Papers of Professor John Everett Butt

The Papers of Professor John Everett Butt consist of notes for lectures on English literature at the Universities of Leeds, London, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

John Everett Butt was born in Hoole, Cheshire, in 1906. He was educated at Shrewsbury School, and Merton College, Oxford. He became a Lecturer in English at Leeds University in 1929, and in 1930 he was Assistant Librarian at the English School Library, Oxford. From 1930 to 1946 he was a Lecturer in English at Bedford College, University of London, and during the Second World War he held administrative posts at the Ministry of Home Security and the Home Office. In 1952, he was a visiting Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Between 1946 and 1959, Butt was Professor of English Language and Literature at King's College (University of Durham) at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He was appointed Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh in 1959. His published works includeA bibliography of Izaak Walton's lives(1930),Pope's taste in Shakespeare(1936),A translation of Voltaire's Candide(1947), andThe Augustan age(1950). He also edited many works, including, with others,Of books and humankind: essays and poems presented to Bonamy Dobree(1965). He had also been Editor of theReview of English studies. Professor John E. Butt died on 22 November 1965.

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An important finding aid is the alphabetical Index to Manuscripts held at Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections and Archives. Additions to the typed slips in sheaf binders were made until 1987.