HOPKINS, Gerald Manley(1844–1889) [HARDIE, Colin Graham (1906–1998) – his copies]

Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Edited with Notes by Robert Bridges [...] and a Critical Introduction by

Charles Williams Oxford: Oxford University Press, and London: Humphrey Milford, 1931 [second impression]

Octavo hardback, 198 x 136mm; pp. xvi, [4] ,159, [1]

Colin hardie’s copy of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ Poems, in the celebrated Robert Bridges edition.

Hardie was born in Edinburgh and studied at Balliol College, Oxford, becoming a Fellow in 1930. In 1933 he was appointed Director of the British School at Rome – the present volume is inscribed ‘C.G. Hardie / B.S.R. 25.3.33’. In 1936 he returned to Oxford (Magdalen), and became a member of two exclusive clubs: the Inklings, and (like C.S. Lewis, Tolkien and Charles Williams) the Dante Society. On the occasion of Tolkien’s professorshop Hardie, who was the University’s Orator, composed and gave the Latin address.

Hardie has annotated the volume in a number of places, most notably ‘The Wreck of the Deutschland’, Hopkins’ celebrated long metrical experiment. Here Hardie has done something very unusual: he has ‘scored’ the text in pencil, making a metrical pattern that he presumably identified in the stanzas (see photos). He has also made minor corrections, supplied alternate readings of certain words, and made a number of marginal comments.

This 1931 reprint is notable for containing Charles Williams’ additional introduction, deepening the Inkling connection.

Very good condition: corners a little bumped and spine faded; internally very good; annotated in pencil by Hardie

References: Jim Stockton, ‘Inklings and Danteans Alike: C.S. Lewis, Colin Hardie, Charles Williams, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Participation in the Oxford Dante Society’