John N. Pym Collection of Percy Lubbock letters to Oliffe Richmond with his Evening in Italy and other material
Overview
Letters from Percy Lubbock to Oliffe Richmond with Lubbock's Evening in Italy and correspondence of collector John N. Pym.
Dates
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1915-1965
- Creation: 1915-2017
Creator
- Lubbock, Percy, 1879-1965 (Person)
Condition Description
In mostly good condition. Plastic manuscript binding is falling apart. Requires careful handling.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research.
This collection is shelved offsite. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.43 linear feet (1 box)Contains 41 letters from Percy Lubbock to his nephew, Oliffe Richmond, a photograph of Oliffe Richmond, a bound typescript draft of Evening in Italy, Lubbock's final manuscript which was never published, and brief notes by the collector, John N. Pym. Also contains later correspondence with various persons concerning the collection and Lubbock's publications, a newspaper clipping from The Guardian's book review section, and a museum guide handout for a 2017 special exhibition at Ightham Mote.
Biographical / Historical
Percy Lubbock (1879-1965) was a British critic and biographer, whose works include Earlham (1922), an account of his own Norfolk childhood holidays; Roman Pictures (1923), which describes an English tourist's responses to Rome; Shades of Eton (1923), recollections of his schooldays; and Portrait of Edith Wharton (1947). He edited a selection of H. James's letters (1920); also a selection from A. C. Benson's diary (1926). His The Craft of Fiction (1921) analyses the techniques of Tolstoy, Flaubert, James, etc.
Source: Oxford Reference
Oliffe Legh Richmond (1881-1977) was educated at Eton and King's College, matriculating in 1900. He was elected a Fellow of the College in 1905 and a College Lecturer in 1909. During the First World War he served in the Artists' Rifles and as an Intelligence Officer at the War Office and the Italian Headquarters. In 1919 he was appointed Professor of Humanity (Latin) at Edinburgh University. His ingenious theories about the structure of Propertius' elegies and the system of 'Lettercraft', allegedly used by authors to conceal information in their writing, are now generally discredited. He was Percy Lubbock's nephew.
Source: Richmond: The Papers of Oliffe Legh Richmond(GBR/0272/OLR). Archive Center, King's College, Cambridge
Arrangement
Arranged as received.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Custodial History
Ownership prior to this acquisition is unknown.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of John N. Pym (AB 1970), 2023 March 31
Processing Information
This collection was processed to a basic level with minimal rehousing, organization, and preservation. (Aurora Charlow, 2023)
Creator
- Lubbock, Percy, 1879-1965 (Person)
- Title
- John N. Pym Collection of Percy Lubbock letters to Oliffe Richmond with a copy of his Evening in Italy and other material, 1915-2017 (MS Eng 1911): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Date
- 2023 April 19
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03553
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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