Pieraccini collection on Aldous and Maria Huxley

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Aldous Huxley, "Arabia Infelix" 1920-1929

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

1 manuscript. Autograph poem in 14 quatrains, 2pp. 4to, fair copy with a couple of running corrections. Published in Arabia Infelix and other Poems, 1929.

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Aldous Huxley, "Lawrence in Etruria" circa 1932

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

1 manuscript. Typescript, 5 pages, 4to, with autograph corrections. Lawrence is a 'diviner … of feelings, motives, beliefs … a man extraordinarily sensitive to the life that is buried in every fragment of matter.' Commercial drive is incompatible with the man of science and the artist. [Huxley first met Lawrence in 1915 at the invitation of Ottoline Morrell; in 1932 he published his edition of The Letters of D. H. Lawrence.]

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Aldous Huxley, "Literature and Science" circa 1962

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

1 manuscript. Typescript, 40 pages, 4to, with scattered autograph corrections, stapled at head. An early draft of the essay published as Literature and Science (1963), as sent to Antonio Aita in July 1962 (see Section B below). There are substantial differences from the printed text. 'The special function of the literary artist is with those more private experiences which cannot be dealt [with] by the methods of science'. Contrasts 'unity' as the goal of science, with 'manifoldness' as the goal of literature.

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Aldous Huxley to Maria Nys. Eton 1918 November 5

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

1 letter. 2 pp folio. AH had been hoping for a letter from Maria but received one only from Francis Rodd. 'I feel the need of you more than ever and am fast losing all the patience I ever had. This limited unreal life in an unsympathetic atmosphere becomes infinitely unsatisfactory.' He has been reading Madame Bovary and 'an extremely interesting new book by a man called McDowall called "Realism" … What is so splendid about Mme Bovary is its wonderful impersonality'. 'I always begin wondering, after reading a good novel, what is the best method of setting forth your material. What I tried to do in my "Happily Evr After" was to get the effect as far as possible through conversation and with the minimum of description, whether of outward objects or of internal states and processes.' – wants to avoid the 'slushy stream of bad psychology'. 'Those great fluxes of beautiful words in D'Annunzio are exciting in themselves, but I doubt whether they really describe anything much; they bombinate in the void.' As to external details, Balzac and Zola give too much, Maupassant makes them too few and too significant. 'I have been getting on a bit with my modern poem, written about fifty lines of it, and have thought out and actually begun the introduction to it, which is going to be a kind of biography of the young man about whom the poem is supposed to be --- a youth killed in the war.' [= 'Soles Occidere et Redire Possunt', published in Leda, 1920]. Details on life at Eton. Julian has probably gone to Austria as an Intelligence officer. The vast majority of Aldous and Maria's love letters, kept in a tin trunk, was destroyed in the fire that swept through Huxley's home in Hollywood in 1961. This was perhaps preserved only because it remained in Italy.

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Aldous Huxley to Costanza Fasola. London 1918 July 28

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

1 letter. TLS, with envelope. 1p folio. AH's first letter to CF – they had 'met' only through Maria's correspondence. London is both frivolous and exhausting. 'I am looking forward to the imminent arrival of the Russian ballet …. With all the old repertory plus several new ballets designed by Picasso.' Please send 'a brief analytical biography', so he might know her better.

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Aldous Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Eton 1918 September 27

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

ALS. 4pp 8vo. Please send your story; apologies for Julian: 'He is an odd fellow, & I really know as little about him as you'. AH will write an article on Alfieri. Learning Italian – 'I laborious learn to say things like "Mio zio ha due ombrelle ed un gatto sordo e muto." With you I might advance to something slightly more intellectual.'

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Aldous Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Eton. TLS. 2pp folio 1918 October 21

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Apologies for the typed letter but 'I find the process of writing with those barbarous and dirty instruments, pen and ink, insupportably unpleasant'. Thanks for the story – 'I liked it a lot. It is slight, of course, but very well done and well thought out and executed.' Discusses Goncourt. 'What strange people the Nys family must be!' Obstacles to going to Italy 'almost insuperable' – hopes to learn Italian and get a job. Reading D'Annunzio. Regrets that he learned to speak German but not read it (his sight being bad at that time). Published in Sexton, James, "Selected Letters of Aldous Huxley." Dee, 2007. Print.

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Aldous Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Eton. ALS. 4pp 8vo 1918 November 16

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Thanks CF for her translation of his poem 'Italy' and for her criticisms of The Death of Youth[?] 'You are right, I think, about the sonnets. As a whole they are not good – the story is obscure & the psychology of it not well worked out …'. D'Annunzio 'I am finding too rhetorical' – remembers seeing a picture of him during the war – 'uttering words that have no meaning but which intoxicate the hearers'.

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Aldous Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Eton. ALS. 2pp 4to 1919 March 5

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Apologies for long break in correspondence. Hopes to come Italy with Maria in the summer. Maria 'seems fairly happy – as happy as it is possible to be in a cold climate, a devastated country & in the heart of a numerous family. I mean to go over to Belgium at Easter'. Julian is engaged [to Juliette]. 'I have finished the first part of my long poem about Leda, which I think is good'.

