Purchase, 1972 (R5297)
Open for researchPart 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
Wendy Bowersock, 1991, updated by Hagan Barber, 2012
Ivan H. Slater (1900-1968), from Kaeo, Northland, New Zealand, owned possibly the largest private collection of editions of Alexandre Dumas Pere (1802-1870) during the 1930s through the 1960s. Dumas, who began as a clerical worker, is best known for his novels
Holograph manuscripts, notebooks containing manuscript translations, typescripts, bound volumes containing works by Dumas, works about Dumas, as well as bibliographies, correspondence, photographs, and a scrapbook comprise the I. H. Slater collection of Alexandre Dumas Pere. The material is arranged in six series: Undated Typescripts of Works by Dumas, Works about Alexandre Dumas, Correspondence, Bibliographical Works about Dumas, Works by F. W. Reed not pertaining to Dumas, and Miscellaneous Items.
The material in the Slater Dumas collection spans from 1918 to 1968, and includes notebooks that contain partial translations, typescript drafts of transcriptions of Dumas' works, as well as the correspondence between Slater and fellow Dumas collector F. W. Reed. The only materials in the collection in Dumas' hand are the note and the manuscript fragment found in the first series. The remaining materials are handwritten or typed translations of Dumas' works or materials about him. The last series, Miscellaneous Items, contains a hodgepodge of materials including some personal items that belonged to Slater. Photographs, Slater's scrapbook, and F. W. Reed's calling card can be found here.
Most of the materials are presented in one of two formats. The loose items are stored in folders, while some materials were bound together by Slater. Slater assigned a number sequence to some of the bound volumes, which is stamped on the spine. The unnumbered volumes were assigned numbers during cataloging to facilitate use.
The Ransom Center holds an extensive collection of Dumas' published works in its library which may serve as a compliment to this vast and detailed Dumas archive.
All of Dumas' major works are represented in Slater's collection. Two holograph manuscripts in Dumas' hand begin the first series, followed by translations of various editions of Dumas' works arranged alphabetically. Many of the translations are handwritten in notebooks. Also included in the first series are bound volumes containing typed translations of Dumas' plays, novels, short stories, and poetry. The bound volumes are arranged alphabetically by title, with some volume numbers assigned by Slater and some assigned by the cataloger for organizational purposes.
The life of Alexandre Dumas is represented in the second series. The manuscript of Craig Bell's
The third series comprises correspondence primarily between F. W. Reed and I. H. Slater from 1925 to 1953, in which they shared bibliographical information about Dumas. This series also includes Slater's correspondence with such figures as A. Craig Bell, Blackwell's, N.P. Davis, Douglas Munroe, as well as many others. There is one folder of unidentified correspondence. There is a complete list of correspondents at the end of the inventory.
The fourth series contains bibliographical works about Dumas, compiled predominantly by I. H. Slater and F. W. Reed. The bound bibliographical works are arranged chronologically to reflect the progression of Slater's and Reed's collection.
In the fifth series, works by F. W. Reed that do not pertain to Alexandre Dumas can be found. These plays, novels, and other various works are arranged alphabetically by title, and cover a wide range of subjects. Some of the titles include
The final series, Miscellaneous Items, contains a variety of materials collected by Slater. Various works not relating to Dumas, a picture of Dumas, Dumas' coat of arms, printing blocks, photographs, and a scrapbook are some of the items found in this series.