The materials of which I am made: Evelyn Waugh and book production

In his autobiography 'A Little Learning' (1964), Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) narrates his early initiation at the age of sixteen into the arts of manuscript illumination and calligraphy under the mentorship of Francis Crease. The charm of Crease's instruction, Waugh wrote, was chiefly due to the promise of " hot scones, Crown derby cups and conversation" - his pleasure, in other words, was material. Waugh's concomitant interest in the material aspects of fine books and book collecting has been discussed by scholars of his work including myself. Against the context of the book's increasing disposability in the twentieth century, facilitated by the mass production and mass marketing of the paperback and the dominance of periodical culture, Waugh built a library whose intention was solidity and permanence. Waugh collected fine books, particularly nineteenth-century volumes, and prized his books as "absolute possession[s]," tangible objects over which he could exercise order and control.