Brideshead First Visited

Through the generosity of the Associates the library was able this summer to purchase a collection of 80 autograph letters and cards and a brief typed manuscript written by Evelyn Waugh to or for his dear friend Lady Mary Lygon. Introduced to the family at Madresfield Court by Lady Mary's brothers William (Viscount Elmley) and Hugh, Waugh's lasting relationships were with Lady Mary ("Blondy") and her sister, familiarly known as "Poll." The Lygon parents, Lord and Lady Beauchamp, were both gone, father in self-exile in Italy following the revelation of his homosexuality and a subsequent scandal in 1931, mother to live in retirement with her brother. The situation at "Mad," as the estate was known to family and friends, fueled Waugh's imagination and found a fictional outlet in Brideshead Revisited, in which Lady Mary always thought the character of Sebastian Flyte was modeled on her brother Hugh.

The majority of the correspondence dates from the 1930s, a particularly rich literary period for Waugh, and it reveals his mordant sense of humor and unique perspective on life both literary and familial. A characteristic letter announcing the birth of his son in 1938 reads in part: "Laura has had a son. Will you be its god-mother? I know you won't be able to come for christening on account there's a war, but I could have a proxy for you. It is to be called Auberon Alexander. It is quite big and handsome – Laura is quite pleased with it." A letter from the late 1950s asks: "Will . . . you come to dine with a cousin of Little Laura's named Mrs. Fleming? Her husband [novelist Ian Fleming] writes common books but, as you would expect from a cousin of L. L. she is a lady of the utmost refinement." Given the quality of the letters, it is much to be regretted that a sizable additional number of letters was left behind, and thus lost, in a London taxi in the 1980s.

The letters to Lady Mary join in the library's collections several short Waugh manuscripts as well as some hundreds of letters and cards to Handasyde Buchanan, Graham Greene, Leonard Russell, Christopher Sykes (his biographer), Douglas Woodruff, and others.