Edward Burne-Jones Letters to Margaret Burne-Jones Mackail MS.2018.011

Finding aid by Rebecca Fenning Marschall

William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

2019

2520 Cimarron Street

Los Angeles 90018

clark@humnet.ucla.edu

URL: http://www.clarklibrary.ucla.edu/

Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

Title: Letters to Margaret Burne-Jones Mackail

Creator: Burne-Jones, Edward Coley, 1833-1898

Identifier/Call Number: MS.2018.011

Physical Description: 2 bound volumes (15 linear inches)

Date (inclusive): 1873-1898, undated

Abstract: Collection of letters from artist Edward Burne-Jones to his daughter, Margaret Burne-Jones Mackail, dating from her young childhood to his death (approximately 1873-1898). Many letters contain ink drawings and caricatures of Burne-Jones himself.

Physical Location: Clark Library.

Biographical Note

Edward Coley Burne Jones was born in 1833 in Birmingham. He studied theology at Exeter College, Oxford, where he became friends with William Morris, and, like Morris, decided pursue a career in art instead of one in the Church. Burne-Jones became one of the leading figures in the contemporary British art world, closely allied with the pre-Raphaelites and with the Aesthetic movement. A founding member (along with Morris) of the firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company, Burne-Jones was a significant force in the rebirth of stained glass design in England and designed a number of notable windows, though he was most known for his paintings. Burne-Jones married Georgiana MacDonald in 1860, with whom he had 2 children, Philip and Margaret. He died in 1898.

Source of Acquisition

Clark Library purchase, Sims Reed Rare Books, 2018.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of letters written by artist Edward Burne-Jones to his daughter Margaret Burne-Jones Mackail, dating from her childhood to his death (approximately 1873-1898). Letters often include sketches by Burne-Jones of birds, cats and other animals, as well as frequent caricatures of Burne-Jones himself. Many letters also include their original envelopes. The earliest letters to Margaret are written in block capitals, clearly for a child just learning to read on her own. Letters often include information about Burne-Jones' work (sometimes quite specific) as well as discussions about those his circle of friends, including William Morris, Henry James and Cormell Price, among others. Though most letters are affectionate and humorous (many include jokes clipped from newspapers), Burne-Jones also shares despondent and depressive thoughts with his daughter, especially frustrations with his work, as well as sadness when she leaves home to marry husband Jack Mackail. The collection also includes one letter from Georgiana Burne-Jones, Margaret's mother, and a letter from Edward Burne-Jones to Jack Mackail.

Letters are housed in modern cloth slipcases.

Related Materials at the Clark Library

Edward Burne-Jones Letters to Violet Maxse, MS.2010.010, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library ( online finding aid

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item, Box/Folder number], Edward Burne-Jones Letters to Margaret Burne-Jones Mackail, MS.2018.011, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Letters -- England -- 19th century

Mackail, Margaret Burne-Jones, 1866-1953

volume 1, Folder 1

Letters 1876-1883

Contents

7 letters, 2 with envelopes, 2 sketches.

volume 1, Folder 2

Letters 1884

Contents

14 letters, 1 envelope, 3 letters with drawings.

volume 1, Folder 3

Letters 1885-1886

Contents

8 letters, 6 letters with drawings

volume 1, Folder 4

Letters 1887

Contents

6 letters, 4 envelopes, all letters with drawings (one with sewn in string connecting a drawing of Margaret, on the first page, to a caricature of Burne-Jones, on the last page)

volume 1, Folder 5

Letters 1889

Contents

2 letters, 1 envelope, 1 letter with drawing

volume 1, Folder 6

Letters 1892

Contents

11 letters, 3 envelopes, 4 letters with drawings, many letters with pasted in newspaper clippings (mostly of jokes) as well as one letter with a pasted cheque and a manuscript note from Margaret Mackail, made at a later date.

Volume 2, Folder 1

Letters 1893

Contents

2 letters, 1 with drawings.

Volume 2, Folder 2

Letters 1894

Contents

5 letters, all with envelopes, 1 letter with drawings and several with clippings of jokes from the newspaper. One letter is from Georgiana Burne-Jones to Margaret Mackail.

Volume 2, Folder 3

Letters 1895

Contents

6 letters, 2 envelope, many letters with newspaper clippings (mostly jokes). One letter also has a pasted inpaper silhouette of Burne-Jones.

Volume 2, Folder 4

Letters 1896-1898

Contents

3 letters, 4 envelopes, 1 letter with drawings and one with newspaper clippings.

Volume 2, Folder 5

Letters undated

Contents

9 letters, 4 envelopes, 7 letters with drawings. Many of these letters appear to date from before 1876 and 2 are written in all block capital letters, presumably to a young Margaret just learning to read.