Finding Aid Prepared by Henry Rowen
August 2001
Born November 1, 1896 and died January 20, 1974. A noted poet and scholar Blunden served in the Royal Sussex Regiment 1916-1919. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1917.
Blunden was a scholar of the English Romantic poets and brought the attention of the literary world to the poetry of John Clare. He began his literar career under the direction of Middleton Murry at The Athenaeum 1920. He taught English Literature at Toyko University 1924-27 and was a fellow and tutor in English literature at Merton College from 1931 to 1943. He was a professor of English at the University of Hong Kong from 1953 to 1964 and held the Chair of Poetry at Oxford University from 196 to 1968.
Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs and printed material of the English poet and critic, Edmund Blunden, documenting his personal and professional activity. Blunden's letters to his second wife, Sylva Norman, and his secretary, Aki Hayashi, are particularly well represented. Also included are many letters addressed to Blunden by eminent literary figures such as John Betjeman, George Orwell, Siegfried Sassoon, Stephen Spender, and Henry Williamson. Other literary correspondents are Adrian Bell, Joyce Cary, Richard Church, C. Day Lewis, Walter de la Mare, Graham Greene, H.D., William Plomer, Kathleen Raine, and Leonard Woolf. A substantial portion of the cataloged correspondence contains drawings, verse fragments and poems by Blunden which have been analyzed. Also present are eleven of Blunden's diaries, 1936-1967, which contain drafts of a number of poems. In addition, the collection contains a small number of autograph manuscripts of Edmund Blunden's literary works.
Cataloged Series | ||
--Correspondence | ||
| Box 1 | Abbott, Claude Colleer | |
| Andrade, Edward Neville da Costa | ||
| Abse, Dannie | ||
| Arlott, John | ||
| Bateson, Frederick Wilse | ||
| Beaumont, Cyril W. | ||
| Bell, Adrian Hanbury | ||
| Betjeman, John | ||
| Blunden, Edmund | ||
| Blunden, G. A. | ||
| Brett-Smith | ||
| Box 2 | Bone, Muirhead | |
| Bottrall, Francis James Ronald Bottomley, Gordon | ||
| Cary, Joyce | ||
| Cecil, Lord David | ||
| Church, Richard | ||
| Clemens, Cyril | ||
| Cobden-Sanderson, Richard | ||
| Day-Lewis, Cecil | ||
| de la Mare, Walter | ||
| Desborough, Lady Ethel | ||
| Dobree, Bonamy | ||
| Doolittle, Hilda (H.D.) | ||
| Engle, Paul & Baldwin Maswell | ||
| Garrod, Heathcote William | ||
| Grant, Douglas | ||
| Green, Roger | ||
| Greene, Graham | ||
| Hall, John | ||
| Hamilton, Sir George Rostrevor | ||
| Heath-Stubbs, John | ||
| Jeffares, A. Norman | ||
| Keynes, Geoffrey | ||
| Knight, George Wilson | ||
| Lowndes, Marie Belloc | ||
| Lucas, Edward Verrall | ||
| Mac Donald, Hugh | ||
| Morgan, Charles Langbridge | ||
| Morley, Frank | ||
| Murray, David Leslie | ||
| Napier, Charles | ||
| Nichols, Robert | ||
| Orwell, George | ||
| Pinto, Vivian de Sola | ||
| Plomer, William | ||
