B007TB5SP0 EBOK (6 page)

33.
 Firbank to Tony Landsberg, London, n.d. (Sitwell).

34.
 Ifan Kyrle Fletcher, quoted in Horder (ed.),
Ronald Firbank: Memoirs and Critiques
, p. 22.

35.
 Firbank to his mother, Bath, 1 January 1913 (Fales).

36.
 Firbank to Tony Landsberg, London, 1 March (1913) (Sitwell).

37.
 Nancy Cunard to Miriam Benkovitz, London, 28 October 1958 (Beinecke Library, Yale University).

38.
 Firbank to Tony Landsberg, ‘Hotel Voltaire’, n.p., n.d. (Sitwell).

39.
 Firbank to Tony Landsberg, Manchester, 17 August (1913?), and Norwich, n.d. (1913?) (Sitwell).

40.
 Augustus John,
Chiaroscuro: Fragments of Autobiography
(London: Jonathan Cape: 1952), p. 137.

41.
 Evan Morgan to Richard Buckle, Newport, 25 July 1940 (private collection).

42.
 Ibid.

43.
 Jean Cocteau,
Paris Album 1900
–
1914
, translated by Margaret Crosland (London: Comet, 1987), p. 117.

44.
 Tanagras are terracotta figurines produced in the settlement of Tanagra in Greece from the third century
BC
.

45.
 Firbank to his mother, Rome (16 July 1914) (Hobson).

46.
 Firbank to his mother, Paris, n.d. but postmarked 20 June 1914 (Hobson).

47.
 Firbank to his mother, Rome (14 July 1914) (Hobson).

48.
 Firbank to his mother, Edinburgh (1914) (Hobson, p. 4).

49.
 Quoted in Horder (ed.),
Ronald Firbank: Memoirs and Critiques
, p. 29.

50.
 Ibid., p. 156.

51.
 Ibid., p. 112.

52.
 Ibid., pp. 112–13.

53.
 Miriam J. Benkovitz,
A Bibliography of Ronald Firbank
, revised edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982), p. 6.

54.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, London, 25 January (1915) (UCL); quoted in Benkovitz,
A Bibliography of Ronald Firbank
, pp. 6–7.

55.
 Grant Richards to Firbank, London, 29 January 1915 (copy in UCL).

56.
 Firbank to George Wiggins, London, 28 February 1915 (Fales).

57.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, London, 25 January (1915) (UCL); quoted in Benkovitz,
A Bibliography of Ronald Firbank
, pp. 6–7.

58.
 Quoted by Grant Richards in Horder (ed.),
Ronald Firbank: Memoirs and Critiques
, p. 113.

59.
 Ibid.

60.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, London, 31 March 1915 (UCL); quoted in Benkovitz,
A Bibliography of Ronald Firbank
, p. 7.

61.
 Grant Richards to Firbank, London, 4 May 1915 (copy in UCL).

62.
 
The Times Literary Supplement
, 22 April 1915, and the
Observer
, 4 July 1915 – both quoted in Moore,
Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography
, pp. 3–4.

63.
 
The Times Literary Supplement
, 22 April 1915, p. 138; quoted in Moore,
Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography
, p. 4.

64.
 
The Times Literary Supplement
, 9 June 1905, p. 187.

65.
 
Observer
, 4 July 1915; quoted in Moore,
Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography
, p. 3.

66.
 Quoted in Horder (ed.),
Ronald Firbank: Memoirs and Critiques
, p. 68.

67.
 Ibid.

68.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, London, 29 April 1915 (UCL).

69.
 Firbank to Tony Landsberg, London, n.d. (Sitwell). The artist is Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704–88), not to be confused with the seventeenth-century master Georges de La Tour (1593–1652).

70.
 
Tatler
, 28 April 1915, p. 108.

71.
 Grant Richards to Firbank, London, 6 December 1915 (copy in UCL).

72.
 Robbie Ross, quoted by Grant Richards in a letter to Firbank, London, 26 April 1915 (copy in UCL); Augustus John to Firbank, London, n.d. (Fales).

73.
 Benkovitz,
A Bibliography of Ronald Firbank,
p. 7.

74.
 Rollo St Clair Talboys to Firbank, Wellington, 3 May 1915; quoted in Miriam J. Benkovitz,
Ronald Firbank: A Biography
(New York: Alfred Knopf, 1969), p. 142.