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Aldous Huxley to Underwood. Hampstead. ALS. 1p, 8vo 1919 July

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'I am going to Belgium on Friday, to get married.' Aldous married Maria Nys on 10 July in a small ceremony at Bellem.

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Aldous Huxley to Duncan Grant. Vogue offices. ALS. 1p 4to 1922 December 14

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re. possibility of an article about Grant's paintings at Charleston, e.g. in J. M. Keynes's bedroom.

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Aldous Huxley to Orlando Cyprian Williams. Princes Gardens. ALS. 2pp 4to 1923 May 4

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Thanks for his reviews of 'these marginal scratchings' (On the Margin).

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Aldous Huxley to 'Orlo' Orlando Williams. Castel a Montici. ALS. 4pp. 8vo 1924 May 14

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'I never mean to live for any length of time if I can help it, in England again.' Describes where they live in Florence. A volume of short stories 'is to be published in a few weeks time [cf. Grover Smith 214] & I am at work on a long & difficult book' [Those Barren Leaves]. Others in Florence include J W N Sullivan, Reggie Turner, Norman Douglas.

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Aldous Huxley to Mr. Pond. Castel a Montici. TLS 1924 June 12

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

1p. 4to.. Declining offer of lecture work.

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Aldous Huxley to Sydney Waterlow. Villa Fasola. ALS. 2 pp., 4to 1924 July 8

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Regarding Rimbaud.

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Aldous Huxley to H. M. Tomlinson. Castel a Montici. ALS. 4pp, 8vo 1924 November 10

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Regarding recent gramophone records of Bach, Beethoven. Sullivan might visit, but that 'depends, as usual, on the fluctuations in the affairs of his heart.

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Aldous Huxley to Sydney Waterlow. Castel a Montici. TLS. 2pp. 4to 1925 January 29

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

T.S. Eliot has confirmed that Waterlow writes as 'John Franklin' in the the New Statesman; thanks for his 'admirable criticism' of Those Barren Leaves – 'It is a good book in its way, but fundamentally like all the rest that I have written (though perhaps to a rather less extent) – jejune --- half-baked and boyish in spite of sophistication --- and curiously off the point'. The importance of the 'genuine' vs the 'sham', and the inability of most to tell the difference. Mrs. Barclay vs Dostoevsky.

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Aldous Huxley to Mrs. Dawson Scott. Tunis. ALS. 2pp, 8vo 1925 April 1

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Declines invitation to serve on a committee for P.E.N. Recommendations of modern writers: Norman Douglas, Santayana, T. S. Eliot, Parry on music, Vernon Lee (Paget).

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Aldous Huxley to Sydney Waterlow. Castel a Montici. ALS, with envelope. 2pp. 8vo 1925 June 8

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

regarding Vanity Fair and Harper's.

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Aldous Huxley to 'Rani.' on board the S.S. Ellora. ALS. 4pp. 8vo 1926

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Sorry they will not meet in Borneo. En route from Rangoon to Singapore. Others on the boat: 'a soi- disant Roumanian princess of startling appearances & probably easy morals [Henrietta Sava- Goiu, with whom AH had an affair]; an American family like Pekingese dogs; an Austrian professor of psychology …

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Aldous Huxley to Henry Chester Tracy. Shanghai (S.S. President Cleveland). ALS, with envelope. 2pp, 8vo 1926 April 14

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Introduction from Julian (who wrote the preface to Tracy's Towards the Open, 1927); hopes they will meet in San Francisco.

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Aldous Huxley to Frank Swinnerton (AH's editor at Chatto & Windus). Athenaeum. ALS. 2pp. 8vo 1926 July 5

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Submitting an article, beginning a new series on Education.

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Aldous Huxley to Dennis Wheatley. Athenaeum. ALS, with envelope. 1p 8vo 1926 July 23

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Replying to an invitation.

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Aldous Huxley to Williams. Athenaeum Cavendish Hotel. ALS. 2pp 8vo undated

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

AH is 'cluttered up with this beastly play' – 'Some of the scenes are all right, the rest dull - & all rather, or very, vulgar'.

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Aldous Huxley to Henry Chester Tracy. Villa Ino Colli, Cortino d'Ampezzo. ALS, with envelope. 2pp 4to 1926 November 20

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Suggestions for agents.

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Aldous Huxley to Joseph Holbrooke. Villa Ino Colli. ALS. 1p 4to 1927 January 31

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'writers are more fortunate than musicians'.

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Aldous Huxley to Clive Bell. Rue du Bac, Suresnes. AP/cS 1929 October 21

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Invites Bell to 'lunch with me among the bishops at the Athenaeum'. Intention to go to Barcelona.

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Aldous Huxley to Orlo Williams. Suresnes. ALS. To 1p 8vo 1929 December 7

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Declining invitation.

