Clearwater Books

Henry Williamson – The Beautiful Years.  ADVANCE REVIEW COPY.  Faber and Faber, London 1929.  Revised Edition.  Red cloth, gold-stamped on the spine. An advance review copy containing transposed lines on p.62, subsequently corrected in the published edition.  A little dusty and with slight browning to fly-leaves.  Spine exhibits a single crease which runs head-to-toe.  Missing dust wrapper.  Neat inscription of former owner.  £45

Henry Williamson - Dandelion Days. Volume 2 of The Flax of Dream sequence.  Collins, London 1922. First Edition.  One of 600 copies.  299pp + vi publishers catalogue at rear.  Blue cloth with orange lettering to front board and spine.  A very good copy, very lightly worn at the tips of some corners, otherwise in super state, without the usual fading and lifting of the cloth which tends to mar this production.  Internally in very crisp and clean state, endpapers lightly browned and with a tiny smattering of foxing to areas of some preliminary leaves.  Missing scarce dust wrapper.  A very good copy of the scarcest of Williamson's celebrated four book sequence.  £220

Henry Williamson. Dandelion Days. Volume two of The Flax of Dream quartet. Faber, London 1930. Limited Edition – number 85 of 200 signed and numbered copies printed on handmade paper. 313pp. Yellow buckram lettered in gold at spine and upper board. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Just a hint of fading to spine, else in fine state. No dust wrapper, as issued. £175

Henry Williamson. The Dream of Fair Women. Book three of the Flax of Dream sequence. Faber & Faber Limited, London 1931. The Revised Second Edition, originally published by Collins in 1924. 446pp. Brown cloth, gilt lettered at spine. Bottom edge rough-trimmed. A very good copy with just a hint of spotting to fore edge. In non-price-clipped dust wrapper, tanned at spine panel and with a single scrape. A little light foxing to margins of rear panel and some loss to head and base of spine panel. £25

Henry Williamson. The Dream of Fair Women. Volume three of The Flax of Dream quartet. Faber & Faber, London 1955. Reprint of the 1941 Faber issue – the fifth text (fractionally altered). 439pp. Blue cloth, lettered in gold at spine. Top edge lightly speckled and superficial crease to the corners of the first half-dozen leaves. An extremely crisp and bright copy in dust wrapper, very lightly marked at rear panel. £15

Henry Williamson. Tarka the Otter.  His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the County of the Two Rivers. With an introduction by the Hon. Sir John Fortescue K.C.V.O. G.P.Putnam & Sons Ltd, London 1927. First Edition. The deluxe, large-paper issue, limited to 1,100 copies of which 100 were signed and reserved for subscribers. Brown cloth-backed cream buckram with a gold-stamped leather spine label. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. No jacket, as issued. An unusually bright and fresh copy, without the darkening of the buckram as is so often the case. Marred only by the pasting together of two (blank) preliminary leaves to hide a former owner inscription and a single tiny tear to the yapped edge of the front endpaper. An exceptionally good copy of an increasing scarce volume. £250

Henry Williamson. The Pathway. The final volume of The Flax of Dream quartet. Jonathan Cape, London 1928. First Edition. 415pp. Green cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Publishers logo blind-stamped to rear board. Head and foot of spine very lightly worn, top edge dust marked and endpapers lightly browned, otherwise an excellent copy in non-price-clipped dust wrapper, spine panel tanned at is usual but otherwise in super state (The blurb on the front wrapper flap contains the misprint "last generation" instead of "lost generation"). A very good copy.  £75

Henry Williamson. The Pathway. The fourth and final volume of the Flax of Dream Sequence. Jonathan Cape, London 1928. First Edition. 416pp. Green cloth with gilt lettering to spine. One of 2,000 copies. A virtually fine copy, with just a little browning to fly-leaves. No dust wrapper. £35

Henry Williamson. The Pathway. Volume four of The Flax of Dream quartet. Faber & Faber, London 1969. Reprint of the 1944 Faber issue – the fifth text (with a few minor textual alterations. 418pp. Brown cloth, lettered and ruled in gold at spine. Top edge lightly speckled else near fine in fractionally tanned dust wrapper. The first new issue of this text for over two years and to date the last casebound issue. £10

Henry Williamson. The Ackymals. Windsor Press, San Francisco, 1929.  First Edition (never reprinted in this separate form). Limited to 225 signed copies, this being #138. 24pp. Floral-patterned paper boards with grey cloth spine. Fore-edge untrimmed. Boards just fractionally tanned and a hint of tape resides markings to endpapers. A very good copy, but lacking the unprinted tissue protector and slipcase. £125

Henry Williamson. The Linhay on the Downs [and] The Firing Gatherer. Two stories.  Elkin Mathews & Marrot “The Woburn Books”, 1929.  First Edition. Number 475 of 530 hand-numbered copies, initialled by the author. 26pp. Decorated paper-covered boards with similar motif repeated on front and rear endpapers. Aside from a little browning to the endpapers (as is common with this series), a fine copy in dust wrapper, spotted at front panel and lightly tanned at spine. These Williamson titles here make their first appearance in book form, although the first story had appeared previously in the Atlantic Monthly and Fortnightly Review (1927) and was subsequently reprinted in a slightly edited form in Williamson's 1934 anthology of the same name. The Firing Gatherer was previously printed in a 1927 issue of the periodical Time and Tide (1927) and appeared again (with a single minor alteration) in Williamson's The Village Book (1930). £45

Henry Williamson. The Wet Flanders Plain. Faber & Faber, London 1929. The (slightly) revised edition – and also the first trade edition (originally issued earlier in the year by Beaumont in an edition of 400 variously numbered and signed copies). 147pp. Black cloth, lettered in gold at spine. A hint of browning to endpapers, otherwise an exceptionally crisp and bright copy in price-clipped wrapper, lightly tanned and rubbed at spine panel. This issue was limited to 2990 copies. £100

Henry Williamson - The Wet Flanders Plain.  Gliddon Books, Norfolk 1987.  Reprint of the original 1929 Beaumont edition with additional material and an introduction. 182pp. Black cloth with gilt lettering to spine. With eight photographs. A fine copy in dust wrapper, just fractionally faded at spine panel.  £35

Henry Williamson.  The Flax of Dream. Comprising The Beautiful Years, Dandelion Days, The Dream of Fair Women and The Pathway. Faber and Faber Limited, London 1929-1931 and Jonathan Cape, London 1931. Four volume, uniform set, each volume numbered and signed by the author and limited to just 200 copies. Large, hand-made paper. Buckram boards, gilt lettered at spines and upper boards, top edges gilt, others untrimmed. Buckram at spines of two volumes very lightly faded. An exceptionally clean and bright set of an increasingly scarce volume, with hardly a sign of the browning of spotting which usually affects the endpapers. £700

Henry Williamson - The Labouring Life.  Cape, London 1932.  First Edition. Number 116 of 122 hand-numbered and signed copies. 492pp. Brown cloth, vellum backed, top edge gilt, fore edge untrimmed. Illustrated endpapers based on a Williamson drawing or Georgeham. A fine copy in original glassine dust wrapper with marbled paper flaps, a little wrinkled as is usual.  £375

Henry Williamson (published anonymous) – The Gold Falcon, or The Haggard of Love.  Faber, London 1933.  First edition. 415pp. Blue cloth boards with gilt lettering and design to spine and blind-stamp design to cover. A very clean and bright copy, triflingly cocked and with a little foxing for fore edges and preliminary leaves. In rather marked and foxed dust wrapper, severely nicked at head of spine and with a few short closed tears. A celebrated roman clef of the thirties, with the added frisson of anonymity. T.E.Lawrence appears as "G.B.Everest" ("my work was Snowdon to his Everest" - Williamson writing in 'Genius of Friendship'). £100

Henry Williamson. The Star-Born. With a brief introduction by the author and fifteen full-page engravings (plus an additional one on the jacket) eighteen tailpieces and two vignettes by C.F.Tunnicliffe. Faber, London 1933. First edition. A bright if slightly dusty copy in tanned, rubbed and quite severely nicked dust wrapper, missing several small pieces. Uncommon in jacket. £50

Henry Williamson. Devon Holiday.  Jonathan Cape, London 1935. First Edition (never reprinted). 317pp. Green buckram, gilt lettered at spine. Buckram quite tanned at spine with some general fading to upper and lower boards. Binding cocked. Internally an extremely crisp and bright copy of a volume which is usually prone to quite disastrous fox spotting. No dust wrapper. £20

A light-hearted narrative links six short stories (mostly hitherto unpublished in book-form), whilst a postscript laments the sudden death of T.E.Lawrence (who appears as "G.B.Everest") and reproduces the 'last telegram'.

