Ernest Dowson Collection, 1889-1897

The collection consists of selected letters of the English poet and novelist Ernest Dowson, some of which are unpublished. Dowson's correspondents are other authors, poets, and editors of his time. There are two letters to Henry Davray, the French author and journalist with the Mercure de France. One of the letters is in French, where Dowson asks Davray to send him a copy of Liaisons Dangereuses; in his second, Dowson asks to be introduced to someone in the Mercure. There are eight letters to the English poet Victor Plarr, and in one letter Dowson suggests that they publish a joint book of poetry, proposing a title and a price. Included with this letter is a manuscript poem by Plarr, which Plarr suggested to be the title poem for their book. On the verso of another letter to Plarr, written on Jan. 16, 1893, is a manuscript copy of Dowson's poem "Terre Promise." After 1895, having lost both parents, Dowson began to decline rapidly, which can be seen in his letters to the London publisher Leonard Smithers, to whom Dowson complains about his declining health and poverty. In a letter to the British poet and editor Arthur Symons, dated Nov. 15, 1894, Dowson writes an epigram, "Pygmalion au Rebound." In another long letter to Symons, dated July 5, 1896, Dowson asks him to tone down certain phrases in an article he is writing about Dowson.

Also included are photostats of letters to Plarr, Davray, and Smithers.