| Raine, Kathleen | ||
| Rickword, Edgell | ||
| Rothenstein, Sir William | ||
| Rowse, Alfred Leslie | ||
| Sassoon, Siegfried | ||
| Sherriff, Robert Cedric | ||
| Sparrow, John | ||
| Spender, Stephen | ||
| Squire, J.C. | ||
| Stead, William Force | ||
| Strong, Leonard Alfred George | ||
| Temple, William [ A. B. of Canterbury] | ||
| Turner, Walter James Redfern | ||
| Wallop, Gerard Vernon | ||
| Williamson, Henry | ||
| Woolf, Leonard Sidney | ||
| Box 3 | Blunden, Edmund To Aki Hayashi 1924-1931 | |
| Box 4 | Blunden, Edmund To Aki Hayashi 1932-1934 | |
| Box 5 | Blunden, Edmund To Aki Hayashi 1935-1940 | |
| Box 6 | Blunden, Edmund To Aki Hayashi 1941-1951 | |
| Box 7 | Blunden, Edmund To Aki Hayashi 1952 -1962 | |
| Box 8 | Blunden, Edmund To Sylva Norman 8 Oct. 1930-28 June 1932 | |
| Box 9 | Blunden, Edmund To Sylva Norman 1 July 1932-28 Feb. 193[3?] | |
| Box 10 | Blunden, Edmund To Sylva Norman 1 March 1933- 31 Dec.1937 | |
| Box 11 | Blunden, Edmund To Sylva Norman 1938-42 | |
| Box 12 | Blunden, Edmund To Sylva Norman 1943-44 | |
| Box 13 | Blunden, Edmund To Sylva Norman 1945-49 | |
| Box 14 | Blunden, Edmund To Sylva Norman 1950-56 | |
| Box 15 | Blunden, Edmund To Sylva Norman 1957-62 | |
| Box 16 | Blunden, Edmund To Sylva Norman 1963-70 | |
--Manuscripts | ||
| Box 17 | Blunden, Edmund | |
| Box 17a | Blunden, Edmund Diaries and notebooks | |
--Photographs | ||
| Box 17 | The Anchorage Inn, Yaldiing & . . . . . | |
| Blunden, Edmund | ||
| Hardy, Thomas and Canon Pentin | ||
Arranged Series | ||
--Correspondence | ||
| Box 18 | A., Isabel | |
| Alastair | ||
| Allen, G.K. | ||
| Allen, Tom J. | ||
| Altick, Richard D. | ||
| Anday, W.S. | ||
| Arthur | ||
| Ash, Kathleen | ||
| Atkinsin, J. | ||
| Atkinson, R.L. | ||
| Atthill, Robin | ||
| B. | ||
| B., A. H. | ||
| B., B. | ||
| B., I. | ||
| Bailey, J.T. | ||
| Ball, Arthur | ||
| Barker, D.A. | ||
| Barrow, W.M. | ||
| Beachcroft, T.O. | ||
| Bebbington, W.G. | ||
| Bell, Douglas | ||
| Bell, Eric S. | ||
| Bell, Fanny | ||
| Bell, Ivan | ||
| Benjamin, Lewis S. | ||
| Bentley, F.H. | ||
| Bernstein, Hans | ||
| Bicknell, E.G. | ||
| Bicknell, John P.C. | ||
| Billingham, J.S. | ||
| Binding, Rudolf G. | ||
| Bishop, M. | ||
| Bismingle, M.J. | ||
| Black, M.H. | ||
| Blacket, Geoffrey | ||
| Blanchy, Norman | ||
| Blunden, Claire | ||
| Blunden, G. M. | ||
| Blunden, Mary Daines | ||
| Bokhari, Z.A. | ||
| Boulton, Marjorie | ||
| Boyd, James | ||
| Bozman, E.F. | ||
| Brander, Laurence | ||
| Brewer, Luther | ||
| Brown, Margaret | ||
| Browne..., H. C. | ||
| Brumbough,Thomas | ||
| Buck, Hector | ||
| Buckley Huguans, F. | ||
| Bullough, Geoffrey | ||
| Buxton, Marjorie | ||
| Byrne, E. | ||
| C., George | ||
| Campbell, Gerard | ||
| Cape Jonathan | ||
| Capiz, Ellen | ||
| Careterar, William | ||
| Carlson,? Jim | ||
| Cartiwright | ||
| Cassels, James | ||
| Chadwick, A.E. | ||
| Chambers, Olive | ||
| Chapman, J.B. | ||
| Chapman, John | ||
| Chatto and Windus | ||
