[Anthology by Patric Dickinson and his wife Sheila Shannon, inscribed by him to his mistress Sarah Hamilton.] 'Poets' Choice / An anthology of English Poetry from Spenser to the present day / Compiled by Patric Dickinson and Sheila Shannon'.

Patric Dickinson has not received his due. A self-styled ‘poet and impresario of poetry’, Dickinson occupied a central position in the cultural landscape of post-war Britain. As an editor and broadcaster he worked with poets such as Dylan Thomas, Cecil Day Lewis and Roy Campbell, actresses Flora Robson, Peggy Ashcroft and Jill Balcon, and actors Robert Donat, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud. See John Mole’s obituary in the Independent, 31 January 1994. From the papers of Dickinson’s mistress Sarah Emmeline Hamilton. (His extraordinary correspondence with her, including 171 original and mostly-unpublished poems, 474 autograph letters and 349 post cards, is offered separately). The present item is [8] + 466 pp., 8vo. In olive cloth binding in yellow dustwrapper printed in brown. In good condition, in aged and worn dustwrapper. Stylized inscription in Patric Dickinson's autograph in ink on front free endpaper: '[dotted tilde] / Sarah / with much love / from / Patric / & / Sheila / 25 / XII / 67 / [rebus of the couple's address: 38 in Roman numerals, a church, a square, and a stylized version of the word 'Rye'] / [dotted tilde]'. An interesting anthology. The blurb emphasizes that 'The compilers are themselves poets and they have chosen the poems from both love and knowledge of the art of poetry. They believe them to be good poems, and nothing is included merely to illustrate a critic's theory, or a literary fashion. [...] There are also notes to the poems, and cross-references from one age to another, which re there not to identify the dead bones of poetry, but to bring alive the men and women who wrote it and the methods by which they chose to express themselves.' See Image.