The official website of THE POWYS SOCIETY

A  POWYS WEBLIOGRAPHY

Join The Society

Home About The Society News and Events Publishing News 2009 Conference
John Cowper Powys T. F. Powys Llewelyn Powys The Powys Family

The Powys Collection

The Newsletter

The Journal

Powys Society Publication List

[Order Form]

The Powys Society Collection

A Powys Webliography

Powys titles currently in print

Resources

A note on Copyright

Cecil Woolf Publishers

Links

Conference  2009 DVDs

A visit to the National Library of Wales

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A  POWYS WEBLIOGRAPHY

In addition to the Powys Society’s own Collection there are a number of other literary archives containing primary documents by the Powyses disbursed among both UK and USA institutions and university libraries.

This list incorporates details of collections in North America, first printed in The Powys Newsletter, 1970 and 1971, published by Colgate University, and now updated with website addresses.

Visitors to the Society’s website are invited to submit information about other collections not included here or make suggestions for improvements to this webliography and send this to the Hon Secretary (chris.d.thomas@hotmail.co.uk). Please also let us know if you discover any broken links.

A quick way of identifying web sites with details of collections of Powys materials is to use either the finding aids on the National Archives web site (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) or consult the Location Register of 20th Century English Literary Manuscripts:

(http://www.rdg.ac.uk/library/about-us/projects/lib-location-register.asp)

The most extensive collections of Powysiana may be found at:

Colgate University, Everett Needham Case Library:

 http://exlibris.colgate.edu/services/departments/speccoll/powys.html

Highlights of the collection include the complete holograph manuscript of JCP’s Autobiography, the only remaining complete typescript of Porius, the typescript of A Glastonbury Romance, and major correspondence with Louis Wilkinson, and unpublished correspondence with John Redwood Anderson and Marian Powys. The collection also has original manuscripts of works by Theodore and Llewelyn Powys

The National Library of Wales: www.llgc.org.uk

This is where you will find the original copies of the diaries of John Cowper Powys, the uncorrected carbon copy of the typescript of Porius, letters from JCP to Phyllis Playter, and most of the letters, manuscripts and personal documents made available to Morine Krissdottir in the creation of her biography of JCP – Descents of Memory.

Syracuse University, George Arents Research Library: http://scrc.syr.edu

The comprehensive collection includes memorabilia associated with the Powyses, press cuttings, photographs, some early JCP notebooks, correspondence, and fragments of holograph manuscripts of the Autobiography, Owen Glendower, Weymouth Sands and Wolf Solent.

University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransome Humanities Research Centre: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu

This is a very fine and comprehensive collection of original manuscripts, including the holograph manuscript of Porius, family photographs as well as correspondence from all three Powys brothers with a wide range of people and other family members. The Llewelyn Powys holdings have been  described in the Powys Society Newsletter, No.45, April 2002.

Conveniently the web site of The National Archives: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk also includes links to the sites listed above as well as to some smaller collections such as  the Liverpool Record Office; Shropshire Archives; Huntington Library (USA); Churchill Archives Centre (Cambridge University); Oxford University Archives; University of Calgary Library; University of Connecticut Library; Columbia University Libraries - Rare Book and Manuscript Library; Leeds University Library Special Collections; Cambridge University Library, Dept of Manuscripts and University Archives; and  Oxford University - Bodelian Library. 

To find these links go to the home page of the National Archives site, select the drop down menu “Search the Archives”, select “National Register of Archives”, select Personal Name and enter search criteria for either John Cowper Powys, Theodore or Llewelyn Powys. Links to other Powysian collections can also be made by selecting the option for Access to Archives.   

     Other Collections:

North America

Brooklyn Public Library: www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org

Letters from JCP and Llewelyn Powys to Benjamin De Casseres (1873-1945), a journalist and author who worked for various New York City newspapers writing columns and editorials

Columbia University: www.columbia.edu

Correspondence from JCP

Cornell University Library, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, the George Jean Nathan Collection:  www.cornell.edu

Letters from Llewelyn Powys to George Jean Nathan

Haverford College, USA: www.haverford.edu

Letters from JCP in the Fred Rodell Papers

Hofstra University Library, Hempstead, Long Island, NY, Special Collections Department, Rare Books and Manuscripts: www.hofstra.edu

Large collection of letters from JCP, manuscripts of Llewelyn and T F Powys

Indiana University (Bloomington): www.indiana.edu

The Dreiser collection includes a bust of JCP,  the Desmond and Mary McCarthey collection includes some material by Llewelyn Powys and the Lilly Library manuscript Collection includes correspondence from JCP to David Anton Randall (1905-1975), bookman and first Lilly librarian at the university.

