Consists primarily of correspondence by Bailey to a selection of correspondents, including letters by both Bailey and his wife, Anna Sophia, to Bailey's nephew John H. Brown. There are also two letters by Bailey to unknown correspondents, and letters written to Bailey, one each by Francis Foster Barham and John H. Brown. The remaining miscellaneous items in the collection include an autobiographical sketch by Bailey, a photograph of Bailey, a page proof of Universal Hymn, and assorted clippings. In addition, there are two bound volumes that belong to the collection but are housed separately: Bailey's The Mystic and Other Poems interleaved and bound with pages of autograph notes and additional verse by the author, and extracts from letters of Bailey to John H. Brown, possibly in Brown's autograph.

Note that two printed volumes by Bailey, both with autograph notes by the author and his wife, which were formerly included in the collection, have been transferred to the Rare Books Division: the tenth edition of A Poem (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1877), and the eleventh edition (fiftieth-anniversary edition) of A Poem (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1889).

Titles of bound volumes in the collection: bd. vol. no. 1 = Bailey, Philip James, The Mystic and Other Poems (London: Chapman and Hall, 1855) (interleaved and bound with pages of autograph notes and additional verse by the author) bd. vol. no. 2 = Extracts from letters of Bailey to John H. Brown, 1857-1885, possibly in Brown's autograph.

The following standard abbreviations, or their variations, are used to identify materials in this collection: ALS = autograph letter signed and AMs = autograph manuscript.