Grey Scree Studded with Cushions of Green: G. E. Selby's Durham Garden

a grey scree flowing between rocks

studded with cushions of green

at certain times almost covered with flowers

is a sight which well repays the labour spent

— G. E. SELBY (1953)

 

In his short article ‘Tolkien's Friend Selby’, published in Mallorn (No. 62, Winter 2021, pp. 34–35), Douglas A. Anderson writes about a small group of letters—that we know of (or survive)—written by Tolkien to G. E. Selby. All of the letters are of interest, two are widely quoted. Anderson notes the ‘remarkable’ tone (especially ‘its self-deprecation’) with which Tolkien writes to Selby, in late 1937, only a few months after the publication of The Hobbit. Content aside, Anderson asks—himself and us—what is the context of these letters? He wants to know more about Geoffrey Edmond Selby (1909–1987), Tolkien's friend and correspondent.

 

In his Mallorn article, Anderson summarises the content of the four known letters that Tolkien wrote to Selby between 1937 and c. 1955/56, including information about their current whereabouts. It is not my intention to discuss this content; detail and discussion of this can be found elsewhere. None of the letters were published in Letters (George Allen & Unwin, 1981), although several have been quoted extensively or published in full elsewhere; one letter (extract) was added to the revised edition of Letters (HarperCollins, 2023). See also TOLKIEN COLLECTOR'S GUIDE (TCG) ‘Guide to Tolkien's Letters’ here; Holford 63320; Scull & Hammond's The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide.

 

For a concise summary of most (I'd guess) of what is currently known about G. E. Selby one should certainly read Anderson's Mallorn ‘note’ in the first instance. Selby was born in 1909; he would only be in his late 20s when we first encounter Tolkien corresponding with him in 1937. In Letters an editorial note (Letter 80a, Sept. 1944) introduces Selby as a friend and ‘former colleague [of Tolkien] in the English Faculty at Oxford’ (Revised and Expanded Ed. 2023, p. 131). The veracity of this claim isn't clear. Anderson states Selby was in Oxford between 1928–1932, but ‘Selby's college records do not indicate any academic relationship’ with Tolkien. Anderson's note gives no further biographical detail about Selby between 1932 and WWII. 

 

I do not see any evidence—published or publicly available (at this time)—to suggest Selby and Tolkien were ever ‘colleagues’ at Oxford. Clearly there are biographical details about Selby, including his relationship with Tolkien, that remain unknown, or at least unclear. Anderson wonders if Selby was perhaps part of the ‘original undergraduate Inklings club’ at Oxford, attended by both Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. There is another possible connection. Tolkien and Lewis both gave talks before the TYNDALE SOCIETY at Selby's HERTFORD COLLEGE (Oxford). Tolkien read a paper—also read a year earlier to the NEWMAN SOCIETY (see Scull & Hammond's Addenda and Corrigenda ‘p. 144’ entry here)—to the society on ‘[The] Chill Barbarians of the North’, in Hilary Term (c. January–March) 1929 (The Hertford College Magazine, May 1929, No. 18, p. 10). Lewis read to the society, after Tolkien, sometime later in 1929 (or early 1930). Tolkien's talk was ‘much appreciated by the large attendance present’; perhaps Selby was in the audience.

 

Selby married Mary Glen McCall in Renfrewshire, Scotland, in 1943; they were married on July 3, at Renfrew Old Parish Church. Selby was in the ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE (RAFVR) at this time; he was a Flight Lieutenant. Since the RAFVR was a civilian reserve it was perhaps the case that Selby had been living in Renfrewshire in the early 1940s; Mary McCall was likely local—she was born in Renfrewshire (parents from Renfrew)—and Selby could have trained at RAF RENFREW. This is purely speculative though. Prior to his teaching position at Durham, Selby also appears to have taken up an appointment at WILLIAM HULMES GRAMMER SCHOOL, Manchester, c. 1946–1947 (The Hertford College Magazine, May 1947, No. 35, p. 303). Perhaps this is the post Selby was applying for, in 1944, when he asked Tolkien to act as referee.

 

In his TOLKIEN AND FANTASY blogpost An Update on Things Tolkien- and Inklings-Related (2022), while drawing attention to his Mallorn article, Anderson also posted an image (courtesy of Oronzo Cilli) of Selby's personal ex libris (bookplate). I too have a copy of Selby's bookplate. 

 

This example of Selby's bookplate is inside a copy of James Branch Cabell's Straws and Prayer-Books (John Lane The Bodley Head, 1926), affixed to the front pastedown. What did Selby think of Cabell? There are no clues. What Tolkien thought of Cabell we do (sort of) know; John D. Rateliff concludes that Tolkien ‘was aware of Cabell's work... didn't think much of him’; see Rateliff's SACNOTH'S SCRIPTORIUM blogpost Tolkien and Cabell (2012). I cannot find any reference to Cabell in Cilli's Tolkien's Library: An Annotated Checklist (Luna Press, 2019 [2nd Ed. 2023]). 

 

 

The bookplate itself is, I think, quite attractive. Who was the designer/engraver of the bookplate, I wonder? Selby's bookplate is recorded in the Lewis Stark Bookplate Collection, 1802–1959 at the UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE (Durham, NH, USA). Unfortunately, no designer/engraver is given; either unknown or not catalogued. The bookplate is not signed.

