ABSTRACT
As has been mentioned, this project had been in Jenks’ mind since just before the war and, from 1942 onwards, he had endured the Sisyphean ordeal of writing and re-writing the book as it was rejected by a succession of publishers. In May 1947, having reworked it again, Jenks had tried Faber and Faber once more, this time with the support and encouragement of Balfour, who wrote to de la Mare:
I was very much impressed with it. I think it is a grand job of work; says something which has never been said quite in that way before and badly needs saying, and he has said it in a way which is both striking and easy reading. It is a book which most certainly ought to be published, and I feel that it is right up your street, at any rate, I have insisted that he gives you the opportunity to read it before going anywhere else.4