75.
 Quoted by Grant Richards to Firbank, London, 10 May 1915 (copy in UCL).

76.
 Quoted in Horder (ed.),
Ronald Firbank: Memoirs and Critiques
, p. 31.

77.
 Quoted in ibid., p. 69.

78.
 Ibid.

79.
 Siegfried Sassoon,
Siegfried’s Journey: 1916
–
20
(London: Faber & Faber, 1945), p. 136.

80.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, Oxford (November 1915) (UCL).

81.
 Grant Richards to Firbank, London, 7 January 1916 (copy in UCL).

82.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, Oxford, 12 January 1916 (UCL).

83.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, Oxford, 6 February 1916 (UCL).

84.
 Firbank to George Wiggins, Oxford, 28 May 1916 (Fales).

85.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, Oxford, 19 April 1916 (UCL). Malmaison is the château of Empress Josephine, noted for its pink colouring; ‘Sumerun’ is presumably a reference to the Sumer civilization, found in southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages, and especially renowned for its development of a form of written language, in cuneiform script, from around the thirtieth century
BC
; Léon Bakst (1866–1924), the Russian artist, was closely associated with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

86.
 Quoted by Grant Richards to Firbank, London, 21 June 1916 (copy in UCL).

87.
 
The Times Literary Supplement
, 22 June 1916, p. 299; quoted in Moore,
Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography
, p. 4.

88.
 
New Statesman
7 (22 July 1916), p. 378; quoted in Moore,
Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography
, p. 6.

89.
 Ingrid Hotz-Davies, ‘Microtextual Cruelties and the Subversive Imagination in Ronald Firbank’s Novels’, in Gill Davies, David Malcolm and John Simons (eds.),
Critical Essays on Ronald Firbank, English Novelist 1886
–
1926
(Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2004), p. 69.

90.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, Oxford, 25 August 1916 (UCL).

91.
 Quoted in Moore,
Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography
, p. 4.

92.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, Oxford, 29 April 1917 (UCL).

93.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, Torquay, 25 August 1916 (UCL).

94.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, Oxford, 29 April 1917 (UCL).

95.
 Firbank to Grant Richards, Oxford, 29 July 1917 (UCL).

96.
 Grant Richards to Firbank, London, 17 October 1917 (copy in UCL).

97.
 Grant Richards to Firbank’s mother, London, 22 August 1917 (copy in UCL).

98.
 Gerald Gould,
New Statesman
10 (29 December 1917), pp. 310–11; quoted in Moore,
Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography
, p. 5.

99.
 Ibid.

100.
The Times Literary Supplement
, 1 November 1917, p. 7; quoted in Moore,
Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography
, p. 5.

101.
Quoted in Horder (ed.),
Ronald Firbank: Memoirs and Critiques
, p. 80.

102.
Grant Richards to Firbank, London, 10 December 1917 (copy in UCL). Ethel Dell (1881–1939), author of popular romantic fiction; Mrs Hubert Barclay (1872–?), author of the bestselling
East of the Shadows
(1913).

1886
Born Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank (‘Artie’) on 17 January to Thomas Firbank (1850–1910) and Harriette Jane Firbank (
née
Garrett; 1851–1924) in their home in Clarges Street, Piccadilly, London. Between 1886 and 1900 raised with elder brother Joseph (‘Joey’; 1884–1904), younger brother Hubert (‘Bertie’; 1887–1913) and sister Heather (1888–1951) at The Coopers, in Chislehurst, Kent.

1896
Sent away for schooling. Begins first novel,
Lila
.

1898
Composes first extant poem, ‘The Faeries Wood’.

1900
Moves to Uppingham School, but returns to The Coopers after three months, on grounds of ill-health. Begins short story ‘Mr White-Morgan the Diamond King’.

1901
Sent to Park Holm, a crammer in Buxton; starts collecting signed photographs of prominent figures, including actors, singers, musicians, writers, gentry and royalty.

1902
Thomas Firbank knighted, having served as MP for Hull East from 1885; he continues in Parliament until the 1906 general election. Ronald meets and is befriended by Rollo St Clair Talboys, a young tutor at Park Holm.

1902
–
3
Studies French near Tours. Travels around Spain with one ‘Mr Malden’, at the instigation of his parents. Writes first complete extant story, ‘True Love’. Continues French studies in the Basses Alpes, where he writes the stories ‘When Widows Love’ and ‘A Study in Temperament’. Also composes the poem ‘The Wind & the Roses’.

