F.H. Bradley and his influence on Eliot
BRADLEY, F. H. Appearance and Reality: A Metaphysical Essay. London and New York: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. and Macmillan & Co. 1893.
8vo. Original burgundy cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, ruling continued boards in blind, black coated endpapers, edges untrimmed; pp. xxiv, 558; extremities slightly rubbed, rear hinge visibly repaired, but generally very good; occasional annotations and underlining; ownership signatures “Spenser Farquharson. June. 1894” and “John Sparrow Apr 1949” to verso of front free endpaper, and Sparrow's bookplate by Reynold Stone to front pastedown (see below).
[offered with:]
ELIOT, T. S. Knowledge and Experience in the philosophy of F. H. Bradley. London: Faber and Faber. 1964.
8vo. Original blue cloth, spine printed in gilt and black, with unclipped dust jacket; pp. 216; very light wear to extremities of jacket, otherwise a very crisp, fine copy.
First editions, the central philosophical text of British idealism alongside Eliot’s unpresented doctoral thesis.
Francis Herbert Bradley (1846-1924) was arguably the most renowned and original figure among the British Idealists. In the preface to Appearance and Reality, he describes the work as a “critical discussion of first principles” intended to provoke inquiry and doubt. While his followers had expected a defence of religious truths, Bradley instead contended that although reality is spiritual, a full demonstration of this concept is beyond human comprehension due to the abstract nature of thought.
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) was influenced by Bradley’s philosophy, and completed his doctoral dissertation on the subject in 1916. Knowledge and Experience was finally published some fifty years later, and was described by Eliot as “only a curiosity of biographical interest”. However, it garnered praise upon its completion from Josiah Royce, then head of Harvard’s Department of Philosophy. Eliot never received his doctorate due to only “partial fulfilment of the requirements”, and he didn’t return to complete it as he moved to England after studying, and remained there until his death in 1965.
The book has been provided with notes and a bibliography by Professor Anne Bolgan (University of Alaska), in addition to two articles Eliot published while writing the thesis. The volume is dedicated to Eliot’s wife, Valerie, “who urged me to publish this essay”. Published 31 January 1964 in an edition of 5040 copies, it was the last book to be published during Eliot's lifetime.
Presented alongside each other, these books create a dialogue between the philosopher and poet. Eliot’s admiration for Bradley’s work first became apparent in his notes to The Waste Land, which refer to Bradley’s lines: “My external sensations are no less private to myself than are my thoughts or my feelings. In either case my experience falls within my own circle, a circle closed on the outside; and, with all its elements alike, every sphere is opaque to the others which surround it […] In brief, regarded as an existence which appears in a soul, the whole world for each is peculiar and private to that soul” (p. 346).
Provenance: This copy of Bradley’s Appearance and Reality belonged to Spenser Farquharson, likely Arthur Spencer Loat Farquharson (1871-1942), the British classicist, translator, and Dean of University College, Oxford. By around 1949, the volumes had passed into the library of John Sparrow (1906-1992), the British academic, barrister, book collector, and Warden of All Souls College, Oxford.
Eliot: Gallup, A75b.
(please note these books are available for purchase individually)
SKU: 2124102