[Archive, typescript and manuscript notes as well as printed material pertaining to:] 'A Collection for a Study of the Poet Herbert Palmer (1880-1961)'

Bookseller Notes

An interesting group of material, formed by a collector whose connection with the poet went beyond his admiration for his work: Whiteman was taught by Palmer at St. Albans School (1919-23), and professes as high a regard for the man as for the work - though in the former, he acknowledges that the regard was slow in coming, and that Palmer was a 'contemptible and pathetic figure' to his pupils, but an effective oddity in a pedagogic sense. The 'shabby' treatment extended, Whiteman considers, beyond the schoolroom to the literary world, where Palmer's eccentricities likewise rendered him a figure out of step with the mainstream - but the 'strong [...] impression' he created is, Whiteman considers, something that posterity would reward, both in a personal sense and with regard to his work ('I think he will live'). The jewel of the collection is the letter from Palmer to Whiteman, written in response to a letter from the latter apologising for the aforementioned poor treatment during his schooldays, about which Palmer is forgiving: 'Don't worry about the Past, I think I have more to regret than you. Part of it was my own fault, part of it [the Headmaster,] Major Montague Jones's because he impeded me'. He thinks he remembers Whiteman, and proceeds to discuss at length his own work both in terms of content and publication status - pausing to dismiss 'the modernist stuff' that dominates the current literary landscape as 'unspeakably bad'.