Department of Special Collections and University Archives
McFarlin Library. University of Tulsa.  2933 E. 6th St.  Tulsa, OK.  74104-3123 (OKT - OkTU)

Dorothy Miller Richardson papers

Collection  1975-003

Dates:  1909-1959.

Extent:  (3 boxes).

Level of Description:  Item level.

Name of creator(s):  Dorothy Richardson.

Date of creation:  Undetermined.

Scope and Content:   The papers are organized into three series:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1928-1952, arranged alphabetically by surname, consists of 57 autograph letters and cards, as well as typescript transcriptions of letters, from Richardson to Eliot Bliss, Peggy Kirkcaldy, Rose Odle, and John Hinsdale Thompson; one typescript transcription of a letter from John Cowper-Powys to Richardson; one typescript transcription of a letter from Phyllis Cowper-Powys to Rose Odle; thirteen autograph and typescript letters and postcards from H. G. Wells to Richardson; one autograph letter from Miriam Grossman to Leon Edel; and one autograph transcription of an excerpt of a letter from Rose Odle to Leon Edel.

Series 2: Writings, 1909-1959, arranged alphabetically by title, consist of the manuscript for Richardson's novel Dawn's Left Hand, typescript and carbon copy typescript transcriptions of articles by Richardson, reminiscences of Richardson by Elizabeth Odle Turner and Pauline Marrian, and a checklist and annotated bibliography by Gloria Glikin.  Also included in this series is the draft autobiographical work, Adrian Allinson:  A Painter's Pilgrimage, heavily annotated by Richardson, together with twenty-eight poems and a lecture by Allinson, again with annotations by Richardson.

Series 3: Miscellaneous materials consist of a pocket notebook belonging to Leon Edel and photocopied press cuttings relating to Richardson.

Administrative/Biographical History: 

Access and Copyright:

Language and Scripts:  English.

Finding aid/Inventory:

Provenance/Source of Acquisition:   Most of the collection (sent to Leon Edel by Richardson's executrix, Rose Odle) was purchased from Glenn Horowitz in 1991; Work in Progress was acquired from Serendipity Books prior to 1980; the Richardson/Bliss letters were acquired from Bertram Rota in September 1994.  The manuscript of Dawn's Left Hand, along with her published works, was acquired from J. Howard Woolmer in 1975.  The Adrian Allinson material was acquired from Bertram Rota in 1980.

Date(s) of description:   Lori N. Curtis, Aug 1997

Access Points:

Subject Headings 

 
Personal names 

Corporate names

Places
 

Inventory

Bliss, Eliot

22 Mar 1935. "Dear Miss Eliot Bliss, I am glad to have your letters. Your silence neither surprised nor put me off. I put it down to the shock of  disillusionment so often awaiting those who, liking an author's work, seek him out...."  Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with envelope.

9 Jun 1935. "Dear Miss Eliot Bliss, I am trying to finish a book before we go to town and hope it will be done by the end of the month...." Handwritten and signed card with envelope.

10 Aug 1935. "Dear Eliot Bliss, This is to tell you that a 'studio and flat,' apparently, as far as I could see from outside, the first floor of an ancient small villa, is to let...." Handwritten and signed card with envelope.

4 Oct 1937. "Dear Eliot Bliss, Our plans have been thrown into confusion by the serious illness of my elder brother-in-law...." Handwritten and signed card with envelope.

6 Jul 1939. "Dear Eliot Bliss, Your letter, via three addresses, reaches me here where we arrived a few days ago. I am sorry for the poor account you give of your health...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with envelope.

24 Aug 1939. "We are provisionally cancelling all appointments, as it is probable we shall be on the way to Cornwall early next week, if not before...." Handwritten and signed postcard.

Cowper-Powys, John

25 Mar 1934. "Dorothy my Dear, Give my respects to Mr. Alan and tell him to read 'Weymouth Sands' which I am sending to you, now at last, and tell him to tell you about it at tea; but not till tea!...." Carbon copy of a typed transcription, 2s.

Cowper-Powys, Phyllis

19 Jun 1957. "My dear Mrs. Odle, Mr. Powys and I were so glad to have your card to-day. I saw Dorothy Richardson's name when I first opened the TIMES on Monday and thought I had been prepared to see it at any time, it gave me such a feeling of loss, I felt I was realizing it for the first time...." Typed transcription, 1s.

