John Betjeman image
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Born in August 28, 1906 / Died in May 19, 1984 / United Kingdom / English

Bibliography

Other info : Career | Furtherreading

VERSE

  • Mount Zion; or, In Touch with the Infinite, James Press (London), 1931.
  • Continual Dew: A Little Book of Bourgeois Verse, J. Murray (London), 1937.
  • (Under pseudonym Epsilon) Sir John Piers, Westmeath Examiner (Mullingar, Ireland), 1938.
  • Old Lights for New Chancels: Verses Topographical and Amatory, J. Murray, 1940.
  • New Bats in Old Belfries, J. Murray, 1945.
  • Slick but Not Streamlined: Poems and Short Pieces, selected and with an introduction by W. H. Auden, Doubleday, 1947.
  • Selected Poems, compiled and with an introduction by John Sparrow, J. Murray, 1948.
  • St. Katherine's Church, Chiselhampton, Oxfordshire: Verses Turned in Aid of a Public Subscription towards the Restoration of the Church of St. Katherine, Chiselhampton [Chiselhampton], 1950.
  • A Few Late Chrysanthemums: New Poems, Transatlantic, 1954.
  • Poems in the Porch, S.P.C.K. (London), 1954.
  • Collected Poems, compiled and with an introduction by the Earl of Birkenhead, J. Murray, 1958, Houghton (Boston), 1959, 3rd enlarged edition published as John Betjeman's Collected Poems, J. Murray, 1970, Houghton, 1971, 4th edition, J. Murray, 1980.
  • John Betjeman (selected poems), E. Hulton, 1958.
  • Poems, Vista Books, 1960.
  • Summoned by Bells (autobiography in verse), Houghton, 1960, new edition, J. Murray, 1976.
  • A Ring of Bells, selected and with an introduction by Irene Slade, J. Murray, 1962, Houghton, 1963.
  • High and Low, J. Murray, 1966, Houghton, 1967.
  • Six Betjeman Songs, with music by Mervyn Horder, Duckworth (London), 1967.
  • A Nip in the Air, J. Murray, 1975, Norton (New York, NY), 1976.
  • Betjeman in Miniature: Selected Poems of Sir John Betjeman, Gleniffer Press, 1976.
  • Metro-land, Warren, 1977.
  • The Best of Betjeman, selected by John Guest, J. Murray, 1978.
  • Church Poems, J. Murray, 1981.
  • Uncollected Poems, J. Murray, 1982.
  • The Illustrated Summoned by Bells, J. Murray, 1994.
  • The Illustrated Poems of John Betjeman, J. Murray, 1995.

WORKS ON ARCHITECTURE

  • Ghastly Good Taste; or, A Depressing Story of the Rise and Fall of English Architecture, Chapman & Hall (London), 1933, St. Martin's (New York City), 1971.
  • An Oxford University Chest, illustrated by L. Moholy-Nagy and others, J. Miles (London), 1938.
  • Antiquarian Prejudice, Hogarth Press (London), 1939.
  • Cities and Small Towns, Collins (London), 1943.
  • English Cities and Small Towns, Collins, 1943.
  • First and Last Loves, Musson (New York, NY), 1952.
  • The English Town in the Last Hundred Years (Rede Lecture), Cambridge University Press, 1956.
  • (Under pseudonym Richard M. Farren) Ground Plan to Skyline, Newman Neame (London), 1960.
  • The City of London Churches, Pitkin Pictorials (London), 1965.
  • Ten Wren Churches, illustrated by R. Beer, Editions Electo, 1970.
  • A Pictorial History of English Architecture, Macmillan (New York City), 1972.
  • London's Historic Railway Stations, Transatlantic, 1972.
  • West Country Churches, Society of Sts. Peter and Paul, 1973.
  • In Praise of Churches, John Murray (London, England), 1996.

