RICHARD ALDINGTON: VERSATILE MAN OF LETTERS On View At The Grolier Club Beginning In September

The Grolier Club will present Richard Aldington: Versatile Man of Letters, a major exhibition highlighting the work of British poet, critic, translator, novelist, and biographer Richard Aldington (1892–1962). On view in the Grolier Club’s second-floor gallery from September 11 through November 15, 2025, the exhibition traces Aldington’s life and career through more than 100 items from the collection of Grolier Club member Simon Hewett. Featured objects include first editions, typescripts, letters, photographs, and ephemera. An accompanying booklet will be published by the Grolier Club in September.

Though at the center of British literary life alongside Ezra Pound, H.D., Ford Madox Ford, Amy Lowell, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, and Lawrence Durrell, Aldington’s career was marked by both acclaim and controversy. He was celebrated as a leading member of the Imagist school, a noted World War I poet, and the author of Death of a Hero—widely regarded as one of the greatest and most bitter war novels. Yet his biography of T.E. Lawrence challenged national mythmaking and damaged his reputation.

Curator Simon Hewett says: “I consider it a travesty that such an accomplished writer as Richard Aldington, with a considerable and wide-ranging body of work to his name, should be so neglected today. I hope this exhibition will revive attention and interest in his work.”

Exhibition Highlights

Highlights of Richard Aldington: Versatile Man of Letters include:

• A 1912 photograph of the “Peacock Dinner,” organized by Ezra Pound to publicize the Imagists, featuring Aldington among the poets in attendance.

• First editions of Des Imagistes (1914) and Images (1910–1915), Aldington’s early poetry collections.

• Aldington’s silver British Army identification bracelet, inscribed with his rank and regiment, worn during World War I.

• A 1929 U.K. edition of Death of a Hero with a modernist dust jacket by Paul Nash.

• A 1955 Illustrated magazine article, “Why I Debunked the Lawrence Legend,” in which Aldington defended his controversial biography of T.E. Lawrence.

The exhibition concludes with recent works that have re-examined Aldington’s reputation as a witty, prolific, and underappreciated figure in 20th-century literature.

Programming