First edition, first impression, of these poems by Ruth Pitter (1897-1992), with, laid in, an excellent correspondence between Pitter and the poet and aesthete Stephen Tennant. Pitter's is a long typed letter signed dated 1977, in which she praises him as "so determined and indefatigable poet. It is a lesson to all of us, for it seems to leave most poets high and dry after middle age. Immortal Youth! You will vanish at last into the clouds still trailing bright garlands of song", and thanks him for praising two of her own poems. Tennant's is an autograph note signed reading "Dear Ruth, their Pot-Pourri is Sublime - and their Lavender from France. S. For you, who loves fragrance." He is writing on a card advertising the wares of Lloyd & Cook, perfumers of 24 Craven Street, London. The copy also has some bookseller's ephemera laid in. The half-title is, intriguingly, inscribed "for a lady who is not nearly mad enough from the only madman she has ever really liked. Sid 16.10.34", though we cannot identify either. Ruth Pitter was the first woman to receive the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1955, and was appointed a CBE in 1979 to honour her many contributions to English literature.
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