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Aldous Huxley to Robert de Saint-Jean. Athenaeum. ALS in French. 1p 8vo 1930 March 17

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

AH will be writing something on Lawrence; invitation to dinner in Suresnes.

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Aldous Huxley to Henry S. Canby (Saturday Review, NY). Villa Huley, La Gorguette. AP/cS undated

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Regrets he cannot write about Jules Romains.

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Aldous Huxley to Mrs Rosalind Thornycroft Popham. Athenaeum. ALS, with envelope. 2pp. 8vo 1930 May 23

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Thanks for the D. H. Lawrence letters which will be copied and returned. Intends to exclude personal material from his edition.

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Aldous Huxley to Miss Deans. Athenaeum. ALS. 2pp 8vo 1931 February 11

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Cannot attend Arlen's play as he is visiting his son at school. Perhaps later?

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Aldous Huxley to Swannwick. Athenaeum. ALS 1931 February 13

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Accepting an invitation to Chesterfield.

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Aldous Huxley to ?. La Gorguette. ALS. 2pp 8vo 1931 May 7

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Replying to an anecdote apparently about Julian. Please send the issue of Pagany with Mary Butts's article on Villefranche.

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Aldous Huxley to J. B. Coates. Athenaeum. ALS. 1p. 8vo 1931 June 5

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Sending money for a weekend at Welwyn 9-11 June.

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Aldous Huxley to 'Monsieur'. La Gorguette. ALS in French. 1p 4to 1932 October 14

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Encloses a 'petite préface explicative', but please correct the French. Please send proofs.

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Aldous Huxley to 'Monsieur' Antonio Aita. La Gorguette. ALS in French. 1p 4to 1935 April 28

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Accepts Argentinian invitation, in principle, but when is the congress to be? Aita was President of PEN Argentina.

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Aldous Huxley to J.B. Coates. La Gorguette. AP/cS 1935 July 28

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'I could give an address on the nature & limitations of the influence of books on their readers' in January.

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Aldous Huxley to Antonio Aita. La Gorguette. ALS in French. 1p 4to 1935 August 26

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Accepts invitation of PEN Club Argentina to a conference.

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Aldous Huxley to Antonio Aita. E2 Albany. ALS in French. 2pp 4to 1936 March 18

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Ill health means it is impossible to come to Buenos Aires.

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Aldous Huxley to Antonio Aita. La Gorguette. ALS in French. 1p 4to 1936 May 8

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Encloses some thoughts on American-European relations. Wishes Argentinian congress success.

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Aldous Huxley to Robert de Saint Jean. Athenaeum. ALS in French, with envelope 1936 November 9

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

2pp 8vo. Replying to an invitation.

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Aldous Huxley to Harold Raymond. Dairy Cottage, Rhinebeck, NY. TLS. 1p folio, torn by AH 1937 December 10

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'Paper got stuck in machine'. Thanks for his review of Ends and Means. On a lecture tour, but his partner Gerald Heard has broken his arm. 'I really have rather a liking' for Hollywood.

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Aldous Huxley to Jake Zeitlin. Pacific Palisades. ALS, with envelope. 2pp 4to 1940 December 5

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

At work on Grey Eminence – 'I have practically all the necessary material and shall henceforth read very little'. Written 30,000 words.

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Aldous Huxley to Naomi Mitchison. Llano. ALS. 4pp 4to 1942 September 20

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'We have become amateur ranchers' 'I have just finished a little book on the art of seeing' – and has had to go to Sacramento before the state senate. 'Now I've started on a kind of novel'. Religion and time, politics and Pareto.

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Aldous Huxley to Naomi Mitchison. Llano. TLS, with envelope. 4pp 4to 1945 June 12

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Not a good year for agriculture. 'Meanwhile, what on earth does the future hold?' 'The best we can hope for is a pax Sovietica extending over all Eastern and Central Europe'. Or perhaps England, and the US will 'push the expanding empire back' 'If I were a novelist (which I am not) and if such a theme were suitable for fictional treatment (which it probably isn't), I would write an enormous story about this problems of being good and doing good'. 'In practice most attempt to make radical changes in human society … result in wholesale death and destruction'; Russia and China discussed, also Hitler. 'The only way an individual can do good is by raising food or making useful commodities himself; by helping others to acquire the land or the tools for doing the same thing …; by fostering co-operative enterprise; by having as little as possible to do with capitalistic or governmental monopoly. …'. Also 'certain art activities' and 'certain religious or spiritual activities'; science though is directed to 'making the few more powerful and the many more dependent and servile'.

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Aldous Huxley to Ogden Heath. Llano. TLS, with envelope. 2pp 4to 1945 July 19

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re the Bates method, Hatha Yoga, William Law, Suzuki's Manual of Zen Buddhism, and his own The Perennial Philosophy.

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Aldous Huxley to Mr. Ossip Flechtheim. Llano. TLS. 2pp 4to 1946 March 29

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re. 'futurology', consciousness. 'Let us suppose that future dictatorships become genuinely scientific (the postulate of my Brave New World, which to-day seems much closer to us … than it did fifteen years ago …)'. Published in Smith, Grover. "Letters of Aldous Huxley." Chatto & Windus, 1969. Print.

