R. L. Barth papers0161
Bo Doub
USC Libraries Special Collections
2010 and 2022
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: R. L. Barth papers
Creator:
Barth, R. L. (Robert L.)
Creator:
Robert L. Barth (Firm)
Identifier/Call Number: 0161
Identifier/Call Number: 262
Physical Description:
2.67 Linear Feet
6 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1981-2022
Abstract: The R. L. Barth papers consist of manuscripts, paste-ups, chapbooks, and file copies of small press poetry published by the
Robert L. Barth Press from the time of its founding in 1981 until the press ceased in the early 2000s. The collection also
includes Barth's correspondence with poets Turner Cassity, Dick Davis, John Finlay, Charles Gullans, X. J. Kennedy, Janet
Lewis, Timothy Steele, and Wesley Trimpi. Notable among the correspondence is a file of letters from Barth to Timothy Steele,
which spans 1981 to 2000, along with an additional letter written in February of 2022. Timothy Steele and Victoria Lee Steele
provided the following biographical information (abridged here) when they donated an accrual to the R. L. Barth papers in
2022: "Robert L. Barth (1947-) was not only a publisher, but is also a poet and editor. In the latter capacity, he has edited
both the selected letters and the selected poems of Yvor Winters and the selected poems of Winter's wife, Janet Lewis. As
a poet, he is best known for his poems about the Vietnam War, in which he served as a young Marine in the late 1960s, at the
height of the conflict." See the unabridged quote under this finding aid's biographical note.
Language of Material:
English
.
Scope and Contents
The R. L. Barth papers consist of manuscripts, paste-ups, chapbooks, and file copies of small press poetry published by the
Robert L. Barth Press from the time of its founding in 1981 until the press ceased in the early 2000s. The collection also
includes Barth's correspondence with poets Turner Cassity, Dick Davis, John Finlay, Charles Gullans, X. J. Kennedy, Janet
Lewis, Timothy Steele, and Wesley Trimpi. Notable among the correspondence is a file of letters from Barth to Timothy Steele,
which spans 1981 to 2000, along with an additional letter written in February of 2022. Timothy Steele and Victoria Lee Steele
provided the following biographical information (abridged here) when they donated an accrual to the R. L. Barth papers in
2022: "Robert L. Barth (1947-) was not only a publisher, but is also a poet and editor. In the latter capacity, he has edited
both the selected letters and the selected poems of Yvor Winters and the selected poems of Winter's wife, Janet Lewis. As
a poet, he is best known for his poems about the Vietnam War, in which he served as a young Marine in the late 1960s, at the
height of the conflict." See the unabridged quote under this finding aid's biographical note.
Biographical
Timothy Steele and Victoria Lee Steele provided the following biographical note when they donated an accrual to the R. L.
Barth papers in 2022.
Robert L. Barth (1947-) was not only a publisher, but is also a poet and editor. In the latter capacity, he has edited both
the selected letters and the selected poems of Yvor Winters and the selected poems of Winters's wife, Janet Lewis. As a poet,
he is best known for his poems about the Vietnam War, in which he served as a young Marine in the late 1960s, at the height
of the conflict.
As a publisher, Barth chiefly issued works of metrical poetry, and his press, in its advocacy of formal verse, is uniquely
significant. Barth's publications represent an historically illuminating counter-current to the prevailing fashion for free
verse in recent generations.
In addition, Barth's publications collectively bring together poets of three generations who represent in tum the three moments
in 20th-century poetry that involved a revival of interest in verse in traditional measures. Barth published several works
by Janet Lewis who was born in 1899 and who as a young poet contributed to the neoclassical movement of the 1920s. Barth also
published such poets as Thom Gunn, Edgar Bowers, Helen Pinkerton, Charles Gullans, Robert Mezey, and X. J. Kennedy, who were
associated with the formal revival in the decade following World War II and whose poems were first prominently gathered together
and featured in Donald Hall, Robert Pack, and Louis Simpson's landmark 1957 anthology,
New Poets of England and America. And Barth published many of the so-called New Formalist poets, including Catherine Tufariello, Dick Davis, Charles Martin,
and Leslie Monsour, who emerged in the final quarter of the 20th century. No other publishing enterprise, in other words,
has greater breadth in its area of focus than Barth's.
The poets themselves are in many cases important, independently of their stylistic inclinations or affiliations. Lewis, for
instance, was awarded the Los Angeles Times' Robert Kirsch Award for her contributions to the literature of the American West.
