Book Among the luggage Lord Halifax took with him to Washington was a tattered leather-bound book presented to him recently by an Irish friend of mine living in London.
A few months ago my friend was burrowing among a heap of somewhat unpromising-looking rubbish in a crowded second-hand dealer's in Brighton. At the bottom of an immense pile, marked "6d. each." he spied the unmistakable tooled binding of a Pickering and at once began scrambling for it. It turned out to be an exquisitely printed edition (1859) of Thomas a Kempis - superb Pickering of the best period, with ravishing ornamented red capitals.
It was not, however, till months later that my friend noticed on the fly-leaf the inscription in faded yellowing ink; "George Graham, from his sincere friend, Charles Lindley Wood, on his leaving Eton, Christmas, 1864."
This set him thinking; for Charles Lindley Wood was, of course, the name of Lord Halifax's father, the famous leader of the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England, who died a few years ago at the age of 94 and to whom the present Lord Halifax was devoted.
So he wrote to Lord Halifax, asking him if he would like to have the book as a gift. Lord Halifax replied by special messenger within a few hours, and on receiving the book wrote again to my friend, saying that" for special sentimental reasons" he would treasure the book, and that it would accompany him as a bedside book on his travels wherever he went.
The Irish Times, February 15th, 1941.