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Aldous Huxley to Anita Loos. LA. TLS. 2pp 4to 1946 October 4

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Best wishes for the opening of her new play. Maria's sister's sculpture. Finished The Gioconda Smile. Collecting material for a novel of 14th-century Italy (never completed). Published in Smith, Grover. "Letters of Aldous Huxley." Chatto & Windus, 1969. Print.

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Aldous Huxley to 'Cahmpion'. Wrightwood. TLS. 1p 4to 1947 January 27

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Declining invitation.

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Aldous Huxley to Anita Loos. LA. TLS. 2pp, 4to 1947 March 9

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re. adapting She Stoops to Conquer – it would require rewriting: he details the potential characters etc. Published in Smith, Grover. "Letters of Aldous Huxley." Chatto & Windus, 1969. Print.

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Aldous Huxley to Dr. Stromey. Siena. ALS. 2pp 8vo 1948 July 31

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Would be interested in his new book.

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Aldous Huxley to Stephen Hobhouse. Wrightwood. ALS. 2pp 4to 1949 January 9

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'There is no hope of rational policies on the national or international levels, unless we begin with man's relation to the cosmos'. 'we are rapidly destroying the world we live in'.

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Aldous Huxley to Eric Morris. Wrightwood. TLS. 1p 4to 1949 April 28

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re. death of Ted. Published in Smith, Grover. "Letters of Aldous Huxley." Chatto & Windus, 1969. Print.

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Aldous Huxley to Dr. Erlanger. Wrightwood. TLS. 1p 4to 1949 June 22

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re. his wife's blood test results.

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Aldous Huxley to Prof. Roland Faunce. ALS. Written below a TLS from Faunce to AH. 2pp. 4to 1949 December

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Faunce asks Huxley's opinion as to the importance of Latin to writing and the study of English literature. AH replies: 'Although my only resemblance to Shakespeare consists in my knowing little Latin & less Greek, I shd be sorry to be ignorant of that little'.

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Aldous Huxley. ALS, written below a typed form letter to AH by an unnamed journalist asking his opinion on war reparations. 2pp 4to circa 1950's

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'Abolition is clearly not a panacea for all our ills. But it seems to me that … it should do great good'.

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Aldous Huxley to Naomi Mitchison. Siena. ALS. 4pp 4to 1950 July 16

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

How to reconcile world unity in politics and economics with cultural variety? Nationalism and militarism. 'Israel is militarized & has a birth-rate and an immigration policy which almost guarantee the rise of a policy of expansionism - & this at one of the strategic sore spots of the world'. Similarly India and Pakistan. 'old-style war' only had the advantage of inefficiency.

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Aldous Huxley to Jan Hollman. LA. ALS, with envelope. 2pp. 4to 1950 November 16

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Sending money solicited in support of an unnamed friend (a victim of totalitarianism).

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Aldous Huxley to C. E. Menor. LA. ALS. 1p. folio 1951 May 11

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Regarding possible replication of some articles in limited edition.

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Aldous Huxley to C. E. Menor. LA. ALS, with envelope. To 1p. folio 1951 May 27

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Agreeing to the project.

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Aldous Huxley to George Kaufman. LA. ALS. To 1p folio 1951 July 24

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Sending him the script of a play adapted from After Many a Summer.

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Aldous Huxley to Naomi Mitchison. LA. TLS. 2pp folio 1952 April 5

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Regarding death of Lewis. Apologies for not writing – 'an arduous bread-and-butter job of writing the scenario for a scientific movie on the Sun' etc. Matthew is unemployed. Please remove his name from the letterhead of the Peace Appeal. Dislike of organizations in general. Suggestion of a collective of writers to discuss the abuse of language by politicians, advertisers etc. 'Analysis of language is universally subversive … To analyse language would be un-American, un-English, un-Russian …. un-everything'. The world is 'committed to the systematic misuse of words, the organized obfuscation of meaning'.

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Aldous Huxley to Theobald. LA. TLS. 1p folio 1952 August 31

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re Lawrence and painting. Words vs pictures in prophecy. 'It may be that … Job and the Divine Comedy and the myths of India can find an adequate expression only in poetry, and that the attempt to say the same things in pictorial terms is foredoomed to failure'.

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Aldous Huxley to Prof. von Bertalanffy. LA. TLS. To2pp. folio 1952 October 10

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Thanks for sending his Problems of Life, which he read with 'sustained interest and pleasure'. Consciousness and physiology. Has sent his own Devils of Loudon in return. Published in Smith, Grover. "Letters of Aldous Huxley." Chatto & Windus, 1969. Print.

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Aldous Huxley to Naomi Mitchison. LA. TLS. 2pp folio 1952 November 25

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Thanks for the account of Russia. Reiterates withdrawal from Peace group. 'I wish the world looked a little less gloomy'.

