50. Paper Shadows

L/50

 

Reading and collecting; 

a series of serendipitous connections.

 

Mark Valentine’s essays often serve the purpose of highlighting neglected books and authors; he must have a half-dozen or so non-fiction collections now. I read his essays, note various people and works of interest, attempt to track some of them down; not always successfully. Recently I was frustrated to find only a single copy online of a particular book he had mentioned; many are obscure or possibly poorly catalogued, some simply expensive. And I hate buying POD editions.

 

In ‘The Shadow of Enoch Soames’ (Tea and Gargoyles, Tartarus Press, 2026), Valentine muses on Enoch Soames, ‘neglected decadent poet’ of the 1890s. Soames was the product of Max Beerbohm’s imagination; the poet is entirely fictional. Roger Dobson playfully lists Soames with other ‘quasi-veridical authors’. Quite unrelated, at around the same time, I was browsing for Mardersteig (associated) publications, as one does; and I stumbled across something written by Beerbohm.

 

In 1906, Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (1872–1956) travelled to Italy; he penned several articles about his travels, including his impressions of visiting Venice. The six Venetian pieces were published in the DAILY MAIL; they were later revised and published—in A Variety of Things (1928)—as ‘A Stranger in Venice’. Remembering Valentine’s engaging essay, and thinking that Beerbohm’s writing style would likely appeal to me, I decided to acquire the ‘something written by Beerbohm’ that I had stumbled across: a stand-alone edition of A Stranger in Venice printed by Hans Mardersteig's son, Martino.

 

 

BEERBOHM, Max. A STRANGER IN VENICE. Robert Booth, at The Winged Lion, London, 1993. First separate publication. Typeset in Monotype Dante. Printed by Martino Mardersteig at the Stamperia Valdonega, Verona. Printed on Magnani mould-made paper. Case-binding with decorative paper-covered boards, Fabriano Ingres endpapers. Designed by Simon Rendall. Edition of 780 copies; 750 for sale, 30 (I–XXX) for presentation. This copy no. 243, signed ‘RB’ [Robert Booth]. Copy-specific features: signed card from Robert Booth, loosely inserted; ex libris (bookplate) of Hugh Brogan.

 

Denis Hugh Vercingetorix Brogan (1936–2019), historian and biographer; known professionally as Hugh Brogan. Born in Oxford to Glasgow-born writer and historian Sir Denis Brogan (1900–1974), and Lady Olwen Brogan (1900–1989), archaeologist and authority on Roman Libya. Educated, for the most part, in Cambridge (ST JOHN’S COLLEGE), he was later Professor of History at the UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX (1992–1998). Brogan is probably best remembered today as the author of the one-volume history The Penguin History of the United States of America (Penguin Books ‘New Edition’ [2nd Ed.], 1990); originally published as The Longman History of the United States of America (Longman, 1985). He also wrote The Life of Arthur Ransome (Jonathan Cape, 1984).

 

Hugh Brogan will likely be known to readers of Tolkien’s published letters. Ten letters written to Brogan—including a draft letter (not sent)— are included in The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (HarperCollins, Revised and Expanded Ed., 2023); three are new to the expanded edition.[†] Scull & Hammond went so far as to say Brogan’s letters ‘elicited from Tolkien some of the author’s most interesting thoughts about his work’. Tolkien was appreciative of Brogan's criticism, commenting on the ‘close attention, and sensitive perception’ the latter gave to his work. He was writing to Tolkien at an interesting time, too; most of their correspondence (1948–1955) was in the period between Tolkien having finished writing The Lord of the Rings and its publication. The timeframe corresponds almost exclusively to Brogan’s teenage years.

 

Where Brogan's interest(s) lay with this particular edition of A Stranger in Venice—Beerbohm's writing, Robert Booth's publication(s), travel/Venice—is unclear; the enclosed card, signed by Booth, has a personal message that I assume was written to Brogan. 

 

Tolkien also visited Venice, twice. In 1955 he travelled to Italy with his daughter, Priscilla; they were in Venice for around a fortnight in late-July/August. While there, they met with Christopher Tolkien and his (then) wife, Faith. Beerbohm writes of his approach to St Mark’s Basilica with its ‘mysterious solemnity’ and ‘plenitude of beauty’; Tolkien’s enjoyment of the interior of St Mark's was spoilt by scaffolding, due to repair work. Tolkien visited Venice again, briefly, in 1966, while on a Mediterranean cruise with Edith; he went ashore on the 28th of September, attending Mass in St Mark’s.

 

Valentine, Beerbohm, Mardersteig, Brogan, Tolkien; a series of truly serendipitous connections, and quite unlooked for. It has also taken me far too long to post something about Mark Valentine; see TARTARUS PRESS for more on his books and writing.

 

NOTES: 

† Letters to Hugh Brogan in Letters (2023): number 114 (April 1948); 117 (October 1948); 118 [Christmas 1948]; 128a (September 1950); 130a (October 1950); 151 (September 1954); 169 (September 1955); 171 (September 1955); 179 (December 1955); 188a (April 1956). See also TOLKIEN COLLECTOR'S GUIDE (TCG) ‘Guide to Tolkien's Letters’ here.

 

WORKS CONSULTED

 

BADGER, Tony

‘Hugh Brogan obituary’

The Guardian, (Tuesday) 20 August 2019

<www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/20/hugh-brogan-obituary>

[Accessed August 2026]

 

CARPENTER, Humphrey; TOLKIEN, Christopher

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien

George Allen & Unwin, 1981

HarperCollins, Revised and Expanded Ed., 2023

 

[N.a.] 

Hugh Brogan

27 April 2016

<www.stfaiths.co.uk/old-fidelians/old-fidelian-profiles-2/hugh-brogan>

[Accessed August 2026]

 

[N.a.]

Hugh Brogan

<www.essex.ac.uk/history/staff/brogan.shtm>

[Accessed August 2026]

 

SCULL, Christina; HAMMOND, Wayne G.

The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide

HarperCollins, 2006

 

Also on SILMARILLION MINUTIAE

❆ Twenty-Eight Paper Bodies: Tsundoku and Project 24

❆ Officina Bodoni: a Note on Hans Mardersteig