Britain Observed: The Landscape Through Artists' Eyes

by Geoffrey Grigson

Oversized hardcover (no jacket) in good condition for age. From the collection of Ian Angus (British Librarian and a scholar on George Orwell), whose name and date are pencilled on the reverse of the FEP. Limited to 300 copies (bound in leather) - this is number 21; with the author's signature on the bookplate, on the front pastedown. Faint scores and edgewear to the boards. The spine is cocked and a little worn, with patches of colour loss. Page edges lightly tanned. Interior very good, with sound binding and clear content. CM

240 pages, Leather Bound

First published December 31, 1975

About the author

Grigson was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead, and at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He first came to prominence in the 1930s as a poet, then as editor from 1933 of the influential poetry magazine New Verse. A teacher, journalist and broadcaster, later in life he was a noted critic, reviewer (for the New York Review of Books in particular), and compiler of many inventive and innovative anthologies. He published 13 collections of poetry, and wrote on travel, on art (notably works on Samuel Palmer, Wyndham Lewis and Henry Moore), on the English countryside, and on botany, among other subjects.
Geoffrey Grigson's first wife was Frances Galt (who died in 1937 of tuberculosis). With her, he founded New Verse. They had one daughter, Caroline (who was married to the designer Colin Banks). Grigson's second marriage was to Berta (Bertschy) Emma Kunert, who bore him two children, Anna and Lionel Grigson, the jazz musician and educator. Following their divorce, Grigson's third and last marriage was to Jane Grigson, née McIntire (1928–90), the writer on food and cookery. Their daughter is the cookery writer Sophie Grigson.
Geoffrey Grigson in his later life lived partly in Wiltshire, England, and partly in Trôo, a village in the Loir-et-Cher département in France, which features in his poetry. He died in Wiltshire in 1985.

Reviews

[Mickey · Rating 2 out of 5]

mildly interesting collection of paintings/sketches of the British landscape by a variety of artists. most black and wihte with some color plates.