Peter Scupham (24 February 1933 – 11 June 2022) was a British poet.

Early life and education

Scupham was born in Bootle on 24 February 1933 to John and Dorothy Scupham. The family moved to Cambridgeshire and he was educated at the Perse School, Cambridge, and St George's School, Harpenden. After National Service with the RAOC, he studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Career and marriage

He taught at Skegness Grammar School, and then became Head of English at St. Christopher School, Letchworth. His first marriage was to Carola Nance Braunholtz, a Classics teacher, with whom he had four children. His second wife was Margaret Steward. Together they restored a small derelict Elizabethan Manor house in Norfolk, where they put on plays and created a garden. Simon Jenkins included the house in England's Thousand Best Homes.

Theatre

Scupham and Steward started a theatrical company, Phoebus Car. Some of its members went on to careers on the stage.

Small press

With John Mole he founded The Mandeville Press, a small press using traditional letterpress methods of printing. The Press produced hand-set editions of work by Geoffrey Grigson, Anthony Hecht, John Fuller, K. W. Gransden, and many others. Its archive is now in the British Library.

Bookselling

For many years he ran an antiquarian book business - Mermaid Books - with Steward, specialising in English Literature, and trading by printed catalogue. Those catalogues were a welcome addition to any potential purchaser's breakfast, often causing them to chortle into their cornflakes at yet another scabrously disrespectful description of some long-dead literary figure; The Times called them "witty and erudite catalogues that became collection pieces in themselves". From 2020 onwards, Mermaid Books appeared to be in hiatus, and is now, alas, no longer trading.

Poetry

His poetry was deftly formal, humane, richly textured and deeply civilized. He was able to see proofs of his final volume shortly before he died. Scupham died on 11 June 2022, at the age of 89.

Awards and honours

Works

Editor

Anthologies