Rocco Verrilli Collection of Frederick Rolfe Correspondence and Manuscripts, 1880-1975 GLC 97

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Rocco Verrilli Collection of Frederick Rolfe Correspondence and Manuscripts, 1880-1975 GLC 97

GLC 97

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Table of contents

Folder 1

Tarcissus: The Boy Martyr of Rome (Saffron Walden, Essex), 1880

General note

First edition. Printed in an edition of probably more than 50 copies.

Folder 2

ALS: Corvo, [Christchurch] to [Charles] Kains-Jackson, June 1, 1891

General note

Corvo sends examples of his photographs to Kains-Jackson [no photos included], complaining that he had run out of photo paper. He also returns to Kains-Jackson his (Kains-Jackson's) photographs of some boys. Corvo seeks advice on how to get his photos and writing produced. He also notes that Corvo and Rev. F. W. Rolfe are different "people" with regard to specific pieces of work.

Folder 3

ALS?: holograph fragment of an autograph letter subscribed "Your faithful son in Xt / F. Austin," mid-1897-1898

General note

Mentions the Holywell Record and a Mr. Hochheimer.

Folder 4

ALS: Frederick William Rolfe, Hotel Victoria, Holywell to the Rev. W. E. Scott-Hall, Staverton Fields, Oxford, Dec[ember] 28, 1898

General note

Declining an invitation from Scott-Hall to spend a week with him in Wales, due in part to his impoverished state. Discusses his desire for literary fame and feeling towards Catholicism. "I have no quarrel with the Catholic faith. It is that only which has kept me from slitting my gizzard in sheer despair of solitude."

Folder 5

ALS: [Frederick William] R[olfe], Hotel Victoria, Holywell to the Rev. W. E. Scott-Hall, Staverton Fields, Oxford, Jan[uary] 2, 1899

General note

Rails against his detractors and the poverty of his position. Speaks of an unnamed "Jesuit" who has "sworn to prevent me from making a living."

Folder 6

ALS: Frederick William Rolfe to the Rev. W. E. Scott-Hall, Jan[uary] 9, 1899

General note

Asks Scott-Hall to address future correspondence to F. Austin at the Holywell Workhouse.

Folder 7

ALS: Frederick Baron Corvo to Grant Richards, Esq., Nov[ember] 1, 1900

General note

Asks for return of material sent to Richards.

Folder 8

ALS: Fred[erick] Will[iam] Rolfe, 69, Broadhurst Gardens, Hampstead, to J. J. Walsh, Esq., Jan[uary] 28, 1903

General note

Regarding Catholics, Pope Alexander VI, the Borgia family, Rolfe's genealogy of the Borgias, and Grant Richards.

Folder 9

ALS: Fred[erick] Will[iam] Rolfe, 69, Broadhurst Gardens, Hampstead, to unidentified recipient [James Walsh], March 13, 1903

General note

Mentions Catholics, his love of the 13th and 15th centuries, his "Sestina in Honour of Lytel Seynt Hugh," and his Borgia manuscript.

Folder 10

ALS: [Frederick William] Rolfe, 69, Broadhurst Gardens, Hampstead, to Dr. [James] Walsh, Jul[y] 6, 1903

General note

On his book "In His Own Image," his published books and unpublished manuscripts, his health, and the "Review of Unwritten Books" that appeared in The Monthly Review.

Folder 11

AL: [Frederick William Rolfe], 69, Broadhurst Gardens, Hampstead, to Dr. [James] Walsh, Aug[ust] 17, 1903

General note

Describes his situation and requests financial assistance.

Folder 12

ALS: Fr[ederick William] Rolfe, 15 Cheniston Gardens, Kensington, to Messrs. Barnard & Taylor, Aug[ust] 22, 1904

General note

Seeks advice on how to proceed with several manuscripts, including The Agricultural and Pastoral Prospects of South Africa with Owen Thomas.

Folder 13

ALS: Fr[ederick William] Rolfe, 15 Cheniston Gardens, Kensington, to Dear Sirs [Messrs. Barnard & Taylor?], Aug[ust] 27, 1904

General note

Mentions [Owen] Thomas. Seeks financial damages for his work on an unnamed book, probably The Agricultural and Pastoral Prospects of South Africa.

Folder 14

ALS: Fr[ederick William] Rolfe, S. Alphege, Broadstairs, Isle of Thanet, to Dr. J[ames] J. Walsh, 110 West 74th Street, New York, Nov[ember] 3, 1904

General note

Explains his situation with regards to the publication of The Agricultural and Pastoral Prospects in South Africa, money owed to him, his living situation with his mother and sister who keep a girls' school, and his completed but unpublished work. He asks Walsh to read Hadrian the Seventh and send a "psychiatric prognosis" of Hadrian.

