5 AUGUST 2000, Page 26

Surtee's admirers From Mr Jeremy Lewis Sir: I was thrilled

to read Paul Johnson's wise words about R.S. Surtees (And anoth- er thing, 29 July). Quite right, too.

Surtees's novels are notoriously hard to track down in the second-hand market, but all nine are available from the R.S. Surtees Society — in facsimile hardbacks with the original illustrations, and introductions by such admirers as Raymond Carr, Auberon Waugh, Rebecca West, Michael Wharton, Lord Blake, Molly Keane and Enoch Powell.

Jeremy Lewis

The R.S. Surtees Society, Manor Farm House, Nunney, Nr Frome, Somerset