Finding Aid for the E.F. Benson Papers, ca. 1899-1940

Processed by UCLA Library Special Collections staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé
UCLA Library Special Collections
UCLA Library Special Collections staff
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
© 1997
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Note

Arts and Humanities --Literature --English Literature Arts and Humanities --Literature --Fiction Arts and Humanities --Literature --Poetry

Finding Aid for the E.F. Benson Papers, ca. 1899-1940

Collection number: 177

UCLA Library Special Collections

UCLA Library Special Collections staff



Los Angeles, CA

Contact Information

  • UCLA Library Special Collections staff
  • UCLA Library Special Collections
  • Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
  • Box 951575
  • Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
  • Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time)
  • Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
  • URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
Processed by:
UCLA Library Special Collections staff, 1956
Encoded by:
Caroline Cubé
Online finding aid edited by:
Josh Fiala, October 2002
Text converted and initial container list EAD tagging by:
Apex Data Services
© 1997 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: E.F. Benson Papers,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1899-1940
Collection number: 177
Creator: Benson, E.F. (Edward Frederic), 1867-1940
Extent: 9 boxes (4.5 linear ft.)
Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Abstract: E.F. Benson (1867-1940) wrote more than 75 published works, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The collection consists of holograph drafts of three of Benson's novels, files of publisher's statements, contracts, letters and clippings.
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.
Language: English.

Administrative 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.

Restrictions on Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.

Additional Physical Form Available

A copy of the original version of this online finding aid is available at the UCLA Library Special Collections for in-house consultation and may be obtained for a fee. Please contact:
  • Public Services Division
  • UCLA Library Special Collections
  • Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
  • Box 951575
  • Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
  • Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time)
  • Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

  • G.F. Sims, purchase, 1956.
  • Gift of Martin D. Lister, 1962.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], E.F. Benson Papers (Collection 177). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 709337 

Biography

Born July 24, 1867 at Wellington College, Shropshire, England; wrote more than 75 published works, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; best known for his Mapp and Lucia novels; also wrote mystery and supernatural tales, as well as biographies such as King Edward VII: an appreciation and Queen Victoria's daughters; died February 29, 1940.

Scope and Content

Holograph drafts of three of Benson's novels, including Lucia in London, and 95 short stories, essays and poems. Also files of publisher's statements, contracts, letters and clippings.

Organization and Arrangement

Arranged in the following series:
  1. Drafts of novels and short stories (Boxes 1-6).
  2. Plays, scenarios (Boxes 6-7).
  3. Essays, poems (Box 7).
  4. Correspondence, contracts, portraits (Boxes 8-9).

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Benson, E.F. (Edward Frederic), 1867-1940--Archives.
Authors, English--20th century--Archival resources.
Benson, E.F. (Edward Frederic), 1867-1940-- Lucia in London.


 

Notebooks, Dated

Box 1, Folder 1

[Notebook], 1906.

Physical Description: 70pp. in blue notebook, remainder of pages blank or with corrections. 21 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Dated on first page. Text begins, My desire is to write a great-beautiful book.... Short story begins on next page. Text begins, The English colony at Alatin comprised a number of [word illegibile] folk..., 37pp. Speech, 6pp., begins, Mr. Mayor, Aldermen, and councillors of Rye.... Following are reminisces (?). Text begins, To start on a definite date....
Box 1, Folder 2

[Notebook, untitled], [January 24, 1920].

Physical Description: 47pp. in black notebook, balance of pages blank. 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Several pages torn out. Date at end of text. It went through edition after edition and the raging and the clamour of court only helped to sell it...
Box 1, Folders 3-4

Novel (unnamed), 1924.

Physical Description: 495pp. in two notebooks, 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Pagination in first notebook is by leaves, with pp.1-190 from front to back, and pp.191-364 from back to front, upside-down. In second notebook, pp.365-471 from front to back and pp.472-495 from back to front, rightside-up. List of characters at beginning: Elizabeth Langdon, Walter [Langdon], Tony, etc.
Box 1, Folders 5-7

Lucia in London[November 27, 1925-January 14, 1926].