1904
After a few months at The Coopers, Firbank leaves for Paris, where he writes his first French piece, the prose poem ‘La Princesse aux Soleils’ (translated from his own English
original, ‘The Princess of the Sunflowers’); the story ‘Far Away’ and the more substantial novella
Odette d’Antrevernes
; an attempt at drama,
The Mauve Tower
; and a second French prose poem, ‘Harmonie’, written for his mother at Christmas. Death of elder brother Joey; Firbank writes the story ‘The Legend of Saint Gabrielle’ shortly afterwards. Begins correspondence with Lord Alfred Douglas.

1905
Travels to Madrid to learn Spanish. In June, publishes his first book,
Odette d’Antrevernes and A Study in Temperament.
Author’s name given as ‘Arthur Firbank’. Writes ‘poem in prose’ ‘Souvenir d’Automne’ (in English) in Chislehurst.

1906
Prepares for Cambridge University entrance exam. Pens further juvenilia: the stories ‘The Singing Bird & the Moon’, ‘Her Dearest Friend’ and ‘The Wavering Disciple’. Goes up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Among those he befriends there are music don Professor Dent, Wilde’s son Vyvyan Holland, aspiring writers Forrest Reid and Rupert Brooke, and Catholic convert, priest and polemical author Hugh Benson.

1907
Received into the Roman Catholic Church by Hugh Benson. Owing to acute financial difficulties, the Firbank family leaves The Coopers, moving to a series of addresses in inner London.

1907
–
8
Writes the stories ‘A Study in Opal’, ‘A Tragedy in Green’ and ‘Lady Appledore’s Mésalliance’, as well as the play
A Disciple from the Country
and a critical prose essay on Jean Gossart, ‘An Early Flemish Painter’, which is published in Lord Alfred Douglas’s journal, the
Academy
(28 September 1907).

1909
Goes down from Cambridge without completing his studies. Offers his services to the Papal Guard at the Vatican – unsuccessfully. Stays on in Rome.

1910
Death of Sir Thomas Firbank; his estate discovered to be worth far less than had been supposed. Firbank begins writing a novel,
The Artificial Princess
, which went by the working title of
Salome, or ’Tis a Pity That She Would
.

1911
–
12
Travels through Europe and Egypt before returning to London. Takes rooms in Piccadilly; frequently seen out socially, including at the Café Royal, and at performances
given by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes
.
Visits Italy, retiring to Bath on his return. Abandons
The Artificial Princess
around this time.

1913
Death of younger brother Bertie. Firbank begins work on
Vainglory.

1914
Often seen eating and drinking at the bohemian Eiffel Tower Restaurant in London, with a diverse social set, including Nancy Cunard, Augustus John, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell, Percy Wyndham Lewis, Duff Cooper, Diana Manners (later Cooper), Mark Gertler, Alvaro ‘Chile’ Guevara, Jacob Epstein, Michael Arlen, Frederick Delius – and a new intimate for whom Firbank nursed intense longings: Evan Morgan (later, the 2nd Viscount Tredegar). Tours France and Italy. Offers manuscript of
Vainglory
to Martin Secker, who rejects it.

1915
Publishes first novel,
Vainglory
, with Grant Richards (15 April), with a frontispiece by Félicien Rops. Author’s name for the first time given as ‘Ronald Firbank’. He sits for Augustus John, the subsequent portrait sketch published in the
Tatler
. Determines to pass the war out of London, settling first in Pangbourne, then in Oxford, where he works on the novel
Inclinations
.

1916
Publishes
Inclinations
with Grant Richards (17 June), with two drawings by Albert Rutherston (aka Rothenstein). Publishes revised version of
Odette d’Antrevernes
as
Odette: A Fairy Tale for Weary People
with Grant Richards, with four illustrations by Albert Buhrer (13 December). Begins next novel,
Caprice
.

1917
Publishes
Caprice
with Grant Richards (17 October), with a frontispiece by Augustus John. Begins next novel,
Valmouth.

1919
Moves from Oxford to Bath and thence back to London. Publishes
Valmouth
with Grant Richards (17 November), with a frontispiece by Augustus John; it is reviewed anonymously and hostilely by Aldous Huxley, who nevertheless will borrow extensively from Firbank for his own
Crome Yellow
(1921). Firbank starts work on a play,
The Princess Zoubaroff.
Frequently seen out socially, including at the
Ballets Russes, at Covent Garden, at Negro dance reviews, drinking in the Café Royal or eating at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant.