Robert Graves

The Latest New Addition to the Site

A have been very fortunate to acquire a letter (right) that Siegfried Sassoon wrote to Nancy Bridgeman, niece of the celebrated artist William Nicholson. The letter, which is dated 27.12.46, is on Heytesbury House headed notepaper and refers to the sale of a house in the village of Heytesbury where he lived. The letter is tipped into a First Edition copy of Memoirs of an Infantry Officer which I believe also belonged to Nancy. Sassoon has signed the letter with his trademark double ‘S’ monogram. The letter reads:

“Dear Mrs Bridgeman,

  I have just remembered (& ought to have done so yesterday) that a house in Heytesbury is likely to be for sale almost at once. It is moderate sized, quite nice, with a small but good garden. But it is in the village street, - a few yards back from it - & therefore made noisy by the traffic. Otherwise it is rather charming & old-fashioned.

  If you are desperate, I should say you would do well to try for it. I will find out from the owner how much they are likely to ask for it - (I imagine not less than 3 or 4 thousand). The lady who owns it is a friend of mine - a delightful old lady & the house & garden have been well looked after, though the interior would probably need some money spending on it, as they weren’t well off & there have been a lot of children there. But it may be too big for you, if you are alone - It has 4 or 5 bedrooms, I think - Anyhow let me know what you think of the idea.

                           Yours sincerely [monogram]

Your visit was a real refreshment - though I was rather tired in the head through the desperately hard work I’m doing at my Life of Meredith.”

Sassoon Books These are broken down into seven categories which record the books that Siegfried Sassoon wrote himself, comprising of his early poems, autobiographies both fictional and real published in the UK, US and Europe. His poetry published in the UK and the US., and other publications which in this case comprise of his biographies of Meredith, published in the UK and US.

Contributions There are three categories in this section, books in which Siegfried Sassoon has contributed the Introduction or Foreword. Pages covering the six decades in which his poems were published by others, (mainly in anthologies) from 1917 to 1967, and books in which he has contributed other texts, mainly excerpts from his autobiographies.

About Sassoon These are books which contain information about Siegfried Sassoon, written during his lifetime. The books are written by such famous names as Edmund Gosse, David Garnett and Frank Swinnerton. Also included are two books by the renowned bibliographer Geoffrey Keynes. Keynes wrote Sassoons bibliography which has helped enormously in the creation of this web site.

Catalogues An interesting section which covers auction catalogues relating to Siegfried Sassoon’s work. These catalogues give a fascinating look at the library of Siegfried Sassoon when it was sold off after his death and scattered around the world. Sales include Sassoon’s work from the collections of Lady Ottoline Morrell, Stephen Tennant and Max Beerbohm

Modern Day This section includes books that have been written about Siegfried Sassoon or have articles relating to him in the years after his death up to the modern day. These books include the two latest modern biographies written about Sassoon, Jean Moorcroft Wilson’s ‘The Making of a War Poet’ and ‘The Journey from the Trenches’ and Max Egremont’s ‘Siegfried Sassoon - A Biography.’

Periodicals This section covers magazines and periodicals in which Siegfried Sassoon has had his work published or contain stories about him during his lifetime. They include limited runs such as ‘The Owl’ edited by another famous war poet, Robert Graves, and magazines of larger circulation such as the American publication, The Literary Digest,

Music A small but hopefully growing section highlighting any of Siegfried Sassoon’s poems that have been put to music. This selection includes ‘Three Song Pictures’, by Cyril Bradley Rootham, ‘A Childs Prayer’ also by Rootham and ‘Song Cycle’ by Howard Morgan, which includes ‘Noah’, ‘An Old French Poet’, ‘October’, A Poplar and the Moon’ and ‘Goblin Revel.’

His Library A small but fascinating selection of books in my possession which once formed part of Siegfried Sassoon’s own library and were later auctioned off. Also, a small number of books that belonged to Sassoon’s wife, Hester Gatty. These books were auctioned off after Sassoon’s death and have re-entered the market at various times since enabling me to purchase them and add them to this web site.

Sassoon Biography A short, one page biography of Siegfried Sassoon. This biography has been created as a tiny window into the life of the great poet and writer. Elsewhere on this web site will be found more information about his life and his friends which will go to build up a complete picture of the poet, writer, soldier, hero, country gentleman and lover of an English way of life long since past.

A Soldier’s Declaration This is the Hansard report which covers Sasssoon’s Declaration which he wrote in 1917 and sent to a sympathetic MP to be read out in the House of Commons. Sassoon had wanted to do something to shake the establishment at its heart and to speak out about the insincere way in which he thought the war was being pursued by the British Government. It covers the Commons Debate and his Declaration.

Sassoons Art A new page which showcases some of Siegfried Sassoon’s little known paintings and sketches. Siegfried Sassoon enjoyed sketching and painting and often made drawings in the front of books and sent them as gifts to his friends. He also produced watercolour paintings and caricatures of friends and acquaintances.