Physical Description: 369pp., in three notebooks. 25 cm, holograph.
Physical Description: First two notebooks with yellow cover, third with blue cover.
Box 1, Folder 8

[Notebook, untitled], [September 1932].

Physical Description: 64pp., remainder of notebook blank. 20 cm, holograph, purple cover.

Scope and Content Note

Continuation from another notebook. Starts with page 468,..would never do, while her child was yet unweaned. Dennis, had said sweetly.... At end: September 15, 1932.
Box 1, Folder 9

[Notebook, untitled], [December 1, 1936].

Physical Description: 100pp. in blue notebook, balance of pages blank. 20 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Date 1870 at beginning of text, author's name and address on page preceding. First lines of text: The re-opening of Bolingbroke House was obviously an event of the greatest social possibilities.... Date of writing at end of text.
Box 1, Folder 10

The Unwanted [December 27, 1936].

Physical Description: 117pp. in red Exercise-book. Remainder of pages blank or with corrections. 20 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Miss Dorothy Vincent put her Pekinese dog on a lead...
Box 1, Folder 11

Portrait of an English Nobleman, 1929. [February 16, 1937].

Physical Description: 142pp. in red Exercise-book, remainder of pages blank or with corrections. 20 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

The bells for Sunday morning service...
 

Notebooks, Undated

Box 2, Folder 12

Boodle in books [and] Demoniacal possession.

Physical Description: 36pp. and 43pp. In blue Exercise-book, remainder of pages blank or with corrections, some torn out. 20 cm, holograph.
Box 2, Folder 13

Demoniacal possession.

Physical Description: 49pp., in black notebook, remainder of pages blank, several pages torn out. 20 cm, holograph.

Note

See preceding item for first draft.
Box 2, Folder 14

Janet (1840).

Physical Description: 95pp. in light grey notebook, remainder of book blank or with corrections. 20 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Agnes and Julia Taylor, spinster sisters of the deceased....
Box 2, Folder 15

Monkeys.

Physical Description: 41 numbered pages, balance of book unnumbered. 21 cm, holograph.
Physical Description: Name and address of author on front page.
Box 2, Folder 16

Short stories: the music haters.

Physical Description: 9pp. in red copy book, balance of book blank. 17 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

At back of notebook [upside-down] August 30 [no year] Books. A list of books read by Benson (?).
Box 2, Folder 17

The Oriolists.

Physical Description: 44pp., remainder of notebook with corrections or blank. In spatter-colored notebook. 23 cm., holograph.
Physical Description: On inside front cover, (i) The Oriolists/ (ii) The Satyr's sandals.
Box 2, Folder 18

[Notebook, untitled].

Physical Description: 23pp., remainder of notebook blank or with corrections. 20 cm. Black-green cover. Holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, On this hot morning of early June, Philip Mordaunt came down the uncarpeted stairs of his villa...
Box 2, Folder 19

[Notebook, untitled].

Physical Description: 36pp. and 4pp., balance of book unnumbered, many pages torn out. 22 cm., holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Apparently an essay. Text begins, The history of art is a history of revolts...
 

Fiction, Dated

Box 2, Folder 20

Dr. Drage's dilemma [1899?].

Physical Description: 16pp. 26 cm, typescript.

Scope and Content Note

Label of A.P. Watt and Son (Literary agent?) and date stamp of this firm. Text begins, The early winter evening was closing rapidly in....
Box 2, Folder 21

The garden gate [March 6, 1911]

Physical Description: 31pp. 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Date onlast page. Text begins, Miss Elizabeth Courtney was delightfully young...
Box 2, Folder 22

The Pavilion, Part 2. [April 21, 1914]

Physical Description: 45pp., 23 cm, holograph, pencil.

Scope and Content Note

With dated envelope. Text. begins, All that was in the year of grace 1884...
Box 3, Folder 23

[Novel, untitled] August 13, 1916-November 3, 1916.

