Introduction

Abstract

Thirty years after he first began sharing his quiet of wisdom with Florence Lamont, John Masefield wrote those lines for the opening in London of the National Book League. The League had been one of Masefield’s special devotions and in gratitude for his long friendship with the Lamonts, Florence and Thomas W., he had invited them to join it as honorary trustees. The Second World War had ended, Europe was digging itself out from the rubble, Masefield was celebrating his sixteenth year as England’s Poet Laureate — and the spirited correspondence between him and Florence had survived it all, undiminished.

This House of Books set open here

May it bring light, may it bring cheer. May it bring

Man a thing most dear, A mind alive

A quiet of wisdom fenced from fear.