PERCY REGINALD STEPHENSEN ML MSS 1284 Papers, 1905—1965, together with the papers of, among others, Winifred Sarah Stephensen, 1908, 192--1969, John W. (Jack) Lockyer, 1934-1972, William Baylebridge, 1908-1941, -and Frank Clune, 1930s-1963 MS., typescript, carbon typescript, duplicated typescript, photocopies, proofs, printed, newscuttings. Illus 124 boxes, 2 volumes, 1 'X' item; 21.13 m. The papers were initially acquired in 1966 from P.R. Stephensen's widow, Winifred Stephensen, and further papers were presented to the Library by his stepson, John W. Lockyer, between 1970 and 1979. The collection was restricted in the Library until 1977. COPYRIGHT IN P.R. STEPHENSEN AND WINIFRED STEPHENSEN'S UNPUBLISHED WORKS AND LETTERS IS HELD BY THE MITCHELL LIBRARY AND COPYING FOR REFERENCE PURPOSES IS PERMITTED. Percy Reginald Stephensen (1901—1965), writer, publisher, editor and literary agent, was born at Maryborough, Queensland, the eldest son of Christian Julius Stephensen and his wife, Marie Louise Aimee, nee Tardent. He attended Biggenden State School and Maryborough Grammar, and graduated from the University of Queensland (BA, 1922), where he adopted the nickname 'Inky', and edited and renamed the University magazine, Galmahra. In 1924 Stephensen was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship for Queensland. Resident at Queens College, Oxford, he read 'Modern Greats' (Philosophy, Politics and Economics). On campus he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, became involved in its activities concerning the 1926 General Strike and resigned shortly after. He was a freelance reporter for The Workers Weekly (Syd.) and The Daily Standard (Brisb.). His summers were spent chiefly in Paris where he produced English translations from the French of Lenin's Imperialism (1925) and On the Road to Insurrection (1926). Stephensen also worked and wrote several plays for the Workers' Theatre Movement under the pen—name, 'Peter Stephens'. In 1927 he graduated from Oxford with second—class honours. Percy Reginald Stephensen- papers, 1905-1965 ML MSS 1284 Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW Stephensen then joined another Australian expatriate, Jack Lindsay, to manage The Fanfrolico Press at Bloomsbury, London. He replaced as business manager in late 1927, John T. Kirtley, co-founder of the Press, who with Lindsay transferred the business from Sydney in 1926. Stephensen and Lindsay also co-edited the six issues of the literary magazine, London Aphrodite (1928-1929). In 1954 Stephensen's recollections of the Fanfrolico venture, Kookaburras and Satyrs, were published as the first title from Walter Stone's Talkarra Press. In 1929 he left Fanfrolico to establish, in partnership with Edward Goldston, The Mandrake Press, primarily to publish D.H. Lawrence's Paintings. He was also typographer and production supervisor of the illegal printing of an unexpurgated edition of Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover in London. In 1930 he published Lawrence's A Propos of Lady Chatterly's Lover. Stephensen also published his own collection of stories, The Bushwhackers (1929), and several works by Aleister Crowley, including his autobiographical The Confessions and banned lecture on Gilles de Rais at Oxford in 1930. Stephensen's return to Australia in 1932 heralded a decade of tirelessly promoting Australian authors. On his arrival in Sydney he became manager of The Endeavour Press under the aegis of The Bulletin, with Norman Lindsay a director and principal manuscript reader. He left in September 1933 to establish his own firm, P.R. Stephensen and Co. Limited, which published works by Henry Handel Richardson, Louise Mack, Eleanor Dark and Miles Franklin, and a monthly broadsheet, Stephensen's Circular, publicising the firm's titles. Unable to attract investors, the company went into voluntary liquidation. He then launched Australian Book Services Ltd., but its national literary magazine, The Australian Mercury, survived only one issue, with a second reaching proof stage. As Chairman of the Fellowship of Australian Writers' Cultural Defence Committee in 1935, Stephensen presided over its campaign against the unfair economic competition faced by Australian writers, journalists and artists from the import of literary and artistic works. He published several issues of The Syndicated Weakly, a lampoon of the 'Americanisation' of Australian culture particularly through syndicated journalism. Percy Reginald Stephensen- papers, 1905-1965 ML MSS 1284 Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW In the mid 1930s Stephensen met the businessman, W.J. Miles, who, impressed with Stephensen's Australian Mercury, published his treatise on Australian literary and cultural nationalism, The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936). The same year Miles formed