John Betjemans Collected Poems

John Betjeman’s Collected Poems (1959) by John Betjeman – John Murray

Introduction by Lord Birkenhead
ISBN: None
Condition: Near Fine
Published: 1959
Offered by: Crappy Old Books

There was a time when Britain was a nation of railway branch lines, respectable suburbs, parish churches, seaside boarding houses and middle-class ladies whose principal concerns involved afternoon tea, romantic disappointment and the moral character of the neighbours.

Fortunately, John Betjeman was there to write poetry about the whole extraordinary business.

Welcome to John Betjeman’s Collected Poems, published by John Murray in 1959, with an introduction by Lord Birkenhead, bringing together the work of one of Britain’s most affectionately observant and gloriously mischievous poets.

Betjeman possessed the remarkable ability to transform the apparently mundane into something deeply moving, frequently ridiculous and occasionally rather devastating. Suburban streets, Victorian architecture, provincial railway stations, tennis clubs and ecclesiastical peculiarities all became subjects worthy of poetic celebration.

Where more solemn poets sought inspiration in the eternal mysteries of existence, Betjeman could find considerable literary significance in a neglected railway waiting room or a young lady cycling through Middlesex.

His poetry combines nostalgia, humour, romantic longing, religious uncertainty and a magnificent appreciation of British absurdity. Beneath the apparently light-hearted verses lurks an acute awareness of mortality, social change and the melancholy business of watching familiar places disappear beneath the relentless advance of modern development.

And Betjeman had plenty to complain about.

The destruction of Victorian buildings, the expansion of soulless architecture and the disappearance of traditional English landscapes provided him with enough material to sustain a lifetime of elegant indignation.

Yet his affection for the country and its inhabitants remained unmistakable, even when he was making them look completely ridiculous.

This 1959 John Murray edition, introduced by Lord Birkenhead, is an especially appealing period collection, published before Betjeman became Poet Laureate in 1972, and at a time when his reputation as a uniquely accessible and entertaining poetic voice was already firmly established.

There is something wonderfully appropriate about owning a vintage edition of Betjeman. A man who devoted so much energy to preserving the architectural and cultural inheritance of Britain would surely have appreciated the continued survival of a handsome mid-century literary volume.

Condition: Near Fine. An exceptionally well-preserved copy, showing very little evidence of the passing decades. For a book published in 1959, its survival in such attractive condition is particularly pleasing, suggesting a previous owner who understood that poetry should be enjoyed without necessarily subjecting the binding to unnecessary hardship.

Naturally, there is no ISBN. In those distant days, books were identified through the quaint combination of authors, titles and publishers.

Offered by Crappy Old Books, where unfashionable architecture is admired, suburban eccentricity is celebrated, and the occasional unusually well-preserved volume causes considerable excitement.

A splendid addition to any collection of British poetry, literary first impressions of post-war England or the works of John Betjeman.

A reminder that beauty may be found almost anywhere, provided one possesses sufficient imagination, affection and a healthy suspicion of modern town planning.

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