Call Number:

C0196

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

2 boxes

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Princeton University Library Collection of John Ruskin Materials, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1840s-1933 (inclusive)

Creator:

Princeton University. Library. Special Collections, Ruskin, John, 1819-1900., and Cook, Edward Tyas, Sir, 1857-1919

Form:

Letters., Manuscripts., and Watercolors -- England -- 19th century.

Abstract:

Consists of correspondence, manuscripts, and miscellanea of the nineteenth-century English art critic, social reformer, and educator John Ruskin.

John Ruskin, English writer, artist, art critic, and collector, was born on February 8, 1819, in London, England. Educated at Oxford University, Ruskin met J. M. W. Turner in 1840. Ruskin wrote Tuner's entry in the 1843 Modern Painters and later became his patron. After leaving Oxford, Ruskin began lecturing and writing about art and society and quickly became an eminent critic. In the 1850s, he supported the Pre-Raphaelites, who had been influenced by his writings on "truth to nature." Ruskin's 1849 book, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, argued that art represented the moral state of society. In the 1870s, he established the Guild of St George, an idealistic social group.

The collection consists primarily of selected letters and manuscripts by Ruskin. Correspondents include Jean Ingelow, Constance and Eva Layton, Henry Attwell, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. There are seven letters to George Allen, Ruskin's publisher, in which the author discusses his work. Of the manuscripts included in the collection, one is a three-page portion from chapter three of Unto This Last; and other is one page from The Queen of the Air. Both have holograph corrections and emendations. Furthermore, there is a small watercolor of a mountain scene painted by Ruskin, with autograph annotations on the verso. Also present are a few letters to Princeton librarian Laurence Heyl from other librarians, discussing the Ruskin material.

The following standard abbreviations, or their variations, are used to identify materials in this collection: ALS = autograph letter signed, AMs = autograph manuscript, AN = autograph note, and DS = document signed.

The collection is primarily arranged in accession number order.