Item 7 - Photocopy of a letter from A. E. Housman to G. C. A. Jackson, 15 May 1929

(With a photocopy of an envelope.)

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Transcript

Trinity College | Cambridge
15 May 1929

My dear Gerald,

I have written the letters you wanted written, and it appears from the enclosed that everything will be right.

I do not suppose that you will have any difficulty in taking the degree in six terms. The Ph. D. is not thought much of in Cambridge, but it helps one to get jobs outside. In the Arts Faculties we are thinking of abolishing it, but in any case it will be retained in Science.

Thanks for your offer to give me sable horns; but my wall-space is already insufficient for my books, and I regard the pictures which I have as nuisances. So let the poor animal live.

Your affectionate godfather
A. E. Housman.

[Direction on envelope:] Gerald Jackson Esq. | R.C.B.C. Ltd. | N’Changa | Via N’Dole† | Northern Rhodesia | South Africa

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The envelope, which bears a 1½d. stamp, was postmarked at Cambridge at 9 p.m.(?) on 15 May and at Ndola, N. W. Rhodesia, on 8 June, and has been marked in pencil ‘15 May 1929’.