be more than supplied by Mr. Swinburne, who, as long ago as 1875, remarked of the author of Death’s Jest Book that his “noble instinct for poetry was better shown in his letters than even in his practice as a verse-writer”, and added that Beddoes’ “brilliant correspondence on poetical questions gives to me a higher view of his fine and vigorous intelligence than any other section of his literary remains.” ”
Nelson, BH, 83/1894.10. Two splits in parchment at head of spine and corners a bit worn and bumped.
