Inventory Acc.12723 John Manson

Acc.12723 March 2007

Inventory

Acc.12723

John Manson

National Library of Scotland Manuscripts Division George IV Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1EW Tel: 0131-466 2812 Fax: 0131-466 2811 E-mail: [email protected]

Letters, cards and related papers, 1956-2006 and undated, sent to John Manson, crofter and poet.

John Manson was born into a Caithness crofting family in 1932 and moved to a croft in Sutherland in 1955 where he lived until his work as a primary teacher took him south to Fife, Edinburgh and Dumfries and Galloway, where he now lives. Teaching and crofting aside, the main work of his life has been in 20th century Scottish literature. A published poet, he has also been tireless in promoting the work of others, and from 1974-1992 edited and published the literary journal Weighbauk. Early retirement from teaching in 1990 allowed him to more fully pursue his research, particularly into the work of MacDiarmid, Grassic Gibbon and James Barke; much of his published criticism relates to these three. John Manson’s Scottish interests lie alongside his knowledge and understanding of contemporary European literature. He has translated the work of writers such as Paul Eluard, Louis Aragon, Victor Serge (prose) into English and the work of Eugenio Montale, César Vallejo and Manuel Bandiera (among others) into English and Scots.

The arrangement of the collection follows the order in which it was received from John Manson.

Bought, 2006-2007.

1 Letters chiefly from Scottish literary figures:

David Angus (12 letters) 1974-1983 James K Annand (2 letters) 1974, 1977 Derek Bowman (4 letters, 1 card) 1974-1984 George Mackay Brown (2 letters) 1974, 1985 George Bruce (1 letter) 1991 Donald Campbell (1 letter) 1974 Douglas Dunn (1 letter) 1986 Robert Garioch (1 letter) 1974 Flora Garry (1 letter) 1977 Duncan Glen (3 letters, 1 card) 1971-1985 Christopher Grieve (“Hugh MacDiarmid”) (3 letters, 1 card) 1956, 1970, 1977 Valda Grieve (2 letters) 1979, 1980 John Kincaid (2 letters) 1975 Archie Lamont (5 letters) 1974-1984 T S Law (2 letters) 1980, 1985 Callum MacDonald (1 letter) 1979 Mary MacDonald, wife of Tom MacDonald (“Fionn MacColla”), (2 letters) 1994 Norman MacDonald (2 letters) 1975, 1985 A D Mackie (1 letter) 1974 Alastair Mackie (7 letters, 1 card with MS poem, 1 printed and 2 TS stories) 1974- 1992, undated Magnus Magnusson (1 letter) 1978 Nan Milton, daughter of John MacLean, (3 letters) 1981, 1984, 1990 Jack Mitchell (3 letters and 1 card) 1983-1985, undated Edwin Morgan (1 letter, 2 cards) 1974, 1985, 1991 David Murison (2 letters, 1 card) 1994-1995 Tom Nairn (1 letter) 1981 William Neill (4 letters) 1974-1985 J B Pick (1 letter) 1982 William J Rae (8 letters) 1978-1995 Crombie Saunders (1 letter) 1977 Tom Scott (1 letter) 1975 Iain Crichton Smith (1 letter) 1992 Sydney Goodsir Smith (1 letter) 1956 Rhoda Spence, daughter of Lewis Spence (1 letter) 1977 W J Tait (1 letter) 1977 Roderick Watson (1 letter) 1988

2-4 Letters and postcards of David Craig (b. 1932) with other related papers. Many of the earlier letters concern his work with John Manson on MacDiarmid (Selected Poems [of] Hugh MacDiarmid, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970, 1976).

2 Letters and postcards, 1964-1988.

3 Letters and postcards, 1989-2005 and undated.

4 Carbon typescripts, photocopies and proofs, 1966-1988, of various book reviews by David Craig; publishing agreement, 1973, between David Craig, John Manson and Lawrence and Wishart Ltd for a book on Hugh MacDiarmid (the book was never written); draft glossary for Selected Poems [of] Hugh MacDiarmid.

5 “Correspondence with scholars on Scottish literature”

W R Aitken (2 letters) 1994 Valentina Bold (1 letter) 1999 Moira Burgess (1 letter) 2002 Kenneth Buthlay (1 letter) 1999 Angus Calder (2 letters, 2 cards) 1998-2004 Ian Campbell (2 letters) 1996, 1998 Tom Crawford (7 letters) 1980-1999 Julian Meldon D’Arcy (1 letter) 1997 Keith Dixon (1 letter) 2003 Clarke Geddes (1 letter) 1997 Duncan Glen (4 letters) 1997-1999 George Fraser (1 letter) 1993 Deirdre Grieve (6 letters, 1 card) 1998-2006 Dorian Grieve (4 letters, 7 cards) 2000-2006 Tom Hubbard (4 letters) 1985-2005 Gustav Klaus (6 letters) 2004-2006 Margery Palmer McCulloch (15 letters, 3 cards; 2 of the letters are photocopies) 1992-2006 Hugh K Mackay (12 letters, 4 cards) 1978-2006 Peter McManus (1 letter) 1997 W K Malcolm (13 letters) 1993-2004 Rhea Martin (1 letter) 1996 Bob Purdie (1 letter) 1999 Alan Riach (9 letters, 2 cards) 1987-2002 Ross Roy (2 letters) 1989 Carla Sassi (9 letters) 1997-2006 Eliot Weinberger (1 letter) 2006 Douglas F Young (2 letters) 1994, 2000 Uwe Zagratzki (6 letters) 1996-1999

6 “Correspondence with regard to some Scottish writers’ politics”