Physical Description: Approximately 530pp. (some lacking?) 24 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins: Mr. Keeling had expected...
Box 3, Folder 24

Across the stream[May 1917].

Physical Description: 580pp. (irregular pagination). 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Published 1919. Text begins: Certain scenes, certain pictures of his very [early years...
Box 4, Folder 25

The Face [December 10, 1923].

Physical Description: 21pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Hutchinson's Magazine and date stamped on back.
 

Fiction, Undated

Box 4, Folder 26

Aftermath.

Physical Description: 17pp., holograph, 26 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Author's signature at end. Text begins, Whether the morning was fine or wet...
Box 4, Folder 27

And no bird sings.

Physical Description: 23pp., 26cm, holograph manuscript.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, The red chimneys of the house for which I was bound...
Box 4, Folder 28

The artfulness of Rex.

Physical Description: 14pp., 26cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Rex Ellwood was quite aware, when he relit his pipe...
Box 4, Folder 29

Atmospherics.

Physical Description: 7pp., 26.5 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, There is nothing more delightful to the thoroughly unscientific mind than...
Box 4, Folder 30

The bachelors.

Physical Description: 18pp., 26 cm, typescript.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, It had been a shattering blow to those two...
Box 4, Folder 31

The Barsham letters.

Physical Description: 25pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

[By E.F. Benson, pencilled in on page 1]. Text begins, With regard to the main pursuit...
Box 4, Folder 32

The bath-chair.

Physical Description: 27pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Edmund Faraday, at the age of fifty, had every reason to be satisfied...
Box 4, Folder 33

The bed by the window. Prologue.

Physical Description: 20pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Pages of two sizes (23 and 26 cm). Text begins, My friend Leniel Bailey understands the works of Mr. Einstein...
Box 4, Folder 34

Billy comes through.

Physical Description: 25pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Mrs. Dorothy Yates was seated in front of her typewriter...
Box 4, Folder 35

Boxing night.

Physical Description: 20 & 29pp., 26 cm, holograph & typescript.copy of same. 2 pieces.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Hugh Grainger was spending Christmas with us...
Box 4, Folder 36

Buntingford jugs.

Physical Description: 22pp., 26 cm., holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Mrs. Aylwin was having tea very comfortably [?] all by herself...
Box 4, Folder 37

By Subtlety.

Physical Description: 25pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, One of the most important commandments of the decalogue...
Box 4, Folder 38

The call of the curlen.

Physical Description: 7pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, The estuary of the river Orme, the marshy lands bordering it...
Box 4, Folder 39

The caricature.

Physical Description: 17 & 24pp., holograph mss & typescript. 26cm. 2 pieces.

Scope and Content Note

Ronald Anstruther's career, a wonderfully lucrative one...
Box 4, Folder 40

Caterpillars.

Physical Description: 21pp., 23 cm. holograph.

Scope and Content Note

On upper right-hand corner of page 1: 3500 words. Text begins, I saw a month or two ago...
Box 4, Folder 41

Complementary souls.

Physical Description: 21pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, It was not in the least because Walter Steeples and his wife...
Box 4, Folder 42

Complete rest.

Physical Description: 7pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Unfinished story. Text begins, Cruel...that was the only epithet for it...
Box 4, Folder 43

The corner-house.

Physical Description: 26pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Firham-by-Sea had long been known to Tim Pyrley and myself...
Box 4, Folder 44

The dance.

Physical Description: 19pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Philip Hope had been watching with little neighing giggles...
Box 4, Folder 45

The death drawer.

Physical Description: 39pp., fragment, 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, On the olive-clad hill-side just outside Sorrento...
Box 4, Folder 46

The deep water.

Physical Description: 23pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, My friend Louis Canington with whom I was to spend a liberal week-end...
Box 4, Folder 47

The desecrated Hermes.

