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Alfred Noyes Collection
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. 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
British poet Alfred Noyes published his first collection of poetry, The Loom of Years, in 1902. Noyes is best known for his ballads The Highwayman (1906) and The Barrel Organ. From 1903 to 1908, he published five volumes of poetry, including The Flower of Old Japan and Other Poems. In 1914, Noyes accepted a teaching position at Princeton University, where he taught English Literature until 1923. The death of his wife, Garnett Daniels, in 1926 resulted in his conversion to Roman Catholicism. He wrote about his conversion in The Unknown God, published in 1934. Noyes was a noted critic of modernist writers, particularly James Joyce.
William Morris Colles was an author's agent and the founder and managing director of Authors' Syndicate in London, England.
The collection consists of letters, photographs, and manuscripts of Alfred Noyes. Most of the letters were sent to his agent, William Morris Colles, concerning his poetry, while a few are addressed to James Thayer Gerould, Princeton University Librarian. Also included are a letter to the editor of The Spectator and a letter to a "Mrs. McKay" thanking her for her letter about his poem "The Torch-Bearers." Among the manuscripts are a typed, signed poem with holograph corrections by the author titled "Princeton in War Time," which was later published as "Princeton, May 1917," and an original bound manuscript (49 leaves) of his long poem The Flower of Old Japan. The manuscript is accompanied by a note indicating that it was given to J. Ralph Showers by Percy Vincent Donovan in 1905 "to be kept predicting that some day Mr. Noyes would be a famous man." The collection also contains an authographed photograph of Noyes..
The collection was formed as a result of a Departmental practice of combining into one collection material of various accessions relating to a particular person, family, or subject.
Poem "Princeton in War Time" and autographed photograph: Gift of Princeton Prof. Albert Elssaser in 1963.
Letter to Mr. Gerould dated May 28, 1916, Gift of Mrs. Sylvia Loughnan on August 25, 1964.
Letter to an unidentified person dated Aug. 1, 1936, Gift of Mrs. Edward L. Howe on January 19, 1977.
Other material: Purchased at different times.
Folder inventory added by Nicholas Williams '2015 in 2012.
No appraisal information is available.
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Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2008
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Collection Inventory
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