HENRY WILLIAMSON. C.F.Tunnicliffe. Salar the Salmon. With illustrations by C.F.Tunnicliffe. Little Brown, Boston 1936. The first US and also the first illustrated edition. 302pp. Green cloth lettered and with a small vignette at spine and blind-ruled and with a small vignette gold-stamped to upper board. Illustrated with a frontispiece and three full page illustrations, plus 25 headpieces to chapters and contents page, plus two small decorations retained and resized from the first edition. A slightly dusty and handled copy with a little light spotting to endpapers and pastedowns. In really quite poor dust wrapper, in two pieces (and with a piece from the rear flap laid-in), tanned, chipped, creased and with several small areas of loss and one lengthy tear. £35

As Williamson’s bibliographer Hugoe Matthews notes: “Why the first illustrated edition should have been published in America is not clear, but the quality of the illustrations is better than in any other edition”.

Henry Williamson - Goodbye West Country.  Putnam, London 1937.  First Edition. 399pp. Brown/red cloth, gilt lettered at spine. With 31 photographs, mostly by the author. Former owner name discreetly stamped to front endpaper. In virtually fine state with very good, dust wrapper, lightly tanned and faded at spine panel, fractionally chaffed at some extremities and with a single tiny miscellaneous mark to front panel.  £50

Henry Williamson. The Children of Shallowford. Macdonald & Jane’s, London 1978. A reprint of the revised 1959 edition, here with new illustrations and a brief afterword by Richard Williamson bringing up to date the lives of the Children. 222pp. Brown boards lettered in gold at spine. With eight plates containing twenty-two family photographs, seventeen of which are hitherto unprinted (the reminder being taken from the first edition). Top- and fore edge spotted, else an extremely crisp and bright copy in dust wrapper, lightly sunned at spine panel. £10

Henry Williamson. The Story of a Norfolk Farm. Faber & Faber, London 1941. First edition. 402pp. Brown cloth, lettered and decorated in gold at spine. Map-illustrated endpapers designed by C.F.Tunnicliffe. With a frontispiece and ten photographic plates. Cloth lightly chafed at extremities, with some staining to rear board. Neat former owner details inked to base of blank flyleaf rubbed at spine extremities. An exceptionally crisp and bright copy internally in quite scarce price-clipped dust wrapper, chipped and with several tiny areas of loss to head and base of spine panel. 4000 copies were printed. A moving account of the early years of Williamson’s farming efforts in Stiffkey between 1935 and 1939 with an ‘Epigraph’ dated June 1940. A sequel was swiftly commenced but subsequently turning into the thirteenth volume on his celebrated A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight sequence. £50

Henry Williamson. The Story of a Norfolk Farm. Faber, London 1941. First edition. Brown cloth, lettered and decorated in gold at spine. Map-illustrated endpapers designed by C.F.Tunnicliffe. With a frontispiece and 10 plates. Cloth very lightly rubbed at spine extremities. Top edge a little dust marked and preliminary leaves just a little foxed. A good bright copy, missing dust wrapper. £20

Henry Williamson. Genius of Friendship. T.E.Lawrence. Faber, London 1941. First Edition – the variant issue in brown buckram (most copies were bound in yellow-brown cloth). 78pp. Endpapers and several blank preliminary leaves quite fox spotted, but all text leaves fresh and completely unblemished. A very good copy unevenly tanned dust wrapper with half a dozen short closed tears at top edge and a tiny area of loss from head and base of spine panel. 2000 copies were printed.  An account of the friendship between Williamson and Lawrence which began in the summer of 1929 when Edward Garnett sent T.E.L. a copy of Tarka the Otter to review, and lasted until May 1935 with Lawrence’s fatal motorcycle accident returning home after sending a telegram to Williamson. £45

Henry Williamson. Life in a Devon Village. Faber, London 1945. First Edition. 288pp. Red cloth with gilt lettering to spine. A good, bright copy in slightly marked price-clipped dust wrapper, chipped at head and base of spine panel and with a short tear to front panel. £10

Henry Williamson – Scribbling Lark.  Faber, London 1949.  First edition. 158pp. Salmon cloth with gilt lettering to spine. A very nice copy, top edge just a little dusty and with a blue ink mark to one page. Signs of successful sticker removal from ffep. A attractive non-price-clipped dust wrapper, rear panel and flaps exhibiting a little spotting, and very slightly chipped at head and tail of spine. A book for children, never subsequently reprinted in any form whatsoever.  £12

Stories, poems and letters of a young airman killed in action in 1944. "Had he lived, what books James Farrar would have written! He is an authentic voice of those who fell in the war, and of those who survived" - from Williamson's introduction. Scarce. 

