Charles Elkin Mathews Collection MS
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University Museums and Special Collections Service Charles Elkin Mathews Collection MS 392 The bulk of the collection consists of around 500 letters. Most were written to Mathews and concern some aspect of his work. Some were collected by Mathews and relate to literary and antiquarian matters 1811-c.1870. There are 48 letters from John Lane. Other major correspondents include Ernest Radford, Jack Butler Yeats and Richard Le Gallienne. There are also letters from William Butler Yeats, John Trivett Nettleship, Robert Bridges, Charles Henry Daniel, Roden Noel, William Watson and John Davidson, along with three letters from Ezra Pound and one from James Joyce. There is a variety of personal material, including draft reminiscences of Mathews' life and career. The rest of the collection relates to works published and consists of proofs, cuttings, publicity material, photographs of authors, prints of illustrative material including several by Jack Butler Yeats, and associated printed material. The collection of Elkin Mathews' papers is supported by around 400 books which were published under the Elkin Mathews imprint. The Collection covers the year’s c.1800 - 1938. The physical extent of the collection is 3 boxes containing c.650 items. Introduction Charles Elkin Mathews was born in Gravesend in 1851. As a young man, he served his apprenticeship in the book trade working for Charles John Stewart in London, managing Peach's library in Bath, and then returning to London to work for the firm of Messrs Sotheran in Piccadilly. In 1884 he opened an antiquarian and general bookshop at 16 Cathedral Close, Exeter, where he also began his publishing career, joining with other local booksellers in his first venture. In 1887 he arranged with John Lane to move to premises in Vigo Street, Piccadilly, and the firm began business in October of that year. From 1892 to 1894 he was in partnership with Lane both for selling and publishing books, particularly belles lettres, and their reputation reached its height with the publication of The Yellow Book in 1894. Shortly afterwards the partnership was dissolved. Lane began an independent publishing venture under the name of The Bodley Head, which had been the name of the Vigo Street shop. Mathews continued to sell and publish books, being the first publisher of such authors as W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, Ezra Pound and Robert Bridges. In 1912 he moved from Vigo Street to Cork Street. After moving to London in 1887 Mathews lived next door to Yeats in Bedford Park, Chiswick, and subsequently in Chorley Wood, Hertfordshire, where he died on 10 Page 1 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service November 1921. He left a widow, Edith Elkin Mathews (n ;e Calvert), whom he married in 1896, and a daughter. MS 392/1 Correspondence and related papers 1 January 1811- 6 September 1938 Please see handlist as some letters have been transcribed. 1073 files MS 392/1/1 Personal and business 1 January 1811-6 September 1938 1074 files MS 392/1/1/1 Letter from F Douie to [?], [London] 1 January 1811 1 file MS 392/1/1/2 Receipt: £215 from 'the Rev. The Vice Chancellor' acknowledged by [?Asprey] 'Being the amount due to the Bampton Lecturer for the year 1816', Oxford 4 March 1816 1 file MS 392/1/1/3 Letter from Ugo Foscolo to [?], London 10 June 1818 1 file MS 392/1/1/4 Letter from Frances [Elkin], mother of Charles Elkin Mathews, to her parents, Gravesend 15 June 1831 Page 2 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service 1 file MS Letter from [Thomas] Elkin, grandfather of Charles Elkin 392/1/1/5-6 Mathews, and [Edward] Lamborn to Lord Palmerston, Gravesend 8 August 1831 1 file MS 392/1/1/7 Letter from Richard Taylor to [?], London 13 December 1841 1 file MS Letter from [?], London, Easingwold 392/1/1/8-9 18 February 1842 1 file MS Letter from Mitford to Thomas Green, London 392/1/1/10-12 31 October 1842 1 file MS Letter from Messers Nichols and son, Proprietors of the 392/1/1/13-14 gentleman's Magazine, to [?] Heineken, Westminster 26 May 1843 1 file MS Letter from John Mason Neale to [?], Sackville College 392/1/1/15-16 20 November 1847 1 file Page 3 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service MS Letter from G V R Innes to [?], Farnham 392/1/1/17-18 1 October 1848 1 file MS Letter from William Johnson Fox to [?] 392/1/1/19-24 2 March 1850 1 file MS Letter from F]rederick] Temple to [?] 