[{"node":{"title":"Boyd002","Collections":"Boyd Letters","Contributor":"Boyd Estate","Coverage":"1949 Mar 1st","Creator":"Linen Hall Library","Date":"Wednesday, March 16, 2016","Format":"TIFF","Identifier":"Boyd002","Item Description":"Letter","Keywords":"Craigavon, Trinity College Dublin","Language":"English","Path":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/boyd002","Publisher":"Linen Hall Library","Relation":"Linen Hall Library","Rights":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA","Scanned image":{"src":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Boyd002_3.jpg","alt":""},"Source":"LHL Archive","Transcript":"\ufeff1st March, 1949.\n\nDear St.John Ervine,\n\nThank you very much for sending me a proof copy of\nCraigavon and also your long letter. The delay In answering\nboth is due to the fact that I am having trouble with my wisdom\nteeth and trying to forget the toothache by reading Craigavon\nbefore sending it out to be read by your reviewer. Unfortun-\nately I am not allowed to do it myself, and indeed I am not\ncapable of the job. I am now about one-third way through it\nand am full of admiration. It's a big book in every sense,\nand it seems to me a work of scholarship and of far-reaching\nscope. Whether your thesis is or is not right I just don\u2019t\nknow, and most of my ingrained protestant prejudices are in\nfavour of your arguments. You have of course put up a most\nformidable case and it will be interesting reading and listening\nto people who will try to knock you down. What I did whole-\nheartedly admire was your prose, which in Craigavon is of rare\nvintage. The book was obviously a labour of love and must\nhave given you great enjoyment to write. I met Craigavon only\nonce and was not in the least impressed by him and his appear-\nance had no attraction at all for me; but your portrayal of\nhis character seemed to me so sane and balanced and just that\nI am almost won over. In other words you have mesmerised me\nand I hope to come to my senses within the next fortnight,\nprobably having lost my wisdom teeth during the same period.\n\nI don't yet know who will be chosen to review Craigavon.\nWe are offering the job to Professor Moody, now of Trinity\nCollege Dublin, but for a long time lecturer at Queen\u2019s, and of\ncourse a Belfastman and an Ulsterman. He is one of our most\ndistinguished historians and should be able to discuss the book\nintelligently. He is a bit of a dry stick personally but he\nis considered a very sound historian. At least he won\u2019t butter\nyou up: the probability is that he will pierce your armour\nat various places, and we of course will give him a free hand.\nAt the moment he is in Leeds and I have not yet got his\nacceptance. If he does not want to do the job I\u2019ll think of\nsomebody else and inform you as soon as a decision is reached.\n\nI am rushing off now to take part in one of those dreadful\nQuiz programmes whose continuing popularity I can never understand.\n","Type":"Text"}}]