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Forefathers, a poem by Edmund Blunden


In January 1966 Carr learned that Edmund Blunden (1896-1974), a poet and lover of cricket, wanted to buy 40 copies of the poems of John Clare that he had published. On 3rd March 1966, according to a letter in the Blunden Archive at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Carr wrote to Blunden and proposed rather than being paid £1 (40 x 6d) he would prefer to be paid cost price for the poems and receive two verses from the poem Forefathers by Blunden which, he wrote, mean a great deal to me. The verses began From this chucrh... and On the green....

Blunden must have responded with the whole poem in a letter dated 11 March 1966, which explains the text at the lower margin of the card, illustrated below. Carr commissioned Christopher Fiddes to design a card and write out the poem in 1980, which explains the date in the lower right corner. Carr gave the card as a gift; I don't think it was ever sold.


(Last updated on 28/12/2020)



Published by: J.L. Carr

Year: 1980

Single printed sheet: 234 x 157 mm

Designer: Six main drawings in green with lettering, plus marginal drawings, all by Christopher Fiddes, signed and dated 1980 by him, lower right. The inscription at the lower margin is dated 11 March 1966.

Notes: Original from Christoper Fiddes, with many thanks. The third drawing down on the right was used on the rear cover of the 8th impression of the Dictionary of Cricketers.

Carr published a small book of annotated drawings of Anglo-Norman carvings in churches, also called Forefathers.


Image of sheet