A Response to Just and Unjust Criticism – and an Appeal

Extract

In Volume 57/223 of Tempo, my book, A Comprehensive Biography of Gustav Holst, was critiqued by Raymond Head. Not being adverse to justifiable criticism, I can accept much of what he has to say. There are indeed some editorial problems. The index, in particular, was originally perfect, but had to be hastily reconstructed at the last minute due to a publication design change. It is also true that there are a number of misspellings—largely due to some faulty guesswork from partially legible manuscripts – but not nearly as many as implied by the critique, especially when one considers the length of the work. And yes, I admit that I unintentionally included a misrepresentation of the physical Egdon Heath in Wareham. These items will, hopefully, be addressed and corrected in later editions.