Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890.
- Abstract:
- This collection contains personal, official, business, and social correspondence and manuscripts of British explorer and writer Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) and his wife, Lady Isabel Burton (1831-1896), chiefly covering the period of Burton's consulship in Trieste and Lady Burton's life after her husband's death.
- Extent:
- 65.45 Linear Feet (59 boxes)
- Language:
- Significant languages represented other than English: French, Spanish, Italian, German, Arabic, Portuguese.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Sir Richard Francis Burton Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection contains personal, official, business, and social correspondence and manuscripts of British explorer and writer Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) and his wife, Lady Isabel Burton (1831-1896), chiefly covering the period of Burton's consulship in Trieste and Lady Burton's life after her husband's death. The collection contains very little early material for Richard and Isabel Burton, but it does include almost all of Burton's work on Camoens, in various drafts over a number of years. There is also a large group of letters between Isabel Burton and Leonard C. Smithers, and other publishers, editors, and lawyers which detail the, sometimes torturous, publication process in late nineteenth-century England. The collection was assembled by Edwards H. Metcalf over more than thirty years.
The papers consist of the following series:
1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-21). The manuscripts include a selection of Burton's literary works, mainly from his later writing career. Included in this series are: travel journals, essays, a few poems, and his translation of Ariosto…Roland the Rageful, his Camoens notes and translations, and his translation of Ladislaus Magyar. This series also includes manuscripts by other authors, most notably by Isabel Burton, Edward Rehatsek, Leonard C. Smithers, and Henry Yule.
2. Correspondence (Boxes 22-46). This series includes Burton's personal letters, business letters related to gold mining enterprises, and letters related to his writing; also included are a small number of Isabel Burton's personal letters and a large number of letters with various publishers, booksellers, and lawyers concerning the publication of Burton's works. This series also includes letters from notable people in the fields of exploration and publishing: Verney Lovett Cameron, Charles George Gordon, William Forsell Kirby, and Leonard C. Smithers.
3. Other Scholars Material (Boxes 47-50). This series includes mostly research material and correspondence dealing with Apuleius‟ "Golden Ass," the publication of erotic literature, and various translation projects by Alfred Richard Allinson, Charles A. Groves, John Payne, Theodore Watts-Dunton, and Thomas Wright.
4. Extra Oversize Material (Box 51). Included in this series is a portrait proof engraving of Richard Burton by Frederic Leighton; also, 21 hand-drawn maps of Midian, many with Arabic captions and autograph notes by Burton.
5. Other Scholars Material (Boxes 52-55). This series includes research and manuscript material for Fawn Brodie, including her Burton biography, The Devil Drives.
6. Ephemera (Boxes 56-59). Box 56 contains invoices, printed material, photographs, and transcriptions (1873-1896); box 57 contains book reviews, Mary S. Lovell material, photocopies, and printed material (1964-2000); box 58 contains photocopies; and box 59 contains prints and ephemera.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Richard Francis Burton was born March 19, 1821, at Torquay; he was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, but did not take a degree. He became a noted linguist, writer, translator and explorer; he is probably best known for his translations of the works of The Arabian Nights and The Kama Sutra, as well as his travels in Africa, the Middle East, South America and Iceland. Isabel Arundell was born March 20, 1831, in London, of an old, established Roman Catholic family. In 1861, after an eleven-year courtship, Richard and Isabel were married, and from that time she accompanied Burton on his travels, and became his amanuensis and editor. Isabel Burton also used her family connections to help further Burton's career in the Foreign Office. Besides serving as Burton's editor, Isabel published a number of works, mainly travel volumes and an autobiography. Burton was given his final consulate at Trieste in 1873, and was knighted in 1886; after years of ill-health, he suffered a heart attack and died on October 19, 1890. Isabel Burton returned to England to oversee the literary estate of her husband; she died on March 22, 1896, from complications of ovarian cancer. Edwards Huntington Metcalf , grandson of Henry E. Huntington. An avid collector, Edwards H. Metcalf served on the Board of Overseers of the Huntington Library from 1978 until his death in 2001.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Edwards H. Metcalf, October 1992.
