What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lyttelton Hart-Davis Letters: Volumes 1 and 2: 1955-57: Correspondence of George Lyttelton and Rupert Hart-Davis
464 pages, Paperback
First published November 7, 1985
About the author
George Lyttelton
8 booksGeorge William Lyttelton (1883-1962)
British teacher who became well-known posthumously with the publication of his letters with former student Rupert Hart-Davis.
British teacher who became well-known posthumously with the publication of his letters with former student Rupert Hart-Davis.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 29, 2017
Fascinating read of letters between two really well versed writers and publishers in England just before my birth. So many titbits of information and some wonderful Britishisms. Will be revisiting regularly I suspect. The British really were cricket obsessed.
April 23, 2008
Actually, edited by Sir Rupert Hart-Davis. He was a very well-known British publisher and erudite editor of collections of letters, most notably those of Oscar Wilde. G.W. Lyttelton, of the aristocracy born, was a headmaster of Eton. Hart-Davis, who attended Eton, began a weekly correspondence with the much senior Lyttelton from 1955 to 1962. These men moved in extraordinary company, from the Queen Mother to T.S. Eliot, from Max Beerbaum to Ian Fleming. These letters constitute a comfortable conversation between the two men, drawing you on to read the next letter, happily eavesdropping. They discuss books (Hart-Davis had some 17,000 at the end of his life), artists and authors, plays and movies. And chuckle-worthy occasional comments on American politics. In most there are the references to family happenings, a passion for cricket matches, and the British male's penchant for birds and gardens. Usually unwilling to read straight non-fiction as I am a plodding reader, nevertheless these letters held my interest through 6 volumes. Even at the risk of often not knowing the books they talk about. But then, I certainly can read them!
November 9, 2023
This is one of my favorite books. It is the correspondence between two erudite men in 1950s Britain. Lyttelton was the second son of an aristocrat and taught English at Eton for much of his life. George Orwell and Aldous Huxley were among his former students. He was retired from teaching and living in an English village when the correspondence began. Hart-Davis was another former student. He lived primarily in London and was running an independent publishing house during the correspondence. The letters are filled with their take on literature, current events, and cricket. The reader gradually learns about each man's history and home life. Their friendship grows over time as more letters are exchanged.
We also get a glimpse into another era. There is of course no email or text messages. Most of the letters seem to have been originally written by fountain pen. I frequently found it necessary to use my smartphone to look up people and places which are now obscure, at least to an American.
We also get a glimpse into another era. There is of course no email or text messages. Most of the letters seem to have been originally written by fountain pen. I frequently found it necessary to use my smartphone to look up people and places which are now obscure, at least to an American.
June 26, 2010
George Lyttleton, Oxford Don, complained that no one ever wrote to him. Rupert Hart-Davis, one of his former students, promised to begin a correspondence with him, and for the next six years, until the older man's death, one of the most fascinating of all correspondences was carried-out. In three volumes, we can read the endlessly charming, chatty, joyful letters of these two brilliant, creative men.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews