Leonard Woolf Letters, 1900-1918

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Summary

Creators:
Woolf, Leonard, 1880-1969.
Abstract:
The collection consists primarily of letters from English writer Leonard Woolf (1880-1969) to college roommate and friend Saxon Sydney-Turner, including thirty-eight letters date from Woolf's college days at the University Cambridge, twenty-two are from the period when Woolf served as a civil servant in Sri Lanka, and four letters date from the period after his return to England in 1911. One letter was written from Spain during his honeymoon with his wife, Virginia Woolf. Although most of the letters do not concern literary matters, there are two poems by Woolf in the collection: "2:30 A.M." and "To Ponamma."
Extent:
67 pieces in 1 box
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

Letters from English writer Leonard Woolf to Saxon Arnold Sydney-Turner, a college roommate and friend and one of the group of "Apostles" at Cambridge. The letters tell of Woolf's activities and projects while on vacation from Cambridge, of his life as a Civil Servant in Sri Lanka, and a few treat the period after his return to England.

Thirty-eight letters date from Woolf's college days at Cambridge and they treat a variety of scholastic subjects (his reading of Plato, Byron etc.) on which he was working during his vacations. Lytton Strachey is mentioned frequently in the letters as some incident concerning him or a fragment of a letter from him is reported.

Twenty-two letters date from the period when Woolf served as a Civil Servant in Sri Lanka and they are written from a number of cities and remote outposts throughout the country (Jaffna, Kandy, Hanbantota, Marichchukkadi etc.). Woolf describes with humor his life in Sri Lanka, especially the change in the state of his mind brought on by the long hours of work, the heat, and the isolation from the kind of society he had been used to. Among other things, he describes a public hanging, a meeting of a local Shakespeare society, and his experience of becoming ill in a remote village on one of his circuits of the territory.

Four letters date from the period after his return to England in 1911. One letter was written from Spain during his honeymoon there, describing his and Virginia's efforts to communicate with the locals and the omnipresent smell of "stale urine"

Most of the letters do not concern literary matters.

There are two poems by Woolf contained in the letters:

  • 1) "2:30 AM" in a letter dated Apr. 17, 1901 (HM 42126)
  • 2) "To Ponamma" in a letter dated June 12, 1910 (HM 42179)

A "chronological list of mystics", written during Woolf's school days groups various "mystics" by time and nationality. (HM 42119)

Biographical / historical:

Leonard Sidney Woolf (1880-1969) was an English author, political essayist, and social reformer. He was a member of the Bloomsbury group--a group of friends, writers, artists, and intellectuals. He was married to author and fellow Bloomsbury member Virginia Woolf.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Sotheby's, December 13, 1975.
Arrangement:

Items are arranged in chronological order.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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