A book for sale on ebay contains a bookplate designed by Evelyn Waugh. The book belonged to Dudley Carew (1903-1981), Waugh’s school friend from Lancing who later wrote a memoir entitled A Fragment of Friendship: Evelyn Waugh as a young man (1974). The bookplate is dated 1924, the year Waugh left Oxford, and is mentioned in Waugh’s diary on 10 October 1924:
I stayed at home…being troubled with a cold and employed myself with drawing bookplates. One for Dudley Carew a pastoral of pot-boiling and one for my father– armorial (p. 182).
He earlier (28 July 1924) mentions working on a “cover design for Dudley Carew’s novel.” This would have been for The Next Corner, published by John Lane in 1924, but according to Carew’s memoir, although Evelyn made two designs, both of which were “admirable,” the publisher rejected them. The bookplate is pasted in a book by J C Squire entitled Tricks of the Trade (1919). Carew worked for a time at the London Mercury, a literary journal published by J C Squire and may have acquired the book in connection with his employment. He later worked for the Times, first as a reporter on cricket and later as film critic for nearly 20 years until his retirement. He wrote several books, including six novels. According to Michael Davie, editor of Waugh’s Diaries:
Carew came under the influence of Waugh at Lancing in 1920 and possessed from the start an unshakeable belief in Waugh’s genius, saving every scrap of his writing (Diaries, p. 796).
An excellent copy of the bookplate is posted on ebay in connection with the book’s sale. The offer ends in 4 days. The bookplate may be worth more than the book. Our thanks to Adrian Pascu-Tulbure who sent us a link to this item.
UPDATE: The original post was updated to include additional information that subsequently became available.
