Literary papers and correspondence of Roy Fuller, with some of his publications

Comprises: (a) 2 boxes (Boxes 1-2) containing Roy Fuller's autograph manuscript notebooks, comprising 25 numbered notebooks of poetry dated 1941-1983, 2 unnumbered notebooks of his reviews of works by others, and 1 unnumbered notebook in which he drafted his Oxford poetry lectures; (b) 5 boxes containing literary papers, and some associated correspondence with publishers and friends, relating to his publications from 1945 to 1990, including many autograph manuscript and typescript drafts (and some printers' proofs) of his books of poetry, novels, and autobiographical works, notably (in Box 3) Home and dry (4 drafts) and Vamp till ready (3 drafts), (in Box 4) Souvenirs (2 drafts), Stares (4 drafts, including an uncorrected proof copy dated 1990), and Reign of sparrows (1 draft), (in Boxes 5-6) New and collected poems 1934-1984 (2 drafts and a proof), and (in Box 7) Brutus's orchard (1 draft), Available for dreams (2 drafts), Consolations (3 drafts), Long time a child (1 draft), Subsequent to summer (1 draft), and his obituary of John Lehmann (1 draft), together with reviews, literary critical works, publishers' contracts, medical press cuttings, and publicity leaflets for the Tate Gallery Poetry Event in 1985 and 1987; (c) 6 annotated and signed copies of his books, namely: Brutus's orchard, Collected poems 1936-1961, Buff, Howard castled, An ill-governed coast, and Souvenirs.

Roy (Broadbent) Fuller (1912-1991), the poet, was born in Failsworth, Lancashire, educated at Blackpool High School, and later qualified as a solicitor. He joined the Woolwich Equitable Building Society in 1938 and became one of its directors in 1969. He was legal adviser to and vice-president of the Building Societies Association , and at one time a governor of the BBC. His lectures as Oxford Professor of Poetry (1968-1973) were published under the titles Owls and artificers (London, 1971) and Professors and gods (London, 1974). He received the CBE and the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1970, and was chairman of both the Literature Panel of the Arts Council and the Poetry Book Society. Besides numerous volumes of poetry, Fuller also published eight novels, eight children's books, and three volumes of memoirs.

Access is unrestricted.

Acquired variously by gift and purchase between 1982 and 1999 both from several different booksellers and from the author himself.

In English.