Bidspirit auction | [LITERATURE] - Edith Sitwell: A

[LITERATURE] - Edith Sitwell: A Poetess Moved by a Friend’s Illness - SITWELL Edith - Autograph letter signed, dated “2 November 1943” by the British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. She reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents and lived much of her life with her governess. She never married but became passionately attached to Russian painter Pavel Tchelitchew, and her home was always open to London's poetic circle, to whom she was generous and helpful. Sitwell addresses “James”: “…I am so shocked and distressed to learn about poor Edith being so frightfully ill, & having had this dreadful operation I do feel for her so much in her suffering, & for you so deeply, too, in your anxiety. I know how dreadful the hours are of waiting during an operation?I do hope with all of my heart that she is already better. She was looking, I thought, so much better when she was at Birmingham, than when I had seen her life. It is shocking to think that she must have been ill then. It seems so late for me to be writing this, but I've only just heard, because I haven't seen Osbert for some days. First he, then I, were laid up with violent colds, so we didn't go near each other, for fear of infecting each other…” 2 pp. In-4. Renishaw Hall With letterhead. Small area of staining to the left edge.