Henry Williamson. A Fight Against Tithes. Edited by Donald and S.S.Gill and with an Epilogue by Henry Williamson. Privately Printed, Haslemere 1952. First Edition. Salmon paper-covered boards with a title-label to upper board. Frontispiece. A very good copy, just a little rubbed at head of spine. Former owner name inked over a slightly scuffed area of the front endpaper. Scarce. £125

George Gill (from the same family as Eric Gill) died prior to completion of this work and it was finished by his wife who showed the manuscript to Williamson because of his farming links. A note at the front thanks Williamson for his “unrestricted help” and he also provides the epilogue (dated 1949) which includes a number of his personal wartime farming recollections.

Henry Williamson - A Clear Water Stream.  Faber & Faber, London 1958.  Proof copy of the first edition.  229pp.  Brown paper wrappers.  Title inked to spine.  Crease to front wrap, otherwise a very clean and bright copy.  £25

Henry Williamson - The Dark Lantern.  Macdonald, London 1951.  First Edition (the scarce variant issue in green cloth rather than the usual red). 432pp. One corner lightly bumped and cloth at head of spine fractionally rubbed. Endpapers lightly browned and with the faint ghost of a former dealers partially erased pencil markings to front endpaper. Small depression marks to tips of one corner in approximately 70 percent of the leaves. A good copy in Broom Lynne-designed dust wrapper, missing a large portion from the head of the spine panel (partially affecting the title lettering) and a smaller area from the foot of the spine and lower front panels.  £80

Henry Williamson - Donkey Boy.  Macdonald, London 1952.  First Edition. 400pp. Dark green cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Endpapers fractionally browned, and with a small area of scuffing and the faint ghost of a partially erased former dealer pencil marks. With a little light spotting to top- and fore edges. A very good copy in Broom Lynne designed dust wrapper (in our opinion the most striking artwork of the series), chaffed at several corners, with a single short closed tear to lower rear gutter. The spine panel is a little darkened and has some loss to head and foot (although no text is effected).  £150

Henry Williamson. How Dear is Life. Volume 4 of A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight sequence. Macdonald, London 1954. First Edition. 335pp & i publisher’s advertisements. Blue cloth lettered in gold at spine. Spine lettering a little dulled with some discolouration to the cloth at base and extreme head of spine. Binding a fraction cocked and top edge lightly dust marked. Internally an extremely crisp and bright copy in Broom Lynne-designed dust wrapper, lightly faded at spine panel with several short tears and one notable area of loss to base of spine. Former owner name and date inked to front endpaper. £45

Henry Williamson. Love and the Loveless. Volume 7 of A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight sequence. Macdonald, London 1958. First Edition. 384pp. Green cloth lettered in gold at spine. A very crisp and bright copy in Broom Lynne-designed dust wrapper, a little chafed at some extremities, internally reinforced and with several tiny areas of loss. Rear panel lightly tanned. £100

Henry Williamson. The Innocent Moon. Volume 9 of A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. Macdonald, London 1961. First Edition, first printing. 415pp. Red cloth lettered in silver at spine. A little light spotting to top edge and some partial and very light browning to the endpapers, else in super state with delightful Broom Lynne-designed dust wrapper, just a little dust marked at rear panel. Former owner details inked to front endpaper. £40

Henry Williamson. The Phoenix Generation. Volume 12 of A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. Macdonald, London 1965. First Edition. 384pp + iv adverts for the Chronicle. Red boards, stamped in gold at spine. Top edge fractionally spotted. A hint of browning and a neat former owner name inked to front endpaper and some notable tape reside marks to front pastedown where some newspaper clippings, now absent, have been adhered. A very crisp and bright copy in dust wrapper, quite tanned at spine panel as in so often the case with this volume and two or three tiny nicks to top edge. £20

Henry Williamson. The Gale of the World. The fifteenth and final volume of A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. Macdonald, London 1969. First Edition, second state (the first state was recalled and pulped following a series of mishaps). 368pp. Black linson, lettered in gold at spine. Trifling stain to top edge and a little light scuffing to tip of front endpaper, else an extremely crisp and bright copy in very good dust wrapper, fractionally rubbed at head of spine panel. This final volume of Williamson's celebrated Chronicle is becoming increasingly scarce in any edition. £85

