Letter from Edward Thomas to the poet Gordon Bottomley. Sent from Berryfield Cottage, Ashford, Petersfield, Hampshire. Archival ref: 424/1/1/1/10/137
Ashford
Petersfield

29.9.09

My dear Gordon,
I am very glad to guess by your postcards
that you are better & I am sending you the proofs
though they have just begun to come more quickly & I
have had to send off some to the printers.
So I would like you to return to me first - as
soon as you can - pp. 97-160; the rest
you can read at leisure, & if your corrections
(but do not trouble to make any) include
any that I ought to have made I will use them
in the final proofs. I so hope you will like
some of them after the 'South Country'?
The turtle dove is very much smaller
than the woodpigeon & flies low as a rule &
very lightly. Its voice is a soft purring,
sounding as if half buried & a very
warm and luxurious, far softer &
less articulated than the woodpigeon's 'Take two
cows Taffy'. The stock dove is a
third species, about the same size as the
woodpigeon but not ringer round the neck
& with a coo that is more of a grunt
as a rule than the woodpigeons, a soft
grunt, but is has other very pretty
notes which I can't describe. But 'the voice
of the turtle is heard in the land' refers to
this spring immigration.
I shall look out for Noguchi certainly.

With our love to Emily & you.

Ever yours
Edward Thomas