Sep. 18th 2013
As most of you know, I love auctions! And this one has really got my attention!
I was notified by a private individual, who has been following our blog, that she has an auction I might be interested in.
One part of our history really caught her attention, that of Thomas Lomax Hunter. Thomas Lomax Hunter was the grandson of Carolinus Turner, the gentleman planter who owned the plantation from 1839 until his death in 1876. Carolinus was responsible for the architectural changes that took Belle Grove’s mansion from the simple Federal plantation house to the grand Greek Revival mansion that it is today. Thomas’s mother, Susan Rose Turner, known as Rose Turner, was born here as was her son, Thomas. Thomas would later go on to become a Virginia State Poet Laureate.
This individual is in possession a number of original copies of poetry, signed photographs, book, newspaper clippings and one unpublished poem. She has recently put these items up for auction on ebay. She was kind enough to notify me of this auction. Sadly, the starting bid is well out of our price range right now with all the purchases we still need to make to complete the mansion.
Below is the information from the ebay auction of the items.
Historical Papers – Poetry – Virginia – Poet Laureate –
Thomas Lomax Hunter ’48
One never published poem – Signatures – 1940’s – More
THOMAS LOMAX HUNTER
HISTORIC VIRGINIA POETRY COLLECTION – ORIGINAL TYPED
AND HANDWRITTEN POEMS
POET LAUREATE OF VIRGINIA – 1948
ONE UNPUBLISHED – UNTITLED – THIS IS THE ONLY COPY IN EXISTENCE, THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER
IT BEGINS… “FAR OVER A SEA OF AZURE BLUE…” (BEAUTIFUL POEM! YEARNING FOR LOST PLACE, YOUTH, LOVE.) “…THE ISLAND OF LONG AGO.”
SIGNED PHOTO
INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BOOK – COLUMNS FROM THE CAVALIER (RICHMOND, VIRGINIA; THE DIETZ PRESS, 1935
ONE VERSION OF “ABI SHAG” FROM 1917
NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS
FRAGILE PAPERS – A FEW HAVE RIPS – FOLDS – SEE PICTURES
BIO AND INVENTORY LISTED BELOW
(I photographed these by starting with a few and adding to the pile.)
Thomas Lomax Hunter
(1875-1948)
Virginia
Poet Laureate of Virginia
1948
The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography 218-219 (New York: James T. White & Company, 1953)(Vol. 38):
Hunter, Thomas Lomax, lawyer and poet, was born in King George County, Va., Mar. 6, 1875, son of Frederick Campbell Stewart and Susan Rose (Turner) Hunter and a descendant of James Hunter, a native of Scotland, born there in 1661, who immigrated to Virginia. . . . His father, a judge, served in the rank of captain in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. After receiving his preliminary education with private tutors, the son attended William and Mary College and Georgetown University, where he studied law. Admitted to the bar of Virginia in 1908, he began practice in King George and continued there independently until the close of his life. Outside of his legal activities, his influence was felt in Virginia through a column, “As It Appears to the Cavalier,” which he contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch from 1929 until his death. Concerned with state and national affairs, a selection of these writings was published in book form as “Columns from the Cavalier” in 1935. He was a frequent contributor to literary magazines and was best known as a poet. . . . In 1948 he was named poet laureate of Virginia by the general assembly. In 1918 and 1920 Hunter represented King George and Stafford counties in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he supported the causes of woman suffrage, improved roads, compulsory education, and higher education for women, and opposed prohibition. During the First World War he served as food administrator for King George County. . . . Gardening and farming were his chief recreations. . . . He died in Fredericksburg, VA., June 19, 1948.
