Daphne du Maurier Papers: typescripts of Sheila Hodges

This collection of papers consists of a number of edited typescripts of Daphne du Maurier's published works as edited by Sheila Hodges. The following typescripts are contained (they are mainly du Maurier originals): Golden Lads (1946), The Scapegoat (1957), The Flight of the Falcon (1963), The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte (1966), Vanishing Cornwall (1967), The House on the Strand (1969), stories from Not After Midnight (1971) (later published as Don't Look Now), The Winding Stair (1976), Growing Pains (1977) (later published as Myself When Young) and The Rebecca Notebook (1981). Also included is a copy of a journal article (2002) by Sheila Hodges on her editorial collaboration with Daphne du Maurier.

Sheila Hodges joined the publishing firm of Victor Gollancz in 1936, becoming Assistant Managing Director in 1943 to take charge of the editorial department. Taking over from Daphne du Maurier's previous editor who had been called up during the war, she edited the works of Daphne du Maurier over a period spanning nearly forty years from 1943-1981. Even from the start of this collaboration, du Maurier was already well-established as a world-famous writer and had published six novels and two biographies. Leaving Gollancz in 1953, Hodges continued to work as a freelance editor and reader for Gollancz and other publishing houses. Author of eight published works herself, these include a biography of the Mozartian librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte and histories of Gollancz and Dulwich College. She has also contributed articles to the Women's History Review, Opera Quarterly and Music Review.

Daphne Du Maurier (1907-1989) was the daughter of the actor Sir Gerald Du Maurier (1873-1934), and his wife Muriel, and the granddaughter of the artist and novelist George Louis Palmella Busson Du Maurier (1834-1896). She grew up in Cumberland Terrace, London, and Cannon Hall, Hampstead, but the family developed strong links with Cornwall after buying a riverside house near Fowey, and it was in Cornwall that Daphne settled. She began publishing stories and articles in 1928; her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931 by Heineman. Then followed The Progress of Julius (Heineman, 1933) and Gerald, a portrait (Gollancz, 1934) before her first enduring success, Jamaica Inn, which was published by Gollancz in 1936. Two years later she published her most significant and best-loved novel, Rebecca. Besides these she published a number of other novels, short-stories and biographical portraits, blending history and literary art in some, while developing her own unique vision of the macabre in others. She published one volume of autobiography, Growing Pains, about her early life in 1977. In 1932 she married Frederick A. M. Browning, later Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick (d1965); they had one son and two daughters.

Usual EUL arrangements apply.

Description compiled by Charlotte Berry, Archivist, 10 October 2003.

Modified by Charlotte Berry, Archivist, 4 December 2003.

A handlist is available.

Restrictions on copying: please refer to the Archivist for further details.

Given to the Library in September 2002. These papers originated from the office of Sheila Hodges, editor of Gollancz publishing house.

The Library holds the following collections relating to the du Maurier family: EUL MS 144 and EUL MS 207. Other papers of Daphne du Maurier are held at the following repositories: West Yorkshire Archive Service; Cambridge University Library; University of Manchester (John Rylands Library) and the University of Warwick (Modern Records Centre).

Papers of Sir Victor Gollancz (1893-1967) are held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick Library.

Sheila Hodges, 'Editing Daphne du Maurier', Women's History Review, 11 (2002)