Kent State University (Kent, Ohio): www.kent.edu

ALS from JCP to Wilbur Needham enclosing copy of his poem The Peewit, autograph note signed to Ben Abramson on a prospectus for An Anthology,

McMaster University, California, USA, Archives and Research collections:

http://library.mcmaster.ca/archives/findaids/fonds/p/powys.htm

In January 2005 Peter J. Bassnett of Toronto donated his Powys collection of some 750 items to McMaster University Library. The collection consists of first and later editions, journals, manuscripts, autographed letters, ephemera and secondary literature related to the Powys brothers and their circle. There are letters written between 1929 and1965 and two signed typescripts by Llewelyn Powys of "Memoirs of Thomas Hardy". Ephemeral items include a ticket for a lecture on 22 January 1916 delivered by John Cowper Powys on "Modern European Literature: D'Annunzio" and a postcard from the Woman's City Club [Kansas City, Missouri?], notifying members of literary events during April 1933

Marquette University: www.marquette.edu

The Elizabeth Whitcomb Houghton Collection includes a letter from T F Powys to Mr Schwartz, 1931 (a New York bookdealer)

New York Public Library: www.nypl.org  The collection includes letters written by John Cowper Powys to Isadora Duncan at the time she was performing at the Century Theatre in New York in 1915

Pennsylvannia State University: www.psu.edu

Letters from JCP and T F Powys

Texas, A & M University, Cushing Library: http://cushing.library.tamu.edu/

The collection has materials relating to T F Powys, and Llewelyn Powys including : Letters of Theodore Francis Powys to his sister, Lucy Penny, and the writer Valentine Ackland,  and a manuscript book belonging to Llewelyn Powys which contains six handwritten essays, some published and some unpublished: "Of the Sun," consisting of eight pages, "Of Romance," nine pages, apparently unpublished; "Of a Gannet", apparently unpublished; "Of Egoism," twenty pages, "Of Goodness," sixteen pages, apparently not published, and "When the unicorn cons the water," ten pages. Also included is a letter handwritten in ink, dated December 15th 1935, and signed by Llewelyn Powys. It is titled "Instructions as to the disposal of my body in the case of my death," and was given to his wife Alyse Gregory

University of Arkansas at Fayetville, John Gould Fletcher Papers: www.libinfo.uark.edu/specialcollections/manuscripts

Letter from T F Powys to J G Fletcher, 1928

University of California, Berkeley, Noel Sullivan papers: www.berkeley.edu

Letter from JCP to Noel Sullivan

University of Chicago: www.uchicago.edu

Letters from JCP and Llewelyn Powys to Harriet Monroe, editor of Poetry Magazine

University of Connecticut:  www.uconn.edu

Thomas J Dodd Research Centre, Powys family Collection, created by Rex Dennis Parady, includes news clippings, portraits, sketches and photographs, a portfolio of wood engravings by Gertrude, letters from JCP to Rex Parady, mss include The Brazen Head, The Complex Vision, an undated fragment of a novel, poems, preface to Laurence Sterne, some pages from Up and Out, a six page essay on T F Powys, correspondence from Llewelyn Powys and correspondence from T F Powys 1928-1930 and 1936

University of Iowa – Iowa City :www.uiowa.edu

Papers of Ruth Suckow include letters from JCP. The Angus Wilson Papers include Wilson’s “JCP Notes for a broadcast”

University of Kansas (Lawrence),Kenneth Spencer Research Library: www.ku.edu

Letters to Grant Richards from Llewelyn Powys

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Special Collections Library: http://www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll/

The Ellen Van Volkenburg and Maurice Browne papers (1910-1960) include correspondence with John Cowper  Powys and his association with them during the period of the Little Theatre as well as later correspondence, photos and original play bills advertising JCP’s lectures at the Little Theatre

