Papers of Joseph Wright

This material is held atBodleian Library, University of Oxford

  • Reference
    • GB 161 MSS. Eng. lang. c. 12-14, d. 77-128, e. 13-15, f. 3; Eng. lett. c. 329, d. 347; Eng. misc. a. 15, b. 117(R), c. 566-7; Top. Oxon. b. 267
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1878-1955
  • Language of Material
    • English, German, Ancient Greek (to 1453), and Middle English (1100-1500).
  • Physical Description
    • 66 shelfmarks

Scope and Content

Papers of Joseph Wright, with some papers of his wife, Elizabeth Mary, including:

  • Wright's English dialect dictionary (London & New York, 1896-1901) cut up and pasted into 30 volumes, with annotations and corrections by him
  • Lists of subscribers to the dictionary
  • Newspaper cuttings concerning the dictionary
  • Drafts and manuscripts of various grammars
  • Lectures, certificates, diplomas, correspondence and photographs
  • Papers of Elizabeth Mary Wright, concerning 'Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight', ca. 1896-1923, and Havelok the Dane, 1921-2
  • Letters to Mrs Wright, 1888-1934

Administrative / Biographical History

Joseph Wright (1855-1930) was a philologist. Details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Access Information

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/specialcollections).

Acquisition Information

The papers were transferred from the Taylorian Library in 1972, except for MS. Eng. lang. c. 12 and MS. Eng. lett. c. 329, which were given to the Library in 1974.

Note

Collection level description created by Emily Tarrant, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts.

Other Finding Aids

M. Clapinson and T.D. Rogers, Summary Catalogue of Post-Medieval Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford. Acquisitions 1916-1975. (Oxford, 1991), vol. I, nos. 40392-457.