Powys Society Newsletter 88

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ephemera on the internet should lead to this intriguing chain of Powys connections. Members of the Powys Society visited Northwold in April 2014. See Newsletters No.81, March 2014, and No.82, July 2014 for photographs and report of the visit. CT Postmark: 20 Ju ‘10 Transcription of postcard message Address: Miss E Lloyd, 67 St Georges St, Norwich Message: The Rectory Northwold Dear E I cannot think why you haven’t answered my letter as its your turn to write. Don’t you think this is a nice view of here. It’s the front part. Hope you are well. I am better to what I have been for some time. Much love. Mabel. 29
The Soliloquies and Fables of a Hermit Mike Smith is a keen collector of limited editions, inscribed or presentation copies, unlimited signed copies and first editions of the Powyses. He also owns original letters from Francis Powys, Harry Coombes and David Holbrook mostly about TFP which he received in the 1970s during the writing of his dissertation ‘The Soliloquies and Fables of a Hermit’. Mike is now offering many of these items for sale. If you would like to find out what he has available please contact him direct at: Mikesmith. rww@hotmail.co.uk Here Mike describes his involvement with TFP’s writing which began when he studied his books at school and continued at Warwick University with his dissertation ‘The Soliloquies and Fables of a Hermit’. CT Mike Smith A dissertation revisited In the summer of 1972, I loaded a small tent onto the back of my frail Honda 50 and rode from Coventry to Dorset in the hopes of finding material for my dissertation of Theodore Francis Powys. I had studied Powys for English A. Level, and became enchanted with his unique writing style, his idiosyncratic values and the simple backdrop of timeless Dorset. However, I might never have become so attached to Powys had it not been for an absent minded elderly friend. I had borrowed Kindness in a Corner from the Head of English, who was taking us through Mr. Weston’s Good Wine. A teaching colleague of my mother discovered what I was reading, and being something of a Silas Dottery himself, asked if he could borrow it. I pointed out the delicacy of the situation but foolishly relented. Naturally he lost the book, and left me in an exceptionally embarrassing position. Before owning up, I searched every antiquarian bookshop in Warwickshire and got hooked on bookshops and Powys in the process. As an almost penniless student I spent precious pennies on Powys books wherever I went. My trip to Dorset consequently saw more than just my tent loaded precariously on my back, for the return journey. However my trip saw me acquire more than books, because the good folk of Chaldon Herring and Mappowder treated a hopelessly ill-prepared and under-funded 30
Page 2 and 3: Editorial Newsletter 88 appears som
Page 4 and 5: Chairman’s Report 2015-6 The Soci
Page 6 and 7: Treasurer’s Report The Powys Soci
Page 8 and 9: The Powys Society Conference, 2016
Page 10 and 11: Obituaries Ken Hester (1934-2015) E
Page 12 and 13: **Naomi Mitchison (1897-1999), prol
Page 14 and 15: y which wealth is afforded a langui
Page 16 and 17: Maiden Castle at Ely meeting 23rd A
Page 18 and 19: Which characters are most or less c
Page 20 and 21: Powys Day, Dorset County Museum, Do
Page 22 and 23: From Jacqueline Peltier Zouheir Jam
Page 24 and 25: Alliance of Literary Societies Chri
Page 26 and 27: Kevin Taylor “This is Norfolk”:
Page 28 and 29: But the spirit which presided predo
Page 32 and 33: student with great affection and ki
Page 34 and 35: she did not pursue the project and
Page 36 and 37: that the creative will power of his
Page 38 and 39: of building portraits of others, in
Page 40 and 41: JERRY BIRD John Cowper Powys’s A
Page 42 and 43: This sounds very much like modern P
Page 44 and 45: ooks begin with an approach to Glas
Page 46 and 47: sunlight. This reflects the wide va
Page 48 and 49: present at megaliths — had he rea

Powys Society Newsletter 88

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