392/1/1/25-26 4 July 1852 1 file MS Letter from J Britton to E[dward Augustus] Freeman, historian 392/1/1/27-29 (1823-1892), Bristol 1 September 1852 1 file MS A draft corrected in the hand of Robert Stephen Hawker of an 392/1/1/30-32 article [by John Thomas Blight] on the 'Chapel of St Loy or St Dellion, in the parish of St Burain' which is 'an evidence of the early introduction of Christianity, and of the devotion of our pious forefather'; such structures may have been 'the residences of hermits, or men of secluded life'; historical notes and a quotation 'from my notice of Ancient Chapels' c. 1857 1 file Page 4 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service MS Memorandum [by Robert Stephen Hawker] on the arch above a 392/1/1/33-36 small engraving c.1857 It gives a Lady’s Pocket Book aspect to the Picture; in my personal judgement the Arch over the Pierhead of your Bude engraving dwarfs and disfigures the total scene. Nothing is beautiful that is untrue “Your engraving again of Tintagel Castle is an utter failure” Now in your Drawing no trace appears of the ruins still standing on the peninsula. So the whole terror of the castled house of Kings is lost 1 file MS Letter from [Robert Stephen Hawker] to [John Thomas Blight, 392/1/1/37-40 artist] 4 January 1857 1 file MS Notes by Robert Stephen Hawker on an engraving [? By John 392/1/1/41-42 Thomas Blight] 7 April 1858 1 file MS Letter from R[obert] S[tephen] Hawker to [John Thomas Blight] 392/1/1/43-44 17 April 1858 1 file MS Letter from Robert Stephen Hawker to [John Thomas Blight] 392/1/1/45-47 17 April 1858 1 file MS Letter from Robert Stephen Hawker to [John Thomas Blight] 392/1/1/48-55 11 July 1858 [Remarks on Blight’s Ancient crosses and other antiquities in the East of Cornwall. London, Simpkin, Marshall and Col., 1858] Page 5 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service 1 file MS Letter from John Tenniel, artist (1820-1914) to [Harry 392/1/1/56-59 Cholmondeley] Pennell, London c. 1864 1 file MS Letter from John Tyndall to [Harry] Cholmondeley Pennell 392/1/1/60 c. 1864 1 file MS Letter from A Gunther, British Museum, to H[arry] Cholmondeley 392/1/1/61-62 Pennell, London 25 January 1864 1 file MS Letter from A Gunther, British Museum, to [?], London 392/1/1/63-65 26 September 1864 1 file MS Letter from Sir Charles Lyell to H[arry] Cholmondeley Pennel , 392/1/1/66-67 London 19 January 1865 1 file MS Letter from Francis Francis to [Harry Cholmondeley] Pennell 392/1/1/68 [27 February c. 1865] 1 file Page 6 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service MS Letter from J[ohn] H[enry] Cliffe to F[rank] C[olmondeley] 392/1/1/69 Pennell [c.1865], Pimlico 28 February 1865 1 file MS Letter from Sir Roderick Murchison to [Harry] Cholmondeley 392/1/1/70 Pennell, London 20 March 1865 1 file MS Letter from William Pinkerton to H[arry] C[holmondeley] Pennell, 392/1/1/71-72 Dublin 23 October 1865 1 file MS Letter from W C Stewart to H[arry] Cholmondeley Pennell, Kelso 392/1/1/73-74 18 April 1866 1 file MS Letter from Thomas [Tod] Stoddart to [Harry Chomondeley 392/1/1/79-82 Pennell] [c. April 1866] 1 file MS Letter from ? Milman to Harry Cholmondeley Pennell 392/1/1/83 [c. June 1866] Page 7 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service 1 file MS Letter from ? Strickland to [? Harry Cholmondeley Pennell] , 392/1/1/84-87 Oxford 6 June 1866 1 file MS Letter from Ja[me]s Hannay to [? Harry Cholmondeley Pennell] , 392/1/1/88-89 London 4 July 1866 1 file MS Letter from A L Baring to [?]Croker 392/1/1/90-93 18 September [c. 1866] 1 file MS Letter from [George] M Arnold to Thomas [George] Mathews, 392/1/1/94-95 Gravesend 12 September 1867 1 file MS Letter from H[erman] Merivale to H[arry] C[holmondeley] 392/1/1/96-98 Pennell, London 5 November 1867 1 file MS Letter from T[homas] C[arlyle] to Jane [Carlyle], Chelsea 392/1/1/99- 11 March 1869 102 Page 8 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service 1 file MS Letter from ? to Mortimer Collins, London 392/1/1/103 19 March 1871 1 file MS Letter [From a younger brother] to Charles [Elkin Mathews], 392/1/1/104- Sidmouth 107 24 March 1871 1 file MS Letter from J[ames] Bertrand Payne to H[arry] Cholmondeley 392/1/1/108- Pennell 111 [c. 1872] 1 file MS Letter from Le Chevalier [Jean Baptiste Francois Ernest de] 392/1/1/112- Chatelain to H[arry] Cholmondeley Pennell, London 113 24 June 1872 1 file MS Letter from [Francois Pierre Guillaume] Guizot to ? , Paris 392/1/1/114 12 April 1873 1 file MS Letter from Bishop of Exeter to [? Charles Elkin Mathews], 392/1/1/115- Exeter 116 20 May 1873 Page 9 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service 1 file MS Letter from J[ames] G[lass] Bertram to H[arry] C[holmondeley] 392/1/1/117 Pennell , Glasgow 15 March 1875 1 file MS Letter from John H[enry] Newman to ? Stewart 392/1/1/118 21 March 1876 1 file MS Letter from W[illiam] E[wart] Gladstone to C S Palmer, London 392/1/1/119- 29 March 1876 121 1 file MS Letter from W[illiam] E[wart] Gladstone to A E[lkin] Mathews, 392/1/1/122 Chester 27 April 1878 1 file MS Letter from [William Henry] Waddington to ?, Paris 392/1/1/123 26 April 1879 1 file MS Letter from C[harles] J[ames] Stewart to ? , Hythe 392/1/1/124- 23 September 1879 126 1 file Page 10 of 109 University Museums and Special Collections Service MS Letter from John Cordy Jefferson to [Harry Cholmondeley] 392/1/1/127 Pennell, London [c.