29 DECEMBER 1973, Page 5

Abinger Forester

Sir: May I make one tiny comment on JIM. Stewart's very generous review of the Abinger Edition Howards End and The Manuscripts of Howards End? (December 8). The deprivation to which he refers in his closing sentences — the replacement of Forster's rough diagram of the Rooksnest meadow by the word "[diagram]" — must be laid at my door, not at the publisher's. In Professor Stewart's case I shall atone by sending him a tracing. Oliver Stallybrass Editor, Abinger Edition of E. M. Forster, 106 Westwood Hill, London SE26