Eliot, T.S.

12mo (194 x 126mm.), FIRST EDITION, NUMBER 455 OF 1,000 COPIES, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO SYDNEY SCHIFF ("For Sydney Schiff | who (amongst other reasons!) | liked this poem & | was one of the | first to say so. | T.S. Eliot | Jan 1923."), first issue with "mountain" correctly spelled on p.41 in line 339, original flexible black cloth boards lettered in gilt, edges untrimmed, salmon dust-jacket (supplied) printed in black (without inner glassine jacket), a few pencil markings and notes (? in Schiff's hand), collector's quarter black morocco clamshell box, lacking rear endpaper (neatly removed at some early point), a little wear to leaves with some slight marks, also to cloth, minor nicks to dust-jacket

Sydney Schiff, authorial presentation inscription; the collector Jonathan Goodwin, (his library at Sotheby Parke Bernet, 29 March 1977, lot 72); the bookseller John F. Fleming (his sale, Christie's New York, 18 November 1988, lot 123)

Gallup A6a; Connolly, The Modern Movement, 30b; Hayward 332

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A VERY RARE INSCRIBED PRESENTATION COPY OF THE DEFINING ENGLISH MODERNIST POEM OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. No other copy has appeared at auction since 1977 (see Provenance, below).

The inscription is in the month after publication. The poem appeared first, of course, in The Criterion in London in October 1922.

The novelist, translator, and patron of the arts Sydney Schiff (1868--1944), who wrote under the pen name Stephen Hudson, supported a number of literary periodicals, artists and authors during and after the First World War, his circle including Eliot, Katherine Mansfield, Wyndham Lewis, John Middleton Murry and Frederick Delius. His manner was recalled by Jacob Isaacs as being "'fastidious, punctilious' and 'exquisitely courteous', while his appearance, on account of his moustache and conservatively tailored jackets, was that of a military man" (Michael H. Whitworth, Oxford DNB). Schiff married his second wife Violet Zillah Beddington in May 1911 (see lot 39), and after a long period travelling they eventually settled at Abinger Manor, near Dorking in Surrey in 1934. Their house was damaged by a stray German bomb in August 1944, and the shock may have been a contributing factor in Schiff's death in October the same year.