EDITOR

  • Cornwall Illustrated in a Series of Views, Architectural Press, 1934.
  • (With Geoffrey Taylor) English, Scottish, and Welsh Landscape, 1700-c. 1860, Muller, 1944.
  • Watergate Children's Classics, Watergate Classics (London), 1947.
  • (With Taylor, and contributor) English Love Poems, Faber, 1957.
  • An American's Guide to English Parish Churches, Including the Isle of Man, McDowell, Obolensky, 1958, published in England as Collins Guide to English Parish Churches, Collins, 1958, revised edition published as Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches, Volume 1: The North, Volume 2: The South, 1968.
  • Altar and Pew: Church of England Verses, E. Hulton, 1959.
  • (And author of introduction) Charles Tennyson Turner, A Hundred Sonnets, Hart-Davis, 1960, Dufour, 1961.
  • (With Winnifred Hindley) A Wealth of Poetry, Blackwell, 1963.
  • (And author of introduction and commentaries) Victorian and Edwardian London from Old Photographs, Viking, 1969.
  • (With David Vaisey) Victorian and Edwardian Oxford from Old Photographs, Batsford, 1971.
  • (With J. S. Gay) Victorian and Edwardian Brighton from Old Photographs, Batsford, 1972.

Also editor, with Rowse, of Victorian and Edwardian Cornwall from Old Photographs, 1974, and of John Masefield's Selected Poems, 1978. General editor of "Shell Guides" series, Architectural Press, 1934- 64.

TELEVISION DOCUMENTARIES

  • The Stained Glass at Fairford, 1955.
  • (With Stewart Farver) Pity about the Abbey, 1965.
  • Metro-Land, 1973.
  • A Passion for Churches, 1974.
  • Vicar of This Parish, 1976.
  • Betjeman's Dublin, 1979.

OTHER

  • Shell Guide to Cornwall, Architectural Press, 1934, published as Cornwall Illustrated, Architectural Press, 1935, revised edition published as Cornwall: A Shell Guide, Faber, 1964.
  • Devon Shell Guide, Architectural Press, 1936, revised edition, Faber, 1955.
  • Vintage London, Collins, 1942.
  • John Piper, Penguin, 1944.
  • (And illustrator, with John Piper) Murray's Buckinghamshire Architectural Guide, J. Murray, 1948.
  • (And illustrator, with Piper) Murray's Berkshire Architectural Guide, J. Murray, 1949.
  • (With Piper) Shropshire: A Shell Guide, Faber, 1951.
  • The English Scene: A Reader's Guide (includes reading list by L. Russell Muirhead), Cambridge University Press for the National Book League, 1951.
  • (Illustrator) Basil Fulford Lowther Clarke, English Churches, London House & Markwell, 1964.
  • A Plea for Holy Trinity Church, Sloan Street, Church Union, 1974.
  • John Betjeman's Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1980.
  • Lord Mount Prospect, Tragara Press, 1981.
  • Betjeman's Cornwall, J. Murray, 1984.
  • The Golden Treasury of John Betjeman (recording), Spoken Arts, 1984.
  • Betjeman's London, edited by Pennie Denton, J. Murray, 1988.
  • John Betjeman: Letters, Methuen (London), edited by Candida Lycett Green, Volume 1: 1926-1951, 1994, Volume Two, 1951-1984, 1995.
  • (With Paul Hogarth) In Praise of Churches, J. Murray, 1996.
  • John Betjeman: Coming Home; an Anthology of His Prose 1920-1977, selected and introduced by Candida Lycett Green, Methuen (London), 1997.

Recordings by the author of his own work include Poems, Argo, and Summoned by Bells, Argo. Contributor to books, including, A Panorama of Rural England, edited by Walter James Turner, Chanticleer Press/Hastings House, 1944; The Englishman's Country, edited by Turner, Collins, 1945; Studies in the History of Swindon, [Swindon], 1950; Gala Day London, Harvill, 1953; The Twelfth Man, Cassell, 1971; and Likes and Dislikes: A Private Anthology, Tragara Press, 1981. Author of introduction to books, including Selected Poems, by Henry J. Newbolt, Nelson, 1940; William Purcell, Onward Christian Soldier, by William Purcell, Longmans, 1957. Book critic, Daily Telegraph, 1952, and Daily Herald (London); columnist, Spectator, 1954-58; film critic, London Evening Standard. MEDIA ADAPTATIONS: Donald Swann has set some of Betjeman's poems to music.