Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Annie Thomas Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1858-1907,
Date (bulk): bulk 1876-79
Collection number: 2081
Creator: Thomas, Annie, 1838-1918
Extent: 2 boxes (1 linear ft.)
Abstract: Annie Thomas (1838-1918) produced 48 books, published widely in magazines, and attempted unsuccessfully to found a magazine
titled
Ours (1878). The collection consists of over 200 letters from more than 150 correspondents when Thomas was attempting to recruit
contributors for her magazine. Many popular novelists of the day are represented. The collection also contains 24 unidentified
items, including one fragment and one photograph.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access
Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library
Special Collections for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Annie Thomas Papers (Collection 2081). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Annie Thomas was born in 1838 in Alderborough, Suffolk, England; began writing when in financial difficulties after the death
of her father in 1856; produced 48 books, most of them popular novels and collections of stories; married the Reverend Pender
Hodge Cudlip; published widely in magazines; attempted unsuccessfully to found a magazine titled
Ours in 1878; died November 24, 1918.
Biographical Narrative
Annie Cudlip was a prolific, if minor, English Novelist of the nineteenth century. She produced 48 books, most of them popular
novels and collections of stories. A representative decade (the 1860's) of her work reveals her main subjects: the demerits
of men, bachelors, fallen women, feminine beauty, marriage and divorce, domesticity and motherhood. She published widely in
the magazines of the day, and attempted to start one of her own, "in 1878, but did not succeed.
Very little biographical information is available. She is not listed in the DNB or in Kunitz's
British Authors of the Nineteenth Century. Studies concerned with British women novelists or nineteenth century British fiction fail to mention her. What is known
about her is gained only by a study of her works and available manuscript material.
The Cudlip collection consists almost entirely of correspondence. The letters of more than 150 individuals, covering the period
1858-1907, number over 200 items. The bulk of the correspondence occurs between 1875 and 1879, when Annie Cudlip was attempting
to recruit contributors for her magazine. Most if these letters are in response to her solicitation of manuscripts.
Significant correspondents include literary figures such as Shirley Brooks, Lady Isabel Burton, Amelia Edwards, James Hogg,
Joseph Le Fanu, G.H. Lewes (writing for George Eliot) and Mary Cliphant. Most of the significant popular novelists of the
day are represented. The collection is arranged alphabetically by correspondents and each correspondent has a folder. The
form for entry for items under each correspondent in the register is by number of items, number of leaves, place, and date,
subarranged chronologically. The register of correspondents serves as a name index to the collection. Starred entries in the
register indicate and added entry for correspondent in the Numbered Collection Catalog.
Cudlip material already in the Department of Special Collections includes only a small number of letters. The addition of
this material provides an opportunity for detailed study, not only of Mrs. Cudlip, but of her literary correspondents.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of over 200 letters from more than 150 correspondents when Thomas was attempting to recruit contributors
for her magazine. Many popular novelists of the day are represented, including Shirley Brooks, Lady Isabel Burton, Amelia
Edwards, James Hogg, Joseph Le Fanu, G.H. Lewes (writing for George Eliot), and Mary Oliphant. The collection also contains
24 unidentified items, including one fragment and one photograph.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Thomas, Annie, 1838-1918--Archives.
Women novelists, English 19th century--Archival resources.
Authors, English 19th century--Archival resources.
Authors, English 19th century--Correspondence.