[Two one-page ALS from E. V. Rieu, editor of The Penguin Classics, to Margaret Crosland, considering the works of the C18th Italian playwright, Vittorio Alfieiri, for its World's Classics series]

[RIEU, E. V.]; [CROSLAND, Margaret]; [ALFIEIRI, Vittorio]; [PENGUIN WORLD'S CLASSICS]

Publication Date: 1955

About this Item

Two brief, related one-page ALS (18 Oct. & Nov 7th. 1955) on white note paper: both written in faded black ink, featuring Rieu's editor's letterhead for The Penguin Classics, and signed "Yours sincerely, E. V. Rieu". Two folds to each, creased and scatters of fox spots, "Urgent" in pencil to top of Oct. ALS. Good+ Two polite and considered publishing-related ALS from the initiator and editor of The Penguin Classics, E. V. Rieu, to the literary biographer and translator, Margaret Crosland, responding to the latter's suggestion that the works of the Italian dramatist, Count Vittorio Alfieiri, be considered for publication in Penguin's World's Classics series. In the Oct. ALS, Rieu wrote: "I admit that I should not, on first thoughts, have ranked[?] him as a possible candidate for a series of World's Classics. But I don't want to turn down your proposal offhand, and intend to bring the matter up when next I sit in conference with my friends at Penguin Books." He closes: "Will you be patient till then?" In the shorter Nov. ALS, Rieu "regret[s] to inform you that they do not see the works as a Penguin Classic. I am very sorry to have to disappoint you." Emile Victor Rieu (1887 1972) was a British classicist and publisher, translator and instigator of the Penguin Classics. His "lucid" translation of the Odyssey (1946) was the first title issued in the series; he was also celebrated for his translation of the four Gospels, which led him to find faith and join the Church of England. The politeness of these letters is very much in character, indeed: Rieu 'tended to make [Homer's] characters more courteous by preceding orders with "Kindly." or "Be good enough to.". By the time he retired as general editor of the series in 1964, Rieu had overseen the publication of c. 160 volumes (over twenty years). From Margaret Crosland's archive. Crosland (1920-2017) was an important and prolific British literary biographer and translator of French and Italian authors, "who pioneered Cocteau" in Britain (Owen, 2009). She was the French literature consultant for the British publisher Peter Owen, who issued many of her biographies and translations, and thus she played a crucial role in introducing French authors, such as Jean Cocteau and Colette, as well as the Marquis de Sade, Apollinaire and Anaïs Nin, to mid-century British audiences. Owen observed that Crosland was "very important in advising us on books to publish. It was Margaret who pioneered Cocteau [. and] led us to Dalí, as she knew his novel Hidden Faces" (ibid). Her biographical subjects included both Colette and Jean Cocteau (titles much under discussion in her archive), Simone de Beauvoir, Raymond Radiguet and Edith Piaf, and she translated works by writers including Sade, Emile Zola, Edmond de Goncourt and Cesare Pavese, as well as Colette and Cocteau. She was also a voluminous correspondent, literary broker and networker, as her letters evidence in rich and fascinating detail. Peter Owen (2009) Interview with Steven Fowler, Vice Magazine.

Seller Inventory # 3313

Bibliographic Details

• Title: [Two one-page ALS from E. V. Rieu, editor of The Penguin Classics, to Margaret Crosland, considering the works of the C18th Italian playwright, Vittorio Alfieiri, for its World's Classics series]
• Publication Date: 1955
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Letters
  • Signed & Association Items