Philip Anthony Spalding (1911-89) was at Balliol College, Oxford, 1930-3; lived in London, 1933-8, and moved to Churt (in Surrey) in 1938, the year of his marriage to Edna Brown, ne Young. Of independent means, Spalding devoted much of his life to reading and writing, and considered his diary to be his most important written work. His published work includes A Reader's Handbook to Proust (London, 1952), some volumes of verse and prose, and Self-Harvest, a study of diaries and the diarist (London, 1949).
mile Alexis Preyre (fl 1956-89) was the author of Le doute librateur: exprience sceptique, exprience mystique (1971).
From the guide to the Correspondence between P.A. Spalding and E.A. Preyre, 1956-89, (University of Oxford, Bodleian Library)