Eliot, T.S.

i) East Coker. London: Faber and Faber, 1940, first Faber edition, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO HIS PUBLISHER AND WIFE ("to Enid & Geoffrey Faber | from T.S. Eliot"), original yellow wrappers over white paper covers, some slight spotting to text; ii) Burnt Norton. London: Faber and Faber, 1941, first separate edition, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO HIS PUBLISHER AND WIFE ("for Geoffrey and Enid  Faber | from | T.S. Eliot"), original blue-green wrappers over white paper covers, a touch of foxing to edges;
iii) The Dry Salvages. London: Faber and Faber, 1941, first edition, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR, PROBABLY TO HIS SISTER ("for | Margaret | from | Tom"), original blue wrappers over stiff paper covers; iv) Little Gidding. London: Faber and Faber, 1942, original stiff mulberry paper wrappers; 8vo (each 225 x 153mm.), together in collector's black cloth solander box, some slight wear to covers

(i) and (ii): authorial presentation inscription to Geoffrey Faber; thence by descent; sale, Bonhams London, 20 September 2005, lots 636 and 637)

Gallup A36,  A37, A39, A42

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."

"Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality."

THE FOUR FABER EDITIONS OF ELIOT'S FOUR QUARTETS, THREE WITH MAJOR PRESENTATIONS. For Geoffrey Faber see also lots 27 and 28. Informal inscriptions by Eliot to family members signing himself as "Tom" are rare. East Coker had first appeared in The New English Weekly Easter number for Easter 1940, and also in an offprint from the same. Burnt Norton had first been published in Collected Poems 1909--1935 (1936).

Eliot's suite of Four Quartets, the first composed in the mid-thirties after the author had re-established contact with his lost love Emily Hale, and the last in 1942 as an extended and mesmerizing meditation on the duties of the individual in a world of profound human suffering, is one of the great poetic sequences of the twentieth century.

"This is the use of memory:
For liberation -- not less of love but expanding
Of love beyond desire, and so liberation
From the future as well as the past."