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1964-1987 Acquisitions |
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The Hugo Manning papers are comprised of complete manuscripts and fragments, notebooks
of
untitled poetry, diaries, correspondence, and printed material. The material is arranged
in
four series: Works, Book Withdrawals, Diaries, and Correspondence. |
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All Manning's major poetical works are represented in these early acquisitions. Series
I.
Works includes manuscripts, typescripts, and galley proofs which are arranged alphabetically
by title. For each title, Manning's drafts have been left in his original chronological
order. Manning's best-represented work is The Secret Sea. Through the many manuscripts,
typescripts, and revisions, most of which are dated, one can trace the development
of the
poem. Following the titled works are loose untitled fragments of poems and spiral
notebooks
containing untitled fragments. Two interesting additions to Manning's works are a
book of
forty-five ink sketches and the vocal score Chorales, consisting of the words from
Manning's
poem, The Secret Sea, with music by Denis ApIvor, dated July
1964. Also in this series are three reviews of Manning's The Secret
Sea, along with a comment by Mario Praz enclosed with an essay on the longer poems
of Hugo Manning by Jeremy Reed, also called The Secret
Sea. |
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Series II. Book Withdrawals are notes written by Manning that were found in books
that were
inscribed to him. The book withdrawals were removed from The Atoz
Formula by Asa Benveniste, The Black Book by
Lawrence Durrell, The Dark Thorn by Charles Wrey Gardiner,
Shapes and Sounds by Mervyn Laurence Peake, and The Fanfarlo, and other Verse by Muriel Spark. Also within
Manning’s copy of Tenessee Williams's In the Winter of Our
Cities is a letter to Gotham Book Mart’s Andreas Brown from Else B. Lorch. These
books, and many others that belonged to Manning, are seperately cataloged with the
HRC book
collection. |
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Series III. Diaries mostly cover Manning's life from 3 December 1957 to 15 September
1977
except for a diary marked "Inconclusive", which covers the dates 28 August-21 December
1953
and 29 September-2 October 1970. The diaries contain not only the daily happenings
and daily
thoughts of Manning, but they also include poetry and a few sketches. |
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Series IV. Correspondence contains Manning's letters to Dr. F. W. Roberts, former
director
of the Harry Ransom Center. Also included are letters received by Manning from such
prominent literary figures as Nancy Cunard, T. S. Eliot, Henry Miller, Eugene O'Neill,
Ezra
Pound, and Muriel Spark, among many others. Many of the writers thank Manning for
sending
them his poems. Others, such as Henry Miller, encourage Manning's continued writing,
and
Mario Praz discusses the influence of Borges and T. S. Eliot on Hugo Manning's poetry.
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The Index of Correspondents at the end of this finding aid lists the names of
correspondents from only these accessions. |
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1995 Acquisition |
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This additional material complements the previous Manning acquisitions and spans his
writing career from the 1930s to his death in 1977. Included are holograph notebooks
and
manuscripts, typescripts, galleys, scrapbooks, address books, mixed-medium drawings
and
sketch books, photographs, audio tapes, personal papers, and works of others. This
segment
is divided into seven Series: Holograph Notebooks; Works, Journals; Correspondence;
Personal; Village Press Materials; and Writings of Others. |
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Manning's numerous holograph notebooks follow a consistent arrangement, which includes
sequential page numbering followed by topical indexing (for example "Words and phrases
for
expansion, p.67-69"). Entries are sometimes dated, but due to the topical subdivisions,
the
dates are more random than chronological. While Manning labeled some of the notebooks
with
the titles of his works, they are frequently untitled. Notebooks in Subseries A are
arranged
by the first date that appears in the notebook, usually within the first ten pages.
From the
number of overlapping dates, it appears that Manning maintained work on several notebooks
simultaneously. Subseries B. Notebooks is arranged alphabetically by title. Notebooks
which
were neither dated nor titled are arranged according to their length in Subseries
C and are
followed by notebook fragments. |
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The works in Series II are arranged alphabetically by title and include many forms
of
writing including prose, poetry, playscripts, essays, lectures, articles, and short
stories.
While some are holograph manuscripts, the majority are corrected typescripts, which
Manning
usually signed and dated. Dates in parentheses are publication dates, while the remaining
dates are those Manning assigned to the completed drafts. The works are all typescripts,
unless specifically described as holograph manuscripts. Numerous versions exist for
most
titles and some, such as The Secret Sea, were published more
than once in successive, expanded versions. In addition, galleys exist for titles
including
Dear Little Prince, Dylan
Thomas, Encounter in Crete, Madame Lola, The It and the Odyssey of Henry
Miller, and This Room Before Sunrise. A large
amount of holograph and typescript fragments is also present. |
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Manning's works were bound in heavily soiled and worn two-prong binders with paper
covers.