Physical Description: 22pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Edward Mackor [?] was sitting up for his wife to come home...
Box 4, Folder 48

The disappearance of Jacob Conifer.

Physical Description: 15pp., on foolscap, 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Memories nowadays are short, with rapid succession of journalistic excitement...
Box 4, Folder 49

Dives & Lazarus.

Physical Description: 21pp., 21 cm, holograph manuscript.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Dives was an extremely wealthy English banker in Naples...
Box 5, Folder 50

Doggies.

Physical Description: 16pp. 26 cm, holograph

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, It had really been difficult to know what to do with this.
Box 5, Folder 51

The Dorothy Crystal Syndicate.

Physical Description: 20pp., 26cm, holograph

Scope and Content Note

It was a fine moment when the editor of that very largely circulated magazine...
Box 5, Folder 52

The empty house.

Physical Description: 20pp., 26cm, holograph

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, It had been a disastrous afternoon; rain had streamed incessantly
Box 5, Folder 53

The Exposure of Pamela.

Physical Description: 25pp., 26 cm, holograph

Scope and Content Note

On first page in upper left hand corner 2 in pencil. Text begins Pamela Pardyn (?) was bowling along...
Box 5, Folder 54

The Fall of Augusta.

Physical Description: 12pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Augusta Plaice - such was her incredible name...
Box 5, Folder 55

Fine feathers.

Physical Description: 22pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Mr. & Mrs. Altham sat open-mouthed and staring at each other...
Box 5, Folder 56

The guardian angel.

Physical Description: 17pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Mrs. Attwood was an exceedingly good-natured woman...
Box 5, Folder 57

The godmother.

Physical Description: 25pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, There can be no doubt that Mrs. Shuttlewak had beautiful bones...
Box 5, Folder 58

The invincible.

Physical Description: 21 and 30pp., 26 cm. holograph and typescript of same with holograph corrections. 2 pieces.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, He and she alike were on the outer rim of the giddy wheel.
Box 5, Folder 59

In the dark.

Physical Description: 22pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Reginald Case, newly promoted to the rank of captain...
Box 5, Folder 60

The Jamboree.

Physical Description: 18pp., 26 cm, holograph

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Caroline Lady Camber took it almost as personal insult...
Box 5, Folder 61

Jill's golf.

Physical Description: 10pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Jill much preferred that the weather...
Box 5, Folder 62

Julia's cottage.

Physical Description: 25pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, For many years before this fatal tendency in Julia Hind...
Box 5, Folder 63

Krishna and the Corona.

Physical Description: 5pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, The oily consistence of eternity had begun...
Box 5, Folder 64

Lady Massington's redemption.

Physical Description: 57pp., 26 cm, typescript, holograph corrections.

Scope and Content Note

Typescript title Lady Massington's resurrection, the last word crossed out and redemtion written by hand.
Text begins, The tide of carriages in St. James' Street had just turned...
Box 5, Folder 65

The letters of Anthony Noble. Short Story.

Physical Description: 29pp., 24 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins It was no doubt a continuation of his surpreme musical gifts...
Box 5, Folder 66

The light in the garden.

Physical Description: 21pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, The house and the dozen acres of garden...
Box 5, Folder 67

The lovers.

Physical Description: 20 and 28pp., 26cm. holograph and typescript of same. 2 pieces.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Stephen Merriall, unable to get a taxi...
Box 5, Folder 63

A maternal comedy.

Physical Description: 13pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Mrs. Vine rose from her comfortable seat in front of the fire...
Box 5, Folder 69

The miser.

Physical Description: 25pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Dock Latimer, at the age of twelve...
Box 5, Folder 70

Mr. Carew's game of croquet.

Physical Description: 11pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, The air was laden with the scent of summer...
Box 5, Folder 71

Mrs. Grainger.

Physical Description: 22pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, The village of Aldwyn, laying at the base of the Dorset Downs.
Box 5, Folder 72

The moth and the magnete.