Gunn (another winner of the Kirsch Award) is one of the few English-language poets of the second half of 20th-century to have
maintained a trans-Atlantic audience and reputation. (Barth was the first to publish a collection featuring Gunn's celebrated
elegies for victims of the AIDS epidemic: his 1987 edition of Gunn's chapbook, Night Sweats, predates the larger trade edition
of The Man with Night Sweats that Faber and Faber issued in 1992.) Kennedy and Hall are widely admired not only for their
poetry but also for representing the dying breed of the general person-of-letters-the versatile writer whose career is anchored
in the literary marketplace rather than affiliated with an academic institution. And Dick Davis is widely recognized as the
greatest English translator of Persian poetry since Edward Fitzgerald.
The donation also includes a file of correspondence from Barth to Steele, who published with Barth's press two chapbooks;
a festschrift for Charles Gullans's 60th birthday; and a series of postcards containing epigrams by Robert Herrick. This file
is notable for the many comments Barth makes about literary life generally and about his transactions with the writers he
published.
Conditions Governing Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special
Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder# or item name], R. L. Barth Papers, Collection no. 0161, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern
California
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accrual no. 2022-050: gift of Timothy Steele, April 11, 2022
Related Materials
The USC Libraries also holds a copy of
Z, Robert L. Barth: A Checklist of the Publisher's First Printings, 1981-1998, cataloged separately under the call number: Z232.B198 Z2 1998.
Processing Information
Many of the file-level sub-records under this finding aid were derived from an undated collection inventory found in one of
the collection's boxes. The inventory's file descriptions date many of the collection's material up to the "present," which
the archivist working on the collection in 2022 estimated to be circa 1995.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American literature -- 20th century -- Archival resources
American poetry -- 20th century -- Archival resources
American poetry -- 21st century -- Archival resources
Poetry -- Publishing -- Archival resources
Small presses -- United States -- Archival resources
Chapbooks
Correspondence
Manuscripts
Barth, R. L. (Robert L.) -- Archives
Robert L. Barth (Firm) -- Archives
Steele, Timothy (1948-01-22) -- Correspondence
Box 1
A Bibliography of the Published Works of Charles Gullans 1946-1986 by R. L. Barth and Susan Barth
1986
Box 1
A Bibliography of the Published Works of Turner Cassity 1952-1987 by R. L. Barth, Susan Barth and Charles Gullans
1988
Box 1
A Bibliography of the Published Works of Edgar Bowers 1948-1988 by Jeffrey Akard and Joshua Odell
1988
Box 1
A Bibliography of J. V. Cunningham 1931-1988 (Revised and Enlarged) by Charles Gullans
1988
Box 1, Folder 1
T. Sturge Moore - paste-ups, correspondence, and other material
Scope and Contents
Includes paste-ups for T. Sturge Moore: Twenty-three Poems (edited by David Middleton, published by Barth), correspondence
concerning the publicaiton, receipts, photogrpaphic negatives and a photograph of Moore. (Materials relating to T. Sturge
Moore: Twenty-three Poems, including a previously unpublished photograph of Moore (used in one of the press' editions).
Box 1, Folder 2
Turner Cassity - paste-ups
Scope and Contents
Includes paste-ups for Keys to Mayerling and The Book of Alna: A Narrative of the Mormon Wars, both published by Barth.
Box 1, Folder 3
X. J. (Joe) Kennedy - paste-ups, correspondence, and other material
1982-1995
Scope and Contents
Includes paste-ups and manuscript for French Leave, correspondence, receipts. (Approximately 65 letters and cards, 23 March
1982-present. Turner suggested some idea should be given of costs &c. Hence, also included herein are: 1. Original typescript
for French Leave. 2. Invoices for French Leave. 3. Master of flyer for French Leave. 4. Unbound file copy of French Leave,
o.p.)
Box 1, Folder 4
Timothy Steele - paste-ups, correspondence, and other material
1981-1995
Scope and Contents
Includes paste-ups for Nine Poems, correspondence, receipts and copyright application. (approximately 62 letters from Timothy
Steele, 26 May 1981- present. May missing items presented to Jack Hagstrom. Additional materials: 1. Some proofs. 2. Invoices
for Nine Poems and Short Subjects. 3.Paste-ups for both books).
Box 1, Folder 5
Charles Gullans - paste-ups, correspondence, and other material
1981-1995
Scope and Contents
Includes paste-ups for Local Winds, correspondence and receipts. (Approx. 30 letters from Charles Gullans, 9 May 1981- present.