| Cheetle, H.F. | ||
| Christ | ||
| Clyde Christie, L. | ||
| Clark, G.A. | ||
| Clarke, A.G. | ||
| Cleafe, R. | ||
| Colin | ||
| Colles, Hester | ||
| Collins, A.F.W. | ||
| Conrad Senet, R. | ||
| Cosham, A.J. | ||
| Collins, W.A.R. | ||
| Coulter, John W. | ||
| Craster, H.H.R. | ||
| Creswick, H.R. | ||
| Crow, John W. | ||
| Crowsley, Ernest G. | ||
| Currie, G.A. | ||
| D., Kaethe | ||
| Daines, P. | ||
| Datt, T. | ||
| Box 18 (cont.) | Davies, Mary W. | |
| Davison, R.W | ||
| de Candolle, Beatrice | ||
| Delatte, F. | ||
| de la Mare, Richard | ||
| de Lyons-Pike, C.R. | ||
| de Trafford, G.E. | ||
| de Trafford, W.P.C. | ||
| Dilnot, George | ||
| Dixon, John K.S. | ||
| Doddle, Polydor | ||
| Dolding, K. | ||
| Doubleday, Dorand and | ||
| Company | ||
| Douglas, Mary Jo | ||
| Downing, F.A. | ||
| Dudley Ward, Dorothy | ||
| Durell, Harry T. | ||
| E., John | ||
| Ede, Elton | ||
| Edwards, A.C. | ||
| Edwards, Harry | ||
| Elizabeth | ||
| Ellis, Arthur | ||
| Ellis-Fermont, Mme. | ||
| Ellison, Norman F. | ||
| English Association | ||
| Eleventh Regiment | ||
| Esmi | ||
| Evans, A. Dwye | ||
| F., Patrick | ||
| Fabb, C.B. | ||
| Farrar, John | ||
| Farrow, Walter | ||
| Fass, A.H. | ||
| Fehl, Noah E. | ||
| Ferling, Keith | ||
| Finch, Edie J. | ||
| Fletcher, S.A. | ||
| Foreman, E. | ||
| Forman, Maurice B. | ||
| Foster, T.F.V. | ||
| Frank, M.H. | ||
| Freewood, E.. | ||
| Friend, F.W. & M.L. | ||
| Fryer, Hal | ||
| Fyfe, W. H. | ||
| G., G.H. | ||
| G., Herbert | ||
| G., H.W. | ||
| Garner, Arthur | ||
| Gay, Maurice James | ||
| George, Eric | ||
| Glantz, Anna | ||
| Godfrey, Walter A. | ||
| Goldsmith, J. | ||
| Gons, R.C. | ||
| Grahame, Elspeth | ||
| Grant, Joan | ||
| Greacen, Robert | ||
| Green, Margaret | ||
| Greene, Hugh Carleton | ||
| Greenlaw, J. | ||
| Grey, Ruth | ||
| Gyde, Arnold | ||
| Hayashi, Aki | ||
| H., D. | ||
| H., L. | ||
| Haldane Broadcasts | ||
| Haldane, Charlotte | ||
| Halsband, Robert | ||
| Halsor, Laurence | ||
| Halsey, Lionel | ||
| Hamish Hamilton Ltd, | ||
| Hams, W.S. | ||
| Hanskell, Q. | ||
| Hardie, Alec | ||
| Harrison, B. | ||
| Harrison, G.B. | ||
| Harrison, G.H. | ||
| Hart, M.M. | ||
| Hartt-Davis, Rupert | ||
| Hayashi, Aki | ||
| Haye, Colvyn | ||
| Heath, A. | ||
| Heath, C.L. | ||
| Henderson, John | ||
| Hennell, Thomas | ||
| Henshaw, L. | ||
| Hensman, Berton | ||
| Herdman, E. | ||
| Hine, Reginald | ||
| Hirst, Frances W. | ||
| Hogarth Press | ||
| Hobhouse, Paul | ||
| Hodgson, A. | ||
| Holdes, A. | ||
| Holliwell, W.S. | ||
| Hon, E. | ||
| Hosking, J.E. | ||
| House, H.W. | ||
| Houtchens, Lawrence H. | ||
| Howards, C.E.H. | ||
| Hoyte, W.N. | ||
| Hubback, Eva M. | ||
| Huskerish, Patricia | ||
| Hutchison, G.S. | ||
| Isaac, I. | ||
| J., H. | ||
| James | ||
| Johnson, R.B. | ||
| Ju, Peng | ||
| Kamp, Harold | ||
| Kathleen | ||
| Kawakatu, Y. | ||
| Box 18 (cont.) | Kelt, J. | |
| Kendon, Frank | ||
| Kenning, Bill | ||
| Kenward, James | ||
| Kieth, J. Innes | ||