Physical Description: 5pp., 26 cm, holograph, signed at end.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Even the most high-browed and lofty intellects....
Box 5, Folder 73

Mount Street.

Physical Description: 12pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Elizabeth Langton, as her custom was...
Box 5, Folder 74

No. 12.

Physical Description: 13 pages, 13 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, In the course of many shiftings and pitchings of my tent...
Box 5, Folder 75

The obituary notice. A short story.

Physical Description: 12 and 13pp., 26 cm, holograph and typescript of same, 2 pieces.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, The morning after Robert Holden's funeral Arnold Bailey received a note...
Box 5, Folder 76

The old Bligh.

Physical Description: 33pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, It was about half-past four in the afternoon...
Box 5, Folder 77

The parable party.

Physical Description: 25pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Marie Lavering (?) was intending to give (what she called)...
Box 6, Folder 78

The passenger.

Physical Description: 17pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, On a certain Tuesday night, during last October...
Box 6, Folder 79

Pocksky.

Physical Description: 7pp., 26 cm, typescript.

Scope and Content Note

Stamped Mrs. Gill, Typewriting Office... on back of last page.
Text begins, Miss Alma Martin (who owes her name to the fact...
Box 6, Folder 80

The poet.

Physical Description: 23pp., 27 cm, typescript.

Scope and Content Note

With label of literary agent, A.P. Watt & Son, on title page. Text begins, The English colony in the island of Alatri... FOR DRAFT OF SAME STORY SEE ITEM 11 of THIS REGISTER.
Box 6, Folder 81

Professor Burnaby's discovery.

Physical Description: 27pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, The Hotel Pi-netein ab El Nefer on the Nile...
Box 6, Folder 82

The Queen of the Spa.

Physical Description: 13pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Miss Jessica Winthrop was taking her tea...
Box 6, Folder 83

The red house.

Physical Description: 26pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Unfinished (?) Text begins Hugh Fairfax had been accustomed for the last six or ten years...
Box 6, Folder 84

The release. A short story.

Physical Description: 22pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, About half past ten on this broiling Saturday morning...
Box 6, Folder 85

Sir Roger Coverly.

Physical Description: 16pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Considering that it was Christmas eve the weather was almost pretentious...
Box 6, Folder 86

To account rendered.

Physical Description: 21pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Even in those first intoxicating days of success...
Box 6, Folder 87

The top landing.

Physical Description: 11pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, I had bought that afternoon from a twopenny bookstall...
Box 6, Folder 88

The washing of Lady Graeme's face.

Physical Description: 12pp., 21 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Lady Graeme had been for many years...
Box 6, Folder 89

A wife to the rescue.

Physical Description: 10pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Elizabeth had always known that this would happen...
Box 6, Folder 90

The woman in the veil.

Physical Description: 16pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, It was a joyful spectacle, as the great tram...
Box 6, Folder 91

[Novel, untitled] (Unfinished).

Physical Description: Approx. 200pp., typescript and carbon, 10pp. in holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, On the 11th of October 1912 I came down the staircase...
Box 6, Folder 92

[Novel, fragment of draft, untitled].

Physical Description: Unnumbered. 26 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Geoffrey had sent to Margaret a spare set of his proofs...
Box 6, Folder 93

[Fragments].

Physical Description: Irregularly numbered, about 200pp. 26 cm. holograph.
 

Plays******** Scenarios

Box 6, Folder 94

Air. (Scenario).

Physical Description: 3pp. and 9pp. 26 cm. holograph draft and later version. 2 pieces.
Box 6, Folder 95

Bridge fiend [The Bridgers] (a fragment).

Physical Description: 15pp. 26cm, holograph.
Box 7, Folder 96

Dinner for eight. Comedy in one act.

Physical Description: 28pp., 26cm, holograph.
Box 7, Folder 97

The earthquake- a dialogue.

Physical Description: 27pp., 25 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Original title crossed out Defective nature.
Box 7, Folder 98

The Sexton. A play in one act.

Physical Description: 26pp. holograph and 33pp. typescript of same. 2 pieces.