Keynes A short, one page biography of Sassoon’s bibliographer, Sir Geoffrey Keynes. Geoffrey Keynes (pronounced “Canes”) maintained a passionate interest in English literature all his life. He produced biographies and bibliographies of English writers such as Sir Thomas Browne, John Evelyn, Siegfried Sassoon, John Donne and Jane Austen. His Sassoon bibliography helped enormously in the creation of this web site.

Robert Ross Siegfried Sassoon first met the art expert and literary critic Robert Ross in June 1913, at a party given by Sir Edmund Gosse. Ross, eighteen years older than Sassoon, was a patron of emerging actors, poets and writers and had a significant effect on Sassoon’s work by encouraging him to write poetry critical of the military hierarchy.

Massingham H.W. Massingham was the editor of the Nation, a leading British radical weekly newspaper, between 1907 and 1923. Massingham published a number of Sassoon’s poems in the paper during these years. He was highly enough thought of by Sassoon to be asked his advice before Sassoon went ahead with his protest and was one of the people to whom Sassoon sent a copy of his original statement at the time.

Crosland A page about the first editor to commercially publish Sassoon’s poetry. In the spring of 1909, having had limited success in getting his work published, Siegfried Sassoon was looking for other publications to contact and sent some poems to T.W.H. Crosland the editor of the journal, ‘The Academy’, who was himself a poet and whose work Sassoon respected.

Robert Graves served in the same battalion as Siegfried Sassoon and they became great friends. Graves was also a talented war poet and had ‘helped’ Sassoon during the period of his protest by convincing the army authorities that Sassoon was suffering from shell-shock, and ought to be confined to a hospital rather than be court-martialled for his refusal to fight. Sassoon had not asked for, nor appreciated this intervention.

Poems Every time a poem is mentioned in the text on any page, there will be a link to the full poem on this page. This is by no means a complete list of Sassoon’s poems. Whenever the title of a poem not previously referred to before is added to a page, it will be recorded in full here. This page will grow as more books are added.

Edingthorpe As a child Sassoon spent many a happy holiday with his mother and brothers at the old rectory in Edingthorpe, Norfolk. In 1937 he revisited the village and wrote about his memories in ‘The Old Century and Seven More Years’ [1938], I visited Edingthorpe in 1994 and took the pictures found on this page making reference to their part in Sassoon’s story.

Heytesbury In 1933 Sassoon bought Heytesbury House, a Georgian mansion surrounded by 90 acres of parkland and 130 acres of woods just outside the village of Heytesbury in Wiltshire. Sassoon was living here when he died and the site is much changed now. This page shows how it was at the time, and what has happened to it since.

Mells Siegfried Sassoon died in 1967 a week before his eighty-first birthday. He had made it known that when he died he wished to be buried in the church yard at Mells, Somerset, close to the grave of Father Ronald Knox. Knox had been a Roman Catholic priest who preached at the church in Mells and who helped Sassoon to convert to Roman Catholicism.

Who Was Who? The people in the Sherston Trilogy were all real, however their real names were not used and Sassoon gave them each a pseudonym. This page gives the pseudonym and the real names of all these people, including a number of place names that feature in the three books. Most of this detection work has been done by others to whom I offer acknowledgment on the page.

Contact Hello, my name is David Gray and I created this web site. Please contact me from this page. I first became interested in Siegfried Sassoon when I picked up an old copy of Memoirs of an Infantry Officer in an old bric-a-brac shop in Peterborough where I live. I find Sassoon incredibly interesting not just for his writing, but also for his amazing bravery, both physically on the battlefield, and morally with regard to his protest.

Links Web sites which may or may not relate to Siegfried Sassoon but could still be of interest to others. These sites include a number which refer directly to Siegfried Sassoon, and others with a military theme relating to the First and Second World Wars. Subjects include the French Resistence in WWII, soldiers who fought in the First World war, and local sites about the city in which I live, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

Recent additions to the site

One of the latest additions to the site is FONTAINE (left) a French book looking at aspects of English literature between 1918 and 1940. The book mentions Sassoon’s book ‘Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man’ a number of times in the text and there is a bibliography of Sassoon at the back. Amazingly this book was published in German occupied France in 1944. This particular copy is unread with numerous uncut pages.

The book referred to, ‘Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man’ is shown on the right, the first French translation ‘Memoires D’un Chasseur De Renard’ (Keynes A30f) published in 1937. The book was published by Gallimard and 4,400 copies were printed by the Imprimerie Centrale in Paris.

37-40 Aspects De La Litterature Anglaise De 1918 A 1940

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man: 1937 Memoirs EU

A letter written in 1917 by Siegfried Sassoon’s friend, Robert Ross

Siegfried Sassoon first met the art expert and literary critic Robert Ross in June 1913, at a party given by Sir Edmund Gosse. Ross, eighteen years older than Sassoon, was a patron of emerging actors, poets and writers, but was better known as the lover of Oscar Wilde. After Wilde’s death, Ross was persecuted by Wilde’s long term lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, aided by T.W.H. Crosland (Crosland was instrumental in helping Sassoon’s career).

