First published 1986
A.J.A. Symons lived as a literary buccaneer in interwar England, founding the Wine and Food Society with André L. Simon and directing the First Edition Club from a single room on Pall Mall. He wrote "The Quest For Corvo," an experimental biography that brought him fame, while cultivating skills as a calligrapher and amateur forger. His brother Julian chronicles A.J.A.'s meteoric rise through London's literary society, his work as a bibliographer and gourmet, and his reputation as a wit and mysterious figure. The portrait reveals a social adventurer who embodied his own epitaph: "No one so poor has lived so well." Julian writes with cool detachment and understated irony, creating a literary work that transcends family tribute. He captures a multifaceted character whose eccentric collecting habits, dandyish style, and fastidious literary pursuits made his own life as compelling as that of Baron Corvo, his biographical subject.
Genres: biography, literary-fiction, 20th-century, biography-memoir, books-about-books, academic
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking, understated
Tropes: eccentric-collector, social-adventurer
Setting: England, London, Pall Mall
Period: Interwar
304 pages · Paperback · Oxford Univ Pr