A reader of my TWL website recently emailed me a query about a man in
Eliot's life around 1920 named Stetson. He also wrote this paragraph
about Bleistein with information new to me:
You might be interested to know (if you don't already)
that there a real Bleistein, who ran a Fur and Skin
Merchants on Lower Thames Street near Eliot's
workplace. A submission to Notes & Queries also
mentioned (although I do not know how the author can
have known it) that this Mr. Bleistein smoked Coronas
and dined at the Cannon Street Grill. From that
evidence it would seem fairly certain he was the real
life model for the Bleistein in 'Burbank with a
Baedecker: Bleistein with a Cigar'. 'Money in furs'.
(Of course Bleistein makes an appearance in the drafts
to The Waste Land).
Regards,
Rick Parker
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