The Publicist Publishing Company and through its organ, The Publicist, disseminated his own political views of Australian self dependence and self defence encapsulated in the slogan 'Australia First'. Miles was the sole owner and editor but recruited Stephensen as his assistant. Both were regular contributors with Miles adopting the pen-names 'John Benauster', 'Rex Williams', 'Alcedo Gigas' and 'Louis M. Veron'. With the approach of war, The Publicist became stridently anti-British and anti-Semitic. Stephensen and Miles were active supporters of Aboriginal citizenship rights. Stephensen was honorary secretary of the Aboriginal Citizenship Committee, a support group of the Aborigines Progressive Association and editor of the APA journal, Abo Call, published by Miles' company, which featured extracts from Xavier Herbert's Capricornia published by Stephensen in 1938 after it was originally typeset in 1934. Prior to Miles' death in January 1942, ownership of The Publicist transferred to Valentine Crowley, S.B. Hooper, and P.R. Stephensen who became editor of the final three issues, January - March 1942. In October 1941 Stephensen formed a right-wing group in Sydney, The Australia First Movement, which advocated Australian cultural and political independence, drawing much of its membership from subscribers to The Publicist. The AFM came increasingly under surveillance from the authorities. By March 1942 its alleged 'Fifth Column' activities saw its suspension, along with The Publicist which trumpeted its propaganda. Stephensen and fifteen other AFM members were arrested under the National Security Act, and he was interned without trial for the duration of the war, much of his time being spent in Tatura Camp, Victoria. Despite an Inquiry justifying Stephensen's detention, his internment remains a celebrated chapter in the history of the abrogation of civil rights in Australia. After his release Stephensen remained in Victoria until 1956, when he moved to Sydney to establish a literary agency. He devoted much of his time to editorial work and his output was prodigious. This included ghosting books for retired sea captains, W.H.S. Jones and Sir James Bisset, and his long- time friend and supporter, Frank Clune. He wrote and edited scores of books for Clune, many of which became bestsellers. Several works including The Wild Colonial Boys (1948) were completed during his internment. In 1954 Stephensen and Clune's first fully acknowledged co-authored book and magnum opus, The Viking of Van Diemen's Land, was published. Stephensen also negotiated the publication of Elizabeth Kata's Be Ready with Bells and Drums, which was scripted into the 1965 MGM film and Academy Award winner, 'A Patch of Blue'. In 1952 Stephensen's reputedly first signed article in a decade, a book review, was published in Bruce Muirden's journal, Austrovert. His contributions to The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958) and his posthumously published The History and Description of Sydney Harbour (1966) bear Percy Reginald Stephensen- papers, 1905-1965 ML MSS 1284 Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW testimony to his diligence and professionalism. Also an effective speaker, Stephensen undertook a lecture tour of Tasmania for the State's Adult Education Service in 1955, and twice delivered a series of Commonwealth Literary Fund lectures in 1959 and 1962. Two fellow Queenslanders loomed large in Stephensen's literary heritage. He acknowledged the contribution to Australian letters of A.G. Stephens, legendary editor of The Bulletin's 'Red Page', in a lecture, The Life and Work of A.G. Stephens, published in 1940, and also launched a fund to secure a fitting memorial to him. The poet, William Baylebridge (a pseudonym for William Blocksidge), who died in 1942, similarly made a lasting impression. Stephensen lauded Baylebridge's Love Redeemed (1934) in The Australian Mercury; he was an executor of Baylebridge's estate; he conceived the idea of the Memorial Edition of the Collected Works of William Baylebridge and edited the first four volumes (1961-1964). Stephensen married Winifred Sarah Venus, nee Lockyer in 1947, the couple having lived together since the 1920s. His stepson is John W. (Jack) Lockyer. Percy Reginald Stephensen died on 28 May 1965 following a speech given to the Sydney Savage Club. Winifred Stephensen died on 17 August 1971 in Sydney. DETAILED CONTENTS LIST AVAILABLE Percy Reginald Stephensen- papers, 1905-1965 ML MSS 1284 Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW SHORT TITLE CONTENTS BOX/VOL I. PERCY REGINALD STEPHENSEN A. Personal Papers. 1918-1965. i. Correspondence and letters 1-3 received, 1918-1965 ii. Family correspondence, 1913, 1924 4 - 1965 iii. Miscellaneous papers, 1920s-1965 5 iv. Maryborough Boys Grammar School, 6 1915-1918 v. University of Queensland, 1919- 6