Robert H. Taylor Collection of English and American Literature, 1280s-1958 (mostly 1800-1939)

Contents and Arrangement

Series 1: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, 1600-1958

4 boxes

Description:

Consists primarily of bound, autograph manuscripts (many of them oversized), together with additional letters, documents and drawings. A few oversize, unbound manuscripts and/or letters have been retained in their original cases.

17 boxes

32 boxes

24 items

Description:

Contains 22 medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, circa 1280-1593.

The collection consists of manuscripts, letters, and documents of numerous and varied authors and artists that span nearly five centuries of English and American literature. There is a variety of related material, such as artwork, illustrated albums, letterbooks, and photographs.

Authors most extensively represented include the so-called "Taylor authors": Max Beerbohm (with numerous caricatures and drawings, correspondence and manuscripts), Alexander Pope, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, George Gordon Byron, and Anthony Trollope.

Other writers significantly represented in the collection, with regard to manuscripts and correspondence are: the Brontë family (Anne, Charlotte, and Patrick), Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Benjamin Robert Haydon, Henry James, George Bernard Shaw, Lytton Strachey, Alfred Tennyson, William Makepeace Thackeray, the Trollope family (Frances Milton, Henry Merivale, T. Adolphus, and Frances Eleanor), Oscar Wilde, and Virginia Woolf. The major artists include William Blake, Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"), George Cruikshank, Edward Lear, John Everett Millais, William Makepeace Thackeray, and J. M. W. Turner.

Arrangement

The collection has been arranged in the following series:

Series 1, Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, 1600-1958 Series 2, Artwork, 1600-1948 Series 3: Modern Manuscripts (Unbound) and Correspondence, 1545-1969 Series 4, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, 1280-1599

Collection Creator Biography:

Taylor

Robert H. Taylor graduated from Princeton University in 1930 with a major in architecture. He continued his studies in architecture, first at Yale University then at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but never practiced as an architect. He was a lifelong collector of books and manuscripts of English and American literature, ranging from early English manuscripts to works by authors contemporary to him. In 1961, he moved to Princeton from Yonkers, New York into a house with a specially built library room. In 1971, he deposited his collection at Princeton University Library into refurbished rooms on the first floor of Firestone Library, thus providing both better security as well as improved scholarly access to his collection. He published and spoke regularly on bibliographical and book collecting topics. In 1980, he published Certain Small Works, a compendium of his writings on collecting, the writer's craft, and one of his favorite authors, Anthony Trollope. His collection, together with an endowment, came to the Library as a bequest upon his death in May 1985.

Acquisition:

Robert H. Taylor, Princeton Class of 1930, placed his library collection on deposit in the Princeton University Library in 1972, and bequeathed it to the Library upon his death in 1985. The Library has accepted gifts and made acquisitions of related material since that time.

"Mysteria Revelata" of John Collins was purchased with funds from the Richard M. Ludwig Endowment established by Michael Spence, Class of 1966.

Florence Emily Hardy (1881-1937) letters to Constance Innes Pocock were purchased in 2014 (AM 2014-88).

Max Beerbohm letters to Florence Kahn were purchased in 2000 (RT 2000-01).

William Shenstone epitaph by Richard Graves was purchased in 2015 (AM 2016-8).

Appraisal

No materials were separated during 2003 processing.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Sylvia Yu and Teresa Basler in 2002-2003. Finding aid written by Sylvia Yu and Teresa Basler in 2002-2003.

Finding aid updated periodically with new accessions by Kelly Bolding, Faith Charlton, and Chloe Pfendler, 2013-2017.

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:

Robert H. Taylor Collection of English and American Literature; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:

http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/th83kz37q

Location:

Manuscripts Division

Firestone Library

One Washington Road

Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

(609) 258-3184

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Storage Note:

Firestone Library (scahsvm): Boxes 1-48; 7a

Bibliography: See the double issue of The Princeton University Library Chronicle devoted in its entirety to a survey of the Taylor Collection: Robert J. Wickenheiser, "The Robert H. Taylor Collection" (Vol. XXXVIII, no. 2 and 3; Winter-Spring, 1976-77), contains 13 articles by such scholars as G. E. Bentley, James Thorpe, Mary Hyde, Charles Ryskamp, E.D.H. Johnson ("Romantic, Victorian, and Edwardian: Part Two-Manuscripts, Letters, and Drawings," pp. 212-224), H. W. Liebert, Richard M. Ludwig, John V. Fleming, Earl Miner, and Thomas P. Roche. Also, the entire Winter, 1986 issue of the Princeton University Library Chronicle focuses on the Robert H. Taylor Collection. See also: Robert H. Taylor, "Contemporary Collectors III: The Robert H. Taylor Library" in the Book Collector Vol. 3, no. 4 (Winter, 1954); "Association Copies from the Collection of Robert H. Taylor" in the Gazette of the Grolier Club [New series], (June, 1969), no. 10; and A.D. Wainwright, "Robert H. Taylor" in the Gazette of the Grolier Club [New series], (1986), no. 38.
Subject Terms:: American literature.
English fiction.
English literature -- Women authors. -- Sources
English literature.
Novelists, American -- 19th century -- Manuscripts.
Novelists, American -- 20th century -- Manuscripts.
Novelists, American. -- 19th century -- Correspondence
Novelists, American. -- 20th century -- Correspondence
Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Manuscripts.
Novelists, English. -- 19th century -- Correspondence
Genre Terms:: Correspondence
Drawings.
Manuscripts.
Names:: Beerbohm, Max, Sir (1872-1956)
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron (1788-1824)
Pope, Alexander. (1688-1744)
Shaw, Bernard (1856-1950)
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816)
Strachey, Lytton (1880-1932)
Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811-1863)
Trollope, Anthony
Wilde, Oscar (1854-1900)
Woolf, Virginia (1882-1941)