[Terence Tiller, poet and radio producer.] Heavily-revised Autograph Draft ['Work-sheet'] of his poem 'Camels', with signed inscription; together with a typescript of the poem, also signed (both signatures 'Terence Rogers Tiller').

Author: 
Terence Rogers Tiller (1916-1987), poet and BBC radio producer, born in Cornwall, educated at Cambridge
Publication details: 
Both items dated May 1965.
£220.00
SKU: 22704

Tiller's entry in the Oxford DNB explains the background to this poem. In 1939 he 'went to Cairo to teach English literature and history at Fuad I University. During the Second World War he became closely associated with the group surrounding Personal Landscape, a review in the Middle East that had been founded and was edited by Lawrence Durrell, Robin Fedden, and Bernard Spencer'. Two items, both in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Autograph Draft of the poem, in pencil, with numerous deletions, emendations and rubbings-out. 1p, folio. With its energy and seeming-confusion, it could serve as an example of the creative process. At the foot of the page Tiller has written in ink: 'Work-sheet of Camels. | Terence Rogers Tiller | With compliments, | May 1965.' TWO: Typescript of 'Camels'. 1p, 4to. Poem of sixteen lines, arranged in four four-line stanzas. Neatly typed without corrections or emendations, and displaying no differences from the published version. Signed at foot: 'Terence Rogers Tiller | May 1965'. The poem first appeared in 1947 in Horizon Magazine, before republication in the same year in Tiller's collection 'Unarm, Eros'.