- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Sitwell, Edith, 1887-1964
- Collector:
- Princeton University. Library. Special Collections
- Title:
- Edith Sitwell Papers
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/7s75dc40b
- Dates:
- 1932-1964 (mostly 1959-1962)
- Size:
- 3 boxes and 1.5 linear feet
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-3
- Language:
- English
Abstract
Consists primarily of correspondence (1959-1962) of English poet Edith Sitwell.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Description:
This collection consists primarily of letters received by Sitwell from 177 different correspondents, ranging from 1932 to 1964, but mostly between 1959 to 1961 when Sitwell lived in London at the Sesame Imperial & Pioneer Club. The correspondents include many friends, publishers, literary and business associates, family members and admirers. Various subjects discussed in the letters include family, social, and business news, and literary topics; and there are many get well wishes for Sitwell during an illness and after an accident. Some of the correspondents are Sylvia Beach, Bryher, Cyril Connolly, George Cukor, David Higham Associates, Alec Guinness, David Horner, John Lehmann, Ned O'Gorman, William Plomer, Georgia, Osbert,and Sacheverell Sitwell, Stephen Spender, Felix Topolski, and Beryl de Zoete.
Sitwell's writings in the collection include typescripts for a book review of John Brinnin's Dylan Thomas in America (1956), essays on various topics, such as "Charity," "Ezra Pound," and "On Genius," a few poems, and transcripts of radio and television interviews. Also present are financial papers, including bills and accounts presented to Sitwell from publishers, book stores, clubs, wine merchants, nurses, and other agents or businesses. Papers of others include a typescript of Henry Cecil's Portrait of a Judge and Other Stories (1964), and poems by Lilian Barnes, Tom Driberg, Thom Gunn, David Bulwer Lutyens, and Sacheverell Sitwell. There are also several of Sotheby's catalogs listing Sitwell items for auction and a large file of clippings about Sitwell and other topics.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Sitwell, Edith, 1887-1964
Edith Sitwell was an English poet and eccentric.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
Purchased at a Sotheby auction in 1998.
- Custodial History
The collection was formed as a result of a departmental practice of combining into one collection manuscript material of various accessions relating to a particular author.
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by Barbara Volz in 1998. Finding aid written by Barbara Volz in 1998.
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.
- Credit this material:
Edith Sitwell Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/7s75dc40b
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-3