Siegfried's Journey 1916-1920

London: Faber, (1945). First edition. Presentation copy, inscribed on the half-title page to "Dorothy Wallis, with all good wishes from Siegfried Sassoon. February 1946." Dorothy Wallis was a young Australian admirer of Sassoon, who began corresponding with him, and sending fruit cakes, chocolate and other delicacies, in 1945. Sassoon referred to her as "that angelic young woman who has been sending me parcels of food for the last two years." When Wallis came to England in 1951, Sassoon invited her to visit him at Heytesbury. Jane Moorcroft Wilson mentions that he was "somewhat hesitant" and "feared as well as wanted a further involvement." Wilson describes the affair: "When she eventually visited . . . (Sassoon) insisted that she stay a whole week, ‘long enough' she told Glen, ‘to decide that he wanted (her) to remain in his life.' Weekends followed . . . Once (Wallis's) mother returned to Australia in August 1952, however, the relationship was resumed with renewed intensity. Sassoon made it quite clear to Dorothy that he wanted her to come live with him, though not until 1954, when George would be eighteen. He was anxious that neither George nor Hester should know of Dorothy. . . . Edmund and Claire Blunden were the only ones to know of the relationship, since it was Dorothy who had brought about a reconciliation with Sassoon. . . . Sassoon's poetry of that period offers strong proof of a renewed hope in life. . . . Claire Blunden believed that the relationship had a physical side to it, though other friends questioned this." Eventually the relationship collapsed owing to a conflict between Wallis and Sassoon's housekeeper, Miss Kathleen Benn. - Wilson, Siegfried Sassoon. The Journey from the Trenches. (London): Duckworth, (2003), Volume 2, pp. 373- 375. Jacket lightly worn, otherwise a fine copy. 8vo, frontispiece portrait of Sassoon, title page illu. by Reynolds Stone, original cloth, dust jacket. Jacket lightly worn, otherwise a fine copy.