Henry Williamson, Walter Robson.  Letters from a Soldier. [Edited and with an] Introduction by Henry Williamson.  Faber, London 1960.  First Edition. 192pp. Blue cloth, gilt lettered at spine.  With a portrait frontispiece. Boards lightly mottled and spine extremely discoloured. Endpapers browned, else an extremely clean and bright copy internally. In price-clipped dust wrapper, chipped and head and foot of spine panel and somewhat stained at rear. Letters written home to his wife during 1939-45 from a L/Corp. stretcher-bearer serving with the Queen's Royal West Kents in Africa, Italy and Greece.  He survived hostilities but died of tuberculosis during the summer of 1945.  £18

John Middleton Murry. The Novels of Henry Williamson. With an introduction by J.W.Blench. The Henry Williamson Society, 1986. First Edition Thus. A reprint of the essay which first appeared posthumously in Murry's 1959 collection Katherine Mansfield and other Literary Studies. 78pp. Card wrappers. A virtually fine copy. £20

Williamson and Murry were good friends, Williamson briefly succeeded Murry as editor of The Adelphi in 1948, and Murry was one of the biggest supporters of Williamson's Chronicle.  His scarce and discerning study of the work (rather than the man) is here reprinted by the Henry Williamson Society.

Henry Williamson – Days of Wonder.  The Henry Williamson Society, Longstanton 1987.  First Edition. 1 of 475 copies. Card-wrappers, perfect-bound. A fine copy. The Daily Express was the first paper to take Williamson's work on a regular basis and from 1921 to the start of the second world war he contributed over 100 articles. In 1966, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Somme he was asked to contribute again. This volume contains all of the contributions from this second spell with the paper.   £10

Henry Williamson - From a Country Hilltop.  The Henry Williamson Society 1988.  First Edition. 1 of 450 copies. Card-wrappers, perfect- bound. A virtually fine copy. Articles by Williamson from 1958-1964, mostly with a pastoral theme, collected from The Co-operative Home Magazine, Home Magazine and The Sunday Times. Edited and introduced by John Gregory.  £10

Henry Williamson – A Breath of Country Air. Part One. [Edited by John Gregory], with an introduction by Richard Williamson.  The Henry Williamson Society, [Longstanton] 1990.  First edition. Card wrappers, perfect-bound. A fine, unread copy. Articles originally contributed by Williamson to the Evening Standard during 1944.  £10

Henry Williamson – A Breath of Country Air. Part Two. [Edited by John Gregory], with an introduction by Robert Williamson. The Henry Williamson Society, [Longstanton] 1991.  First edition. Card wrappers, perfect-bound. A fine, unread copy. Articles originally contributed by Williamson to the Evening Standard during 1945, also "Quest" a series of fifteen pieces written for "Woman's Illustrated and Eve's Own" in 1946.  £10

Henry Williamson – Spring Days in Devon and Other Broadcasts. [Edited by John Gregory].  The Henry Williamson Society, Longstanton 1992.  First edition. Card wrappers, perfect-bound. A virtually fine copy. Transcriptions of twenty-two of Williamson's broadcast talks for the B.B.C.  £10

Henry Williamson. Heart of England. Edited by John Gregory. Contributions to the 'Evening Standard' 1939-1941, hitherto uncollected. With photographs. The Henry Williamson Society, 2003.  First Edition.  96pp. Card wrappers, in fine state. £10

Henry Williamson – Pen and Plough. Further Broadcasts.   Edited and with an introduction by John Gregory.  The Henry Williamson Society, Longstanton 1993.  First Edition.  105pp. Card wrappers, perfect-bound.  In fine state. A sequel to Spring Days in Devon, 21 transcripts for broadcasts by Williamson from April 1938 to May 1967, taken primarily from his typescripts and mms, but with some from BBC transcripts.  Also includes a checklist of all Williamson's known broadcasts.  £10

Henry Williamson – Threnos for T.E.Lawrence and Other Writings. Together with a Criticism of "Tarka the Otter" by T.E.Lawrence.  The Henry Williamson Society 1994.  First edition. Stiff card wrappers, in virtually fine state. Williamson's 'Threnos' was originally published in two issues of "The European" during the summer of 1954. Lawrence's letter of criticism about Tarka appeared in "Men in Print" in 1940.  £10

