BLUNDEN, Edmund. Shells by a Stream. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1944. First edition, with an a.l.s. loosely inserted, 8vo (216 x 135mm.) (Mild toning.) Original green cloth (small hole to spine), dust-jacket (minor spotting, browning to spine). Note: the densely written 2pp. letter was written in 1949 from Tokyo where Blunden was teaching. The letter responds to a query from a 'Mr Miles' regrading a biography he is writing of the painter, Samuel Laurence, and his search for information relating to the Gliddon family. Blunden suggests various possible sources, including descendants of Thornton Hunt, G.H. Lewes, finally suggesting a call on Mr. J.H. Preston, the curator of Keats House. Blunden also suggests he reads George Eliot's 'Daniel Deronda' for clues, in particular the 'family with aesthetic tastes tho' straightened circumstances'. Overall conveying a sense of Blunden's generosity, wide-reading, and knowledge of 19th century English literary culture. Provenance: Guy Back (ink inscribed to front-free endpaper).