Glikin, Gloria  (See Series 2: Writings)

Grossman, Miriam

To Leon Edel. 20 Mar 1963. "Dear Leon Edel, Of course you were impatient with Dorothy Richardson...I write to you with deep gratitude for having led me to D.B. Richardson...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s.

Kirkcaldy, Peggy

16 Jun. "Peg dear, I hate to be a nuisance, but am wondering whether you still have the snap of Alan and me I sent you some while back...." Typed transcription, 2s.

Sept 1928. "Dear Peggy, I got back on Friday just after you had left. (I've been tied up with the Evening News and hampered by my lack of telephone...." Typed transcription, 1s.

21 Sept 1928. "Dear Peggie [sic], There's a play you ought to see at the Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage - late Hampstead Conservatoire - 'The Yellow Streak' - it's by a woman and states a number of things right way up...." Typed transcription, 1s.

23 Sept 1928. "Dear Peggy, I've been and gone and got a kind of flu, it seems to be an annual affair, and always turns up when there are such a number of little extra things to do...." Typed transcription, 1s.

Aug 1937. "Peggy dear, Again and again I've been on the point of sending you a line and have been kept back by the sheer pressure of one thing and another. There's been a good deal of family gathering and pow-wowing, in relation to the results of my brother-in-law's death...." Carbon copy of a typed transcription, 3s.

Odle, Rose

20 Mar 1948. "Dear Rose, Thank you. No, no suffering. It was, as he would have wished, all in a moment, in the open, in his beloved Cornwall...." Typed transcription, 2s.

28 May 1949. "Dear Rose, Incredible that your welcome letter dates back to March 18th. But there it is, and where the intervening time has gone, I cannot imagine, though I recall the (very pleasantly) time-consuming visit of a friend in April and the not quite so pleasantly time-consuming business of spring-cleaning...." Carbon copy of a typed transcription, 3s.

15 Jun 1949. "Dear Rose, Glad I was of your letter - though indeed distressed to hear of Elizabeth's terribly long trial - and I would ere this have sent my congratulations to Granny (this title in regard to yourself I find it very difficult to accept!) and Mummie, but I have been having a Time and a half...." Typed transcription, 1s.

25 Aug 1949. "Dear Rose, Scrappy, this letter will have to be, bits and pieces, documentary, as I can get them down in intervals between meetings, to say naught of the job of cook-general...." Typed transcription, 4s.

27 Nov 1949. "Dear Rose, Here, at last, are all the cuttings I have come upon during my endless ransacking. Many others went to Dents, who used scraps in the compiling of their blurb-herewith...." Typed transcription, 3s.

8 Dec 1949. "Dear Rose, Things keep on turning up, in the most unexpected places. Result of moving quarters every few months until '39, after which, thanks to war-time conditions, including absence of domestic help, all accumulations have been left, unsorted, in store-room...." Typed transcription, 2s.

15 Mar 1950. "Dear Rose, From chaos as ever. Squeaks therefore, huggermugger. What an enchanting spot is your Landour. I shared that day with Hella's friends. Had no idea it was so truly rural...." Typed transcription, 1s.

27 May 1950. "Rosie! Your multifarious engrossments make me blink, incredulously - admiringly. This scrawl must be a series of squeals. Thanks for cutting, to be carefully returned. Glad to have it, becos [sic] have re-read and corrected, in a footnote, a glaring blunder...." Typed transcription, 2s.

17 Jun 1950. "What a programme, Rosie dear! Splendid. Wise indeed you are to inspect tenants, prospective, with care, as well I know from various past experiences of taking on by post...." Typed transcription, 1s.

28 Jun 1950. "Belated and in haste Rose dear. Up to the eyebrows I've been. Unexpected old friends down here on hol [sic]. Pauline due next week...." Typed transcription, 1s.

19 Jul 1950. "Forgot to thank for news of D.S. Have written to her. Back in dark ages I sent to HOME CHAT my first attempt at a short story...." Typed transcription, 1s.

2 Aug 1950. "The day after you left, Rose dear, my stately gladioli had wilted. Lang's van I managed to miss, both up here and down in the Bay, and he won't call again until Friday...." Typed transcription, 2s.

11 Sept 1950. "Rosie dear, I am horrified. Dorothy Shirley's letter seemed to say you were immediately off to Italy. I was not sure my postcard would catch you...." Carbon copy of a typed transcription, 1s.

