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"On Reading Shakespeare"

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Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) was born on October 18, 1865, in Millville, New Jersey, the son of Robert Pearsall and Hannah Whitall Smith. He attended Haverford College, Harvard University, and Balliol College in Oxford, England. Smith was an essayist and critic, and published a number of works, including: The Youth of Parnassus, and other stories (1895), Trivia (1902), Afterthoughts (1931), and Last Words (1933). He also wrote biographies and criticisms such as The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton (1907), On Reading Shakespeare (1933), and his autobiography, Unforgotten Years (1938). In his later years he wrote mostly letters, especially to his young students such as Robert Gathorne-Hardy, John Russell, Desmond MacCarthy, R.C. Trevelyn, and Hugh Trevor-Roper. Smith died on March 2, 1946.

Information from: Kent State University, Special Collections and Archives, Logan Pearsall Smith Manuscripts, 18881-1943 Finding Aid.

This collection is comprised of the single volume handwritten manuscript of Logan Pearsall Smith's "On Reading Shakespeare,' originally published in 1933. The manuscript explores Shakespeare's writing, particularly his characterization and command of language. The manuscript is handwritten and includes various edits and annotations made by Smith.

Also included are the notes on the manuscript from Scribners (where the manuscript was purchased by Christopher Morley), and a letter by Morley written at the time of his donation of the manuscript in 1952.

Christopher Morley purchased this manuscript from Scribner's in the fall of 1951, and donated the manuscript, with a letter written by Morley, in May of 1952. The letter Morley sent with the manuscript, and the description provided by Sribner's, is also included in the collection.

"On Reading Shakespeare" was donated to Special Collections, Haverford College in 1952 by Christopher Morley.

Processed by Kara Flynn; completed October, 2015.

Publisher
Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
Finding Aid Author
Kara Flynn
Finding Aid Date
October, 2015
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions

Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Collection Inventory

Manuscript, 1932.
Volume 1

Print, Suggest