Note: many of the letters are concerned with bibliography. 1. Some of the letters concern dates of composition of pomes. 2.
Invoices of CG books. 3. Paste-up for Local Winds. 4. Unbound file copy of Local Winds. Most of the letters in holograph.)
Box 1, Folder 6
Correspondence with various authors
Scope and Contents
From Humphrey Clucas, Raymond Oliver, Donald Stanford, Michael Vince, John Seller Anson, John Daniel, John Mole, John Stevens
Berry, G. E. Powell, Bradin Cormack, Jack Hagstrom, Francis Fike, Clive Wilmer, Peter Scupham, John Ridland, John Wilson,
Mary Hyde Eccles. Two pen and ink drawings. (The inevitable miscellaneous letters (from authors and others), probably an inscribed
poem or two, an original pen and ink drawing of John Anson by his wife (a San Francisco artist).
Box 1, Folder 7
Warren Hope poems in original typescript and photocopy
Box 2, Folder 2-3
R. L. Barth correspondence to Timothy Steele
1981-2000
2022-02-22
Individual paste-ups filed by author
Box 2
Anson, John S. Sessions and Surroundings: A Century of Roundels 1883-1983 Part 1
Box 2
Anson, John S. Sessions and Surroundings: A Century of Roundels 1883-1983 Part 2
Box 2
Beresford, Thomas Patrick. Front Range
Box 2
Bronson, Catharine Savage. Abiding Winter
Box 2
Campbell, Kathleen. Then and Now
Box 2
Doyle, Suzanne J. Domestic Passions
Box 2
Finlay, John. The Wide Porch and Other Poems
Box 2
Ribovich, John. The Rake to his Daughter
Box 2
Stanford, Don. The Cartesian Lawnmower and Other Poems
Box 2
Anson, John S. Sessions and Surroundings: A Century of Roundels 1883-1983 Part 1
Box 2
Finlay, John. The Wide Porch and Other Poems
Box 2
Oliver, Raymond. Other Times
Box 3, Folder 1
John Finlay typescripts
Scope and Contents
Includes typescripts of an essay The Killing of the Father, The Wide Porch and Other Poems, Between the Gulfs, Individual
Poems.
Box 3, Folder 2
John Finlay paste-ups and correspondence
Scope and Contents
Includes paste-ups for Between the Gulfs, correspondence, The Slaughter of the Innocents: An Essay on Gerald Manley Hopkins.
(Herein a number of letters from John Finlay, as well as manuscripts. John is dying, and I'm particularly anxious that this
material find a permanent home).
Box 3, Folder 3
Clive Wilmer correspondence
Box 3, Folder 4
Helen Trimpi / Pinkerton and Wesley Trimpi
Scope and Contents
Correspondence and typescript of Helen Pinkerton's "The Harvesters" and Other Poems on Works of Art. (Typescript for "The
Harvesters" and Other Works of Art-prefaced by a letter explicating the work and the arrangement of the poems)
Box 3, Folder 5
Janet Lewis Winters correspondence
Scope and Contents
Approximately 46 letters and cards from Janet Lewis, 3 Nov. 1981- present. Proof for "The Locket" included in The Music of
His History.
Box 3, Folder 6
Publications sent to Jeff Akard, Santa Barbara
Scope and Contents
Includes: In the Same Rivers by Francis Fike (2 copies); To the Lost City, or, The Sins of Nineveh by Turner Cassity; Corrected
Proofs of Walking the Line by Edgar Bowers; Uncorrected Proofs of Epigrams: or, Court Characters by Sir Charles Sedley; Mainstreaming:
Poems of Military Life
Robert L. Barth Press publications
Box 6
[Robert L. Barth Press publications added to the collection in 2022]
1985-2001
Box 4
Abbott, Porter: Cold Certitudes and Changes Beyond Measure. (signed, numbered, inscribed)
Box 4
Akard, Jeffrey. Local Facts. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Anson, John S. A Family Album. (inscribed, o. p. )
Box 4
Anson, John S. Sessions and Surroundings: A Century of Roundels 1883-1983 Part 1 (inscribed, o. p. )
Box 4
Anson, John S. Sessions and Surroundings: A Century of Roundels 1883-1983 Part 2 (inscribed, o. p.)