| King, Edward | ||
| King, Joyce | ||
| Kirkpatrick, W. | ||
| Knapp, R. | ||
| Knowles, Guy | ||
| Kubota, M. | ||
| L., G. | ||
| L., H. | ||
| Lamont, L.M. | ||
| Laselles, Mary | ||
| Law, Angela | ||
| Leggett, Thomas | ||
| Leigh, E. | ||
| Lemperley, Paul | ||
| le Pan, Douglas | ||
| Lepouids, Pierre | ||
| [Levins], Robert | ||
| Levine, Isaac | ||
| Lewis, F. | ||
| Longman, R.G. | ||
| Lydall, E.F. | ||
| Lyttelton, George William | ||
| M., A. | ||
| M., J.D. | ||
| M., T. | ||
| M., V. | ||
| MacBride, L.M. | ||
| Macdonald, R.J. | ||
| Mackarness, Roger | ||
| Maclechose, Alexander | ||
| MacMillan & Co. LTD | ||
| MacMillan, David | ||
| Martineau, G.D. | ||
| Marsh, George L.` | ||
| Massingham, Anne | ||
| Matthews, Denise | ||
| Maud (Blunden's Aunt) | ||
| Mayo, C.W. | ||
| Meggitt, C. | ||
| [Miscellaneous] | ||
| Milkman, Jerome | ||
| Minchin, Cotton | ||
| Moore, H.B. | ||
| Morgan, A.E. | ||
| Morgan, J. | ||
| Morris, W.A.D. | ||
| Morrison, Hugh | ||
| "Most appreciative critic" | ||
| Moult, Tom | ||
| Murray Brooks, W.L. | ||
| Myatt, Geoff | ||
| Myatt, Nellie | ||
| N., H.S. | ||
| N., I. | ||
| Nakajima, Fumio | ||
| Napier, Hazel | ||
| Negretti, P.A. | ||
| Nichols, C.A. | ||
| Norman, Sylva | ||
| Nyers, R.E. | ||
| O., A. | ||
| Okado, Tetsuzo | ||
| Olive, N.C. | ||
| Olley, Arthur E. | ||
| O'Malley, Jane | ||
| Orchard, W. | ||
| Oxford University Press | ||
| P., P.W. | ||
| P., R. | ||
| Page, Fred | ||
| Parfitt, W.C. | ||
| Parker, Edward | ||
| Peck, Walter | ||
| Penna, R.F. | ||
| Perring, A.R.M. | ||
| Percy | ||
| Perry, P.D. | ||
| Peters, Augustin Dudley | ||
| Phill | ||
| Phillips, Vaughan | ||
| Pike, E. | ||
| Pilcher, J.A. | ||
| Potter, Kenneth | ||
| Polunin, Nicholas | ||
| Poskitt, F.R. | ||
| Powys, Atherton | ||
| Pratt, Arthur L. | ||
| Prentice, G.R. | ||
| Preston, J.H. | ||
| Price, Irene | ||
| Price, Ronald J. | ||
| Price, Victor | ||
| Prickett, C.W. | ||
| Priestly, Mary/Mildred Brook | ||
| Publishers | ||
| Read, Hudson | ||
| Read, Sheila | ||
| Reade, Aleyn Lyell | ||
| Reed, Dorothy | ||
| Revells, Herbert | ||
| Richard | ||
| Richards, Mrs. | ||
| Richmond, Sir Bruce | ||
| Rieu, E.V. | ||
| Roberts, Walter | ||
| Robertson, Ian | ||
| Robertson-Glasgow, R.C. | ||
| Roger | ||
| Rogers, Arthur | ||
| Box 18 (cont.) | Rollins, B. | |
| Rose-Innes, Arthur | ||
| Ross, Philip | ||
| Rowe-Evans, A. | ||
| Rye, Anthony | ||
| S., D.N. | ||
| Saito, Takeshi | ||
| Sanday, William | ||
| Sandford, Egbert | ||
| Sarabhai, Bharati | ||
| Sarad, Donald | ||
| Sato Kyoshi | ||
| Saws, Y.R. | ||
| Schollick, H.L. | ||
| Scott, Daphne | ||
| Scott, Dorothea | ||
| Scott, James Rolfe Arnold | ||
| Sefton, Sam | ||
| Seymour, William Kean | ||
| Senet, R. Conrad | ||
| Shannon, Sheila | ||
| Shaw, Kennedy | ||
| Shaw, Lucy W. | ||
| Simon, Andre | ||
| Simoy | ||
| Sisam, Kenneth | ||
| Slader, W. | ||
| Slater, F. Carey | ||
| Smith, Simon Nowell | ||
| Snell, Reginald Snowdery, J.K. | ||
