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Unremarked Documents in the Houghton Library Isaac Rosenberg and George Bottomley: Unremarked documents in the Houghton Library The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Allentuck, Marcia. 1975. Isaac Rosenberg and George Bottomley: Unremarked documents in the Houghton Library. Harvard Library Bulletin XXIII (3), July 1975: 252-270. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37364275 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Isaac Rosenberg and Gordon Botto1nley: Unremarked Documents in tl1e Houghton Library* 1,1arcin Alle'J1tuck N RECENT YEARS, the Fiarvard U nivcrs1ty J ...ihrary h~s expanded its holdings of the \Vorks of Isaac Rosenberg ( 1890-1918) '3 one of th c 111ost deter n1in ed i origin-al~and di stin gu 1sh e<l poets of ,,, orl d "\i\Tar I l Plates I \ 7 and \ 1] . By 1 960, these holdings included all of the editions of this British-born ,vriter's poetry, plays, literary 2nd art crjricis111,and lcttersi as ,vell as secondary n1atetials bearing upon his achievements ~s poet and as artist. After 1960, the Houghton l.ribrary acquired a rare copy of his poctjc dranla, A1oses, priv2tcly printed at the poet's strained expense by the Paragon Printing '~'orks in London ju 1916t and containing 1118Il}' corTcctions in Rosenberg's }rn.nd1 thus supp1c111cntingother such unpublished rcYisions at the Bod]ei,g_n,the British J\1uscu1n, and the Rusenbach F onnd2tion. Acri uired as ,veH in the 1960s ,vas another privately-printed pamphlet of his pocn1s,1 7 outb, produced hy I. Narodiczky in 191 5, an<l printed at the expense of Ed\vard 1\1arsh,for ,vhich generosity llosenberg had off ercd hin1three • J an\ gr~tcful to Isaac Rosenberg's only survh:ing brother, David, of Engb1nd~ and to Rosenberg's nieces, 1\-1rs. l rydfa Kellnmn of the United Sni.tc.s1 J\·1rs. Edna Lee-,,rordcn of So1,1thAfric1, and l\1rs. Ruth G~rson and J\1r~. Sheib Lynn, 1.HJthof C~nad~~ as ,veH as to lVjlfrecl J..~nvrfo or South Afrka, for h~ying Inadc ivailable to me f arni l y nl a tcria ls1 hir gc 1y unpublished I concerning l c Rosen he rg. I must cx- p ress my thanks, too, to Gordon Bouo1niey 1s 1iter:1rr executor for blanket peunis- sion to quote from any Bottomley ,vork 1 published or unpublishedi to the Department of J\1anuscripts of the British 1'1useum and to the Depann1cnt of j\·lanuscrjpts of the Uodlci.tn Library and to other prjvat~ coHcctors in Brjtain. I tllank as \veU \\ 1• H. Bond of the Houghton T..ihr~ryi ~nd J nhn P. llakcr of the Research Librarjcs of the l\"'c\\' York Public Library, for pennission to quote from the Gordon Bottomler manuscripts in thefr keeping (letrers of JI D~ccrnhcr 1 969 -and 6 J\1ay 1971 rc~pec- tivcly). L,aurencc Binyon~s daughters received rne ,vith great hospitality ~nd gradously n1ade av~ilable to me aU of their f a.thcr~.sunpublished papers refo.ting to Gordon Ilotto,nky when I "'a~ 1n Bdtain jn 1974. l."hcy granted me permission to q uotc u n reserYed l y f rorn then) 1 and I n1 u ch a pp rec ia tc tl 1 cit gen crosit y and th ejr interest in this study. Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XXIII, Number 3 (July 1975) Isaacl{osenberg a11dGordon Botto1nley 2 53 11te dra\vings. Of this copy, still in its original ,vrappers, ,,,. H. Bond ,vrotc in Tbe Houghton L...ibrar~y Reports XXT1l n11dXXV/I (1966- 1 968) that it ,vas c,a rare 2nd cxtrctncl y inflncnti~l publication j n the development of 1nodern poetry~,(p., 129). '\_:'ct the Houghton Library contains t\vo other docutnents, letters dated 9 and 2 8 l\1ay I 91 8.,fron1 Gordon Botto1nlcy ( 1874-r 948) 1 poet~ drnn1atist, criticJ and collector [Plate \III], to the artist \\liHiarn ltothcnste.in, \vhich shed additional light on Roscnberg"s aborted gifts and their critical rcccptjon, and ,vhich have never received conunent in an nppositc context. It is n1y purpose in this article to present ~nd discuss these docu1ncnts1 and to round thcn1 out \Vjth unpuh]ished n1atcrials in the Berg Collection of Lhc Nc\v York Public J...ibrat)7 und in the hands of the Rosenberg and Laurence Binyon