Robert Neill wrote:

> It may be too soon to return to TSE business as usual but I'm going to
> try. For years, literally, I've been trying to track down a particular
> photograph of TSE. It appears as the frontispiece in T.S. ELIOT; A
> STUDY OF HIS WRITING BY SEVERAL HANDS, edited by B.Rajan and published
> originally in 1947 by Dennis Dobson, Ltd. in London. The photo is a
> profile of TSE. He is looking slightly downward to the right. There is
> an illegible (to me) signature in the lower right hand corner, clearly
> done with the sort of pen or brush used in calligraphy. I tried to
> reach the publisher years ago but got nowhere. Can anyone help? Great
> photo of the man, best I know of.


I was surprized that Google hadn't picked up the image that was shown
on the web page at
    http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/eliot.htm
I looked at the source for the page and found that Time had put in a
directive that search engines shouldn't index items on that page.

Anyway, the jpg at
    http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/images/profilepix/eliot.jpg
has E.O Hoppe credited as the photographer.  That is the name that may have
appeared as a smudge on the book cover.

I have a postcard at home of Eliot that I thik was also done by
E.O. Hoppe (Emil Otto Hoppe, 1878-1972) at the same time as the
picture you liked.  This photo can be seen at
    http://www.cygneis.com/amlit/sum98/gallery/eliot.gif
but there the picture appears in an oval frame.  I'll try to remember
to look up the publisher of the post card when I get home.

In any event, I have an mail address  for you taken from the page at
    http://www.michaelhoppe.com/about.htm (which has a Hoppe self-portrait)

For information regarding Hoppe photographs contact:
    The E. O. Hoppe Trust, C/o Curatorial Assistance, Inc.,
    113 East Union Street, Pasadena, Ca. 91103-3927
    Tel.(626) 577-9696 - Fax (818) 449-9603

Here are some pages with other Hoppe photos:
    http://www.michaelhoppe.com/The%20Poet.htm      (pictures of poets)
    http://www.michaelhoppe.com/The%20Yearning.htm  (actresses)
    http://www.michaelhoppe.com/beloved.htm         (a young Queen Mother)
    http://www.michaelhoppe.com/The%20Dreamer.htm   (Einstein, misc.)


Here is a page describing a Hoppe exhibit:
    http://www.curatorial.org/travel/travelDocs/hoppe.html


Another E.O. Hoppe portrait (of Rebecca West) is at 
    http://partners.nytimes.com/books/00/09/10/reviews/000910.10kerr.html
Where we have the following text:

    A Woman Without Compromise 

    Rebecca West didn't care for T. S. Eliot, Communism or Chanel, and
    said so.

    [Links]

    By SARAH KERR

    Who was the most fearless writer, male or female, of the century we
    have just left behind? In any such contest, Dame Rebecca West would
    have to rank high on the short list. An uncompromising literary
    critic, she slammed Tolstoy and called T. S. Eliot a fake when the
    rest of the world was declaring him immortal.

Regards,
   Rick Parker