Modern poetry manuscript collection

This material is held atUniversity of St Andrews Special Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 227 msPR6037.A9A17
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1921-1941
  • Name of Creator
  • Language of Material
    • English
  • Physical Description
    • Various

Scope and Content

msPR6037.A9A17 (ms5484)

Fair autograph copy of nineteen poems of Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (1886-1967). Illuminated title page. Dated January 1941 in decorative design on verso of final folio.

msPR6037.W2E6 (ms5058)

Autograph draft of Annie Shepherd Swan (1859-1943), later Mrs Burnett Smith, The elder brother, c.1930.

msPR6037.W2M2 (ms5059)

Autograph draft of Annie Shepherd Swan (1859-1943), later Mrs Burnett Smith, The marching feet, 1931.

msPR5365.P8 (ms705)

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), draft autograph notes in shorthand on the absurdity of the English alphabet, 1941. The [Pitman] shorthand notes, part of a preface to Richard Albert Wilson's The Miraculous Birth of Language, were typed into long hand [ff.3,4], corrected by Shaw, and then forwarded to the printer. There is a prefatory note [f.2] by George Herbert Bushnell. Printed card 'With Bernard Shaw's compliments' pasted on to front free endpaper.

PR6003.E41 (ms5463)

Autograph draft of Janet Kintyre (Janet Beith) No Second Spring, 1931. With an introductory typescript note by the authoress (1p).

msPR6003.I75

Autograph copy of Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), Gallipoli - a poem, 1917. Draft, with emendations in the hand of the author.

f.ivr Prefatory typescript note by George Herbert Bushnell dated 10 March 1941 recording the author's account of the circumstances of the poem's composition (pasted in).

msPR6003.O67K2 (ms681)

Autograph copy of Gordon Bottomley (1874-1948), Kate Kennedy, a play in three acts, 1939.

f.i Historical note on Kate Kennedy and the University of St Andrews.

f.iir Dedication to John Brandane and James Bridie (of the Scottish National Theatre Society of Glasgow) by Gordon Bottomley, The Shieling, Silverdale, Carnforth, Lancashire, nd.

ff.1-60 The play.

Bound after f.60 three additional leaves being a printed programme for a performance of Kate Kennedy by the Pilgrim Players [dir. E Martin Browne] in Spring 1944 (6pp).

msPR6003.O67K2A

Printed copy of Gordon Bottomley (1874-1948), Kate Kennedy, published by Constable & Co Ltd, London, 1945, and bound by Cockerell. With an inscription, signed by Bottomley dated The Shieling, Silverdale [Lancashire], 23 December 1944, requesting that the copy be preserved with the manuscript of the text in St Andrews University Library.

msPR6003.O67W6 (ms680)

Autograph copy of Gordon Bottomley (1874-1948), The White Widow, a play with Mary, Queen of Scots, as a leading character, 1935.

p.i Title page with dedicatory inscription to Alexander Gray by Bottomley, The Shieling, Silverdale, Carnforth, Lancashire.

p.ii A quotation in French of Mary Stuart.

p.45 Signed at end GB (in monogram) Nov.-26th December 1934. Transcription undertaken by Bottomley between 27 January and 2 February 1935.

msPR6007.E4 (ms5457)

Autograph copy, with corrections, of a short story Gessen and Pauline by Walter de la Mare (1873-1956), c.1940.

msPR6011.E84 (ms5482, ms5483)

Autograph draft of John Alexander Ferguson, Campbell of Kilmohr, a play in one act (ms5483), 1914.

ms5482: Pasted in at front of volume, an autograph letter signed, John Alexander Ferguson to the George Herbert Bushnell, librarian, University of St Andrews, forwarding ms5483 to the library. Signed J.A. Ferguson Headed notepaper, Dunimarle Castle, Culross, Fife, 17 January ny [1941]. (1p.)