Box 4
Barth, R. L. December Comes: Some Versions of Martial. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Barth, R. L. Earthenware: XLVI epigrams from Martial. (2 editions: 1. signed, numbered/ 2. signed, not for sale, 2 copies)
Box 4
Barth, R. L. Just Rewards. (signed , not for sale, 2 copies)
Box 4
Barth, R. L. Looking for Peace. (1. Signed, first book published by press o.p. 2. Most of the 250 copies destroyed by dampness)
n.b. only one copy contained in package
Box 4
Barth, R. L. To Be Brief X Poems From The Latin. (1. Signed and numbered "#1 of 50"; o. p. ; given away as gifts 2. Signed,
"trade" copy of which 150-200 sold. The third stanza of the Vaughan trans. differs in the two copies)
Box 4
Barth, R. L. (ed.) Celebrations at Sixty for Turner Cassity.
Box 4
Barth, R. L. (ed. ) Celebrations at Sixty for Turner Cassity. (one of not many copies in self-wrappers, signed by ed. )
Box 4
Barth, R. L. and Turner Cassity. Lessons. (signed, lettered)
Box 4
Beresford, Thomas Patrick. A Father's Handbook. (o. p. )
Box 4
Beresford, Thomas Patrick. Front Range. (inscribed)
Box 4
Bowers, Edgar. Walking the Line. (3 states: 1. Unsigned, with error, no errata slip 2. Signed, numbered, with errata slip
3. Signed, numbered, with error corrected- see biblio. Bollingen winner, as T. C. says mention)
Box 4
Brosman, Catharine Savage. Abiding Winter. (inscribed, o.p)
Box 4
Bryant, Maijorie. Recall the Poppies. With drawings by Della Taylor Hoss.
Box 4
Cameron, Norman. Complete Poems. Hard and soft cover. N.B. catalogued in Special Collections.
Box 4
Campbell, Kathleen. Then and Now. (inscribed)
Box 4
Cassity, Turner. The Book of Alna, A Narrative of the Mormon Wars. (signed, numbered).
Box 4
Cassity, Turner. Keys to Mayerling. (signed, numbered, o.p.)
Box 4
Cassity, Turner, R. L. Barth, Warren Hope. Mainstreaming: Poenis of Military Life. (regular issue, special issue coming)
Box 4
Clucas, Humphrey. Against the Cold. (signed, numbered, inscribed)
Box 4
Connelly, William. Foothills. (2 copies: 1. Signed, lettered 2. Unsigned, numbered)
Box 4
Davis, Dick. Let them be Changed: Poems from the Persian. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Davis, Dick. What the Mind Wants. (o.p.)
Box 4
Dekin, Timothy. Carnival. (signed, numbered, o.p. )
Box 4
Doyle, Suzanne J. Domestic Passions. (signed, numbered, o.p. )
Box 4
Doyle, Suzanne J. Sweeter for the Dark. (1. Hardbound- 50 copies published, insribed, o. p. 2. Paperbound, inscribed, o.p)
N.B. Hardbound copy catalogued in Special Collections
Box 4
Fike, Francis. In the Same Rivers. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Fike, Francis. Underbrush. (2 copies: 1. Signed, lettered- W2, anomaly 2. Review copy)
Box 4
Finlay, John. Between the Gulfs. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Finlay, John. The Wide Porch and Other Poems. (signed, o.p. )
Box 4
Gullans, Charles. Local Winds. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Gullans, Charles. Under Red Skies. (signed, numbered, o. p. )
Box 4
Gullans, Charles. The Wrong Side of the Rug: Cross-Settings. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Gunn, Thom. Night Sweats. (3 copies: 1. Signed, numbered 2. Signed, h/s 3. Unsigned, second printing (no colophon, the most
often used format to denote second printing.
Box 4
Hayes, Ann. Progress, Dancing. (numbered, inscribed)
Box 4
Hope, Warren. An Unsuccessful Mission. (very few copies in miniature form)
Box 4
Hope, Warren. An Unsuccessful Mission. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Hope, Warren. Of Me a Grain. (first state- slightly smaller, containing one less poem than the second state; fewer copies
in this form)
Box 4
Hope, Warren. Of Me a Grain. (second state; adds "A Mystery")
Box 4
Hope, Warren. Recordings. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Johnson, Samuel. Sixteen Latin Poems. (ed. Barth)
Box 4
Kennedy, X. J. French Leave: Translations. (signed, numbered, o.p.)
Box 4
Lake, Paul. Catches. (2 copies: 1. Signed, numbered, inscribed 2. Signed, hie)
Box 4
Lewis, Janet. Late Offerings. (2 copies: 1. Signed, numbered 2. Signed, hie)
Box 4
Middleton, David. Reliquiae. (signed, numbered, inscribed (with holograph poem), o.p.
