Collection Summary
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Wilkinson, Louis
Umfreville, 1881-1966
Sixty-seven holograph notebooks chiefly
relating to his published fiction and non-fiction make up the bulk of the Louis
Wilkinson Collection.
English
Louis Umfreville Wilkinson
Collection
1916-1960
7 document boxes (2.94 linear feet) and 4 galley folders (gf)
TXRC02-A6
Manuscript Collection MS-4521
Acquisition:
Purchases, 1967-1977 (R3456, R7675)
Access:
Open for research. Part or all of this collection is housed off-site
and may require up to three business days notice for access in the
Ransom Center’s Reading and Viewing Room. Please contact the
Center before requesting this material: reference@hrc.utexas.edu
Processed by:
Chelsea S. Dinsmore, 2002, updated by Betsy Nitsch, 2012
Biographical Sketch
Louis Umfreville Wilkinson was born in 1881, the only son of a
clergyman. He attended Radley School where he struck up a correspondence with
Oscar Wilde, then imprisoned in Reading Goal. He attended Oxford for four
semesters before being sent down for blasphemousness in 1901. He next went to
St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took his degree and published his first
novel in 1905. Also at Cambridge he made a group of lifelong friends including
Llewelyn Powys, J.C. Squire, Ronald Storrs, and Ralph Strauss. Powys' two
brothers, John Cowper and Theodore Francis, also became close friends.
Throughout his life Wilkinson wrote autobiographical and satirical
novels, publishing them under the pseudonym Louis Marlow. He supported himself
largely through writing, though he also took to the lecture circuit on
occasion. He was married four times and upon his death in 1966 he had two
surviving children.
Index Terms
Correspondents
Germer, Karl
Johannes.
Sackville, Nigel Victor
Stopford, 1901-.
Subjects
Crowley, Aleister,
1875-1947.
Marlow, Louis,
1881-1966.
Powys, John Cowper,
1872-1963.
Powys, Llewelyn,
1884-1939.
Powys, Theodore Francis,
1875-1953.
Autobiography.
Authors, English.
Document Types
Galley proofs.
Notebooks.
Scope and Contents
Sixty-seven holograph notebooks chiefly relating to his published
fiction and non-fiction make up the bulk of the Louis Wilkinson Collection,
1916-1958. The collection is organized into three series: Series I. Works,
1934-1952 (2 boxes); Series II. Aleister Crowley's Estate, 1947-1960 (2
folders); and Series III. Notebooks, 1916-1958 (5 boxes).
Series I contains typescripts and page proofs for
The Devil in Crystal,
Forth, Beast!,
Seven Friends, and
Welsh Ambassadors. Also present are galley
proofs for
The Letters of Llewelyn Powys.
Representing Wilkinson's biography of Lord George Sackville,
Sackville of Drayton, are typescripts,
page and galley proofs, drafts of the appendix and indices, and correspondence
regarding publication of the book. Correspondents are listed in the Index of
Correspondence at the end of this guide.
The second series is composed of correspondence regarding Wilkinson's
duties as an executor of Aleister Crowley's estate. All correspondents are
listed in the Index of Correspondence at the end of this guide.
Series III contains 67 notebooks in which Wilkinson wrote drafts for
his novels, drafted letters, jotted down lines of poetry, and noted shopping
and expense lists. The notebooks have been listed under the titles to which
they chiefly relate, where possible. Notebooks that do not contain identifiable
titles have been placed at the end of the collection.
Other materials associated with Louis Wilkinson may be found in the
following manuscript collections at the Ransom Center:
- British Sexological Society
- Bennet, Arnold
- Crowley, Aleister
- Dick, Kay
- Harris, Frank
- Hopkins, Kenneth
- Lehmann, John
- Meredith, George
- Morrell, Ottoline Violet
- Anne, Lady
- PEN
- Powys, John Cowper
- Powys, Llewelyn
- Powys, Theodore Francis
- Shaw, George Bernard
- Symons, Alphonse James Albert
Louis Wilkinson Collection--Folder List
I. Works,
1934-1952
The Devil in Crystal
(1943)
1
1-2
Typescript with author revisions, some page
duplications, 161pp,
undated
1
3
Page proofs with author revisions, 118pp,
undated
Forth, Beast!
