Correspondence from T. S. Eliot, 1934-1960

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) was an American-born British poet, playwright and critic. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature and the British Order of Merit in 1948 for his poems and plays, which include "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," The Waste Land and Murder in the Cathedral. He was also a renowned editor and critic, founding The Criterion, a quarterly review, and working as a director at the Faber and Faber publishing house for forty years.

This series contains 113 letters from T. S. Eliot to Hope Mirrlees and her mother; the earliest is dated October 22, 1934, and the last, December 1, 1960. Most of the letters are from the period between 1939 and 1948. Many of the letters are typescript; others are handwritten. A few newspaper clippings relating to Eliot's family and activities are included. The correspondence addresses a variety of topics, including Eliot's writing in general; Mirrlees's biography, A Fly in Amber; household affairs; cats; social events; books; health; and mutual acquaintances. The materials are arranged chronologically.