T. S. Eliot Signed Christmas Cards: Rare Book of the Week
Faber & Faber Christmas cards signed by T.S. Eliot
A group of 14 Christmas cards signed by poet T. S. Eliot comes up for sale at Forum Auctions on September 17.
The cards, five of which are also signed by Valerie Eliot, include designs by Bernett Freedman, Edward Bawden, Edward Ardizzone, André Francois, and Alan Howard for Faber & Faber between 1945 and 1963. The lot includes an envelope addressed in Eliot's hand to Janet Roberts and the Eliots' printed 'Greetings of the Season' card for 1963.
They were all sent to husband and wife writers Janet Smith and Michael Roberts. Smith succeeded Roberts as chief reviewer for Eliot’s quarterly The Criterion.
Printed by the Curwen Press, the cards were specially-designed by leading artists such as those in this lot as well as John Piper and David Jones. They were sent by Faber every year to their clients until 1965 when Eliot died after serving as an editor there since 1925.