Douglas Allen (1 letter) 2001 John Taylor Caldwell (3 letters) 1991-1995 Audrey Canning (5 letters) 1993-1994 Alex Clark (3 letters) 2005 John Foster (1 letter) 2001 Jim Generoso (2 letters) 1980 Hugh Hagan (1 letter) 1995 Bob Horne (1 letter) 2001 Monty Johnstone (1 letter) 1992 Ian MacDougall (6 letters) 1990-2001 Michael James McGrath (1 letter) 1996 Colin Mackay (1 letter) 1997 John McKay (2 letters) 1995 Gordon McLennan (2 letters) 2002 George Matthews (1 letter) 1994 Bill Moore (1 letter) 1998 John Prime (1 letter: a photocopy) 1956 Hugh Purcell (2 letters) 2002 Arnold Rattenbury (1 letter) 2003 Robert Robson (1 letter) 1998 Brian Smith (8 letters, one of which is a photocopy) 1991-2004 Paul Smith (3 letters, 5 cards) 1991-1995 Elizabeth Margaret Watson (2 letters) 1997 Ian S Wood (2 letters) 1990, 1995 James D Young (5 letters) 1985-1993

7 “Letters from Dr Tatiana Romanova on Lewis Grassic Gibbon”, 1996-2005

8 “Correspondence regarding translations from Victor Serge”

Richard Appignanesi (1 card) 1983 Ian Birchall (1 letter) 1993 John Eden (10 letters, 2 cards) 1990-2002 Richard Greeman (11 letters) 1991-2005 Bill Marshall (1 letter) 1990 Susan Weissman (7 letters, 1 card) 1990-1996 Roger van Zwaneberg (1 letter) 1994

9 General correspondence, 1971-2006 and undated.

Max Adereth (8 letters) 1971-1978 Lilian Anderson (4 letters) 1993 Allan Armstrong (1 letter) 1995 John Broom (2 letters) 1984-1985 Jim Burns (9 letters, 1 card) 2000-2001 Catherine Byron (1 letter) 1986 Alexander M Cain (1 letter) 1976 Gerry Cambridge (1 letter) 2003 Juan Luis Campos (1 letter) 1993 Eric Clavering (2 letters) 1994 Andy Croft (1 letter, 1 card) 2005 Catherine Dalrymple (1 letter) 2005 Christine de Luca (1 card) 2002 Nancy C Dorian (1 letter) 1989 Alix Draper (4 letters, of which one is incomplete) 1984-1995 Michael Draper (3 letters, 5 cards) Horst Drescher (1 letter) 1997 Peter Duffy (1 letter) 2003 Sally Evans (1 letter) undated Peter France (3 letters, 1 card) 1990-1996 Michael Glenday (1 letter) 1983 Nigel Gray (1 letter) undated George Gunn (1 letter) ? 1991 Jake Harvey (1 letter) 1999 Seamus Heaney (1 card) 2003 W H Herbert (1 letter) 1996 John Herdman (1 letter) 2006 Richard Hunter (1 letter) 2000 Nicholas Johnson (1 letter) 2001 Robert Leach (1 letter) 1974 Douglas Lipton (1 letter) 2005 John London (1 letter) 1992 Gerry Loose (1 letter) 2006 John Lucas (2 cards) 2005-2006 David Kinloch (1 letter) 2005 Peter McCarey (1 letter) 2000 Alex McCrindle (1 letter) 1981 Daisy McEwen (1 letter) 1985 John McEwen (2 letters) 1978-1979 James McGonigal (1 letter) 1982 Lizzie MacGregor (1 letter) undated Margot McGregor (2 letters) 1982-1983 Farquhar McLay (1 letter) 1998 Ruth McQuillan (1 letter) 2002 Robyn Marsack (1 letter, 1 card) 2004-2005 Wilma Murray (1 letter) undated Timothy Neat (1 letter) 1986 Liz Niven (1 letter) 1998 Andrew Noble (1 card) undated Helena O’Hare (1 letter) 2004 Donny O’Rourke (1 letter) 1993 Harvey Oxenhorn (1 letter) 1985 Hugh Paterson (3 letters) 2002-2003 Chris Perriam (1 letter) 1994 Richard Price (5 letters, 3 cards) 1991-1998 David Purves (2 letters) 2001 Tessa Ransford (1 card) 1987 John Reilly (1 letter) 1999 Jenny Richardson (1 letter) 2003 Osmond Robb (1 letter) 1975 Enda Ryan (1 letter) 2004 Bruce Sandison (1 letter) 1987 E San Juan, Jr (4 letters, of which 1 is a photocopy) 1995-1996 Richard J Schoeck (1 letter and 3 poems) 1991-1992 Heather Scott (2 letters) 2004 Chris Searle (1 card) 1985 N M Seedo (2 letters) 1976, 1981 Susan and Michael Simpson (1 card) 2006 Denise Smith (1 letter) 1996 G S Smith (3 letters, which 1 is a photocopy) 2003-2005 David Spooner (7 letters) 1983-1996 Ronald Stevenson (1 letter) 2003 Frank Thompson (2 letters) 1985 Duncan Thomson (1 letter) 1983 Cedric Thorpe Davie (1 letter) 1982 Gael Turnbull (1 card) undated Julia Muir Watt (1 letter) 2006 Stephen Watts (1 letter) 1992 May G Williamson (1 letter) 1974 Isabella Williamson (2 letters) 1998 Betty Willsher (1 letter) 1990 Rab Wilson (2 letters) 2006, undated Gordon Wright (1 letter) 1995

10 Brief autobiographical notes and bibliography of published and unpublished writings of John Manson.