And what—if not a generic representation of ecclesiastical architecture—does the image depict? Selby was born in Doncaster, presumably growing up there. His father, a surgeon, changed employment in 1921, moving work from Doncaster to Leeds; it is possible the family also moved home at this time. Selby Abbey is local (around 20 miles) from both these locations. However, the bookplate may not be contemporary with the book's 1931 acquisition; Selby could have pasted the bookplate into the book years later. By the late 1940s Selby was living in Durham, where he would spend the rest of his life. Could the bookplate depict/represent the interior of Selby Abbey or Durham Cathedral? 

 

 

Aside from the bookplate, two other bits of provenance detail are of interest: an acquisition date (already mentioned) and a small bookshop label. One could suggest—assuming (again) date and bookplate are contemporary—that the date was written by Selby, and the book acquired by him from the DAVENANT BOOKSHOP in Oxford on November 11 (Wednesday), 1931. Selby was presumably in Oxford at this time; he would be twenty-two years old and still an undergraduate.

 

There is a long lineage of bookshops at the 41 High Street (Oxford) address, dating back to at least the 1820s. On nearby Turl Street (no. 2 & 3), H. G. Gadney's bookshop had run into financial difficulties. Basil Blackwell stepped in and acquired the business in 1922, renaming it the DAVENANT BOOKSHOP; adverts from the late 1920s recommend visitors ‘explore the XIIIth century vaulted cellars’. It sold both new and secondhand books. In 1930 Blackwell transferred the DAVENANT BOOKSHOP to 41 High Street—previously the COVERLEY BOOKSHOP (acquired by Blackwell in 1928)—taking the name with it; the Turl Street bookshop became the TURL STREET CASH BOOKSHOP. Blackwell ‘gave up’ the DAVENANT BOOKSHOP in 1938. For more detail see A. L. P. Norrington's Blackwell's 1879–1979: The History of a Family Firm (Blackwell, 1983, pp. 93–94). The DAVENANT BOOKSHOP label and 1931 acquisition date (regardless of authorship) certainly appear to be contemporary with each other.

 

Selby's book ownership—with or without his bookplate—is evidenced by his name cropping up in libraries and special collections worldwide, and his books being catalogued by booksellers and sold at auctions. I think it is clear he was not simply a reader of books; Selby was a book-collector. Anderson mentions that during Selby's time at the COLLEGE OF THE VENERABLE BEDE, in Durham, the college library purchased nearly two hundred and fifty rare books; the implication being that Selby was perhaps involved in driving that acquisition agenda. Some of the books that have evidence of Selby ownership, that I have located, include:

 

GRIMM, Jacob.  

Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang (Göttingen, 1811). 

Ex libris G. E. Selby. 

TRINITY COLLEGE (Cambridge)

 

WYCHERLEY, William.  

The Plain-Dealer: A Comedy (London, 1678). 

G. E. Selby (former owner).

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Textus Biblie (Lyons, 1527). 

Ex libris bookplate of G. E. Selby. 

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

 

MATHIAS, T. J. 

Odes, English and Latin (1798). 

Signature on front flyleaf of G. E. Selby. 

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

 

STOW, John; HOWES, Edmund.  

Annales, or, a generall Chronicle of england (London, 1631). 

Recent bookplate of G. E. Selby to recto FFEP. 

ANTIQUATES FINE & RARE BOOKS (Catalogue, 2020)

 

SAUNDERS, Charles.  

Tamerlane the Great. A Tragedy (1681). 

G. E. Selby (bookplate). 

FORUM AUCTIONS (Sold, 2024)

 

LEE, Nathanial. 

Lucius Junius Brutus, father of his country: a tragedy (London, 1708).

Inscribed by G. E. Selby. 

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

GRONOVIUS, Joannes Fredericus. 

L. Annaei Senecae tragoediae (1682). 

Bookplate: G. E. Selby. 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

 

NOTE: Bibliographical detail as it appears in respective catalogue(s).

 

In reference to Selby and Tolkien's relationship (at Oxford), Anderson states that ‘Selby is not known to have published anything—no books or articles have been found’. I have found something I believe was written by Selby; the subject is somewhat unexpected. The Journal of The Scottish Rock Garden Club (No. 13, September 1953, pp. 225–227) has an article by a G. E. Selby called Screes in North-east England; it gives an account ‘of the use made of screes in a Durham garden’.

 

 

In the article Selby describes the ‘construction of my two screes’. He discusses materials used; whinstone chips, sifted leaf-mould, weathered boiler ash, and so on. His screes seemingly ‘provided a congenial home’ for a multitude of plants, which Selby lists at great length with occasional short comment; everything listed is given its proper binominal (Latin/scientific) name. I don't have Walter Judd's Flora of Middle-earth to hand, but if I did I wouldn't be surprised to find some of Selby's scree plants mentioned. Selby and Tolkien certainly shared an interest in botany. Later in the issue there is another (smaller) contribution by Selby—a letter sent to the editor—on the subject of ‘Seed Harvesting’. Selby had no other articles published in the SRGC Journal.

 

I have also found a photograph of Selby. He took part in a rugby match for Oxford ‘freshers’ in October 1928. This would be at the very start of his time at Oxford; he would have just turned nineteen years old. A photograph of the two teams was published in The Tatler (‘Rugby Ramblings’, No. 1426, October 24, 1928); all of the players are named, but it is not entirely clear how the list of names corresponds to the standing and sitting arrangement shown in the photograph.

 

 

 

‘G. E. Selby (Oundle and Hertford)’ is listed eighteenth. One could infer that Selby is seated in the front (nearest to camera) row, third from left (legs crossed, white shirt).