Pasted in at front of volume, printed castlist for a performance at the Royalty Theatre, Glasgow [dir. Lewis Casson], on 23 March 1914. (4pp)

msPR6015.A8 (ms5478)

Typescript, with autograph amendments and additions, of John Hay Beith (Ian Hay) (1876-1952), Little Ladyship, 1930.

msPR6015.A465 (ms5485)

Autograph copy of William Hamilton Hamilton, The Desire of the Moth: Poems, 1924. Several leaves are the obverse of the headed notepaper of Strathearn House, Crieff [Perthshire].

msPR6015.A465 (ms5484)

Autograph printer's draft of Rev William Hamilton Hamilton of Gauldry, Fife, John Masefield, a critical Primer, 1921.

msPR6025.A77Z5H2 (ms852)

The printed edition of William Hamilton Hamilton, John Masefield: a critical study, 1925. With marginal autograph annotations and additional autograph notes by the author, [intended for a second edition ?].

msPR6014.A6 (ms5461)

Autograph draft of Margaret Storm Jameson (1891-1986), later Mrs Guy Chapman, That was Yesterday, 1931.

msPR6021.N65 (ms5464)

Typescript, with autograph corrections, of Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970), Oil Paint and Grease Paint, 1935.

msPR6025.A37P7 (ms5056)

Typescript with autograph corrections of Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie (1883-1972), Prince Charlie and His Ladies, 1934. With autograph prefatory note, signed, concerning the circumstances of composition. Signed Compton Mackenzie. Headed notepaper, Suidheachan, Island of Barra, Outer Hebrides, 10 January 1941. (1p.)

msPR6025.A37C3 (ms5057)

Autograph draft of Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie (1883-1972), What Catholicism means to Scotland, 1935. Numerous corrections and additions, with the more substantial additions entered on the facing page. A prefatory note in the hand of Mackenzie states that the manuscript was completed at North Bay, Isle of Barra, in 1935.

msPR6025.I4 (ms5456)

Autograph draft of Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956), Four Days Wonder, 1932.

msPR6026.M4 (ms274)

Autograph draft of Augustus Muir, The Blue Bonnet, 1925. Typescript with autograph corrections to p.14, and manuscript thereafter. Autograph note outlining the circumstances of the novel's composition. Signed Augustus Muir, 24 January 1941.

msPR6031.R5 (ms5462)

John Boynton Priestley (1894-1984), Postscript - the script used for a radio broadcast 1st September 1940.Typescript with manuscript alterations.

Also with the volume is a typescript letter signed from J B Priestley to George Herbert Bushnell, University Librarian, Leominster, Herefordshire, 22 December 1940 (1p). It relates to the script. J B Priestley gave a series of short talks about the war entitled Postscripts on Sunday evenings from 9 June 1940 to 6 October 1940. They were published in the same year.

msPR6035.E22 (ms5479)

Sir Herbert Edward Read (1893-1968),Annals of innocence and experience, Parts II & III, c.1939-40. Autograph first draft of parts I and II together with typescript letter signed, from H E Read to George Herbert Bushnell, librarian, University of St Andrews relating to the gift of the manuscript, 26 March 1941 (2pp).

msPR6037.P4 (ms5460)

James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence (1874-1955), editor of the Edinburgh Magazine, sub-editor of the Scotsman, Ode on the Coronation of George the Sixth and other poems, c.1940. Autograph, with corrections, and final typescript, of Ode on the Coronation, together with an autograph draft of The Wee May of Caledon and a fair manuscript copy, in the hand of Spence, of Rest Harrow.

msPR6037.P4

Autograph draft of two stories by James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence (1874-1955), Enchanted Scotland (ms5458) and Yule at Perth (ms5459), 1940.

Administrative / Biographical History

The librarian of St Andrews University wrote to a number of well-known authors during the war, offering a safehaven for their manuscripts during the bombing of London. Many sent up works for safe keeping.

Access Information

By appointment with the Keeper of Manuscripts. Access to records containing confidential information may be restricted.

Acquisition Information

Given by the authors, mostly in 1941.

Other Finding Aids

Individual Manuscripts and Small Collections database available as part of Manuscripts Database.

Physical Characteristics and/or Technical Requirements

Various, boxed or bound volumes.

Archivist's Note

Description compiled by Maia Sheridan, Archives Hub project archivist, based on material from the Manuscripts Database

Conditions Governing Use

Applications for permission to quote should be sent to the Keeper of Manuscripts. Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use and condition of documents.

Accruals

Possible