- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Leland, Charles Godfrey, 1824-1903.
- Collector:
- Princeton University. Library. Special Collections
- Title:
- Charles Godfrey Leland Collection
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/qr46r082v
- Dates:
- 1841-1902
- Size:
- 2 boxes, 10 items, and 0.4 linear feet
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-2
- Language:
- English
Abstract
The Charles Godfrey Leland Collection consists of writings, correspondence, and miscellanea of the American editor, humorist, essayist, and folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland (1824-1903).
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Scope and Contents
Consists of poetry and prose manuscripts, letters by and to Leland, and other correspondence. Among the manuscripts in the collection is a notebook, titled "Essays and Extracts from Old Books and Writers" (1841-1843), in which Leland copied extracts from Hobbes, Spinoza, and others, as well as his own essays. Poetry manuscripts include "Educatio Diaboli" (1842 or 1843), "Serenade" (1842), and "Witch Songs" (undated). Several of the letters by Leland were written while he was a student at the College of New Jersey (one gives a very entertaining account of his suspension in 1842); and others refer to the formation of the American Students' Union, a group which fostered social correspondence between the classes of different universities.
The following standard abbreviations, or their variations, are used to identify materials in this collection: ALS = autograph letter signed, AN = autograph note, AMsS = autograph manuscript signed, ADS = autograph document signed.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Leland, Charles Godfrey, 1824-1903.
Charles Godfrey Leland was born on 15 August 1824 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Charles and Charlotte Leland. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1845, and also studied in Heidelberg and Munich, Germany.
A humorist, poet, essayist, and editor, Leland, is not well known today, although his Hans Breitmann (fictional German persona) ballads enjoyed an immense popularity (1860s-1890s). He edited such well-known publications as the New York Times, Vanity Fair, the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, Knickerbocker Magazine, Continental Magazine, and the Philadelphia Press.
Leland was also very interested in the mysterious and occult, as well as gypsy lore and language. His extensive writings include several books on these topics: The Poetry and Mystery of Dreams (compiler, 1856), The English Gypsies and Their Language (1873), The Gypsies (1882), Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling (1891), and Old Rabbit the Voodoo and Other Sorcerers (1893).
Leland died on 20 March 1903 in Florence, Italy.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
Various AM. Letter to Messrs Dalziel purchased from Antiquarian Bookseller Center in 1977.
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by Ran Tao, Princeton Class of 2006 in 2004. Finding aid written by Ran Tao, Princeton Class of 2006 in 2004.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use.
- 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.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
- Credit this material:
Charles Godfrey Leland Collection; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/qr46r082v
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-2
Find More
- Existence and Location of Copies
Microfilm exists for the materials housed in folders 3A, 10A, and 13A [microfilm made in April 2003].
- Subject Terms:
- College students -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- 19th century.
College verse, American -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- 19th century.
Student suspension -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- 19th century. - Genre Terms:
- Letters.
Notebooks.
Poetry. - Names:
- American Students' Union
Princeton University
