One of our readers (Hartley Moorhouse) has sent an interesting auction listing relating to communications between Evelyn Waugh and his Oxford friend Alastair Graham. This is explained in Hartley’s comment:
You and other EWS Newsletter readers may be interested in this rather extraordinary item of Waviana coming up for sale at Dominic Winter Auctions later this month (hope this link works): https://www.dominicwinter.co.uk/Auction/Lot/807-waugh-evelyn-1903-1966-a-shropshire-lad-inscribed-by-the-author-1914-embroidered-stool-etc/?lot=418238
Two questions and an observation:
By describing himself as âA jonquil, not a Grecian ladâ, is Waugh effectively saying his homosexual days are over?
The cataloguer first describes the embroidery as âprobably made by Alistair Graham, who enjoyed needlepointâ and then, apparently gaining in confidence, âalmost certainly executed by Grahamâ. But does an auctioneerâs âalmostâ certainty carry any legal weight and/or significance? Is this tantamount to a warranty?One slightly nerdy observation: EWâs early handwriting and indeed signature seem quite different from his later hand. As the sharp-eyed Duncan McLaren has spotted, around the time of the Hevelyn/Shevelyn bust-up, just a few months after this inscription was written, the E of Evelyn went from being loopy to square (why?) and here is a beautiful example of loopy Evelyn. Early Waugh seems to render his lower case r as an upper case R (FoR AlistaiRâ, âChRistmasâ, etc.); later he gets his Rs in order and goes along with convention.
Here’s a link to the auction catalogue which includes several photos.. In case you are unable to connect to the auction catalogue, the text is copied here:
Waugh (Evelyn, 1903-1966). A copy of A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad, London: Printed by The Riccardi Press for Philip Lee Warner, publisher to the Medici Society, 1914, original grey boards, 8vo, one of 1,000 numbered copies, with signed presentation inscription from Evelyn Waugh to his one-time lover, Alastair Hugh Graham (1904-1982), one of the principal inspirations for the character of Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited, inscribed in ink to front endpaper âFor Alastair from âA jonquil, not a Grecian ladâ, Evelyn, Christmas 1928â, together with a four-legged stool with an embroidered seat (probably made by Alistair Graham, who enjoyed needlepoint) depicting a naked youth with outstretched arms looking back at Grahamâs home, Wern Newydd in Cardiganshire, plus a 1930’s valet set in leather case, a pack of playing cards in original painted wooden box, two small printed visiting cards for Alastair Graham, as AttachĂ© Honoraire Ă la LĂ©gation de S. M. Britannique, AthĂšnes, and Honorary AttachĂ©, The Residence, Cairo
(Quantity: 4)
Critics and biographers of Evelyn Waugh largely agree that Alastair Graham (1904-1982) was the model for the character Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited, a claim that was verified by Auberon Waugh. Graham went up to Brasenose College, Oxford in the autumn of 1922 where he met Evelyn Waugh and in early 1923 the two young men began a relationship. Thereafter Waugh was a regular visitor to the Graham family’s country house at Barford in Warwickshire. In a diary entry Waugh writes: “Alastair and I had tea together and went back to Barford where we dined in high-necked jumpers and did much that could not have been done if Mrs Graham had been here.” After Oxford Graham joined the diplomatic corps and was posted by the Foreign Office to Athens from 1927 to 1929 (where Waugh visited him), and later Cairo until 1933. Graham’s homosexual exploits led to his being advised by the police to leave London or risk prosecution, and so he purchased Wern Mansion, set in 40 acres five miles from New Quay, Cardiganshire, in 1936. He became known for his parties to which his glittering friends were invited, including Waugh, the painter Augustus John, Dylan and Caitlin Thomas, and architect Clough Williams-Ellis.
Evelyn Waugh said that Alastair was “the friend of my heart”. Waugh’s presentation inscription in this copy of Housman’s A Shropshire Lad given to Alastair quotes from one of the poems, ‘A jonquil, not a Grecian lad’, with all its overtones of doomed love. Earlier in the same year (1928) Evelyn had married Evelyn Gardner (the two Evelyns wittily renamed ‘Hevelyn’ and ‘Shevelyn’) but the marriage rapidly foundered. The embroidered stool, almost certainly executed by Graham, may have been styled on a nude photograph Graham sent Waugh of himself near a waterfall, asking Waugh to ‘Come and drink with me somewhere’.
The seller is Dominic Winter Auctioneer, Cirencester, and the auction is scheduled for 19th June. Details are in catalogue. Thanks again to Hartley Moorhouse for sending this along.
NOTE (10 June 2025):Â Duncan McLaren kindly adds this comment relating to the above posting:
This sharp-eyed reader is sure that the dedication says â1923′. Which makes a lot more sense. Which means that the copy of Shropshire Lad was given by Evelyn to Alastair when their relationship was at its height.
The quote is from one of the poems in Shropshire Lad, the one that begins with the line: Look not in my eyes, for fearâŠ.
The second verse reads:
A Grecian lad, as I hear tell,
One that many loved in vain,
Looked into a forest well
And never looked away again.
There, when the turf in springtime flowers,
With downward eye and gazes sad,
Stands amid the glancing showers
A jonquil, not a Grecian lad.