During processing, the material was disbound and the covers discarded due to their
poor
condition, although covers with descriptions have been retained. Apparently Manning
bound
his typescripts without the benefit of a hole punch, for the majority of his pages
have been
roughly cut out to allow placement over the two metal prongs. Frequently, the pages
were
bound with the last page on top, so the order of the work is reversed. |
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The journals in Series III are chronologically dated typescripts in two sequences:
1943-1945 and 1967-1970. The years 1943-1944 represent "fragments from a Journal"
and are
titled "We Are Earthbound, So We Fly." These entries describe the war years, Manning's
hospitalization and discharge from the service, VE day, and his reflections on the
war and
its aftermath. The journals for the later years are more literary in nature and, like
some
of the holograph notebooks, provide continual reworking of the same textual passages,
both
verse and prose. In an April 29, 1975 letter to F. W. Roberts, Director of the Harry
Ransom
Center (HRC), Manning described his journals as "a compulsive endeavor.... They seem
to be
full of inner outpourings, factual things, trivia and so on...it is a personal and
intimate
record of someone witnessing the crumbling of an epoch...." |
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Manning's correspondence in Series IV dates from 1957 to 1994 and, like his other
material,
was bound in binders, with the exception of two box files. No arrangement has been
imposed
on his correspondence, which contains incoming letters, greeting and post cards, Manning's
carbon copies of letters sent to others, and some manuscript material. The correspondence
was disbound and left in its original order, thus date sequences overlap and no alphabetical
or subject order exists. Typically, each binder contained correspondence with friends,
acquaintances, editors, publishers, book dealers, Reuters colleagues, fellow Spiritualists
and healers, and university libraries in all parts of the world. |
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Manning regularly sent gratis copies of his works to friends, literary figures, editors,
publishers, and libraries. Correspondence between Manning and Dr. F. W. Roberts, then
director of the HRC, records the receipt of manuscript material from Manning extending
over
a period of thirty years. A small amount of correspondence, dating after Manning's
death,
exists between his brother, Jack Percal, and others concerning Manning's life and
literary
affairs. |
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Correspondents from this 1995 addition are not listed in the Index at the end of this
finding aid. |
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Series V. Personal contains Manning's address books, a record book, drawings, photographs,
scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and personal papers. His numerous address books record
addresses of friends, authors, poets, publishers, editors, periodicals, universities,
cultural associations, and book stores. Often a dated notation of manuscripts sent
to
individuals and libraries is provided. For example, just two weeks before his death,
Manning
sent a signed, corrected copy of Dylan Thomas to the University of Alberta, Edmonton. |
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In a record book dating from the 1970s, Manning kept a "Letters Diary" wherein he
recorded
the names and dates of letters sent. Meticulously indexed, this book contains numerous
sections pertaining to subjects such as his finances, book loans, books to buy, possible
library recipients in locations such as Teheran, Guyana, Ethiopia, Japan, and Pakistan,
as
well as listings of people and places to whom he sent his manuscripts. |
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Manning's drawings, usually rendered in bound sketchbooks, commonly employ red, blue,
black, orange, and green ball point ink, although some also include pastel and crayon.
His
drawings use geometric shapes such as circles, triangles, and lines that form repeated
patterns, sometimes quite dense and dark. In addition to his abstract works, Manning
favored
portraiture in which the face emerges through, or is framed by, geometric designs.
One of
his drawings was featured on the cover of Bertram Rota's Catalogue 168, Winter 1970.
Offered
for sale, the drawing is described as "Original crayon head and shoulder portrait
of Henry
Miller. Drawn from life in London. l969." |
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The earliest photographs in the collection record Manning's stay in Pisek, Czechoslovakia
in 1929 while studying violin with Otakar Sevcik. Also included are photographs of
Manning
taken in Vienna (1937), Buenos Aires (1939), Hampstead, London (1952), with Jorge
Luis
Borges in London (1971), and with Miriam Patchen (undated), as well as photographs
of
Manning, alone and with others, spanning his lifetime. Also included is a photographic
reproduction of a drawing of Manning by the Argentinean artist Mauricio Lasansky while
Manning stayed in the artist's home in Cordoba in 1942. A photograph of sculptor David
McFall's bust of Manning is also present. After Manning's death, McFall designed a
memorial
plaque which was placed at Manning's residence in Belsize Square, London. |
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Manning's four scrapbooks contain newspaper and magazine clippings ranging from works
published in Buenos Aires in 1938 to a piece on Samuel Beckett appearing in Adam International Review in 1970. Included are Manning's poetry,
book reviews, essays, and articles as well as reviews of his own works in publications
such
as The Times Literary Supplement, The
Manchester Guardian, World Review, Poetry Quarterly, The New English
Weekly, Observer, Outposts, The Norseman, Fantasy, The Listener, La
Nación, Argentina Libre, and Agonía. A number of similar clippings exist apart from the scrapbooks, especially
articles published in Argentinean newspapers, plus reviews of Manning's published
works. |
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Other personal papers include Manning's birth and death certificates, Deed Poll on
Change
of Name, passports, Argentinean identity card, press cards, army records, obituaries,
memorials, miscellaneous items, and audio tapes. |
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From 1973-1974, Manning collaborated in the publications and activities of the Village
Bookshop (London) and was associated with the Village Press owner/editor, Jeffrey
Kwinter.
Manning was instrumental in bringing to print works by Henry Miller, Alfred Perlès,
and
Colin Wilson. Series VI contains Village Press proofs, galleys, and other publication
material for works published in 1974. Among the other authors represented are Oloff
DeWet,
Arthur Guirdham, Anaïs Nin, Mervyn Peake, John Cowper Powys, Douglas Stone, and Alan
Watts.
In its first newsletter, the Village Bookshop stated "Our basic criteria in selecting
which
writers and subjects to specialise in, is that they radiate the magical, mysterious
approach
to this experience of being alive." |
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Series VII. Writings of Others contains works, mostly typescripts and galleys, by
Jorge
Luis Borges, David Gascoyne, G. Wilson Knight, Kenneth Patchen, Alfred Perlès, Jeremy
Reed,
Peter Mason, M. Kianush, and Oonagh Lahr. |
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A small number of periodical issues are cataloged individually in a separate database. |