First edition, one of 500 surviving copies, signed by Michael Redgrave on the upper pastedown. J.H. Willis has suggested that it ‘must have been one of Leonard Woolf’s aims to use the Living Poets series to correct a serious imbalance in favor of Oxford’s undergraduates. Blackwell had for years published an annual anthology of Oxford undergraduate verse, but no established publisher had espoused the Cambridge poets. In addition to all of their older Cambridge associations, Leonard and Virginia had more recent connections through Dadie Rylands and Julian Bell, Virginia’s nephew. An annual anthology of Cambridge undergraduate poetry was congenial to the Woolfs, although it only lasted two years. But these were the years of a remarkably talented group of students’ (Leonard and Virginia Woolf as Publishers: The Hogarth Press 1917-1941 (Charlottesville, VA, 1992), p. 152). The first of these anthologies was Cambridge Poetry 1929, followed by the present volume in 1930 – the thirteenth title to be issued in the ‘Hogarth Living Poets’ series edited by Dorothy Wellesley, which ‘differ[ed] from the other series [of the Hogarth Press] in that they are collections of original poems rather than essays or discussions’ (Woolmer, The Hogarth Press, p. xxxii). ¶¶

While levelling out the abovementioned imbalance in Oxford and Cambridge poetry publications, Cambridge Poetry inadvertently found itself at the crossroads of the rivalry between two literary Cambridge magazines: The Venture and Experiment. The actor Michael Redgrave had co-founded The Venture soon after going up to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he studied Medieval and Modern Languages and English, and its inaugural issue appeared in November 1928. ‘When Redgrave had first conceived of The Venture there had been no outlet in Cambridge for undergraduate poetry and prose, with the exception of the rather donnish Cambridge Review’ (Jason Harding, ‘“Experiment” in Cambridge’, The Cambridge Quarterly 27.4 (1998), pp. 287-309, at p. 297), which Redgrave also briefly edited in the Easter Term of 1929. As unanticipated as the rivalry with Experiment may have been, it came to a head around the time when Cambridge Poetry 1930 was being prepared, as Redgrave, controversially, invited contributions from his Cambridge Poetry co-editors, including Experiment associate Sykes, for the sixth and final issue of The Venture. Apart from the co-editing Cambridge Poetry 1930, Redgrave also contributed his poem ‘Proteus and the Fountain’ to the volume (pp. 54-58). ¶¶

Woolmer states that Cambridge Poetry 1930 was published in May 1930 at 3s 6d in an edition of 800 copies, of which 300 copies were later pulped. Intriguingly, the contemporary ownership inscription gives the acquisition date as March 1930 – that is two months prior to publication. Assuming that this date is correct, this copy not only pre-dates the official publication, but also adds to our understanding of the Hogarth Press’ operations, indicating that the first copies of a title could be in hand weeks before the official publication. We have not been able to identify Charles Blackburn from historical records, but it seems possible that he was an undergraduate who knew Michael Redgrave and that Redgrave signed this copy for him. ¶¶

Apart from the three editors and Julian Bell, the other contributors to Cambridge Poetry 1930 were Lionel Birch, Jacob Bronowski, J.D. Cullen, John Davenport (who had co-edited Cambridge Poetry 1929), Robin Fedden, Louis Le Breton, John Lehmann, Malcolm Lowry, K.A. Matthews, G.F. Noxon, J.M. Reeves, A.J. Rose, and Arthur Tillotson. Of these, Bell, Bronowski, Cullen, Davenport, Fedden, Lehmann, Matthews, Redgrave, Reeves, Sykes, and Tillotson had all contributed to Cambridge Poetry 1929, but this second anthology also attracted five new writers: Birch, Le Breton, Lowry, Noxon, and Rose. Malcolm Lowry’s contribution was the poem ‘For Nordahl Grieg Ship’s Fireman’ (pp. 47-49), which was the first appearance of any of his writings in book form. ¶¶

Woolmer, The Hogarth Press, 219; Woolmer, Malcolm Lowry, B1. ¶¶¶