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Aldous Huxley to Prof von Bertalanffy. LA. 1p. folio 1954 January 18

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re the Ford Foundation and an education project. Published in Smith, Grover. "Letters of Aldous Huxley." Chatto & Windus, 1969. Print.

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Aldous Huxley to Mayhew of the BBC, on board the Queen Elizabeth. ALS. 1p 8vo 1954 April 11

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re trip to London.

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Aldous Huxley to Juliette Bourdeix. Connecticut. ALS. 1p folio 1955 July 3

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Reply to questions about his novels. 'If I am a pessimist, it is in the same way as all the religions of history have been pessimistic.'

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Aldous Huxley to Juliette Bourdeix. Connecticut. TLS, with envelope. 2pp folio 1955 July 21

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'Mescaline and lysergic acid undoubtedly have the effect of making the brain permeable to kinds of consciousness which are not ordinarily admitted.' Effects on the brain of fasting, breathing exercises, lack of sleep, infection – the chemicals are 'less harmful, less dangerous to physical and mental health'.

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Aldous Huxley to Mrs Petrie. Conn. TLS. 1p folio 1955 July 25

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re possible translation work.

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Aldous Huxley to Juliette Bourdeix. LA. ALS, with envelope. 2pp folio 1955 September 25

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'Man works for his own destruction … we see this on every level from the physical (the ruin of vast areas of the earth's surface …) to the spiritual (ruin of talent, character & society by the conscious self's refusal to listen to the inspirations of the unconscious …)'. The 'insane belief' that language trumps reality.

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Aldous Huxley to Bertalanffy. LA. AP/cS 1955 November 6

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re his coming visit.

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Aldous Huxley to Bernice Krula. LA. TLS. 1p folio 1956 September 30

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re The Gioconda Smile, which she had put on. 'It has generally been successful when properly produced … In New York, unfortunately, it was badly cast and the scenery was so stupidly designed that it became necessary to modify the last act … to the great detriment of the play'.

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Aldous Huxley to Edith Standen. LA. ALS. 3pp 4to 1956 November 17

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re historical clothing, lice, cleaning habits. Published in Smith, Grover. "Letters of Aldous Huxley." Chatto & Windus, 1969. Print.

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Aldous Huxley autograph reply written in the blank margin of a letter to AH by Henry Malone 1957 May 5

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Autograph reply written in the blank margin of a letter to AH by Henry Malone (5 May) on Brave New World – 'is this book a general criticism of American society during the late nineteen-twentys or thereabouts?' In reply: it reflects the period but 'it was also, however, intended to be a comment on a technological society in general, and at the same time a forecast of what would happen after the final revolution – the psychological & physiological revolution. Much has already come true – e.g. sleep teaching, happiness pills, Pavlovian brain washing'.

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Aldous Huxley to Henry Malone. NY. TLS. 1p folio 1957 August 18

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'Drugs such as mescaline and LSD are interesting inasmuch as they extend the world of immediate experience into realms ordinarily accessible only to those who happen to have been born with a rather unusual mind-body …'.

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Aldous Huxley to Arnold Weissberger. LA. ALS on lined paper. 1p folio 1957 December 2

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Enclosing a letter to Courtney Burr.

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Aldous Huxley to Arnold Weissberger. LA. TLS on lined paper. 2pp. folio 1957 December 7

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re the stage version of Brave New World. Annoyed that 'you should have wired Burr in the joint name of Coppel and myself'. No interest in any further association with the play. Coppel's reasons are different. 'I have come to realize that I made an enormous mistake in permitting this reconstruction, which has revealed itself as more and more unsatisfactory with every successive rehearsal and performance.' Does not want to be linked to Coppel.

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Aldous Huxley to Arnold Weissberger. LA. TLS with autograph P.S. 2pp 8vo 1957 December 21

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'I myself would be inclined not to ask for damages, but merely for the money that is obviously owing'. Will be going to Brazil next summer and will be giving a course of lectures at UC Santa Barbara in 1959. 'Perhaps I may write something about my grotesque experiences later on'.

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Aldous Huxley to Arnold Weissberger. LA. TLS. 1p 8vo 1958 January 4

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Enclosing a telegram from Burr.

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Aldous Huxley to Arnold Weissberger. LA. ALS. 1p 8vo 1958 January 20

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Response to 'Courtney's latest'.

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Aldous Huxley to Arnold Weissberger. LA. TLS. 2pp. 8vo 1958 February 15

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Burr has refused to pay - what next? 'Beth [Wendel] is putting into order the voluminous material which shows the extent to which we worked on the revised version of the play.'

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Aldous Huxley to Arnold Weissberger. LA. ALS. 2pp 8vo 1958 March 23

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Discussing arrangements for arbitration.

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Aldous Huxley to Arnold Weissberger. LA. TLS. 1p 8vo 1958 April 2

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Settlement as outlined is acceptable as long as Burr pays legal expenses.

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Aldous Huxley to Mr Allen of Time magazine. UCSB. ALS 1958 October 27

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

1p folio. Cannot write an article as 'I am doing two whole time jobs at once – writing & teaching'. With a typed form reply.

