| Admin/Biog History | Charles Raymond Bell Mortimer (1895-1980), who wrote under the name Raymond Mortimer, was a British writer on art and literature, known mostly as a critic and literary editor.
Mortimer was a friend of Vita Sackville-West (Benedict Nicolson's mother) and was involved in a long-term relationship with Harold Nicolson (Benedict Nicolson's father). Mortimer visited the family home in Sissinghurst and socialised regularly with the family. He is mentioned throughout Nicolson's journals.
After the Second World War, Raymond Mortimer joined the three owners of Long Crichel House in Dorset, friends Edward Sackville West, Desmond Shawe-Taylor and Eardley Knollys, as one of the residents. Journals in the Archive reveal that Nicolson visited regularly, but there are no letters relating to these visits. |
| Description | Includes correspondence of a personal concerning arrangements to meet; mutual friends; his views on art and literature. Also includes correspondence of a semi-professional nature written in Mortimer's capacity as literary editor for the New Statesman.
Of particular note:
-letter, sent 13 November 1935, declining a request to talk at the Florentine Club
-postcard, dated 31 August 1939, asking if Nicolson will review John Pope-Hennessy's book on Sassetta, of which he says 'the style is ghastly'
-letter, dated 11 March 1943, concerning works of art purchased by Mortimer; the art of Victor Passmore; the Italians and their support of fascism; the Second World War and an incident in which he has given evidence for a friend, a conscientious objector, who refused to enslit in the Home Guard. [A digital copy of this letter can be found below] |
| Image Caption | Letter from Rayomnd Mortimer to Nicolson, dated 11 March 1943, concerning various issues (2pp) |