Henry Williamson – Green Fields and Pavements.  A Norfolk Farmer in Wartime.  A collection of contributions to the Eastern Press between 1941-1944. With illustrations by Michael Loates.  The Henry Williamson Society, Longstanton 1995.  First Edition. 165pp. Green cloth, gilt lettered at spine. Tips of two corners fractionally bumped, else in fine state with fine price-clipped dust wrapper.  £20

Henry Williamson – Words on the West Wind.  Selected essays from The Adelphi 1924-1950. Edited by John Gregory and with postscripts by Anne and Richard Williamson.  The Henry Williamson Society, Longstanton 2000.  First Edition.  104pp. Card wrappers, perfect-bound.  In fine state. Eleven items reprinted from The Adelphi, including seven by Williamson, two by James Farrar and one by Charles Causley.  £10

Henry Williamson. The Man, the Writings. A Symposium. With a foreword by Brocard Sewell. Tabb House, Cornwall 1980. First Edition. 165pp. With a portrait frontispiece and 8 photographs. Includes contributions by Brocard Sewell, David Hoyle, Ruth Tomalin and Diana Mosley, short memoirs by Alexandra Burgess and Kerstin Hegarty (two of Williamson's former secretaries), together with a reprint of the address given at Williamson's memorial service by Ted Hughes. A virtually fine copy in very good, price-clipped dust wrapper, with two short closed tears. £7

Lois Lamplugh. A Shadowed Man: Henry Williamson 1895-1977. With a foreword by Richard Williamson. The Exmoor Press, Somerset 1991. The revised edition – and first casebound issue. Illustrated with photographs. 202pp. In fine state, with fine dust wrapper. £12

Anne Williamson. Henry Williamson. Tarka and the Last Romantic. With illustrations. Alan Sutton, Gloucestershire 1995. First Edition. 368pp. Portrait frontispiece of Williamson by C.F.Tunnicliffe. With a short bibliography and suggestions of further reading. Small knock to tip of one corner, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Numerous newspaper clippings and Henry Williamson Society ephemera laid-in. £25

Anne Williamson. Henry Williamson and the First World War. With illustrations.  Alan Sutton, Gloucestershire 1998. First Edition. 208pp. With a frontispiece by C.R.W.Nevinson and 52 photographs plus four maps. A fine copy in dust wrapper. £35

Hugoe Matthews. Henry Williamson. A Bibliography. Halsgrove, Tiverton 2004. First Edition. 232pp. A fine copy in dust wrapper. Matthews' scholarly and exhaustive bibliography of Williamson, covering every book publication in extensive detail and with appendices for books edited by and with contributions by Williamson; periodical contributions; and selected works about Williamson. Masterful, and utterly essential for the collector.  £25

HENRY WILLIAMSON. Spectacle case. Accompanied by a substantiating note from Richard Williamson which states: “The glasses’ case of Henry Williamson used during the writing of The Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. The glasses lost” and followed by a note in the distinctive hand of Stephen Clarke confirming that the   label stating the owners name and address bears Williamson’s handwriting. Somewhat aged and a little battered – perhaps evidence of occasionally being hurled to the floor of his writing hut – but the hinges still perfectly sound. Includes a felt lens wipe bearing the details of Williamson’s Ilfracombe optician. A truly unique item. £500

HENRY WILLIAMSON. An original monochrome photograph of Williamson meeting the Queen Mother at Skinner’s Hall to hear Shakespeare poetry readings on 1 December 1964. 20cm x 26cm. On the rear of the photographs the names of those present has been neatly inked by Richard Williamson (“the names here written are a copy of those placed by Henry Williamson on the only other copy of this photograph”) and include his wife Loetitia, his daughter Sarah, HW, “Lady Birkenhead’s arm & left bosom”, “H.M. Queen Mum”, “Some Court Gangster” and “Lord Butler of Trinity House & strange interstellar object krawling up His Lordship’s koat-jacket” [in reality an adjacent table decoration of some sort]. This photograph is reproduced in Anne Williamson’s excellent biography Tarka and the Last Romantic where she notes: “At the champagne buffet after the readings, Lord Butler (‘Rab’ Butler) president of the Royal Society of Literature, presented Henry to the Queen Mother, who asked him ‘did you like the readings?’ To which he replied ‘yes Ma’am’, adding in his diary entry ‘(but I didn’t)’.” £175