Summary
Overview
Symons, Arthur, 1865-1945.
14.0 Linear feet, 28 archival boxes, 2 oversize flat boxes
Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Abstract
Consists of manuscripts, typescripts, notebooks, tear sheets, clippings, photographs, watercolors, paintings, and much miscellaneous material of British poet, literary critic, and translator Arthur Symons.
Description
Description
The collection consists of manuscripts and typescripts of various types of works by Symons, including Amoris Victima, Cesare Borgia, Confessions, Figures of Several Centuries, Jezebel Mort and Other Poems, Lorenzaccio, Nero, Parisian Nights, Toy Cart, and Tristan and Iseult; over 30 notebooks; watercolors and paintings; correspondence; tear sheets of contributions by Symons to periodicals (many corrected in manuscript by Symons or prepared as actual copy for book publication); photographs of Symons, members of his family, and friends; clippings of reviews of Symons' books; and articles and clippings concerning art, literature, and people of interest to him, such as Cagliostro, Casanova, Giorgone, Thomas Hardy, Frank Harris, John Addington Symonds, Paul Verlaine, François Vidocq, and Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. Also included are unpublished plays and poems, translations of French and Italian poetry, ballet programs, and miscellaneous correspondence, including three letters from Stephane Mallarme, and eleven letters from John Sampson, the English student of gypsies. There are also 23 watercolors by Welsh artist Gwen John.
A few letters to Symons are also included in this collection; however, the bulk of his correspondence appears to have been dispersed before his death.
Collection Creator
Biography
British poet, literary critic, and translator, Arthur Symons was born in Wales and educated privately. He was an admirer of the French poets known as the Symbolists, members of a late 19th-century movement in whose works abstractions such as ideas, qualities, emotions, and values are expressed by means of symbols. He expounded their ideas in critical works such as The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1899) and in biographies of symbolist poets, including Charles Baudelaire (1920). In his own poetry, which included the volumes Days and Nights (1899) and Silhouettes (1892), he emulated the symbolist style. Among his other works are The Romantic Movement in English Poetry (1909) and the autobiographical Confessions (1930).
Collection History
Acquisition
Gift of A. E. Gallatin and J. Harlin O'Connell in January 1951.
Access and Use
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research use. The original Gwen John watercolors are restricted. Researchers use color surrogates.
Use Restrictions
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Preferred Citation
Arthur Symons Papers; 1883-1945, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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Related Material
Additional Arthur Symons materials are to be found in the following Princeton University Library Collections:
Sylvia Beach Correspondence
Letters of Symons and his wife Rhoda to Sylvia Beach. Mostly business-oriented.
Rodin Collection
11 letters to Symons from Rodin (1902-1911)
J. Harlin O'Connell Collection of the 1890s
Correspondence
Autograph manuscript of Tristan and Iseult, two signed drafts of part of Act I, and the signed, revised draft of Act III in autograph and typescript. A letter of Symons to John Quinn is included.
Originial autograph manuscript of "Marseilles." Laid in is a letter from Symons to Edward Martin. 5 pp.
Proof sheets, with many correction, of the Fool of the World and Other Poems.
Manuscript notebook containing six manuscript pages of notes, in Symons' hand, for an article entitled "The Symphony of Snakes," with several pages of notes for a bibliography of Arthur Symons.
"Dieppe: 1895", pages from The Savoy, for January 1896, heavily corrected in Symons' hand.
Two third-person autograph letters to an unspecified correspondent, concerning George Moore's Martin Luther.
There are also several, very ephemeral pieces which include such items as a return address, torn from a package, in Symons's hand.
Contents and Arrangement
Series 1: Lists and Bibliography, 1913 December 13
Series 2: Manuscripts, Typescripts, and Miscellaneous Papers, 1706-1944
Series 3: Notebooks, undated
Series 4: Original Photographs, Watercolors, and Paintings, undated
Series 5: Research Material, undated
Series 6: Scrapbooks of Reviews, 1926
Series 7: Correspondence, 1917
Series 8: Clippings and Periodicals, undated
Series 9: Photographs, Pictures, and Reproductions, undated
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