- Custodial history:
-
The bulk of the collection was acquired by Mr. Metcalf at two Sotheby's sales, in 1963 and 1965, featured the property of R.J.R. Arundell who had inhertined them from Lady Burton. Smaller groups and individual items came from various booksellers in Britain and the United States, including Spink & Son, Ltd, Maggs Brothers, David Bickersteth, Howard S. Mott, III, John Shroeder, Argus Bookshop, David Magee Bookshop, Bennett & Marshall, Bertram Rota, and others. The collection of papers of A.R. Allinson was purchased from Robert W. Mann in 1979.
- Processing information:
-
1. The collection was cataloged in 2005, as the Edwards H. Metcalf Manuscript Collection of Sir Richard Francis Burton; in 2008, it was decided to recatalog the collection as the Sir Richard Francis Burton Papers. Please consult the appendix, for a list of original RFB call numbers and the current call numbers.
2. Richard and Isabel Burton's autograph notes appear on manuscripts and letters throughout the collection. Unless substantive, it was decided not to index each instance separately.
3. There are references to Richard and Isabel Burton throughout the collection; only substantive references and author/title references for their works have been subject indexed.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged in the following series: 1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-21); 2. Correspondence (Boxes 22-46); 3. Other Scholars' Material (Boxes 47-50); 4. Extra Oversize Material (Box 51); Other Scholars' Material (Boxes 52-55); 6. Ephemera (Boxes 56-59).
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Arabian nights -- Translations into English
Arabists -- Great Britain -- Correspondence
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Archives
Authors and publishers -- Great Britain -- Correspondence
Catholic women -- Great Britain -- Archives
Erotic literature -- Publishing -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Explorers -- Great Britain -- Archives
Gold mines and mining -- Arabian Peninsula
Gold mines and mining -- Ghana
Linguists -- Great Britain
Poets, British
Portuguese language -- Study and teaching -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Translators -- Great Britain -- Archives
Travelers' writings, English
Women authors, English -- 19th century -- Archives
Business letters -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Ephemera -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Manuscripts -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Maps -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Poems -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Personal papers -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Translations -- Great Britain -- 19th century - Names:
- Great Britain. Consulate (Trieste, Italy)
Ariosto, Lodovico, 1474-1533 Orlando furioso -- Translations into English
Brodie, Fawn McKay, 1915- Devil drives
Camões, LuÃs de, 1524?-1580 -- Translations into English
Magyar, László, 1818-1864 Reisen in Süd-Afrika in den Jahren 1849 bis 1857 -- Translations into English
Ariosto, Lodovico, 1474-1533 Orlando furioso
Apuleius. Metamorphosis
Burton, Isabel, Lady, 1831-1896
Cameron, Verney Lovett
Camões, LuÃs de, 1524?-1580
Carrington, Charles, 1867-1921, correspondent
Cole, George R. Fitz-Roy.
Ismail, Khedive of Egypt, 1830-1895
Hunfalvy, János, 1820-1888, tr.
Kirby, W. F. (William Forsell), 1844-1912
Magyar, László, 1818-1864 Reisen in Süd-Afrika in den Jahren 1849 bis 1857
Marié, Georges
Metcalf, Edwards H. (Edwards Huntington), donor
Murchison, J. H.
Notcutt, Oliver.
Payne, John, 1842-1916
Pincherle, James
Smithers, Leonard C. (Leonard Charles), 1861-1907
Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 1837-1909
Tassoni, Alessandro, 1565-1635 Secchia rapita
Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander, 1865-1921
Tinsley, John
Tootal, Albert
Walker, R. B. N. (Robert Bruce N.)
Yule, Henry, Sir, 1820-1889
African Gold Coast Syndicate
C. Kegan Paul and Co. Publishers
Guinea Coast Gold Mining Company
John F. Henry and Co. - Places:
- Africa, West -- Discovery and exploration
Arabian Peninsula -- Discovery and exploration
Balkan Peninsula -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Brazil -- Description and travel
Egypt -- History -- Ismail, 1863-1879 -- Sources
Iceland -- Description and travel
Italy, Northern -- Description and travel
Trieste (Italy)
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
- Terms of access:
-
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Sir Richard Francis Burton Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191