SKU: 33413845379

ELIOT, T.S. After Strange Gods.

Sale price$1350.00 Regular price$1500.00
Save 10%

Pay in installments of $375.00 with ShopPay, AfterPay and Klarna

Shipping Estimate
USA
  • USA
  • CAN

Ships within 48 hours · Estimated delivery Jul 25 - Jul 30

Promo Codes Available:

For Your Every Summer RSVP, with Code: SUMMER15

Description

ELIOT, T.S. After Strange Gods.The Degradation of the Modern World ELIOT, T. S. After Strange Gods. London: Faber and Faber. 1934. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt to spine, in the dust jacket priced 3s. 6d. net to the front flap; pp. 68; spine tips rubbed, cloth a little faded to upper and lower edges, small white mark to upper edge of rear panel, rear panel of wrapper detached (discreetly repaired), significant loss to spine, corners, upper edges, various nicks, closed

The Degradation of the Modern World

ELIOT, T.S. After Strange Gods. London: Faber and Faber. 1934.

8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt to spine, in the dust-jacket priced 3s. 6d. net to the front flap; pp. 68; spine tips rubbed, cloth a little faded to upper and lower edges, small white mark to upper edge of rear panel, rear panel of wrapper detached (discreetly repaired), significant loss to spine, corners, upper edges, various nicks, closed tears and creasing; a very good copy, in a fragmentary but bright wrapper; signed and dated by Eliot (22 May 1947)to title-page.

A scarce signed first printing of Eliot’s troubled and troubling 1933 Page-Barbour Lectures, a volume withdrawn by the author after a single reprint the same year.

After Strange Gods collects the series of three Page-Barbour Lectures delivered at the University of Virginia in 1933. The jacket text (most likely written by Eliot himself) states that the lectures develop, ‘after fifteen years’ interval, the implications of his essay ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’. If that essay, printed in Eliot’s first volume of literary essays, The Sacred Wood (1920), offers a theory of literary tradition and innovation (familiar to generations of English Literature undergraduates to this day), the Virginia lectures ‘were not undertaken as exercises in literary criticism [and] not designed to set forth, even in the most summary form, my opinions of the work of contemporary writers’. Instead, ‘they are concerned with certain ideas in illustration of which I have drawn upon the work of some of the few modern writers whose work I know.’ Nonetheless, in seeking to illustrate his thesis that, as the jacket concisely has it, ‘the weakness of modern literature, indicative of the weakness of the modern world in general, is a religious weakness; […] that all our social problems, including those of literature and criticism, begin and end in the religious problem’, he looks closely at the writings of Hardy, Kipling, Lawrence, and others, in relation to ideas of orthodoxy, and ‘its opposite, heterodoxy, for which I shall also use the term heresy’. For Eliot, Hardy, an atheist (though the word is not used), represents ‘an interesting example of a powerful personality uncurbed by any institutional attachment or by submission to any objective beliefs […]’, while Lawrence ‘is for my purposes, an almost perfect example of the heretic.’

The book was withdrawn by Eliot after just one reprint, in the same year as the first printing, and never reissued. This was primarily owing to a passage on pp. 19-21 advocating ‘unity of religious background’ which is hard not to read as squarely antisemitic (though many have tried). In his short book on Eliot, Stephen Spender (who doesn’t) notes that the period of the lectures ‘was a time of extreme tension for [Eliot], when he was making up his mind to separate from his [first] wife’, and that ‘the unhappiness shows in the lectures.’ He also records Eliot’s assertion ‘that when he wrote After Strange Gods he was in a state of unhappiness which distorted his judgement.’

Owing to Eliot’s complex relationship with the book, and the relatively few copies in circulation, signed or inscribed copies have always been scarce.

Gallup A25a. See Spender, T. S. Eliot (1975); Ricks, T. S. Eliot and Prejudice (1988).

SKU: 2124307

Shipping Notes
  • Free Standard Shipping on $100+ Orders to the USA.
  • Except Preorder products are shipped in 48 hours.
  • Delivery to the USA:
  1. Standard Shipping : 3-10 business days
  • If time is of the essence, please consider selecting expedited delivery for faster service.
Exchange/Return Notes
  • We offer a 30-day return/exchange service after receiving.
  • Final sale items are not eligible for returns or exchanges.
  • To process your return/exchange, please contact us at [email protected]
  • Please click here for more details>>> Return & Exchange Policy
SKU: 33413845379

Discover Niche Categories That Outsell

Top-Converting Item to Boost Your Average Order

4.3 ★★★★★
Based on 13 reviews
Sort
Highest Rating
Newest First
Oldest First
Product Reviews
J
Verified Purchase
Jessica Blevins
Chelsea, US
★★★★★ 5
Light weight and fit well
Size: 3X-Large Big Tall, Color: Sapphire Blue‌
Great fit and feel!
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2026
R
Verified Purchase
rms
West Palm Beach, US
★★★★★ 5
Nice shirt, great price.
Fit Type: Regular Fit, Color: White, Size: Medium
Worn it twice and I find it very comfortable. I wear it outside and casually to protect my arms and neck from the sun and find it more comfortable than a long sleeve t-shirt. The price is comparable. If I was to wear it to the office it would have to be ironed. I bought one shirt to try it and I will be buying more.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2026
M
Verified Purchase
madison
Dallas, US
★★★★★ 5
nice quality
Fit Type: Regular Fit, Color: White, Size: Small
nice quality shirt. bought this just so i had at least one nice white button down and it's great. fits well and is a nice white color.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2026
A
Verified Purchase
Anthony Carabello
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 4
Nice shirt!
Fit Type: Regular Fit, Color: White, Size: X-Large
I added one of these shirts to another order just to see if they were any good. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. It fits perfectly and looks pretty nice for a low cost casual dress shirt. Materials seem decent quality. Comfortable, soft fabric. Didn’t shrink too much in the washer and dryer. We’ll see how it holds up long term but so far so good
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2025
S
Verified Purchase
Silvia & Marcus
Massapequa, US
★★★★★ 5
My new favorite shirts!
Fit Type: Regular Fit, Color: Grey, Size: Large
These are my new favorite shirts! I just ordered a 3rd. i wish there were more colors. Yes, the cotton is heavy-weight and I like that. They are just a bit warmer than regular dress shirts. The fit is excellent. I'm 5'9", 200lbs and L fits perfectly. Enough room without being blousy. The sleeves are long enough (finally!). (Most other 16.5/32-33 shirts always have sleeves that are too short). The fit/finish and detail is surprisingly good. They don't really shrink after washing and come out very soft. Not wrinkle-free, but that's ok since it means that the 100% cotton hasn't been dosed with chemicals. I expect they will wear very well over time.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2025

recommand products