Ross liked to entertain his friends in the evening at his suite of rooms at Half Moon Street, near the Ritz. Ross’s rooms were single gentlemen’s apartments supervised by Miss Nellie Burton who had been maid to Ross’s mother. Nellie knew that her gentlemen were part of London’s homosexual network and jealously safeguarded their privacy. In 1916 Ross took Sassoon to meet Lady Ottoline Morrell at her mansion, Garsington, near Oxford. There he met many pacifists including Bertrand Russell who were to have a great effect on his thinking.

H. W. Massingham’s book from the library of Siegfried Sassoon plus letter to Sassoon

H.W. Massingham was the editor of the Nation, a leading British radical weekly newspaper, between 1907 and 1923. Massingham published a number of Sassoon’s poems in the paper during these years. Equally as important, he was highly enough thought of by Sassoon to be asked his advice before Sassoon went ahead with his protest and was one of the people to whom Sassoon sent a copy of his original statement at the time.

This Book, ‘H.W.M. A Selection From the Writings of H. W. Massingham,’ which belonged to Sassoon, was published in 1925 by Jonathan Cape and edited by Massingham’s son, H. J. Massingham, (H.W.M. died in 1924). The letter, dated 16th February 1922, was sent to Sassoon by H.W. Massingham commenting on a poem Sassoon had submitted for publication, ‘Reynardism Revisited,’ and also stating, “I’ll take all you care to write.” (The book carries the Sassoon ownership monogram.)

Dr. Sheppard’s Peace Demonstration Programme - This programme belonged to Siegfried Sassoon, the Sotheby’s proof of provenance monogram is at the bottom left hand corner of page 2.

This demonstration took place at the Royal Albert Hall, 14th July 1935. It was organised by the Rev. H.R.L. Sheppard, the Canon and Precentor of St. Paul’s Cathedral and one of the Chaplains to His Majesty King George V. This was a single fold programme, page 3 being four hymns to be sung during the meeting. The cover picture is by Arthur Wragg and shows a cenotaph encasing a stricken soldier and dripping with blood. This was produced as a large poster but was banned from the London Underground Stations at the time because it was “too gruesome.”

Sassoon’s contribution to the demonstration was to read extracts from his war poems.

For more information about this item click His Library

Wellesley College News, May 6th, 1920 - On 28th January, 1920, Siegfried Sassoon arrived in New York. “A lecture tour seemed a way to escape and make money, not only for himself but to help his friends who, imagining him to be rich - because of his name - turned to him often. Now he was giving money to Graves, Atkin, Prewett and a new beneficiary: W. J. Turner.” (Egremont, Sassoon 2005 p241.)

Mr. Pond of the Lecture Bureau, who was organising the trip, told Sassoon that he would be excellent in the United States. Unfortunately, when Sassoon arrived in America Pond had only been able to arrange two lectures “because the country was saturated with British authors.” Pond was on the verge of bankruptcy and it fell to Sassoon to arrange any further bookings he could.

I believe that very little of what Sassoon said during these lectures has been recorded. This article in the Wellesley College News is therefore very important. To read the full article, click here: Siegfried Sassoon at Wellesley.

Bibliotheca Bibliographici

Also to be found on this web site is this large and impressive book which records the library of Siegfried Sassoon’s bibliographer, Geoffrey Keynes.

The Limited Edition of 500 copies was published by The Trianon Press in 1964 and covers books from many other writers beside Sassoon including Rupert Brooke, William Blake, John Donne, John Maynard Keynes, William Shakespeare and John Ruskin.

The book lists many very rare Sassoon books, limited editions, signed copies and presentation copies that were in Keynes’ own private collection. There are also a number of manuscripts and letters listed. 

Please click the image for more information about Geoffrey Keynes.

ANNOUNCEMENT - when I first created this web site it was with a view to putting online the complete bibliography of Siegfried Sassoon. I believe that I have now done this, however, my interest in the man is such that I have found that I want to continue to add more and more content to the site relating to Sassoon, and additional pages can already be found relating to his home, his childhood, his friends and acquaintances and his art, the list goes on and as long as it does, I will keep adding to the site.

One amazing piece of good fortune that I have recently experienced was to be able to make contact with Robert Pulvertaft, the stepson of George Sassoon, Siegfried’s only son. Robert has been extremely generous in allowing me to showcase on this web site four pieces of Siegfried Sassoon’s art which had never before been seen in the public domain. Click the images on the right

Recent addition to the site

The Hearts Journey: 1929 US First Edition. Keynes A28c

Changes to title page as collated by Keynes

NEW - From Sassoon’s own Library, Heritage An Anthology of English Poems

NEW - American and British Verse Contributions 1920-1929

NEW - Collected Poems of Edith Sitwell owned by Hester Gatty His Library

The Sassoon archive has been saved for the nation Click HERE for news

Website created by David Gray © 2008