[Gordon Jacob [Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob], English composer.] Four Autograph Letters Signed about musical matters to the violinist Marion Margaret Scott, one, written during wartime, attacking Benjamin Britten and ‘young men who shelter abroad’.

See his entry, together with that of Benjamin Britten, in the Oxford DNB, the latter explaining the context of the last letter, which is an attack on Britten and Peter Pears for not returning from the United States to wartime England. From the Scott papers. Each letter 2pp, 12mo, on a single leaf (a total of 8pp, 12mo). In good condition, lightly aged. Each letter folded for postage. All four letters addressed to ‘Miss Scott’, and each signed ‘Gordon Jacob’. ONE (1 April 1929): He will be ‘most delighted’ to give her ‘any information you may require about my work’. He and his wife will be pleased if she can lunch with them on her ‘return from Cologne [...] I could then show you my things & also, of course, lend you any scores you might like to take away with you.’ TWO (5 May 2029): He is ‘glad to hear that the Marie Wilson quartet are willing to do my work on the 23rd. I have asked S. Dyke to send the parts immediately to Miss Hasluck.’ He is enclosing ‘a few personal details which may be useful to you for your article’. There follows a reference to ‘the Soroptimist luncheon’, at which he met ‘Miss Erhart’: ‘I found Hugh Walpole’s remarks most stimulating.’ In a postscript he apologises for the ‘personal details’: ‘Never have I had such an orgy of writing about myself!’ THREE (13 August 1929): He thanks her for ‘all the kind things’ she said about him in her article, and the ‘thought and skill’ she gave to the making of it. He found her remarks and criticisms ‘most helpful, encouraging and stimulating’. Post script: ‘I have written a scherzo for the Symphony, so that it now has five movements. I have been working hard at it, and 3 2/3 movements are now scored!’ FOUR (14 August 1941): ‘Dear Miss Scott, / I’m afraid I have such strong views about young men who shelter abroad while their country is at war (and even go to the length of relinquishing their nationality) that I cannot bring myself to write printably about Britten’s concerto. / Such young men are considerably more contemptible than those who go & hide in army bands, & that’s saying a lot!’