Wilfred Partington Papers

The collection includes manuscripts by Wilfred Partington, James Agate, Jessie Conrad, R. B. Cunninghame Grahame, John Kirkby, and H. D. C. Pepler; these manuscripts include articles, essays, personal narratives, poems, and short stories. The correspondence mainly relates to Partington's work with the Bookman's journal, his books about Sir Walter Scott, and his various literary endeavors.

The papers consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-3) are arranged alphabetically by author and title. This series includes articles, essays, personal narratives, poems, and short stories. The majority of the manuscripts are by Partington but other authors include: James Agate, Jessie Conrad, R. B. Cunninghame Grahame, John Kirkby, and H. D. C. Pepler. Box 2 contains Partington's Letter-Books (Vols. I & II), that cover the years 1919 to 1936; many of the originals of these letters are in the collection, though some have been removed as previously noted. Box 3 also includes original artwork by Alec Buckels, Victor B. Neuburg and William Palmer Robbins.

2. Correspondence (Boxes 4-25) is arranged alphabetically by author. This series includes correspondence mainly relating to Partington's work with the Bookman's Journal, his books about Sir Walter Scott, and his various other literary endeavors. The main subjects of these letters reflect the work and interests of Partington, including bibliography, forgery, and the authors Joseph Conrad, Sir Walter Scott, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and Thomas James Wise.

There is a significant group of letters by Partington, mainly carbon copies, in response to other correspondents in the collection; there is also a small group of letters from Partington's family and friends. Some of the letters written between from 1918-1939, do refer to the difficult financial times experienced by many people in Britain. Some of the later letters describe life during World War II, but, interestingly, many of the letters written between 1939 and 1945, make no mention of the war, so, at least for some correspondents, their lives and work went on as usual, or, they strove to make life as normal as possible.

Notable correspondents include: Arthur St. John Adcock, P.B.M. Allan, Edwin J. Beinecke, Jessie Conrad, Edward Gordon Craig, Walter De la Mare, John Drinkwater, E. M. Forster, John Galsworthy, Philip Gosse, Florence Hardy, Rupert Hart-Davis, A. E. Housman, William Ibbett, Alan Keen, Rudyard Kipling, John Kirkby, James Laver, James McBey, John Masefield, Walter Maxwell-Scott, Henry W. Meikle, H. V. Morton, John Murray, Alfred W. Pollard, Una Pope- Hennessey, A. S. W. Rosenbach, Bernard Shaw, Upton Sinclair, M. H. Spielmann, Margaret Farrand Thorp, Hugh Walpole, and Alexander Strahan Watt.

3. Research Files (Boxes 26-27) are arranged alphabetically by subject. These files contain autograph notes by Partington and John Kirkby, printed material, newspaper clippings, and the envelopes used by Partington to arrange the material. The Files cover Agate-Yellow Book and include files on both subjects and people. Whenever possible, Partington's titles and arrangement were retained.

4. Ephemera (Box 27, folders 53-73) is arranged by subject, then alphabetically by author and title. This series includes book covers, acknowledgment letters for donated material, printed proof sheets, misc. autograph notes by Partington, and five unidentified photographs. This series also includes Partington's original 1920, subpoena to testify in the Criminal Libel Trial of Douglas v. Savage.