Acquisition:	Purchase, 1964 (R1786)
	Processed by:	Catherine Stollar, 2005

Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Erik Richard Sidney (E. R. S.) Fifoot was born on June 14, 1925. In 1950, while pursuing a Diploma in Librarianship and Archives at University College in London, Fifoot began to compile a bibliography of works by Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell. Thirteen years later his college project resulted in his publicationA Bibliography of Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell (1963). Revised in 1971, Fifoot's book is recognized as the premier bibliography of works by the Sitwell siblings.

During Fifoot's career he worked as a librarian at the University of Leeds, the University of Nottingham, Edinburgh University, and the Bodleian Library, and published various reviews and essays, but none as comprehensive as his Sitwell bibliography. After a successful career as a librarian in Britain, Fifoot died on June 24, 1992.

	Composed mainly of correspondence to Richard Fifoot concerning his book A Bibliography of Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell (1963), the Richard Fifoot Collection of the Sitwell Family was originally part of the Sitwell Family Collection. The Sitwell Family Collection was reorganized and cataloged into individual collections for each Sitwell family member–Edith, Georgia, Osbert, and Sacheverell–as well as a separate collection for Richard Fifoot. The Fifoot Collection is arranged in two series: I. Correspondence and II. Sitwell Family.
	The Correspondence Series makes up the bulk of the collection and is broken into two subseries: A. Fifoot Correspondence and B. Third-Party Correspondence, both of which are arranged alphabetically. Subseries A. comprises publishers’ letters to Fifoot responding to his queries, as well as a few additional letters written by Fifoot. One note by Fifoot in folder 4 explains his failure to keep copies of outgoing letters and the significance of his “replied on” notations on the incoming correspondence. Also included in Subseries A. are letters from Osbert Sitwell to Fifoot. Subseries B. contains correspondence between individuals other than Fifoot or a member of the Sitwell family, often relating to a published work about the Sitwells.
	Series II. includes letters by both Edith and Osbert Sitwell directed to individuals other than Fifoot. Also present are two texts authored by Osbert Sitwell: one was written in Sacheverell’s hand and is the preface to a catalog of an exhibition of Ethelbert White's paintings; the other is a typed carbon copy of his essay "Reviewing Reviewed."
	A complete Index of Correspondents is available at the end of this finding aid.

Related material can be found elsewhere at the Ransom Center in the Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., Osbert Sitwell, and Sacheverell Sitwell manuscript collections. Galley proofs of Fifoot's A Bibliography of Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell are cataloged in the Osbert Sitwell Collection.

	People
		Sitwell, Edith, Dame, 1887-1964.
		Sitwell, Osbert, 1892-1969.
		Sitwell, Sacheverell, 1897-1988.
	Subjects
		Sitwell family.
		Sitwell family--Bibliography.
		English literature--20th century.
	Document Types
		Telegrams.