Item 25 - Letter from Lascelles Abercrombie to R. C. Trevelyan

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The Gallows, Ryton, Dymock. - Very glad to hear that Bob may be at Silverdale while he and his family are at Grange [over Sands]:will be 'extremely nice' to see him, and the 'smaller points of the "Annual [of New Poetry"' will be easier to discuss in person than writing. Agrees with Bob about [Thomas Sturge] Moore's suggestions so much [see 20/51] that it is 'scarcely necessary to discuss them further': an annual embracing the 'whole of English current poetry might be a laudable project', but one 'totally different from the one proposed', and he personally would feel no interest in it. An annual including Kipling and Ezra Pound would 'command only a very faint and academic interest' in him and he expects also in Bob, Wilfrid [Gibson] and Gordon [Bottomley]; let people call them a 'clique' if they like. Including such contributors would increase the circulation, but also result in a 'more drastic division of profits'; they might possibly if the whole 'board' agreed invite 'some special celebrity to contribute to some particular number', but this should not 'threaten [their] close corporation'. If this is done, is sure it is 'unfair & unpoetic to pay by the page'; they should discuss this, but as an example he insisted that the profits for "New Numbers" should be divided equally, despite some resistance, and it was 'Rupert [Brooke]'s six pages of sonnets' that led to it selling out, not his own or Wilfrid's 'voluminosities'. Since Bob 'partly agree[s]' with him, he will discusss this more when they meet.

20/51: letter from Thomas Sturge Moore to R. C. Trevelyan with his thoughts on the "Annual".