5 Nov 1950. "Good news, Rosie dear, that you are actually able to be back, D.V., on Monday next...." Typed transcription, 1s.

14 Nov 1950. "Dear Rose, It is good to know you are actually at home. Waves will be reaching you, of gratitude from my three collectors, neither of whom has a link with any foreign country...." Typed transcription, 1s.

22 Nov 1950. "Dear Rose, Answering your last letter, I forgot to say, in response to your query, come down any old time...." Typed transcription, 1s.

5 Dec 1950. "A hurried scrawl, dearie. It has just occurred to me as how I didn't never pay for them lovely stamps...." Typed transcription, 1s.

9 Dec 1950. "Thanks for letter, dear Rose, recalling Alan's Christmas scribblings, the only ones of his I never read in the rough; for they were not roughed, and therefore, in spite of frequent resort to Nuttall's Dict., will have been largely in his own inimitable [sic] speling [sic]...." Typed transcription, 2s.

25 Dec 1950. "A naughty girl you are, Rosie dear, but I know it ain't no good scolding you for sending me all those goodies. Friends and I are curious as to your distinctive bickkies; so nice with a cup of coffee...."  Carbon copy of a typed transcription, 1s.

13 Feb 1951. "Rosie dear, You are all right? Quite recovered? Don't let these questions make you feel you must write a letter...." Typed transcription, 2s.

17 Apr 1951. "Just a line, Rosie dear, to suggest if still you find it poss; [sic] to come this way in May, that your date should be within the later half...." Typed transcription, 1s.

6 Jul 1952. "My dear Mrs. Odle, Your kind message, greeting me on my luncheon table last Thursday, was most welcome, though, as I need hardly tell you, a few words from you yourself sitting there (not on my table of course understood, but at it) would have been even more welcome...." Typed transcription, 2s.

12 Oct 1952. "Dear Rose, Thank you for the gorgeous Brangwyn. I have always loved him beyond the rest of our moderns, largely for his supreme colour-sense...."  Carbon copy of a typed transcription, 2s.

Undated. "Just a line, dear Rose. I am up to the eyes in every kind of employment and commitments and have just lent my typewriter to a man whose machine has broken down in the midst of a job...." Typed transcription, 1s; carbon copy of same.

Undated. "Scrawl, dear Rose, to catch post. I'll be sending you to-morrow, my own copy of Vol. IV. Within back cover is a bit of paper containing material for possible quotes...." Carbon copy of a typed transcription, 1s.

Undated. "Your wineglass, dear Rosabel, got itself washed last night, also your ash-tray, but your squashed chair-cushion kept me company...." Typed transcription, 1s.

Undated. "My dear Mrs. Odle, I take up my pen in the hope of being in time to prevent - Oy! This manner of script takes too long. Briefly, dear Rose, don't you dare write any kind of bread and butter letter!...."  Carbon copy of a typed transcription, 1s.

Undated. "Then, dear Rose, since all your June is free, I suggest the third week, beginning Thursday 14th, first because it will give you nice big moons to walk home by...." Typed transcription, 1s.

Undated. "I thought of you this mg. [sic] Rosie dear, jostling homewards in your train. In sitting-room I meet your scattered things on Alan's table. Shall leave them awhile, for company...." Typed transcription, 1s.

To Leon Edel.  Undated. "Do I remember S[elma] Holland! Her name was Moffatt. If she is still alive she must be over 90...." Handwritten transcription of a portion of a letter in answer to Edel's enquiry, 1p.

Thomspson, John Hinsdale

June 1934. "Dear Mr. Thompson, Thank you for your kind letter. Because I am an unsatisfactory proof-reader, there are errors on almost every page of Pilgrimage...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with envelope.

19 Jul 1934. "Dear Mr. Gomer, I have to-day posted back the two books signed and corrected. Your client, therefore, will possess the only copies, in circulation, that are free from the results of my failure as a proof-reader." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s.

14 Sept 1934. "Dear Mr. Thompson: Thank you for your letter of July 24th, which would have been answered earlier had I not been particularly busy with the last of a long series of pot boilers...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with envelope.

