The one significant omission in William S. Peterson's magisterial bibliography of Sir John Betjeman (1906‐1984) is a basic chronology of the poet's life and activities. Betjeman (born Betjemann) represents the quintessence of Englishness. His many faces represent the idiosyncratic, the conservative, the highly amusing, public school, the right Oxford College (Magdalen), prep school teacher, marriage to a Field Marshall's daughter (lovers on the side – more are emerging as time goes by), intelligence work, journalism, a radio and television personality, campaigner for threatened architecture, devoted Anglican, and above all, poet.
John Betjeman: A Bibliography is the fullest bibliography of its subject we shall probably ever have. It is in effect a bibliographical history providing a comprehensive account of his published writings and other texts, including “verbal, visual, oral, and numeric data in the form of … archives of recorded sound, of films, videos and any computer‐stored information” (McKenzie, 1985, pp. 4‐5).
Peterson's “Introduction” clearly outlines his intentions, the previous attempts at a Betjeman bibliography, and the sources of his information. There are deliberate exclusions; there is no “attempt to identify the advertising copy that Betjeman wrote for Shell during the 1930s, the film scripts that he created for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War, one or more filmstrips that he produced for the SPCK (Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge), or the blurbs he contributed to dust‐wrappers, record sleeves and publishers' catalogues” (p. xix).
By far the most extensive section is the first, A Books. There is a prefatory note to the section and each item is introduced by content, drawing upon Betjeman's and others correspondence. Each book is illustrated photographically, title page transcription, detailed collation, and so on. Publication details, the number of copies printed plus information on inscribed copies and selected reviews, are given. The prefatory introductions are replete with fascinating information. For instance, with Summoned by Bells (1960) (A 29) the reader is given details on when Betjeman began work on his verse autobiography, the typescripts of the poem, its genesis and his “characteristic attempts to micro‐manage the book's design” (p. 113).
A Books is followed by section AA Ephemera. This includes funeral addresses and broadsides. Section B Contributions to Books is chronologically and numerically arranged in the first section. It begins in 1932 with B1 and extends to 1984, with two undated items, concluding with B190. Section C Contributions to Periodicals contains over 2,000 entries. Section D Editorship is limited to eight items. There are only six translations in Section E Translations, suggesting “that Betjeman's poems do not translate easily into other languages or cultures” (p. 309). Section F Lectures contains only 48 items – one suspects that there are many more. Section G Interviews is also surprisingly brief, with only 45 items. Section H Musical Settings and Dramatic Adaptations has only 15 and Section I Recordings 12.
Most impressive are Section J Radio and Section K Television. Peterson has been fortunate in being able to comb through Betjeman's published and unpublished correspondence now in the Betjeman archive at the University of Victoria, British Columbia where there is housed a separate archival section specifically dealing with Betjeman's broadcasts. So Peterson has been able to somewhat deal with the problem of “independent television companies” frequently going out of business and rarely leaving “behind archival material to which scholars, biographers or other interested persons gain access” (p. 329). Peterson's persistence and fine sleuthing has revealed 359 radio items and 232 television records.
Section L is devoted to Doubtful Attributions. Section M records Unfinished Books: Peterson notes that “Betjeman's career was littered with unfulfilled promises to publishers” (p. 381) and he gives details of 21 of these. This is followed by a substantial section N Notes on the Poems of 607 items. This “is an alphabetical list of the drafts and proofs of Betjeman's poems, accompanied, in many instances, by notes on the date and circumstances of their composition and publication”. In addition, Peterson includes “any remarks by Betjeman about individual poems” (p. 387). This section will be indispensable for future Betjeman critics and scholars.
Peterson's treasure trove of detail concludes with the “highly selective” (p. 473) Section O About Betjeman and the 118 item Section P Unidentified or Unpublished Prose. As is appropriate to a magnificent and important work of reference there is a substantial Index. In short, William S. Peterson's John Betjeman: A Bibliography should be in every library collecting materials on British literature, culture and history. Well bound, typeset and designed by William S. Peterson, the volume brings great credit on its author, subject and publisher.