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Aldous Huxley to Mr Perlick. LA. ALS.1p folio 1960 January 24

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'At the moment this artist's responsibility to Society is summed up in the responsibility to finish a book'.

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Aldous Huxley to Rolando Pieraccini. LA. Autograph note, signed, with envelope 1961 March 19

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Sent as an example to Rolando Pieraccini.

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Aldous Huxley to Wolfgang Reinhardt film producer. Gstaad. ALS. 3pp 4to 1961 July 27

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re. a possible film of The Devils of Loudun. To avoid bad reaction from the Church, one must 'show at least one good priest, in contrast to the poorer politicians, sensualists and superstitious mumbo-jumbo artists who make up the clerical contingent' – suggest Father Ambrose: 'you wd be at perfect liberty in a film to make of him an important character' – 'you can show what a priest ought to be like'.

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Aldous Huxley to Antonio Aita (PEN Agentina). Berkeley. ALS in French. 1p folio 1962 March 19

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Re Buenos Aires congress in October. 'Je parlerai sur les rapports entre la littérature d'un coté et, de l'autre, la science et la technologie'.

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Aldous Huxley to Miss Haward. Berkeley. ALS. 1p folio 1962 April 10

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Re a purported 'International Academy' of which he is apparently member.

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Aldous Huxley to Miss Haward. Berkeley. ALS. 1p 8vo 1962 May 1

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Sending a letter for the International Institute of Arts and Letters.

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Aldous Huxley to Antonio Aita. LA. ALS in French. 1p 4to 1962 July 18

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Sending his paper 'Literature and Science' (presumably the draft above), which is too long to be read at the Congress, but he could give a extempore summary.

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Aldous Huxley to Antonio Aita. Athenaeum. ALS in French, with envelope. 2pp 4to 1962 September 10

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

His plans have changed, and he will be unable to attend the Congress.

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Aldous Huxley to Mr. James McCrimmon. LA. ALS with envelope 1962 October 7

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Granting permission to use a passage in the Daedalus article in Writing with a Purpose. With a copy of McCrimmon's letter.

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Aldous Huxley to Maria and Eric Petrie. LA. ALS. 2pp folio 1962 December 31

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Thanks for the photograph. 'They kept us so busy at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions that I had no time for any extra-curricular activities.' Summarises news from the last year. 'I have been busy on a long essay on "Literature & Science", now completed, thank goodness.' What will the new year bring? 'Will the impersonal forces which determine our long-term destiny permit themselves to be controlled for man's benefit - & shall we even attempt to control them? Published in Smith, Grover. "Letters of Aldous Huxley." Chatto & Windus, 1969. Print.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Brussels 1918 January 9

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Has had appendicitis.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Saint Trond 1919 May 11

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Could CF send back certain letters that Maria would rather didn't fall into the wrong hands?

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead (1 month after birth of their son, Matthew) 1920 May 11

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Convalesence after the difficult birth. 'Le docteur … dit que j'ai fait des merveilles et qu'avec un peu de patience je serai bientot sur pied'. –[The difficulties of the birth – 'ce vilain caillot de sang' – were concealed from AH.] 'Je suis heuruese mais pas très – pas follement – je me sens exactement la même avec pas d'instinct maternel – seulement l'instinct de pitié d'affections et d'interet comme on aurait interet pour un jeune chien'. Aldous has a new job in London.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Tring 1920 June 2

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Sending a photo a Matthew (often referred to as 'Baly') – enclosed. 'Je tiens a toi par tant de liens indestructibles'. Struggle to connect with her son: 'Je ne l'aine que par pitie – c'est Aldous qui est tout et il me vole de mon temps avec lui.'

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Garsington 1920 August 8

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

'toute la journée … ais je pensé a toi plus que jamais' –

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1920 August 17

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Cleaning and rearrangment of apartment – plans for visit, requests.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1920 September 5

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

CF in ill-health. 'Je voudrais ecrire de longues lettres adorables et aimantes mais mes caresses tu dois sentir entre les lignes'. Baby takes up lots of time, 'Aldous sort beaucoup'. 'Je viendrais faire du cinema en Italy et nos habituions ensembles – mais pas un mot car c'est plusque secret'.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1920 October 1

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

'Je ne vis plus qu'avec toi'. Plans have changed – they are renting their flat until September next year: 'nous desirons[?] habiter [à] Rome pour mon cinéma car je dois [ ] gagner de l'argent pour rendre notre sejour possible. Aussi nous emmenons Mary [the maid]'. Solicits CF's help in finding a place in Italy. 'Il faudra aussi qu'en printemps je tache de me faire des engagements de cinema pour l'automne – il pariat que je fais assez bien (c'est une secret pour ma famille)'

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1920 October 7

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Will be going to Belgium. Advice on health issues.