 University of Oregon: www.uoregon.edu

Letters of Marian Powys, seven manuscripts, and a galley proof by JCP including a scrapbook  of 16th to 20th century examples of lace making, identified and described by Marian, JCP letters to Valentine Kelly 1956-1958

University of Pennsylvania: www.upenn.edu

Correspondence from JCP and Llewelyn Powys to Theodore Dreiser, a copy of JCP’s playscript The Idiot, “Nietzsche” [notebook], bound page proofs of Wolf Solent, The Edgar Lee Masters correspondence includes letters and poems 1916-1946 sent to Powys by Masters. The collection contains 163 letters and 110 poems, mostly typescript originals

University of Rochester, Dept of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservations: www.rochester.edu

Letters from JCP to Dorothy Dudley Harvey, letters from Llewelyn Powys to Claude Bragdon and Carl E Ankeley.

University of Toronto, Thomas fisher Rare Book Library, Handscombe Powys Collection:

www.utoronto.ca/fisher

Correspondence from JCP, TFP and Llewelyn Powys, association and presentation copies of books, pamphlets and articles. “For those interested in the texts and editions of the Powys brothers (as distinct from manuscripts) this must be one of the best equipped collections in North America” ( W J Keith, Powys Society Newsletter,No 57, March 2006.

University of Tulsa, Special collections, McFarlin Library: www.lib.utulsa.edu

Letter from JCP to Dorothy Richardson

University of Victoria, British Columbia, English Literature Collections: www.library.uvic.ca

Letters from JCP to Alfred Perles and to Henry Miller (about Perles), letter from Llewelyn Powys to Mr Bran and typescript of an essay “Christian Churlishness”

Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: www.library.yale.edu

This important collection includes correspondence between John Cowper Powys, Arthur Davison Ficke and Dorothy Richardson and associated documents in the collection of the Alyse Gregory Papers as well as significant material in the John Cowper Powys Collection such as correspondence with Curtis Freshel discussing Powys’s writings, his views on European politics of the 1930’s, his religious beliefs and reading, letters to Bill Bax discussing personal news, friends and family members, World War !!, fascism, Powys’s writings and favourite authors such as Homer, Sophocles, and Henry James; and letters to Sven Berlin containing reminiscences of the Powys brothers lives in New York City. The collection also includes AMSs by T F Powys of The Key of the Field and The Dewpond.     

United Kingdom

British Library, Dept of Manuscripts: www.bl.uk

Letter from JCP to Thomas H Bell, letters from JCP, TFP, and Llewelyn Powys to Vera Wainwright, diary of Llewelyn Powys, letters from Llewelyn Powys to Alyse Gregory and correspondence of Llewelyn Powys in the papers of Marie Stopes

Brotherton Library, Brotherton Collection: www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/brocoll.htm

Autograph mss by JCP, The Poetry of Francis Berry [prose note], letters to Jessie Cormack (1956-1961), letter to Francis Berry praising his poem Murdock, letters from JCP to G Wilson Knight and Richard Knight, letter from Llewelyn Powys to Clement Shorter,

Cambridge University Library: www.cam.ac.uk

Letters from Louis Wilkinson to TFP, letter from TFP to Charles Prentice, 2 letters from Gilbert Phelps to TFP, letter from Ruth Sanders-Manning to TFP, letters from TFP to Alan W Steele, letters from Llewelyn Powys to James Venn, and Naomi Mitchison, letters from Llewelyn Powys edited by Alyse Gregory, Notebook of Llewelyn Powys containing quotations and notes on local events.

Churchill Archives Centre (University of Cambridge): http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk

Papers comprising a copy typescript of Porius, a typescript of a dramatisation of Dostoevsky's "The Idiot", and a press cuttings album.