25 Nov 1934. "Dear Mr. Hinsdale Thompson, Thank you for your letter. Inspired by you with the idea of buying time by selling manuscripts, and failing to hear from you, I have been making a few enquiries with the result that the mss. of Pointed Roofs is now being negotiated...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with envelope.

[24 Dec 1934.] "Dear Mr. Thompson, Thank you for your letter and for the cheque whereby you become the owner of the manuscript of Dawn's Left Hand...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with envelope.

2 Jan 1935. "Dear Mr. Thompson, Your property goes to you under another cover. Page 10, from which a few lines had been cut for reproduction in facsimile, has been rewritten...." Handwritten and signed card with envelope.

14 Feb 1935. "Dear Mr. Thompson, I am glad you find the original of Dawn's Left Hand. a [friendly] possession and wish I could send along the quaint script of Pointed Roofs to bear it company...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with envelope.

29 Mar 1935. "Dear Mr. Thompson, Thank you for your letter and the cheque in regard to the two fragments from my forthcoming book...." Handwritten and signed letter with envelope.

18 Jul 1935. "Dear Mr. Thompson, Very many thanks for your letter and cheque reaching me to-day from Trevone. It is quite in order that my work should appear [---] by [---] errors. But your folks will not have succeeded in out-doing those who minister to G.D. from whom, with [---], I have now departed...." Handwritten and signed card with envelope.

28 Jul 1935. "Dear Mr. Thompson, With delight I read of your venture and offer good wishes for its success. Poems you have written, and short stories, and have never, in all this time, mentioned this to me!...." Handwritten and signed card with envelope.

25 Aug 1935. "Dear Mr. Thompson, C.H. appears on October 18th. How long does the 'fall' last in your country? I enclose the source of my information. The International rarely misses anything...." Handwritten and signed card with envelope.

16 Feb 1936. "Dear Mr. Thompson, Very many thanks for my copy of Signatures. Delightedly browsing, one wonders why no one has made the experiment before. You are hospitable, having now full harvests of home produce, to allow space for England...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with penciled handwritten note and envelope.

15 Mar 1937. "Dear Mr. Thompson, Much as I should like to subscribe to Signatures, I cannot plead guilty. Someone who does not know of your kindness in putting my name on your list, is secretly doing me a good turn...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with envelope.

11 Mar 1939. "Dear Mr. Thompson, Indeed I am sorry to hear of the end of Signatures. Surprised, too. But, alas, the life of a literary enterprise is all too often in inverse ratio to its excellence...." Handwritten and signed letter, 2s with envelope.

14 Aug 1939. "Dear Mr. Thompson, A few days ago, setting a heavy hand upon my more than usually high pile of unanswered letters, a friend remarked: 'Leave them. In time they'll answer themselves.' True, but only if one regards all things [sub spec. art]...." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s with envelope.

Wells, H. G. (all letters are to Dorothy Richardson)

Undated.  "Dear Dorothy, I am sorry to be hard hearted about the late [Cunland?] but his vile [pursuit?] was [---] [---] for the death of Bobby Ross & he had sold himself [---] [---] to Lord Alfred Douglas..." 2 handwritten and signed postcards.

Undated.  Easton Glebe, Dunmow "Dear Dorothy. I think you must have that l100 & my blessing but I don't want you to think I pay it out carelessly..." Handwritten and signed letter, 2s.

Undated.  120, Whitehall Court, S.W.1. "Dear Dorothy, Yes. A signed article on [---] ... for H.G.W. in Time and Tide will be very helpful..." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s.

Undated.  52, St James's Court, Buckingham Gate. S.W.1. "My dear Dorothy. I'd love an anthology done of you, for I am sure it would be wonderfully well done..." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s.

Aug 1923. Easton Glebe, Dunmow. "Dear Dorothy. I don't like to think of you pinching & scraping to pay off a debt I had forgotten..." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s.

10 Mar 1925. 4, Whitehall Court, (Flat 120). "Dear Dorothy. I'm away in Provence trying to concentrate upon a real big effort..." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s.

16 May 1925. "Dear Dorothy. On Thursday 21st at 10.50 I shall be rumbling out of Victoria southward..." Handwritten and signed postcard.

29 Sep 1925. "Dear Dorothy. I write in hast to say that [---] place was not in the S of France but at Loquenole..." Handwritten and signed postcard.

