[Roy Fuller, poet.] Three Typed Letters Signed and two Autograph Letters Signed (the first 'Roy Fisher' and the other four 'Roy') to the literary scholar Miriam Allott, regarding an edition of the collected poems of her late husband Kenneth Allott.

Each letter 1p., 8vo. In very good condition, lightly aged and worn. The first two letters in autograph, the other three typed. ONE (26 May 1973): He condoles with her on her husband's death. 'I always greatly admired his poetry & then his work as a critic. I've just been writing down hisname in the index of my second book of Oxford lectures, where I refer briefly to both these activities of his. It is a sad loss, particularly to those of us who admire creative & sensitive scholarship, so rare & so much needed now. | He & I never met - you remember how we were thwarted when I came to Liverpool three or four years ago. That will be a constant matter of regret to me.' TWO (12 July 1973): He 'would be honoured to write a foreword to the poems', and offers his help if 'the L[iverpool]. U[niversity]. P[ress]. baulk at doing the book': 'There is always the possibility of an Arts Council grant to a publisher'. He hopes she will be 'able to make another book or books, even of a miscellaneous kind. The question of fulfilment or non-fulfilment of talent is not straightforward. Sometimes the talent is fulfilled unbeknown to itself, particularly with those who refuse to exaggerate their gifts. J. R. Ackerley is a good example. Everything I saw of Kenneth's was individual & true. There is no rubbish - as there is with most of us! - to drop away, out of an inflated picture.' THREE (17 July 1973): He urges her to produce an edition of her husband's complete poems, and suggests individuals to approach (Charles Monteith, 'T. G. Rosenthal of Secker & Warburg', 'lordly Fabers' and Carcanet Press ('doing some excellent things'). FOUR (10 August 1973): 'Anthony Thwaite (who advises Secker & Warburg on their poetry list) is interested in Kenneth's collected poems. [...] No thanks are due to me! Thwaite asked for a poem for Enounter's 20th anniversary number and I sent him the only suitable one I had - one written recently which I've dedicated to Kenneth's memory.' FIVE (20 August 1973): He has heard from Thwaite, who 'wants to see the complete MS but I think one can say firmly that he will recommend to Secker that they do a Collected Poems. [...] One can never be absolutely sure about the destiny of a book of poems, but I am quite hopeful'. The letter concludes: 'Can't imagine why I mentioned Faber in previous letters. I should have said Hogarth.' Secker & Warburg did indeed publish Kenneth Allott's 'Collected Poems', with a 'Foreword' by Fisher, in 1975.