Lot 303
Sassoon, Siegfried. 85 ALsS to Dennis Silk at Cambridge and later Marlborough College, 1953-67, including 2 undated, approx. 102 pp., mainly 8vo., mostly from Heytesbury House, with 4 autograph copies of his poems, another typed copy of a poem with manuscript corrections, 2 autograph comic verse dialogues, 2 postcards and photo of a rugby player with note on verso. With original envelopes.
The first letter, 6.6.53, addressed to "Dear Silk" at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, (following their meeting through Edmund Blunden, at Fenners, the University cricket ground) suggests he come to Heytesbury for the weekend in July on the day of the local cricket match, and on the envelope he writes "3 cheers for your century and the Blue"; 8.7.53, "1000 congratulations on your magnificent effort for your side…"; 27.10.53, "I am to be created an Hon Fellow of Clare - a very pleasant surprise"; 14.1.55, he congratulates DS on his poem in the TLS and also refers to letters received about The Tasking "which compel me to believe that I have done better than I thought"; 27.5.55, delighted to hear of DS's appointment to Marlborough, "It means I shall have one real friend within 30 miles of here"; 4.12.55, agrees to give a talk to 6th form boys "The realities of war cannot be too often impressed on young minds"; 1.10.56, "Cleverdon [Douglas] & his mate with the machine recorded 24 poems. I managed to give it some shape as you will hear"; 12.11.56, "How lucky I am to live in such a place. I encounter a few pheasants every afternoon"; 21.2.57, refers to the death of Gwen [Raverat], "Cambridge will not be the same for me", and refers to Ronnie Knox who has had a major operation; 21.2.57, insists on contributing towards DS's antique Austin, "…you must be able to get here in June & July when Edmund B [Blunden] is around"; 19.3.57, refers to Wilfred Owen's poetry "Most of his finest are so agonising to read aloud"; 31.5.57, visit of Sam Behrman [American playwright] who came down with Lady Beerbohm "at the top of his form"; 21.9.57, he is upset by the unannounced arrival at Heytesbury of "a spectacled young man in a dark suit" wanting to write an article for the Sunday Express about SS's conversion to Roman Catholicism; 28.9.57, further references to letters and articles about his conversion; 6.10.57, following a talk he has given at Downside, "Sebastian [one of the monks] said the effect of the war poems was terrific"; 8.2.58, advises DS on a piece he is writing, "I think you should amplify it with some comments on the relation of the war poems to the Sherston Memoirs, where the war is recollected in controlled tranquillity"; 24.9.58, visits Wells with Geoffrey Keynes whose "zest for active entertainment is insatiable"; 20.2.59, receives fan mail from the USA and Canada, "this kind of thing comes very oddly, as my whole effort for the past two years has been submission and negation of self"; 28.6.60, on a visit to Stanbrook Abbey, "I read to the Community through the grille for nearly an hour"; 1.7.60, encloses a ms. copy of his poem A Prayer at Pentecost: described by Mother Margaret Mary as "a perfect religious lyric";ms. copy of his poem Before a Crucifix dated 14.4.62; a typed copy of the same poem with ms. corrections enclosed with a letter of 17.5.62; Lady Day 1962, light hearted account of mouth surgery from Odstock Hospital; 13.9.62, "how thankful I am that I gave you Dr. Dunn…" [The War the Infantry Knew], "The man was an absolute marvel", and description of five days stay at Stanbrook Abbey, including a copy of his verse thank you letter to Dame Felicitas Corrigan, also "Dennis, I have thought much about you and R.C….your whole career would be knocked sideways if you became Catholic, and the endless good your influence will bring to those you teach would be sacrificed." ; 11.11.62, "…the old War has been much in my mind the last two days - owing to my re-reading Sherston's Progress! It was caused by my reading those tiresome utterances of R. Graves reported in the Times from his latest lecture. They made me look up his review of the F.H. Man, - the only stupid & egotistical one it received. I hadn't read the Craiglockhart chapters of S's P. since I raised proofs for a reprint in January 1940…It brought Rivers back to me intensely real…I think that final, disillusioned effort of soldiering was pretty creditable. And I did it on Rivers."; 9.1.63, he rejoices in DS's engagement and looks forward to meeting his fiancée, "You have given me incomparable happiness and sustainment since 1954"; 15.3.63, comic verse on the wedding present of silverware; 28.2.64, enclosing a letter from Glen Byam-Shaw who has been elected to the Literary Society; 8.5.64, visit to Ian Balding's stables; 15.10.64 encloses a ms. copy of the poem Proven Purpose dated 18.9.64 with Prayer in Old Age on verso dated 22.9.64; 1.2.66, declining health, visit of Edmund Blunden; 22.7.66, memories of S.C. Roberts [Sir Sydney Castle Roberts] who has died, "But no need to remind you of his comprehensive humanity, and the vintage quality of his literary mindedness"; 28.8.66, dreads his forthcoming 80th birthday, "I am adamant about being interviewed and photographed here. Modest Edmund was compelled to undergo all that publicity. But I am a private person, and not the least like a Longleat lion."; 12.9.66, referring to the birthday celebrations at Heytesbury and the book of tributes, "…you and Glen and Angela absolutely stole the show. The representation of me as a war poet was admirable, and, I think, fully effective - But , as you know, the author of Counterattack has become, for me, almost a separate entity, (though Sherston is still my living self.) …I think you will agree that Thursday's tea-party was just about the best you've ever experienced in the library"; 28.11.66, passing a batch of Edmund Blunden letters to DS "I have such an accumulation…" and encloses a comic dialogue, apparently referring to a proposed gift to DS. In the last letter, 26.2.67 he refers to the death of Ruth Hart-Davis, wife of Rupert, "I don't know when I have suffered so poignantly about a friend's bereavement…I begged him to come here later on and occupy his mind by going through my literary papers and effects."
See illustrations: photograph of SS, Edmund Blunden and Dennis Silk at Heytesbury, taken by Diana Silk in 1963; SS in cricket whites and transparency of the same. With 10 photographic portraits of SS including duplicates; George and Hester Sassoon; the garden at Heytesbury both in mounts; colour photograph of Fitz House, Teffont (rented by SS in the 1930’s) , 4 others of Edinthorpe, Norfolk (The Old Rectory there was rented by Theresa Sassoon for the summer of 1897); and reproduction of the May Ball group at Cambridge, June 1906 (referred to in The Old Century) with key to names.
Dennis Raoul Whitehall Silk, CBE (1931 – 2019) was educated at Christ’s Hospital and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Following university he became a first- class cricketer and captained the MCC on a number of overseas tours before retiring at the age of 29. He taught at Marlborough College and then Radley where he was Warden (headmaster) from 1968 – 1994. He was Chairman of the Test and County Cricket Board from 1994 to 1996 and also served as President of the MCC. He married Diana Milton in 1963.