Box 4
Middleton, David. Under the Linden Tree. (signed, numbered, inscribed)
Box 4
Moore, T. Sturge. Medea, The Serpent, A Torrent. Edited by David Middleton.
Box 4
Moore, T. Sturge. Twenty-three Poems. Edited by David Middleton. (o.p.)
Box 4
Myers, D. G. A Patch of Weeds. (inscribed)
Box 4
Oliver, Raymond. Other Times. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Oliver, Raymond. Private Stock. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Oliver, Raymond. To Be Plain: Translations from Greek, Latin, French and Gennan. (paperback- hardbound o.p., separate) N.B.
Hardbound edition catalogued in Special Collections.
Box 4
Pinkerton, Helen, "The Harvesters" and Other Poem,s on Works of Art. (signed numbered, o.p., also a copy of 2d print)
Box 4
Ribovich, John. The Rake to his Daughter. (signed, numbered, inscribed, o.p.)
Box 4
Ridland, John. Another Easter. (signed, numbered, inscribed)
Box 4
Ridland, John. Elegy for my Aunt. (signed, numbered, o. p.)
Box 4
Schreiber, J an. (translator) Sketch of a Serpent and Other Poems by Paul Valery. (signed, numbered, inscribed).
Box 4
Smith, Maurine. The Keen Edge.
Box 4
Stall, Lindon. Responsoria. (signed, numbered, inscribed, o.p .)
Box 4
Stanford, Don. The Cartesian Lawnmower and Other Poems. (signed, numbered)
Box 4
Steele, Timothy. Nine Poems. (signed, numbered, o.p .)
Box 4
Steele, Timothy. Short Subjects.
Box 4
Steele, Timothy. The Music of His History: Poems for Charles Gullans on his Sixtieth Birthday.
Box 4
Stephens , Alan. Stubble Burning. (2 copies: 1 . Lone copy with errors in contents, less dedicatory poem- pulled an unpublished
in this form 2. Signed, numbered)
Box 4
Trimpi, Wesley. The Desert House. (signed, numbered, o. p. - plus a xerox, of which about 10 sent around)
Box 4
Vince, Michael. Gaining Definition. (signed, numbered, inscribed)
Box 4
Wilborn, William. Briefs. (inscribed)
Box 4
Wilmer, Clive. A Catalogue of Flowers. (signed, numbered, inscribed- my only copy; the book is rare)
Box 4
Wilson, John. Sloan. (signed, numbered, inscribed)
Box 4
Winters, Nancy. A Sad and Solemn Ground. (signed, numbered and inscribed)
Box 4
Young, James M. Measures. (signed, numbered, o. p.)
Box 5, Folder 1
Dick Davis correspondence
1981-1995
Scope and Contents
Approx. 40 letters from Dick Davis, 6. Nov 1981 - present. Some typescript poems: 1. A number of Persian translations (some
published in Celebrations at Sixty and Let Them, Be Changed) 2 Poem for Turner Cassity 3. Dedicatory poem to Johnson translations.
Box 5, Folder 2
Dick Davis proofs and paste-ups
Scope and Contents
Unbound file copy of What the Mind Wants, no proofs but a typed sheet of corrects and further comments on the edition, o.p.
pasteup for same. Corrected proofs for Let Them Be Changed
Box 5, Folder 3-4
Turner Cassity correspondence and receipts
1982-1995
Scope and Contents
Approx. 100 letters from Turner Cassity, 1 August 1982- present
Box 5, Folder 5
Thom Gunn correspondence
1983-1995
Scope and Contents
Approx. 11 letters and cards from Thom Gunn, 18 August 1983 - present. Note: much T. G. material given to Joshua Odell
Box 5, Folder 6
Edgar Bowers correspondence
1985-1995
Scope and Contents
Approx. 9 letters from Edgar Bowers, 8 October 1985 - present. Note: some materials given away. Xeroxes of some poems, including
the text of Walking the Line
Box 5, Folder 7
Alan Stephens correspondence
Scope and Contents
Approx. 15 letters and cards from A lan Stephens. Corrected and uncorrected proofs of Stubble Burning
Box 5, Folder 9
Michael Vince manuscript for Gaining Definition
Box 5, Folder 10
Miscellaneous. Includes: Poems of Yvor Winters from an anthology of Stanford Poets and copyright agreements.
Box 2, Folder 1
Outdated collection inventory from circa 1995 / Description of 2022 accrual to the collection by Timothy Steele and Victoria
Lee Steele
1995
2022