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Jeanne Nys to Costanza Fasola. Brussels. Signed 'Jehanne' 1920 October 22

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Confiding in CF about René Moulaert (whom she later married) – don't tell Maria.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1920 October 28

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Afraid that CF didn't understand her last letter, 'que tu me trouve froide et egoiste'. 'Je devrais faire du cinema'. 'Aldous a des fits de "depression"'. Having photos taken which she will send – for the cinema.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1920 November 11

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Will be coming at the beginning of May, but without Aldous. 'je ne pourrai patienter tout ce temps…'. Mary does not want to come after all. Can CF help find a maid? Went to an 'At Home' – Gertler, Dorothy Brett, Lady O, Mary & Jack Hutchison, 'le gros Boris' [Anrep?], Iris [Tree], Dora Carrington, Vanessa and Duncan Bell. Gertler going to a sanatorium.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1920 November 28

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

More social events. Gertler is bored in his sanatorium.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1920 December 6

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

'J'ai joué des "bien mais petits roles" chez "Welsh Pearson" et le roles de très jeunes personnes ne me conviennent pas'.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1920 December 13

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Mimi Gielgud has secured her an cinematic engagement with Mara/Maria[?] 'le directeur des films Beltini qui est l'oncle de la femme de Richard'…

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Brussels 1920 January 18

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Has been taking tango lessons. 'Je ne suis pas trop heureuse ici – il manque de comfort physique et surtout morale'. Will be arriving in Florence 1 March.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Hampstead 1921 January 24

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Wants to know all about Jehanne and Moulaert. Has CF found her and Aldous an apartment?

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Brussels 1921 February 16

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Mentions Minucci (Castel a Montici). 'Je suis folle de joie' at idea of seeing CF again. 'J'ai eu une gentille aventure avec une adorable jeunne homme Belge – nous avons fait un carnaval en regle et dereglé'…

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Brussels 1921 February 28

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

'B' is here since yesterday = Sybille Bedford, who has 'charme irresistible'. Much about Bedford, and about clothing. 'Pense que B s'imagine de nos amours. Et vraiment elle est incroyablement seduisante – je comprends qu'elle n'eu seduite a Florence – mais maintenant je suis si dull[?] et froide que je suis glacée'. With a half-page note at the end in German, French and English by Bedford: - 'Cocola et charmante mais hopelessly in love with her husband – she is pining after him! Das baby is das lustigste …'

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Rome 1921 March 16

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Her train journey. Lady Ottoline would like to stay at Santa Margherita. And a room in a pension is needed for Clifford Allan.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Rome 1920 March 21

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

'Moi aussi je suis seule et perdue et tu me manque tant!' Aldous is arriving at Easter. 'Geoffrey Scott (mari de Lady Sybil …) … a une passion pour Aldous'. 'J'ai été [vu?] un adorable artiste Italien futuriste – il y avait des echarpes brodés en couleur[?]'

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Rome/Forte 1921 May 31

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Sights in Rome. Visited Cherubini. 'Je trouve que tu dois prendre un mari au plus vite et n'importe lequel … c'est dommage que Cherubini ne veuille pas de toi – il est gentil et a Rome et il voyage – c'est un mari comme ca qu'il te peut faire[?] des amours en plus'. 'Adele … a eu beaucoup de succès avec Aldous.'

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. [Forte dei Marmi] 1921 June 11

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Alone on the beach 'toute heureuse et toute seule'. New servant: 'notre adorable petite servante mince blonde avec ses yeux et les seins impertinents'. Has been ill, as has Baly.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Brussels 1921 November 24

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

'Ecris moi ce que tu pense du livre d'Aldous [Chrome Yellow] – il a beaucoup de succes et nous avons l'espoir de ne pas mourir de misère dans nos vieux jours car Aldous commence a bien de vendre.' To Germany for Xmas. 'Il y aura Gertler Julian Juliette peut etre les Hutchinsons et Sitwell', Lala and Brett. Moulaert 'est directur de scene d'un nouveau theatre'. Will CF come to London after Xmas?

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Westbourne Terrace. Spring. Stendhal 1922 March 7

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Spring. Stendhal – 'Je lisais Rome, Naples et Florence qui traite principalement de Milan, livre agreable surtout parce que'il est ecrit dans le feu de sa jeunesse'. Plans to visit Bisi in May. Electric massage machine. 'Je m'occupe a soigner ma beauté car qu'ais je eu dehors de cela? … Je juge inutile de paraitre avoir 28 ans quant je n'en ai que 23'. Aldous is at Scarborough with the Sitwells. Osbert 'm'ennuie un peu … Sachie est charmant'.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Paddington 1922 May 2

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Will be in Forte in 25 days. Problems with accommodation. Suzanne will probably come.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Westbourne Terrace 1922 October 1

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Long description of a house in Iden near Rye, Sussex, that AH and MH are considering buying. Going with Aldous and a surveyor.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Westbourne Terrace 1922 November 15

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

'je te trouve la plus adorable des amis' 'Nous allons passer le week end chez Julian ou il sera froid et incomfortable. Horreur.'