Scope and Content Note

Holograph draft in exercise book, several pages torn out. Play followed by one page of manuscript draft and one page draft for Benson's will, dated August 1939.

Additional Note

XX W ill
 

Essays

Box 7, Folder 99

By the North Sea.

Physical Description: 20pp., 26 cm, (irregularly numbered) holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, When I strolled down after breakfast to the Quay
Box 7, Folder 100

A criticism on critics.

Physical Description: 78pp., 26cm, typescript.

Scope and Content Note

Text begins, Oscar Wilde never wrote a more amusing piece...
Box 7, Folder 101

Games.

Physical Description: 12pp., 26 cm, typescript.

Scope and Content Note

There are probably but few of us so fortunately...
Box 7, Folder 102

The inventions of the nineties (Looking backward).

Physical Description: 14pp., 26 cm, typescript.

Scope and Content Note

Notation on title page in pencil 4 copies Looking backward, at bottom 7 pm, Feb. 25th (n.d.).
Box 7, Folder 103

The modern novel.

Physical Description: 24pp., holograph and 29pp. typescript of same. 26 cm, 2 pieces.

Scope and Content Note

The position of the critic of contemporary fiction...
Box 7, Folder 104

Queen Mary.

Physical Description: 17pp., holograph and 7pp. typescript of same. 26 cm, 2 pieces.

Scope and Content Note

Cover has note in different hand M.S.S. by E.F.B. (I have found no evidence as to whether it has been published or not) H.M.D.
Box 7, Folder 105

Some post-war aspects of English life.

Physical Description: 30pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Signed at end. Text begins, When any catastrophe, accidental or deliberately provoked, occurs...
Box 7, Folder 106

Speech given by E.F.B. at the opening of the shelter he presented to the town,

Physical Description: 4pp., 26 cm, holograph.
Box 7, Folder 107

Two types.

Physical Description: 10pp., 26 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Signed at end. Text begins, The proverb which tells us that it takes all sorts...
Box 7, Folder 108

The technique of spook-stories.

Physical Description: 7pp., 26 cm, pencil and ink holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Signed at end.
Box 7, Folder 109

Victorian biography and afterwards.

Physical Description: 6pp., 23 cm., holograph.

Scope and Content Note

First page cut in two.
 

Poems

Box 7, Folder 110

Cenacolo (S Giorgio Maggiore) Venice, 1908.

Physical Description: 7pp. & 6pp., draft and holograph transcript (in different hand (?).
Box 7, Folder 111

Dawn in the Garden (June 16, 1910).

Physical Description: 9pp., holograph and 7pp. typescript of same, with holograph corrections. 2 pieces.

Scope and Content Note

Subtitle: Third Ballade of Chopin.
Box 7, Folder 112

Summer in Venice (A Venetian Garden)

Physical Description: 3 versions, holograph in different hand (?) 3 pieces in folder.
Box 7, Folder 113

The other side of the question.

Physical Description: 2pp., 23 cm, holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Subtitle With congratulations to William Wadsworth.
Box 7, Folder 114

Poems, Fragments, shorter poems ecc. 1910- and n.d.

Physical Description: 12 (?) pieces. holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Venetian Garden see Summer in Venice.
 

Translation

Box 7, Folder 115

Annunzio, Gabriele d' Watchers by the dead. Translated from La Veglia funebre... by E.F. Benson.

Physical Description: 18pp. 26cm, typescript with holograph corrections.
 

Correspondence, Contracts, etc.

 

Benson, Edward Frederic

Box 8, Folder 116

Contracts and agreements with publishers, accounts rendered, royaly statements, 1929-1938.

Physical Description: 22 pieces in folder.
 

Brandt & Brandt, Firm, Literary Agents

Box 8, Folder 117

Letters to Benson, 1932-1939.

Physical Description: 26 pieces in folder.
 

Longmans, Green & Company, Firm, Publishers

Box 8, Folder 118

Royalty statements and correspondents, 1930-1939.