Dartington Hall Trust and Archive: http://www.dartington.org/archive/

Includes correspondence between John Cowper Powys and Maurice Browne 1952-1953

Dorset County Museum, Thomas Hardy Collection: www.dorsetcountymuseum.org

Letters from JCP to Thomas Hardy, 1915-1918

John Rylands University of Manchester: www.library.manchester.ac.uk

Letter from JCP to L P Hartley

Leeds University Library – Special Collections: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/

Letters from John Cowper Powys

Liverpool Record Office: http://www.liverpool.gov.uk:

Correspondence from John Cowper Powys with James Hanley, Also letters from Llewelyn and TFP

Oxford University – Bodleian Library - Special Collections: http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/library/specialcollections

Oxford University Archives: http://www.oua.ox.ac.uk/

Public Record Office: www.pro.gov.uk

 Letter from T F Powys to J Ramsay MacDonald

Shropshire Archives: www.shropshire.gov.uk/archives

Letters from Wilson Knight about JCP

Somerset Record Office: www.somerset.gov.uk/archives

Letters from Llewelyn Powys and others to Joan and Kate Ingilby

Trinity College (Cambridge University) Library: www.trinity.cam.ac.uk

Letter from T F Powys to R C Trevelyan

West Yorkshire Archive Services, Bradford Archives: www.archives.wyjs.org.uk

 Letter from T F Powys to Malachi Whitaker

University of Aberdeen: www.abdn.ac.uk

22 letters from T F Powys to J B Chapman

University of Bristol Library: www.bristol.ac.uk

3 letters from JCP to N L Bright, editorial correspondence file relating to the publication of Ebony and Ivory by Llewelyn Powys,

University of Durham Library: www.dur.ac.uk

23 letters from JCP, 25 letters from TFP and 8 letters and 2 postcards from Llewelyn Powys to Claude Colleer Abbott

University of London Library: www.ull.ac.uk

Portions of T F Powys’s mss of the House With The Echo, 14 letters from TFP to Charles Lahr, Dialogue on Genesis by T F Powys.

University of Reading: www.rdg.ac.uk

Files of correspondence relating to works by T F Powys, 2 pages of corrected text for ‘Fables’, letter from Llewelyn Powys in the files of Macmillan and Co Ltd, 55 letters and a telegram from Llewelyn Powys in the early correspondence files of The Bodley Head Ltd., 2 letters from Llewelyn Powys to Frank Ernest Hill, letter from JCP in the archives of the Hogarth Press, 5 letters from JCP in the early correspondence files of the Bodley Head (1953), letters from TFP in the Chatto and Windus file.

         OTHER LOCATIONS

Trinity College, Dublin: www.tcd.ie

4 letters from Llewelyn Powys to Seumas O’Sullivan, the editor of the Dublin Magazine.

         Powys books now available online

 

1.The Gutenberg Project (has nearly 3000 titles that can be downloaded and read online including some JCP titles) see www.gutenberg.org/catalog

 

2. The Internet Archive (a digital library of internet sites which provides free access to a vast range of books and articles) has a number of titles by JCP, Llewelyn and Theodore which can be freely downloaded. See www.archive.org

 

3.Google Books: Books by and about the Powys can be accessed in part or sometimes whole books available (for instance David Goodway’s Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow can be downloaded from here). See: http://books.google.com/books

 

If you know of other sites of a similar nature please email here

 

Chris Thomas

Hon Secretary

Top of the Page

This website is © The Powys Society 2010.

Permission must be asked before using any material from this site.

Often described as one of the great apocalyptic novels of our time, WOLF SOLENT is the story of a young man returning from London to work near to the school at which his father had been history master. Complex, romantic and humorous, it is a classicwork combining a close understanding of man's everyday experience with a delicate awareness of the spiritual.

WOLF SOLENT

John Cowper Powys

A Powys Society Meeting

Mr Weston's Good Wine is the unusual tale of the struggle between the forces of good and evil in a small Dorset village. Its action is limited to one winter's evening when Time stands still and the bitter-sweet gift of awareness falls upon a dozen memorable characters. During the book a child knocked down by his car is miraculously brought back to life; the sign 'Mr Weston's Good Wine' lights up the sky; and the villagers soon discover that the wine he sells is no ordinary wine.

MR WESTON'S GOOD WINE

T.F. Powys

SOMERSET ESSAYS

Llewelyn Powys

Two POWYS DAYS: CAMBRIDGE on Saturday 24 April 2010 and DORCHESTER on Saturday 5 June 2010. Powys Society Annual Conference 2010 at the Wessex Hotel, Street, Somerset, on Friday 20th August - Sunday 22nd August
 

U.K. Registered Charity no. 801332   •   ©2010 The Powys Society