Folder 15

ALS: Fr[ederick William] Rolfe, S. Alphege, Broadstairs, to Mr. Taylor [of Barnard & Taylor], Nov[ember] 25, 1904

General note

Asks Mr. Taylor to show certain Rolfe manuscripts to his literary agent, Mr. Gale Pedrick, and to Mr. Moring of the Delamore Press. Notes a favorable review of Agricultural and Pastoral Prospects in the P.M.G. Thanks Taylor for his research on Vernon Herford, and makes reference to Christians of St. Thomas on the Malabar Coast.

Folder 16

ALS: Fr[ederick William] Rolfe, Station Abergavenny. Gwernvale, Crickhowel, to Dr. S. J. Reid, Blackwell Cliffe, East Grinstead, Jul[y] 21, 1907

General note

Refers to a meeting requested by Reid and Mr. Duckworth, and Rolfe's action of sending Mr. Pirie-Gordon, his collaborator, instead.

Folder 17

AMs: Frederick, Knight Founder...document admitting James [Walsh] to the "Novitiate of our Order of Sanctissima Sophia," May 12, 1908

General note

A certificate for James Walsh.

Folder 18

AMs: Autograph notes on events in the Medici family in 1478 (in latin and Italian), with typed translations of text, circa 1910, 1971

Languages represented: Materials are in Latin, English, and Italian.

General note

Also includes: 1) a description of the Corvo pages "text of a document, copied by Andrea the notary from the original writing of Johannas Baptista di Monte Sicco...the account tells of certain conspirators who plot the overthrow of the State of Florence through the attempted murder of Cardinal Raphael and two Medici brothers;" and, 2) a photocopy of a letter from Kenneth W. Rendell, autograph dealer, Somerville, Massachussetts, October 15, 1971, regarding the Corvo pages and Corvo's papers.

Folder 19

AMs: "Autobiographical manuscript, possibly prepared for James Walsh, including a list of Rolfe's published works, contributions to journals, and other particulars regarding a lawsuit, presumably against his agent, as well as a detailed personal account covering several years of his life," circa 1910

General note

Refers to Owen Thomas, Barnard and Taylor, the Reverend Robert Hugh Benson, C.H.C. Pirie-Gordon, and their efforts, or lack thereof, on Rolfe's behalf. Rolfe gives a brief account of his life in Venice (1908-1910) and the writing of The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole.

Folder 20

ALS: James J. Walsh to Mr. [Frederick William] Rolfe, with AL reply written by Rolfe to Walsh, August 16, 1910; Aug[ust] 28, 1910

General note

Dealer description: "Two page autograph letter dated August 28, 1910 from Rolfe to James Walsh, not signed, but in the hand of Frederick Rolfe, in reply to, and interlined within, a typed letter by Walsh to Rolfe (Dated August 16, 1910). Rolfe expresses his anger and disappointment that Walsh has not done enough to help him." Walsh's letter details his efforts to locate a literary agent for Rolfe, and notes that he has read the manuscript and has a crisis of conscience because he finds it to be a negative account of his and Rolfe's mutual friends.

Folder 21

ALS: Fr[ederick] Rolfe to Sir James Walsh, M.D., May 14, 1911

General note

Postcard sent from the British Consulate in Venice. Dealer descriptions: "Brief note to reinforce his break with Walsh over money and what Rolfe considered the betrayal of his friendship." Mentions the Grand-Master of the Order of Sanctissima Sophia, R. H. Benson.

Folder 22

ALS: [Frederick] R[olfe] to Ralph Shirley, Esq., c/o Messrs. Rider & Sons, 164 Aldersgate St., London, postmarked [June 1, 19]12

General note

Picture postcard of Venice's lagoon. Dealer's description: "Thanking Shirley, who was with the publishing firm of Rider & Son, for sending page proofs. Rolfe contracted with Rider to entirely rewrite The Weird of the Wanderer (1912), a "collaboration" by Rolfe and Harry Pirie-Gordon ["Prospero & Caliban"]."

Folder 23

AMs: "Deinon to Thely" Italian translation. Eleven page autograph manuscript, circa 1912, signed "Fr. Rolfe" comprising an apparently unpublished translation by Corvo into Italian of his story "Deinon to Thely" with corrections in ink and several manuscript variants in pencil in the margins. Housed in a specially decorated folding case with the bookplate of J. Maundy-Gregory, circa 1912; 1975

Languages represented: Materials are in English and Italian.

General note

Includes several small loose pages: 1) bookplate "Ex Libris A. J. A. Symons"; 2) G. F. Sims (Rare Books) note, dated May 15, 1975, regarding Corvo manuscript with two page description.

Folder 24

Letters from James Walsh to A. J. A. Symons, 1929-1933

General note

All the letters are in regards to Rolfe and Walsh's relationship with him. He mentions Monsignor Benson, the Knights of Malta Commander. There are two typed pages of a manuscript initialed "J. J. W." no place, no date, in part on Corvo and his design of millinery for a knighthood order, probably the Order of Sanctissima Sophia; these pages may have been an enclosure with the letter dated July 26, 1933.

January 28, 1929

July 26, 1933

August 14 and 24, 1933

September 14, 1933

Collection Contents