Collection of 133 manuscript and typescript letters from 34 correspondents to Otto Kyllmann (d. 1958), senior partner of the publishing firm, Constable & Co., with typescript copies of 16 of his letters to various correspondents, and one note in his hand; the whole collection spanning the period 1900-1957 and arranged chronologically.
Correspondents include the former British Prime Ministers Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947) and James Ramsey MacDonald (1866-1937), the diplomats, Robert Gilbert Vansittart (1881-1957) and Sir Horace Rumbold (1869-1941), and the journalists and writers, Charles Whibley (1859-1930), Henry Spenser Wilkinson (1853-1937) and James Garvin (1868-1947). 10 letters from the suffragette writer, Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936) to Kyllmann can also be found. Subjects discussed in the letters relate principally to publishing and literary matters with passing comments on personal relations and current affairs of the time. One particular strain concerns the increasing unease felt by some in regard to political developments in Germany during the 1930s and the rise of Adolf Hitler. Letters from Kyllmann's cousin,, Dr Walter Simons (1861-1937), President of the German Supreme Court at this time, are particularly enlightening.
The collection also contains a number of additional miscellaneous papers relating to Whibley, Wilkinson, Simons and Vansittart, with three Reuters News sheets, June 1934.