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Prince's Gardens 1923 January 11

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

New address 'tres bien propres et plus grand'. Hopes to visit for a fortnight. Threat of paralysis. 'Aldous sort beaucoup seul – chose pas gaie pour moi'. Jeanne is having a baby in April. 'les editeurs Anglais et Americains d'Aldous vont lui payer une pension pendant 3 ans afin qu'il ne doive plus faire de journalisme'. He has to write two books a year. Missing contact with CF, 'peut etre aussi est-ce parc qu'il et 2 ½ du matin et qu'Aldous n'est pas rentré'.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Lahore 1925 November 26

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Reproaches CF for not writing. Descriptions of trip. Will live in Italy when they return.

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Maria Huxley to Costanza Fasola. Benares. TLS 1926 January 31

Language of Material: French.

Scope and Contents

Plans for birth of CF's child[?] About to leave for Burma. CH should stay in bed after the birth. 'les article indigenes sont desapointants. Dans le musées nous voyons des belles choses, mais dans les bazards tout a été remplacé par les marchandises Européenes bon marché et laides'. Proposes a trip to Naples by car. Benares is disappointing. 'Aldous t'embrasse mais moi, je t'embrasse bien autrement et j'espère, que … tu souhaite bien souvent que je sois aupres de toi'.

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Ottoline Morrell to Henry Major Tomlinson. ALS 1918 June 8

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'I envy you going down to see Conrad. He is the man of all others that moves me most'. 'I lent your book [The Sea and the Jungle, 1912] to Bertrand Russell in Prison, who enjoyed it immensely' – encloses a transcript of Russell's letter. Please come to Garsington. 'I hope you will give my respectful Love to old Conrad … I once said to him I thought Henry James dwelt too much on "honour".

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Ottoline Morrell to Henry Major Tomlinson. ALS undated

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Looking forward to your visit.

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Ottoline Morrell to Miss Frances Peterson. ALS undated

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

OM admires a poem by her friend Miss Simpson – invites them both to Garsington.

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Ottoline Morrell to Hester Gatty. ALS 1934 August 20

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'London seemed dreadfully Noisey & crowded after peaceful & Lovely Haytesbury – but it was very nice to think of you & Siegfried [Sassoon] there with those lovely trees & garden.' 'I hope he will find a good horse & write many poems – prose too!

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Ottoline Morrell to Hester Gatty. ALS 1935 October 26

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

Commiserations on chicken pox. 'I saw a copy of S's book [Vigils?] – It is a dream of beauty … Tell him I thought the poems most beautiful … I find him so much finer than the younger poets' You should read Descent from Parnassus (by Dilys Powell, 1934) – there is a chapter on Sassoon.

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Thomas Huxley. 8 ALsS 1860-1890

Language of Material: English.

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Julian Huxley. 30 AlsS/TLsS 1924-1961

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

17 letters to Robertson Scott of Countryman, mostly about articles. Several to Leon Lion, mentioning Aldous – Lion produced a play and movie of The World of Light. With copies of three TLs to JH from Lion 1944-1946.

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Naomi Mitchison to AH, Carradale, Campbelltown, Argyle. TLS, 2pp folio, unsigned 1945 August 4

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

'I wonder why you say you aren't a novelist'. Re. hubris, politics, pacificm, Young Communist League, the Labour movement, Attlee. Reply to Mitcheson from Huxley, 12 June 1945

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Sybille Bedford to Siv Lind (wife of Rolando Periaccini). TLS, 1p folio, plus ALS, 1p folio 1982 December 1

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

With a signed photograph. Sending an example of her hand and listing passages of writing she has found particularly moving – from Waugh, Stendhal and Matthew Arnold.

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Aldous Huxley portrait 1938

Language of Material: English.

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Aldous Huxley portrait undated

Language of Material: English.

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Aldous Huxley portrait circa 1929

Language of Material: English.

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Aldous Huxley portrait circa 1929

Language of Material: English.

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Mounted real photo postcard circa 1929

Language of Material: English.

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3 contact prints 1931-1932

Language of Material: English.

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Silver gelatin circa 1920-1929

Language of Material: English.

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15 modern photographs of Castel a Montici, the Huxley villa in Florence undated

Language of Material: English.

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Press cuttings 1930-1998

Language of Material: English.

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Ephemera: 4 Various programmes/flyers for the production of The World of Light by Leon Lion at the Royalty Theatre 1931 March-April

Language of Material: English.

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Pieraccini, Rolando. Aldous Huxley e l'Italia / Rolanco Pieraccini. 1. ed. italiana. Napoli: Liguori, Print 1998

Language of Material: Italian.

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Correspondence related to Maraini, Antonio. Bronze medallion, diameter 175mm, with a relief portrait of Aldous Huxley 1927

Language of Material: English.

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Maraini, Antonio. Bronze medallion, diameter 175mm, with a relief portrait of Aldous Huxley 1927

Language of Material: Italian.

Scope and Contents

Maraini (1886-1963) knew Huxley from his years at Florence and Forte dei Marmi, and was secretary general of the Venice Biennale from 1927 to 1944 – the original was exhibited at the Biennale in 1928.