Edgell Rickword was almost sixteen when the first World War began. He joined the Artist's rifles in 1916, served with the Royal Berkshire Regiment, was awarded the Military Cross, and was invalided out of the army after the Armistice. He went up to Oxford to read French literature in 1919, but he left the University after four terms. His first book of poems appeared in 1921, and in that year he began to write for the New Statesman, The Times Literary Supplement and other periodicals. His critical study of Rimbaud appeared in 1924. In 1925 he began his major editorial labours with the Calendar of Modern Letters. The first collection of Scrutinies was published, under his editorship, in 1928.