Literary papers and correspondence of John Gawsworth, with related material

Comprises: (a) Autograph manuscript correspondence between John Gawsworth and Charles Wrey Gardiner (1941-1967, mainly assembled by Gardiner into a collection labelled 'The reluctant landlord' and contained within three plastic files); also autograph manuscript correspondence with John Masefield (1939-1955), Constance Masefield (1942-1962), and a few other persons; (b) Autograph manuscript, typescript, or printed drafts of some of his poems, usually with annotations, including, Poems 1930-1932, 'Lyrics to Kingcup' (1932 and signed 4 June 1967), 'Fifteen poems. Three friends' (1931 and also signed 4 June 1967, together with a mock-up of part of the collection, galley proofs of 'Sylvan and Campaspe', and drafts of 'Mountains'), 'Mishka and Madeleine' (1932, 2 copies), 'Toreros' with a proof copy, 'Deciduous leaves' (122 uncollected and unpublished poems 1929-1963), 'Well, my Corsican brother' (23 October 1965), 'Nothing to lose', 'En Orient', 'Erica' (1938), and 'The Golmohur Grove' (poems from India 1944-1946); (c) 3 autograph manuscript notebooks compiled by John Gawsworth containing (i) 'Anthologia: elegant extracts from divers volumes', (ii) 'The Golden Age', an incomplete book of poems illustrated by woodcuts executed by Frederick Carter, and (iii) Another poetry collection in a manuscript book into which galley-proofs are pasted and which are interspersed with additional manuscript poems; (d) Several prose works by Gawsworth, including "Letters in French Barbary: a war despatch, 1943" (an offprint from the Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, New Series, Vol.24, 1948), "The future of Indo-Anglian poetry" (reprint from The Hindoosthan Quarterly, Vol.2, July-September, 1945, pp. 10-17, with autograph manuscript annotations and corrections), and an autograph manuscript appreciation of John Masefield, 5 May 1949; (e) Manuscript and printed appreciations of Gawsworth by others, including 'Sketches towards a portrait of John Gawsworth', collected by Charles Wrey Gardiner (1965 and held in a large file), 'The King of all the Seagulls', by F. Dubrez Fawcett (1960), and 'Gawsworth, Lyricist of Love', by K.R. Srinvasar Iyengar (1949); (f) Miscellaneous other items, including (i) 2 signed sketches of John Gawsworth by Frederick Carter, dated 1932 and 1938, (ii) 2 shorthand manuscript notes and a letter written by M.P. Shiel and dated 1938, (iii) A reprint of 'Caribbean adventure' (a letter written by Carl N. Shuster during the Smithsonian-Bredin Caribbean Expedition in 1958), (iv) 'Two epigrams of fealty', by Dylan Thomas, printed 1953, concerning Gawsworth as King of Redonda, and (v) A prospectus for Legacy to love: selected poems 1931-1941, by Gawsworth, [1944].

John Gawsworth, pseudonym of Terence Ian Fytton Armstrong (1912-1970), the bohemian poet. For fuller details of his life and achievements see Who was who, Vol. 6.

Access is unrestricted.

Purchased from several different booksellers at many different times between 11 August 1987 and 2 April 1992.

In English.