The Lyttelton Hart-Davis Letters: Volumes 1 and 2: 1955-57: Correspondence of George Lyttelton and Rupert Hart-Davis

by George Lyttelton, Rupert Hart-Davis

Genres: Nonfiction

464 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 1985

About the author

George William Lyttelton (1883-1962)
British teacher who became well-known posthumously with the publication of his letters with former student Rupert Hart-Davis.

Reviews

[Jeremy Walton]

The lettermen
I read the handy volume which is a selection of this correspondence a few years ago. The memory of how much I enjoyed it has remained, and so I decided to get hold of the complete version and read it through. The first part of that task is straightforward enough; originally published in six volumes (roughly one per year of the original correspondence), they were re-issued in three paperback volumes, each of which can currently be acquired second-hand at little cost.

So much for finding the books - what about reading them? Although this appears daunting at first sight (each of them runs to over 400 pages), they're so well-written, entertaining and interesting that it's hardly any effort at all. Hart-Davis was an influential London publisher, and Lyttleton was a retired schoolmaster; both were deeply immersed in literature with a wide-ranging and perceptive appreciation which not only included long-established authors such as Johnson, James, Dickens and Carlyle, but also more contemporary writers such as Ian Fleming, Edmund Blunden and Robert Frost. They swap recommendations, remind each other about favourite passages, and recount stories about mutual friends and public figures with an affection and shared outlook which is invigorating to read.

The entertainment comes from the assured touch of the correspondents. Here, for example, is how Lyttleton looks forward to a visit of his friend [p113]: "April 24 - *very* good. The fatted calf's friends have been told to warn him that he must put his affairs in order." Here he describes a conversation with anti-apartheid campaigner Trevor Huddleston [p316]: "We did not talk about the [South Africa] colour problem, but for some reason, obscure at the time, and now irrecoverable, about Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, of whom I know as much as a cow does of a clean shirt." Here, he laments the failings of most of those he's heard reading aloud [p123]: "I can't bear those 'church' voices, or that instantly detectable note 'how well I am reading this' - these constitute the Scylla, and the Charybdis is almost as bad, the 'chatty' or 'no-high-falutin'-nonsense-about-*me*'. I have heard on Xmas day in the First Lesson 'Wonderful, Counsellor, Prince of Peace' etc read as if they were the names of stations on the Underground."

In addition, their quotation of others is illuminating - for example, William Cory's remark about a good education developing a faculty for "indicating assent or dissent in graduated terms" [p163]. And here is Hart-Davis lamenting the present age's lack of discrimination [p106]: "But the gift of so distinguishing is surely just what we mean by 'taste', and ours, is not, alas, an age of taste. William Nicholson, the painter, once told me he met an old man in the train who confessed sadly: 'My trouble has always been that I can't tell one thing from another'." Well, I think I can, and I think this is a wonderful book.

Originally reviewed 24 August 2015

[Michael Reilly]

This is a six-volume collection of letters. I read a hardcover edition of Volume 1. It doesn't seem to have a separate listing in Goodreads, so I dropped my review here, which seems to be the closest match.

Volume George Lyttelton (1883-1962) was a teacher at Eton for forty years. He taught and influenced a generation of English writers including George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Cyril Connelly. He was "one of the greatest of English schoolmasters". He was also very active in the literary world.

Rupert Hart-Davis (1907-1999) was one of Lyttelton's students at Eton. He was a distinguished publisher of literary works. He was also an author of a celebrated biography of the writer Hugh Walpole, and he edited an impressive collection of volumes, including the letters of Oscar Wilde, Max Beerbohm and Siegfried Sassoon. He knew everyone in the London literary world. They both came from distinguished English families.

In 1955 Lyttelton was retired and bored living in the country. Hart-Davis was overwhelmed with work and never had the chance to just talk on non-business stuff. They agreed to exchange weekly letters. The letters got sent almost every week until Lyttleton's death in 1962. The letters were published in six volumes between 1978 and 1984.

This is my fourth time through the volumes. Each volume is around 200 pages, which is a big plus. It can be intimidating to start into a 500-page volume of collected letters. Each of these volumes has a years' worth of letters. They are a nice size to let you dip into the series every once in a while.

The letters are a fascinating mix of literary gossip, book discussion, daily life problems, philosophical ruminations, memoir and two friends sharing life. They have favorites, for example, Thomas Carlyle, George Bernard Shaw, Conrad, Johnson, Kipling and Henry James. Between the two of them they have met and gossip about everyone. They have personal stories to tell about, for example, Winston Churchill, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, and Max Beerbohm.

A few samples.

Churchill said that one of the famous paintings of him, "makes me look as though I was straining at the stool."

Rubert-Davis sees the first English production of "Waiting for Godot". He thinks it is "the ugliest, dullest, most meaningless twaddle I've ever had to endure." (I didn't say I agreed with all of their opinions.) "

Lyttelton quotes a friend. "The glow of a good sermon always made him regret that religion was not true."

Rupert-Davis on what to do on holidays. "Many play golf and one odd effect of that pursuit it that they return to work manifestly stupider than they were. It is, I think, the company of other golfers."

L quotes an Italian saying. "A priest is man who is called father by everyone except his own children who are obliged to call him uncle."

[Dajuroka Reads]

Fascinating read of letters between two really well versed writers and publishers in England just before my birth. So many titbits of information and some wonderful Britishisms. Will be revisiting regularly I suspect. The British really were cricket obsessed.

[Caroline Thorndike-Weinberg]

Actually, edited by Sir Rupert Hart-Davis. He was a very well-known British publisher and erudite editor of collections of letters, most notably those of Oscar Wilde. G.W. Lyttelton, of the aristocracy born, was a headmaster of Eton. Hart-Davis, who attended Eton, began a weekly correspondence with the much senior Lyttelton from 1955 to 1962. These men moved in extraordinary company, from the Queen Mother to T.S. Eliot, from Max Beerbaum to Ian Fleming. These letters constitute a comfortable conversation between the two men, drawing you on to read the next letter, happily eavesdropping. They discuss books (Hart-Davis had some 17,000 at the end of his life), artists and authors, plays and movies. And chuckle-worthy occasional comments on American politics. In most there are the references to family happenings, a passion for cricket matches, and the British male's penchant for birds and gardens. Usually unwilling to read straight non-fiction as I am a plodding reader, nevertheless these letters held my interest through 6 volumes. Even at the risk of often not knowing the books they talk about. But then, I certainly can read them!

[Tom]

This is one of my favorite books. It is the correspondence between two erudite men in 1950s Britain. Lyttelton was the second son of an aristocrat and taught English at Eton for much of his life. George Orwell and Aldous Huxley were among his former students. He was retired from teaching and living in an English village when the correspondence began. Hart-Davis was another former student. He lived primarily in London and was running an independent publishing house during the correspondence. The letters are filled with their take on literature, current events, and cricket. The reader gradually learns about each man's history and home life. Their friendship grows over time as more letters are exchanged.

We also get a glimpse into another era. There is of course no email or text messages. Most of the letters seem to have been originally written by fountain pen. I frequently found it necessary to use my smartphone to look up people and places which are now obscure, at least to an American.

[Paul Doody]

George Lyttleton, Oxford Don, complained that no one ever wrote to him. Rupert Hart-Davis, one of his former students, promised to begin a correspondence with him, and for the next six years, until the older man's death, one of the most fascinating of all correspondences was carried-out. In three volumes, we can read the endlessly charming, chatty, joyful letters of these two brilliant, creative men.