[ Neville Rogers, editor of Shelley. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Neville') to 'Marjorie', gossippy and satirical, esp. about Nancy Cunard, with offprints of two of his articles ('Shelley and the West Wind' &'Lauro de Bosis'), inscribed to the recipient

The three items in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. LETTER: 2pp., 8vo. A splendidly waspish missive. Topics include: her 'letter to Mickie' ('masterly diplomacy'); 'dear Miss Massey, wounded on active service for the BIS' (with references to 'Mrs. Draper' and 'His Lordship'); his lectures at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth ('They are not without humour but life is very grim and earnest for them and they don't want to waste a single moment that might be vaguely cultural: all this shows a decent respect for the state subsidy which is not always found in Oxford'; a broadcast by him (including reference to 'John Davenport of the BBC'); 'Ivor and the Bomerang' (the latter 'gave me to understand that I. B-T had quite given up politics as the Tories do not avail themselves of him'); 'the Keats affair at Guy's'. There is also a reference to 'that delightful, accomplished eccentric Nancy Cunard whom I was delighted to find unexpectedly accroupie one cold night over the fire in the bar of the Kings Arms'. Davenport is said to have 'let her down badly about a book on Norman Douglas she is publishing. In between a visit to the Pitt-Rivers Museum to check details for a chapter on African sculpture and a visit to Raymond Mortimer in hospital near Salisbury Nancy had suddenly decided to seek accommodation with no luggage but a protege-Spanish-poet; her tiger-skin snood, or fillet, and her rush of French and Spanish rhetoric of which the only generally distinguishable words were "Norman", "Augustus" and "Dylan" brought a nouveau frisson to the barmaid, the Dean of Trinity and the surrounding rugger-men.' Another excellent passage reads: 'Mickie licks up any compliments as a cat does cream and has a real Yorkshire feeling for the Dear Departed, even when only remotely known, and Burying Father with Ham etc - des larmes faciles as one of her tame ENSA contesse used to say, when an extra NAAFI whiskey bottle had induced yet another performance of The Death of Marie Lloyd'. OFFPRINT: 'Shelley and the West Wind | Reprinted from the London Magazine June 1956'. [1] + 13pp., 8vo. Stapled. Inscribed on cover: 'For Marjorie | With love from Neville'. OFFPRINT: 'Lauro de Bosis'. In Italian. 'Estratto da "Il Ponte" Anno XIX - N. 10 - Ottobre 1963'. 5pp., 4to. Paginated 1305-1309. Inscribed on cover 'For Marjorie. | With love from | Neville. | Waltham, Mass., 10.iii.64'.