Drafts of poems by John Cowper Powys, published between 1896 and 1926; a heavily worked draft of an incomplete poem in two cantos, published in A Review of English Literature (January 1963); and drafts of over fifty poems, forty-one of which were published posthumously in Horned Poppies ... (1986), the remainder, including a blank verse autobiography, as yet unpublished.
Notebook of John Cowper Powys, [c. 1895]-1901, containing heavily revised drafts of over twenty poems, including an early version of 'To A. C. Swinburne' (ff. 21 verso-22), published in Odes and Other Poems (London, 1896), and of 'Written on Monday Evening March 29' (f. 14 recto-verso; cf. NLW MS 21930E, f. 162), published in Horned Poppies ... (North Walsham, 1986); the opening of a verse play (ff. 25-28); and two prose fragments (ff. 9-13 and 46-47 verso (reverse text)), apparently of Powys's unpublished first novel (see NLW MSS 23672-23676), referred to as 'Work without a name' in Powys's Autobiography (1934), pp. 314-315. Leaves not originally part of the notebook but found loose inside have been filed at the beginning of the volume (ff. 1-8).
Letters from John Cowper Powys to James Hanley (3), 1929-1930; John Wilstach (1), 1932; and Charlotte Miller (3), 1934-1935; together with a poem by Charlotte Miller addressed to John Cowper Powys.
Hanley, James, 1897-1985
John Cowper Powys letters and papers
Letters from John Cowper Powys to his brother, Llewelyn Powys, [1923], his companion, Phyllis Playter, [?1924], 'George', 1958, and a 'Mr London', [?1940s], the latter dictated by Powys to Phyllis Playter; together with miscellaneous literary papers, which comprise drafts of poems, [c. 1900]-1953, including an early version of 'Samphire' (published in Horned Poppies ... (1986)) and of several unpublished anniversary poems addressed to Phyllis Playter; a draft, [?1900]-1902, of an unpublished preface to poems by Alfred de Kantzow; an ink and pencil sketch of the map which forms the end-papers of Powys's novel Ducdame (1925); and drafts of the opening of a philosophical work, 1938, and of a speech in Welsh, [1935x1954], the latter composed by Powys while he was living in Corwen.
Letters to J. Cowper Powys and Phyllis Playter
Letters, 1926-1968, to John Cowper Powys and Phyllis Playter from various correspondents, including Gerald Brenan (16, including one poem), 1957-1968; Maurice Browne (20), 1930-1954; James Hanley (15), [c. 1955]-1967; Claude Houghton (5), 1955-1956; Edgar Lee Masters (9), 1928-1945; Henry Miller (7), 1957-1962; and Ralph Shirley (18), 1940-1946; together with a few miscellaneous letters, including an undated draft letter from John Cowper Powys concerning literary censorship in America.
Brenan, Gerald, 1894-1987
Drafts of eight poems by John Cowper Powys written for Phyllis Playter, most of them bearing the dedication 'to the T.T.', together with a pencilled caricature (f. 5) inscribed 'To my Valentine Feb 14 1949'.
'Work without a name' (drafts)
Four notebooks and a series of disbound notebooks and loose leaves, [c. 1900]-[c. 1902], containing parts of a projected first novel by John Cowper Powys comprising substantial drafts of a romance set on the Sussex Downs; together with numerous, shorter fragments of narrative, mainly passages of prolix theological and philosophical discussion, and Rabelaisian fantasy, involving characters based on the author's friends. Also included are heavily worked drafts of unpublished poems (NLW MS 23672E, ff. 57-60 and ff. 135-137 verso, 138 verso, 139 verso-140, inverted text; NLW MS 23673E, ff. 146 recto-verso, 147 verso, 154 recto-verso, 155 verso, 156 verso-60 verso, 161 verso-162, inverted text; NLW MS 23676E, ii, ff. 250 verso-251, 253 verso-255, 259 verso, 260 verso, 261-262 verso, 263 verso, 264 verso-265 verso, 266 verso, 267 verso-268 verso, 269 verso, 270 verso, inverted text); and notes on Shakespeare's The Tempest, Macbeth, Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew (NLW MS 23673E, ff. 148-153 verso, inverted text), possibly for use in Powys's lecturing work.