fa1nilicsnnd other pri va tc collections,. as ,·vcl1 as the British i\,1uscu111 and the Bodlcian~ so that n1ore light 1nay be cast not only llpon H.osenbcrg, ,vhose critical biograph)r I arn ,vritingt but also upon Botton1lcy,s role in the post- hu1nous preservation and editing of lloscnberg's re.1atively sn1:11lbut nonetheless splendid ceu.vre. In 1 9:! z l t,vo years af tcr T. S. E1iot ,vrote in ] 'be Cbapbook, "Let the puh]jc ... ask itself ,vhy it has never heard of the poen1s of T. R. I-Juln1cor of Isaac lloscnbcrg, and ,vhy it has heard of the poems of Lady· })rccocift Pondocuf ~1ndhas seen :t photograph of the nursery in ,vhich she ,vrotc thcn1/" 1 Gordon Bottomley brought out his first edi- tion of R osenherg 1s pocn1s, \Vith a perceptive and n1oving introductory 1 T. S. Eliot, Brief Treatise 0L1 the Cridcisn1 of Poctryt Tl)e C!Japbooki H:9 ( 1\1srch 19.10) + 1- 1 o. l'"hc quotation occurs on p. :z.. There is a curjous jruny in the f 3 ct th:1t hot h Eliot :ln d Bottomley \Ve re a1non g the first prn ct icing poet.s to ch am- p ion Roienbtrg in print, and that on tlic vi;rge of oid age Ilottomley could ·write of Elaot to G. Rostrevor H~milton: [.I.He seen1s tn n1e rn:.ln jntendcd l.Jy nature for a gre:1t poet~ ·who hampered hi1nsclf at the o\1tsct by in!iisting on m~king hls poetry 011t of his inhil.Jitions: and it seems to me that poetry conies onlr out of fu 1l Inan.' 1 (Letter of 11 No\'emhcr 1938; Rndlci~n Eng. lctt. c. i7 I) Se\Jc n t,i:cny CJ r.s a f tc r El ioe::i~ta tcment al, out Rosen berg i F. R. I ~c.,rvis, \V r j ting in Scn1tiny for September 1937, confessed that bis reading of Eliot ls remark cJ\Yas the occasion of n1y noting Rosenberg's n:)rne as one to remember, + •• I recall tbc con- vjction th:1t 1,·Ic.E1iot expressed year.'i: later regarding 1\1ariannc i\1aore: ~that 1\1iss i\1oorr-'~ poeins f urn1 part of th:::itsrnall body of ,vritings an1ong ,;,.,•lrn.tpasses for poetry, in "·hich an origina1 sen~ibility and al err intelligence and deep f cc]iag have b~en engaged in n1aintaining the ]ifc uf the: English htngunge.' I think that something of thnt l(and intght ha\.'Cbeen SJid1 and ·with f=-=ir rnore approprj[lteness, of ]s~ac Roscn- hcrg ... + llo~tnhcrg bclorag("-;lnot \.vith Chatterton, but rather ·with l{cat~ and 1-Iop- kins.")j ( pp. i l9-i 30~ p. 134) Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XXIII, Number 3 (July 1975) 2 54 H rfrvrrrd J...,ihr ary B 'lt l letin 1nernoir by the poet ~nd art critic~ J.,aurcncc Binyon f P1atc , 71] .2 It ,vas to Binyon, ,vho had kno,vn and advised the in1pu,rerishcdand physic::11ly·frail young Jc,vish poet "Andartist f ron1 J.Jondon's E~st End since 191 2, rhat lluscnbcrg ,vrotc rhese astonishingly positive ,vords f rorn the trenches in 1916: Il is f rlr, very f ~r, to the British J\1uscutn from here . + • but not too far for that tiny n1itc of n1y~elf, my Jetter, to rcnch there.~~. I ~111 determined rbat this ,var~ ,vich all its p(nvcr.s for devastation, slrnll not nrnstcr n1y pocting; that is if I ·m11 lucky enough to come through all right. l ,viH not lca\'c a corner of my con~ sdousncss corcrcd llp~ but saturate n1yself ,vitll the slrangc and cxtrnord1n~ ry ne,v condic1ons of this life, m1d it ,,,Hl all refine itself it1to poetry Inter on.;s Tbe Ti,ner Literary S1tf,pleu1e;1tgave the Botton1]cy-Binyon vo1nn1e n discerning revje,v.," and the firn1 support of poets like Edith S1t\vcll, I'oeun by lxmrc.Rosen[n;TJ{. Selected and Fdircrl by Gordon llottu1nky. '''ith an lntru~l uctory A.1emoir by Laurence Rinyon. l..Gndon: lVilli:nn Hciner11:1nn, 191:2. ;\1 bid., p. 38. LJJ.urencc Bin yon ( 1 869-1943) was appointed to the Dcp,utn1ent of Prinrs and Dra,,·ings of the British j\·1uscu1n in I R95 ~nd b~ciune: Assist~nt Keeper in 1909. Linc:s from hi.s ,var poe1n!i'For the Fallcnt published Jn T'/Je Tin1rr ( of Lon- don) on 11 Scptemhc:r l9I4 1 arc engraved on the portico of the British l\1useum. Rinyon)s t·ITorts jn_ Ros:cnherg!.s llehalf c;1n he comp:-lrcd to tho.c:;r.1lc rnadt to revive intcresc in \''illiam Rlilkes ~rt.
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