Literary manuscripts of John Braine, with related material

Comprises: (a) 14 boxes containing 209 autograph manuscript notebooks of John Braine, of which those numbered D 1-125 also serve as diaries (dated from 1950 to 1986), those numbered FF 1-10 contain drafts of Finger of fire, those numbered J 1-24 (in which sequence 14 is omitted and 15 duplicated) contain drafts of works possibly concerning journalism, those numbered L 1-7, N 1-4, and R 1-6 contain drafts of works on other unspecified subjects, and the remainder contain unnumbered drafts of miscellaneous others of his works, notably Man at the top (13 notebooks), The only game in town (8 notebooks), Power and the Hinleys (5 notebooks), Prime of life (2 notebooks), Life at the top (1 notebook), Miss Drop-out (1 notebook), One and last love (1 notebook), miscellaneous articles (1 notebook), and miscellaneous stories (1 notebook); (b) 22 boxes containing autograph manuscript and typescript drafts of his novels, stories, playscripts, articles, broadcasts, and poems, namely, These golden days (boxes 1-3), The two of us (boxes 4-6), Finger of fire (box 7), Killing foreigners is fun (box 8), One and last love (boxes 9-10), Waiting for Sheila (boxes 11-12), J.B. Priestley (box 13), Stay with me till morning (boxes 14-15), The crying game (box 16), Man at the top (box 17), and miscellaneous other drafts (boxes 18-22), including 25 autograph manuscript poems dated 1943-1948 (box 21); (c) 1 box containing some photocopied autobiographical material, dated 1986, several photographs of Braine alone or with others, some photocopied correspondence between Braine and Mrs Barbara Jones, his typist, an issue of The Spectator dated 5 January 1985, miscellaneous lists by others, and a letter from Bloomsbury Book Auctions, London, dated 30 August 1995; (d) 4 of his published works, namely: Room at the top, 1987 reprint, together with a Russian translation of the book, dated 1963; Life at the top, 1962; and These golden days, 1985.

John Gerard Braine (1922-1986), the Yorkshire-born writer. For a fuller account of his life and achievements see the Dictionary of National Biography.

Access is unrestricted.

The first part of the archive to be acquired was purchased from Bertram Rota on 5 September 1975. More was purchased from Sotheby's on 11 August 1987. The main section of it was purchased from Bloomsbury Auction Rooms on 23 March 1988. Two individual items were added later; one purchased from Mr R.P. Carr, Leeds University Librarian, on 16 August 1990; the other donated by Mr Colin Jackson on 22 November 1990.

In English.