Physical Description: 1 folder.
 

Watt, A.P. & Son, Firm, (Literary Agent?)

Box 8, Folder 119

Letters to Benson, 1927-1940.

Physical Description: 19 pieces in folder.
 

Benson, Edward Frederic

Box 8, Folder 120

Letters to Benson from various correspondents, 1913-1939.

Physical Description: 17 pieces in folder
 

Benson, Edward Frederic

Box 8, Folder 121

Letters from Benson to various correspondents, (drafts(?) 1931-1938.

Physical Description: Holograph. 7 pieces.
Box 8, Folder 122

Clippings and printed short stories clipped from magazines. 1924-1936.

Physical Description: 1 folder.
 

Benson, Arthur Christopher

 

Letters to Arthur Christopher Benson from Gordon (G?) Wordsworth re purchase of Mount Scawfell, September 1924-February 1925.

Physical Description: 22 holograph letters, 1 typescript letter

Scope and Content Note

Together with copies in Wordsworth's hand of letters from H.S. Watson, one letter from John Bailey and one from Birkett (attorney).

Note

Removed to Arthur Christopher Benson Collection 656.
 

Benson, Edward Frederic, 1867-1940

Box 8, Folder 123

1. Letter, signed, to Alphonse James Albert Symons. London, December 8, 1936.

Physical Description: 1p., holograph.
Box 8, Folder 123

2. Postcard, signed, to Alphonse James Albert Symons. London, December 28, 1930.

Physical Description: 1p., holograph.

Note

[ Picture on postcard is of E.F. Benson sitting in his garden.].

Note

2 items [removed from E.F. Benson's The Kaiser and English relations, London, 1936. PR4099 B6k].

Scope and Content Note

The letter presents A.J.A. Symons with a copy of The Kaiser and English relations, and the postcard conveys good wishes for Xmas and the New Year.
  • 1. Benson, Edward Frederic, 1867-1940--Portrait.
  • I. Symons, Alphonse James Albert, 1900-1941.
 

3. Letter, signed, to Morris Colles. London, June 1899.

Physical Description: 3pp., holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Colles was a literary agent.
  • I. Colles, William Morris, 1855-1926.

Note

Removed to William Morris Colles Papers, Collection 1116.
Box 8, Folder 124

4. Letters to Mrs. Gill. v.p., 1894-1932.

Physical Description: 87 items. Holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Mrs. Gill was Benson's typist. These are leters of instruction concerning the manuscripts he wanted typed.
Box 8, Folder 123

[5.] Letter to Mrs. Arkwright. Lamb House, Rye, Sussex, September 27, 1932.

Physical Description: 2pp. Holograph.
Folder 125, Box 9

The Challoners. n.p., February 18-March 10, 1904.

Physical Description: 3 vols. 31.5 cm. Holograph.

Scope and Content Note

Bound in marbled boards with red cloth spines. First published by Heinemann, London, 1904. Gift of Lt. Col. Martin D. Lister, October 1962.
Folder 126, Box 9

Pencil portraits of E.F. Benson's mother and father, Mary Sidgwick Benson and Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury. n.p., 1891 and 1899.

Physical Description: 2 items.

Scope and Content Note

Reproduced in E.F. Benson's Our family affairs, pp.178 and 214.
  • 1. Benson, Edward White, abp. of Canterbury, 1829-1896--Portrait.
  • 2. Benson, Mary (Sidgwick) 1841-1918--Portrait.
Folder 127, Box 9

Miscellaneous geneological and unidentified manuscript material relating to the Benson family.

Physical Description: 30 items.

Scope and Content Note

  • 1. Benson family.
Folder 128, Box 9

Copies of family documents.

Physical Description: 7 items.

Scope and Content Note

  • 1. Benson family.
Folder 129, Box 9

Letters to various persons. v.p., v.d.

Physical Description: 5 items, plus 1 holograph piece of ephemera.