| Sone, J. | ||
| Spencer, Arthur G. | ||
| Stanley-Jones, E. | ||
| Sterling, T.S. | ||
| Stewart, C.W. | ||
| Stonelay, Herbert/Luce Vicarage | ||
| Stott, R. Toole | ||
| Stephenson, John B. | ||
| Sukuki, Trizo | ||
| Sutherland, James R. | ||
| Sutherland, M.S. | ||
| TM, B. | ||
| Taketomo, Torao | ||
| Tambimuttu, M.J. | ||
| Taylor, F.C. | ||
| Thomas, J. Hadyn | ||
| Thompson, Donald | ||
| Thompson, E.H. | ||
| Thompson, P. Gilchrist | ||
| Thompson, W.G. | ||
| Tibble, Anne | ||
| Tinney,, Margaret S. | ||
| Tomlinson, Philip | ||
| Trechmann, E. | ||
| Tregsning, E.A. | ||
| Turner, Barbara C. | ||
| Turner, C.E. | ||
| Turell, John | ||
| Tweed, Blanche Susan | ||
| University of Hong Kong | ||
| Uttley, Alison | ||
| Vetch, H. | ||
| Vidler, Edith | ||
| Vincent, M.C. | ||
| Vines, Sherard | ||
| W. | ||
| W., F. | ||
| W., George | ||
| W., Henry | ||
| Waldman, Milton | ||
| Wan, Lo | ||
| Ward, A.C. | ||
| Wardle, Mark | ||
| Watt, A.S. | ||
| Watt, Rebecca | ||
| Webb, K.H. | ||
| Webster, David L. | ||
| Welland, Dennis | ||
| Wells, K. | ||
| Westbrook, Charles | ||
| Westall, R.T. | ||
| Wheeler, Dick | ||
| White, Graham | ||
| White, H.J. | ||
| White, H.O. | ||
| White, Jimmy | ||
| Wikinson, Cyril Hackett | ||
| William-Olsom, H. | ||
| Williams, Alan M. | ||
| Williams, May | ||
| Williams, Stephen | ||
| Wilson, J.G. | ||
| Wilson, Mary L.G. Carus | ||
| Winbolt, S.E. | ||
| Winchris, H. Colton | ||
| Wolfe, E. George | ||
| Wood, Edmund | ||
| Wood, F. Featherstone | ||
| Woodair, E. | ||
| Woodward, Arthur M. | ||
| Wren Howard, G. | ||
| Wright, Philip A. | ||
| Wynne Mason, W. | ||
| Yamamoto, Susumo | ||
| Yan, Ann & Kam | ||
| Yin, Da Tsung | ||
| Young, N.H. | ||
| ZZO | ||
--Manuscripts | ||
| Box 19 | Blunden, Edmund Notes on James Thomson, John Hoole, J. 1 folder | |
| Moore, Harriet Shelley Portrait, Shelley | ||
| Extract from review of the English Heritage series | ||
| Typed excerpt from "The Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall and "A Pair of Blue Eyes" | ||
| Coleridge Copies of 3 letters by Coleridge | ||
| Clare Blunden C.V. | ||
--Documents | ||
| Record of payment to Blunden | ||
| Postal receipt Receipt to Mrs. Blunden | ||
| Several royalty statements. | ||
| Printed ephemera | ||
| Newspaper clippings; circulars Pamphlet, etc. 1 folder | ||
Artwork | ||
--Letters from Blunden to Sylva Norman in which there are sketches by Blunden | ||
| 1932: Feb. 27; March 3 ; 7 ; 8 ; 10 ; 11; 12 ; 23 ; 28 ; 29; April 13 ; 15; May 8 ; 15 ; 31; June 13 ; 21 ; 22; July 24 ; 26; Aug. 26; Oct. 10-11; Nov. 7 ; 29 ; 30 | ||
| 1933 Jan. 4 ; 27; Feb. 19; March 16 ; 31; April 18; June 3 ; 20 ; 23 | ||
| 1936 July 12; Aug. 20 | ||
| 1937 June 29 | ||
| 1939 Aug. 3 | ||
| 1949 Jan. 7 | ||
| 1953 Nov. 8 | ||
| 1954 June 28; Sept. 11 | ||
| 1955 Aug. 11 | ||
| 1956 March 11; April 29 | ||
| 1960 June 12 | ||
| 1961 Jan. 12-16 | ||
| 1964 Dec. 14; March 29; May 4; Aug. 14 | ||
| 1966 Jan. 24 | ||