- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Collector:
- Symons, Arthur, 1865-1945.
- Title:
- Arthur Symons Papers
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/tb09j569b
- Dates:
- 1883-1945
- Size:
- 32 boxes
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-32
- Language:
- English
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.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- 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 Also included are unpublished plays and poems, translations of French and Italian poetry, ballet programs, and miscellaneous correspondence, including three letters from Stephane Mallarme,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:
Symons, Arthur, 1865-1945.
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 .
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use. The original Gwen John watercolors are restricted. Researchers use color surrogates.
- Conditions Governing Use
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. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
- Credit this material:
Arthur Symons Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/tb09j569b
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-32
Find More
- Subject Terms:
- Critics -- England.
French poetry -- Translations into English.
Italian poetry -- Translations into English.
Poets, English.
Romanies -- England.
Symbolism in art.
Symbolism in literature. - Genre Terms:
- Articles.
Drawings.
Manuscripts (for publication)
Notebooks.
Poems. - Names:
- Cagliostro, Alessandro, conte di, 1743-1795.
Casanova, Giacomo, 1725-1798.
Giorgone, 1477-1510
Goldoni, Carlo, 1707-1793.
Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928.
Harris, Frank, 1856-1931
John, Gwen, 1876-1939
Symonds, John Addington, 1840-1893
Verlaine, Paul, 1844-1896.
Vidocq, Eugène François, 1775-1857.
Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Auguste, comte de, 1838-1889