Poetry
Thomas Lomax Hunter, Poems (Richmond, Virginia: The Dietz Printing Co., 1947)
Forbidden Fruit, and Other Ballades (East Aurora, New York: Printed by The Roycroft Shops, 1923)
Writings
Thomas Lomax Hunter, The President’s Camp on the Rapidan (Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Commission on Conservation and Development, 1931)
Columns from the Cavalier (Richmond, Virginia: The Dietz Press, 1935)
Bibliography: Articles
Paul M. Pruitt, Jr., Virginia’s Latter-Day Cavalier: Thomas Lomax Hunter of King George County, 44 (4) Virginia Cavalcade 160-173
1) UNTITLED – POEM – HAND WRITTEN ANNOTATION: THIS IS THE ONLY COPY IN EXISTENCE, THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER – WITH SIGNATURE
2) BALLAD OF VAGABONDIA – SIGNED
3) WHAT’S THE USE? – ON UNITED STATES FOOD ADMINISTRATION (HUGH B. SPROUL) STAUNTON, VIRGINIA –
4) THE OLD LOVE – THOMAS LOMAX HUNTER LETTERHEAD – SIGNED
5) ODE TO THE SPIRIT OF VIRGINIA – SIGNED
6) SPRING SENDS HER HARALDS TO MY HEART – 3 MARCH 1945
7) BALLAD OF THE BALLOT BOX – POET’S LETTERHEAD – KING GEORGE, VIRGINIA
8) MILADI LORELEI – TWO LINES EDITED – SIGNED – ANNOTATION: WRITTEN MAR 3. GOES TO SAT EVE POST MAR 8. DON’T SHOW THESE VERSES BEFORE THEY ARE PUBLISHED –
THE S.E.P. WOULD NOT THINK IT GOOD FORM IF BY ANY CHANCE THEY HEARD OF IT.
9) STEEL – (ONE OF THE LAST VERSES WRITTEN BY THOMAS LOMAX HUNTER IN 1947)
10) SALOME – SIGNED – KING GEORGE, VIRGINIA
11) DO YOU REMEMBER? – 3 EDITS – SIGNED WITH INITIALS
12) DO YOU REMEMBER? – SIGNED
13) THE WINE OF CANA (CARA) – (4 PAGES)
14) THE PRODIGAL – 2 PAGES – SIGNED
15) HOW IS LOVE SLAIN – ON U.S.S. HENDERSON LETTERHEAD (OFFICE OF MEDICAL OFFICER)
16) BALLAD OF WARNING – TOWN TOPICS WRITTEN AT BOTTOM
17) AN UNTITLED, HANDWRITTEN POEM – SIGNED
18) A BALLAD OF STRANGE WOMEN – SIGNED – KING GEORGE, VIRGINIA
19 REQUIEM AETERNAM DONA EIS, DOMINIE – ON POET’S LETTERHEAD – SIGNED
20) IDEAL AND REAL – ON POET’S COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA – HOUSE OF DELEGATES – RICHMOND – LETTERHEAD
21) IDEAL AND REAL – HALF PIECE OF PAPER
22) CIRCE – ON POET’S ATTORNEY AND COUNSELOR LETTERHEAD – KING GEORGE, VIRGINIA – SIGNED – ANNOTATIONS: 174. F SOLD – THIS IS IN THE XMAS ? OF LIVE STORIES.
MAYBE YOU WILL SEE IT.
23) BALLAD OF THE LOVER ERRANT – SIGNED – KING GEORGE, VIRGINIA
24) THE GUERDON – SIGNED – KING GEORGE, VIRGINIA
25) ABI SHAG
26) ABI SHAG – TYPED AT BOTTOM: SEE 1ST. KINGS I CHAP. I VERSE TO 4TH
27) ABI SHAG – (PAPER IN 3 PIECES) SIGNED – ANNOTATION: DONE MAR 11, 1917
28) HARBOR – ON POET’S LETTERHEAD (ATTORNEY)
29) THE AMSTERDAM LIAR
30) COMPENSATION
31) ???…DENTIAL AGE – PIECE AT TOP MISSING – SIGNED – ANNOTATION: WRITTEN MAR 3. GOES TO SAT EVE POST MAR 8
32) BALLADE OF WARNING – (TOWN TOPICS)
OTHER ASSORTED NEWS CLIPPINGS – SOME UNKNOWN – SATURDAY EVENING POST – ARMY NAVY LIFE – RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH: THOMAS LOMAX HUNTER – COUNTRY SQUIRE – JUNE 23, 1956
SIGNED SEPIA PHOTO – OVER 8.5 X. 10.5″ (SIGNED FOSTER ?)
Please take a moment to view her auction.
It is my hope that someone will be able to purchase these items and at least return them to King George, Virginia. I am sure the King George Historical Society would love to have them as much as I would. It would be so nice to have something that belonged to one of our residences back at the plantation.
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