William Charles Smith Correspondence, 1935-1971

The collection consists chiefly of correspondence of British musicologist William Charles Smith related to music and to George Frederic Handel. The correspondents represent a large group of musicians, composers, music editors and critics, music librarians, conductors, publishers, antiquarians and booksellers, authors, and music bibliographers. Correspondents include Elkin Mathews, Ltd., regarding Handel items for sale; the English conductor Charles Frederick Farncombe regarding opera performances; and Cecil Hopkinson of The First Edition Bookshop, Ltd., about purchasing Handel items. Other correspondents include Jacob Maurice Coopersmith, Thurston Dart, Winton Dean, Sir George Dyson, Sir Newman Flower, Julian Herbage, Jens Peter Larsen, Hans Lenneberg, Anthony Lewis, C. V. Pilkington of Sotheby & Co., Brian Priestman, Hans Ferdinand Redlich, Stanley Sadie, Percy Alfred Scholes, and John Tobin. In addition, there are forty-five autograph letters and cards between Smith and J. Merrill Knapp regarding music and Handel. Accompanying some of the correspondence is handwritten music.

Arrangement

Folders are arranged alphabetically by correspondent.

Collection Creator Biography:

Smith, William Charles

William Charles Smith was Assistant Keeper of the Department of Printed Books, King's Library, at the British Museum, and was also a Handel expert. Smith published several books on music in general and about Handel, his life and works, in particular. Some of Smith's publications include A Bibliography of Musical Works Published by the Firm of John Walsh During the Years 1721-1766; George Frederic Handel, His Life and Works; Essays (1948); George Frederic Handel: His Personality and His Times (1947), with Newman Flower; Handel: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Early Editions (1970); A Handelian's Notebook (1965); and Recently-Discovered Handel Manuscripts (1937)

Acquisition:

All material except for Knapp correspondence was purchased on May 17, 1974 .

Correspondence with J. Merrill Knapp was given by the office of Princeton University professor J. Merrill Knapp after his death, on November 5, 1993 .

Custodial History

The collection was formed as a result of a Departmental practice of combining into one collection material of various accessions relating to a particular person, family, or subject.

Appraisal

No appraisal information is available.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Dina Britain on August 8, 2007. Finding aid written by Traci Ballou-Broadnax on August 9, 2007. Folder Inventory added by Hilde Creager (2015) in 2012.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

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:

William Charles Smith Correspondence; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:

http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/xp68kg23r

Location:

Manuscripts Division

Firestone Library

One Washington Road

Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

(609) 258-3184

Ask Us a Question

Visit Us

Storage Note:

ReCAP (scarcpxm): Box 1

Subject Terms:: Composers -- Germany -- 17th century.
Music -- 17th century -- History and criticism.
Music -- 20th century.
Musicologists -- England -- 20th century -- Correspondence.
Genre Terms:: Correspondence -- 20th century
Names:: Händel, George Frideric (1685-1759)
Knapp, J. Merrill