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Wyndham Lewis collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 4612

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, printed material, graphics, and bound manuscripts by, to, or about Wyndham Lewis, covering all aspects of his career and life. Includes one of two known proof copies of his novel The Roaring Queen, which was withdrawn before publication; unpublished novels, short stories, essays, and notebooks; and manuscripts and notes for Lewis's published books The Apes of God, Self Condemned, The Human Age (including Childermass, Malign Fiesta, Monstre Gai, and a synopsis of the projected fourth volume which Lewis never wrote), Mrs. Duke's Millions, The Red Priest, Rotting Hill, Rude Assignment, and The Writer and the Absolute. Also included are diaries of Lewis's wife, G. Anne Hoskyns Lewis, from 1953-1967, and Civil War reminiscences of his father, Charles Edward Lewis.

Letters include correspondence with Ezra Pound, and transcriptions of letters between Lewis and his mother while he was at the front during World War I; letters from members of his father Charles Edward Lewis's family, dating back to the 1870's, which describe life in upstate New York and Ontario; and many letters between Wyndham Lewis and other writers and publishers. Correspondents include Richard Aldington, Michael Ayrton, Lewis's lover Iris Barry, Clive Bell, Roy Campbell, Lord Kenneth Clark, T.S. Eliot, Roger Fry, Stuart Gilbert, Geoffrey Grigson, Ernest Hemingway, R.D. Jameson, Augustus John, Hugh Kenner, Charles Edward Lewis, Wyndham Lewis's mother Anne Stuart Lewis, his wife G. Anne Hoskyns Lewis, Archibald MacLeish, Marshall McLuhan, Naomi Mitchison, T. Sturge Moore (photocopies), Frederick Morgan, Dorothy Pound, Ezra Pound, C.H. Prentice, I.A. Richards, Sir John Rothenstein; Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell; Stephen Spender, Julian Symons, Tambimuttu, Allen Tate, H.G. Wells, and W.B. Yeats. The collection also includes two letters from Lewis to James Joyce.

Dates

  • 1877-1975.

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Wyndham Lewis was an artist, novelist, and critic, who was born in Canada but lived for many years in England. He was a leader of the Vorticist movement.

Extent

43.7 cubic feet. (43.7 cubic feet.)

Abstract

Manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, printed material, graphics, and bound manuscripts by, to, or about Wyndham Lewis, covering all aspects of his career and life. Includes one of two known proof copies of his novel The Roaring Queen, which was withdrawn before publication; unpublished novels, short stories, essays, and notebooks; and manuscripts and notes for several of Lewis's published books. Also included are diaries of Lewis's wife, G. Anne Hoskyns Lewis, from 1953-1967, and Civil War reminiscences of his father, Charles Edward Lewis.

COLLECTION ARRANGEMENT

Manuscripts by Lewis are arranged alphabetically by title; G. Anne Hoskyns Lewis's letters alphabetically by correspondent; documents, alphabetically by the person concerned; letters by Lewis, chronologically; letters by others, alphabetically by writer; photographs of others, alphabetically by name of photograph's subject.

SERIES LIST

<ref target="s5ss1">Graphic Material</ref>
Box 156
<ref target="s5ss2">Printed Items by Lewis</ref>
Boxes 159-162
<ref target="s5ss3">Printed Items by Others</ref>
Boxes 163-165

OTHER GUIDES TO THE COLLECTION

PROVENANCE

The core of the collection was purchased in 1959 with funds provided by William G. Mennen; more material was purchased from Lewis's widow in 1975.

RELATED MATERIAL

The collection is described in: Mary F. Daniels, Wyndham Lewis: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscript Material in the Department of Rare Books, Cornell University Library. Ithaca, NY: The Library, 1972 (Rare Ref. Z8504.389 C81)

Also described in: W.K. Rose, Wyndham Lewis at Cornell: A Review of the Lewis Papers Presented to the University by William G. Mennen. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library, 1961 (Rare Ref. Z8504.389 R79+)

A large collection of books by and about Lewis is also held in the repository, including all lifetime editions of his works and many volumes from his personal library. A large collection of Lewis's drawings are held in the Johnson Art Museum, Cornell University.

Originals of Lewis's letters to T. Sturge Moore in: University of London Library.

Physical Description

Manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, printed material, graphics.

General

Contact Information:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524 rareref@cornell.edu http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
Date completed:
November 1997
EAD encoding:
Mireille Lee, July 2000; Lucy Burgess, January-August 2008,
Date modified:
Kristen Reichenbach, August 2018
Status
Completed
Date
July 2000
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
ENG

Repository Details

Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository

Contact:
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)