The Novello Cowden Clarkes were a well known Anglo-Italian family of musicians, writers, artists, singers and actors, with a wide and influential literary and artistic circle. Based in London and later, in Nice, Genoa, Fermo, Florence and Rome, the greater part of the collection dates from the nineteenth century.
The collection is comprised of two connected parts: the papers and correspondence of the Novello Cowden Clarke family and a library of books collected by the Cowden Clarkes. This large and diverse collection includes published volumes, pamphlets, periodicals, autographed letters, manuscripts items, sketchbooks, drawings, watercolours and prints, oil paintings, printed and manuscript music, maps, photographs, greetings cards, press cuttings and jewellery.
The main body of the collection is arranged biographically and chronologically by year of birth, from Giuseppe ‘Joseph’ Novello (1744-1808) to Valeria Gigliucci (1849-1945). Each of the eighteen family members represented in the collection have their own series, each of which is divided into files of related materials, which are generally further subdivided into records for individual items. In addition to the biographical arrangement is a general Novello Cowden Clarke family series, which includes material related to more than one member of the family and material without specific attribution to a single person.