LE GALLIENNE, Richard.
The Religion of a Literary Man (Religio Scriptoris).
A presentation copy, inscribed on recto of front free endpaper to one of the arbiters of conservative literary taste, and in a modest way a begetter of this book: “To A. T. Quiller Couch, Esqr. / with admiration & kind regards / from / Richard Le Gallienne. / 30, Novr. ‘93.” Spine a little darkened Very good/nice copy with a few scratches on cover.
The Religion of a Literary Man was the second part of Le Gallienne’s response to Robert Buchanan’s theological study of Christ The Wandering Jew: a Christmas Carol. Le Gallienne’s review of it in The Chronicle (edited by Quiller-Couch) prompted a vigorous debate (Whittington-Egan cites 2000 letters to the paper) and Le Gallienne entered the formal fray with a poem “The Second Crucifixion” which was published in Quiller-Couch’s The Speaker, followed up by this book, a statement of his personal theology. It was received sceptically, to say the least, and Whittington-Egan yields to the temptation to quote W.E. Henley’s review in full, which is a vituperative masterpiece “As a conjunction of pretentiousness and cheapness, affectation and simplicity, shallowness and foppery, it is all that the Heart of Woman could desire.”