27 Oct 1925.  "Dear Dorothy. You are very kind to write things about me..." Handwritten and signed postcard.

26 Apr 1926.  Low Bastidon, Qr. St. Jean, Grasse AM, "My dear Dorothy, My warmest thanks for what you are doing for the Collected Edition..." Handwritten and signed letter, 2p.

17 Jul 1934.  47, Chiltern Court, Clarence Gate. "Dear Dorothy. Thanks specially for your [---] about the last section..." Handwritten and signed letter, 2p.

16 Feb 1937.  13 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park. "Dear Dorothy. I dined with the [--lts] last night. Mrs. R wants to buy two or three..." Handwritten and signed letter, 3s.

18 Feb 1937.  13 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park. "Dear Dorothy. I don't think T.R. would have objected to a certain indelicacy in the drawings. Mrs. T.R. will write in a little while & then you can tell her everything..." Handwritten and signed letter, 1s.

H.G. Wells letters were acquired from Bertram Rota, Ltd., 1977.

"About Punctuation." Handwritten transcription of an excerpt from an article, 1p. From Adelphi (1924).

"Across the Year." Carbon copy typed article, 4p. 23 Dec 1911.

"August."  Carbon copy typed article, 3p. 3 Aug 1912.

"Checklist of Writings By Dorothy M. Richardson." Gloria Glikin.  Photocopy of a typed draft, p1-11. Inscribed by Glikin to Leon Edel. (See also: "Dorothy M. Richardson: An Annotated Bibliography of Writings About Her.")

"The Conflict." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 4p. 25 Nov 1911.

"Dans La Bise."  Carbon copy typescript of an article, 5p. 14 Jan 1911.

"Data for Spanish Publisher." Carbon copy typed autobiographical sketch, 11p. Published posthumously in London Magazine (June 1959).

Handwritten and typed complete text, 241p. (includes 6 typed). Sold to John Hinsdale Thompson of Grosse Point, Michigan by the author.  The title page bears her inscription to Thompson.  Originally titled "Amabel"; title page has this title crossed out with "Dawn's Left Hand" written above.  The manuscript is undated.  First published by Duckworth of London in 1931.

Dust jacket, Duckworth edition.

"Dorothy M. Richardson."  Carbon copy typed draft reminiscence by Elizabeth Odle Turner with additional handwritten note at bottom, 1p.

"Dorothy M. Richardson." Typed reminiscence by Pauline Marrian, 3p.

"Dusk."  Carbon copy typescript of an article, 5p. 10 Oct 1914.

"En Pays De Vaud." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 6p. No date..

"Gruyeres." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 6p. 18 Feb 1911.

"Haven." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 4p. 9 Oct 1909.

"Hay-Time." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 4p. 31 Jul 1909.

"The Holiday." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 5p. 26 Aug 1911.

"Journey to Paradise." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 11p. Published in Fortnightly (Mar 1928).

"Lodge Night." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 5p. 19 Nov 1910.

"March." Typescript of an article, 2p. 4 Mar 1911.

"Peach Harvest." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 6p. 19 Jul 1913.

"A Sussex Auction." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 5p. 13 Jun 1908.

"A Sussex Carrier." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 5p. 9 Jun 1909.

"A Village Competition." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 6p. 7 Aug 1909.

"Welcome." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 4p. 18 May 1912.

"The Wind." Carbon copy typescript of an article, 4p. 4 Dec 1909.

Work in Progress.  Excised from Life and Letters To-day.

Handwritten, typed and carbon copy typed drafts and draft fragments, with handwritten revisions and editor's marks.  Several of the poems are heavily marked by Richardson; some copies are signed.  46p.

"The Baleful Bathos of a Beard."

"Beneath an Olive Tree."

"Calflove."

"The Cathedral, Gerona."

"Civilization."

"Dalliance."

"Dolorosa."

"Ella."

"Fancy."

"Fells in Winter."

"In the Larch Plantation."

"Lament."

"Lust."

"March in a Mallorcan Valley."

"Mountain Mists."

"The Mountain Summit."

"Music in Mallorca."

"November."

"Oriana."

"Spring."

"Snowflakes."

"Storm on the Fells."

"To a Mountain in Winter."

"To a Wild Cherry Blooming in Hyde Park."

"To D."

"Under an Olive Tree."

"Winter Morning in Coniston."

"A Wish."

Leon Edel's pocket notebook.

Photocopied press cuttings relating to Richardson.