26 Nassington Road, Hampstead, N.W.3. - Is 'pleased and proud to have these two noble volumes' [Bob's "Collected Works"] with an inscription. Has just written a short review of the first for "English" [Wilfrid Gibson, "The Collected Works of R. C. Trevelyan . Volume i: Poems", "English: Journal of the English Association", Volume 2, Issue 12, Autumn 1939, Pages 387–388] but fears it is 'not very satisfactory' as he did not have room to treat the poems in detail; trusts he has at least 'said nothing to hurt' Bob, and hopes he has 'managed at least to express some of the pleasure' he had in re-reading. Hopes to repeat that when he has the leisure to re-read the plays. At the moment, everything is upset, and he is writing in a 'half-denuded house'. He and Gerald [his wife] have taken a 'tiny cottage in Berkshire "for the duration"', and hope to keep [their daughter] Audrey's baby there in safety; Gerald has already gone and he will join her soon after getting some 'necessary business' done. Jocelyn's firm has evacuated to Glasgow, and Michael is working at an aeroplane factory in Gloucester, so 'Certainly Hitler has managed to dislocate our lives for us!'. Hopes things are not going too badly for Bob in this 'infernal world'; wishes success for the "Collected Works".
Greenway, Yaverland, Sandown, Isle of Wight. - Thanks Bob for the 'pamphlet of poems" [this year's "From the Shiffolds"] which has 'followed' him to their new home; they moved here last April so that he and his wife could 'indulge [their] passion for the sea' and 'enjoy the "simple pleasure"' Bob writes so eloquently about, and their grandson could 'have a handy beach to play on'. Has read Bob's poems with 'much pleasure', particularly "To Ursula Wood"; appreciates especially the 'intimate nature' of much of Bob's new work, which 'conveys so skilfully [his] personal reactions to existence in these troubled times'. Encloses a selection from his own poetry, chosen by his friend Charles Williams shortly before his death ["Solway Ford and Other Poems"].