(1946)
1
4-5
Typescript with heavy author revisions and additional
pages of an earlier draft, 350pp
1
6
Page proofs, with author revisions and notes,
199pp
gf 1
The Letters of Llewelyn Powys
(1943), galley proofs
Sackville of Drayton
(1948)
1
7
Loose pages, holograph and typescript notes with
author revisions and comments
1
8
Typescript with author revisions and comments,
345pp
1
9
Appendix, typescript with author revisions,
39pp
2
1
Index, typescript with author revisions,
15pp
2
2
Indices and errata sheets, typescript with author
revisions, 44pp
2
3
Page proofs with author revisions, 28pp
2
4-5
Galley proofs, with author revisions,
290pp
gf 2-3
Galley proofs, two uncut sets
2
6
Correspondence,
1934-1952
2.7, gf 4
Seven Friends(1953), typescript with author revisions,
164pp
Welsh Ambassadors
(1935)
2
8
Notes and loose notebook pages with first draft notes
with author revisions, 93pp
2
9
Page proofs with heavy author revisions,
283pp
II. Aleister Crowley's Estate,
1947-1960
2
10
Letters from Karl J. Germer
2
11
Letters from lawyers, associates and
Wilkinson
III. Notebooks,
1916-1968
3
1
Brute Gods, six
notebooks
3
2
The Buffoon, four
notebooks
3
3
A Chaste Man, four
notebooks
3
4
Devil in Crystal, four
notebooks
4
1-3
Fool's Quarter Day, twelve
notebooks
5
1
Forth, Beast!, five
notebooks
5
2
The Lion Took Fright, four
notebooks
5
3-4
Love By Accident, four
notebooks
6
1
Mr. Amberthwaite, three
notebooks
6
2
Sackville of Drayton, three
notebooks
6
3
Seven Friends, six
notebooks
7
1
Swan's Milk, six notebooks and one
loose page
7
2
Two Made Their Bed, three
notebooks
7
3
Unidentified, nine notebooks, two include material re
Aleister Crowley and one seems to hold part of an untitled and unfinished
novel
Louis Wilkinson Collection--Index of Correspondents
Names in bold appear in the RLIN
record.
-
Board of Trade, Dept. of Official Receivers--2.11
-
Braby & Waller, Solicitors--2.11
-
Cassazza, Alice--2.11
-
Clark, Denis--2.11
-
Cowtan & Sons, Ltd--2.11
-
Curtis Brown, Ltd.--2.6
-
Davy, Clark (see also The
Observer)--2.6
-
Denny & Co., Solicitors--2.11
-
Denny, Henry Littleton Lyster, b. 1878--2.6
-
Elwin, Malcolm, 1902- --2.6
-
Eyre & Spottiswoode--2.6
-
Gardner, G. B.--2.11
-
Germer, Karl
Johannes--2.10
-
Home & van Thal, Ltd.--2.6
-
Lloyds Bank--2.11
-
MacDonald, & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.--2.6
-
Menneer, Idle & Brackette--2.11
-
Murray, John--2.6
-
National City Bank--2.11
-
The Observer--2.6
-
Renier, Anne--2.6
-
Sackville, Nigel Victor Stopford,
1901- --2.6
-
Sackville-West V. (Victoria), 1892-1962--2.6
-
W.A. Guy, Ltd.--2.11
-
W. J. W. Hill--2.11
-
Watson, H. F.--2.11
Bar Code List
- 1--059188000054570
- 2--059188000054581
- 3--059188000054592
- 4--059188000054606
- 5--059188000054617
- 6--059188000054628
- 7--059188000054639