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Theodore Watts-Dunton 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

Watts-Dunton, Theodore, 1832-1914

Theodore Watts-Dunton was an English critic and poet. He is best remembered as the friend and caregiver of poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, whom he rescued from alcoholism. Later, he became a good friend of pre-Raphaelite poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Watts-Dunton contributed regularly to the Examiner and to the Athenaeum from 1875 until 1898, being for more than twenty years the principal critic of poetry in the latter journal. He wrote widely for other publications and contributed several articles to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The collection consists of selected letters and a manuscript poem by Theodore Watts-Dunton. There are twenty-eight letters (1906-1913) to his friends Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jerrold, with a signed Christmas poem Watts-Dunton wrote for them, titled "A Gypsy Child's Christmas." There are eight letters (1905-1910) to editor Sir John Alexander Hammerton in which Watts-Dunton writes about George Meredith's tribute to Swinburne and gives Hammerton permission to reprint Swinburne's sonnet on Dickens and Watts-Dunton's own sonnet "Dickens Returns on Christmas Day." In his four letters (1913) to critic Francis Bickley, Watts-Dunton discusses Bickley's articles on Swinburne and on Matthew Prior. In a letter (1911) to the booksellers Henry Sotheran and Co., Watts-Dunton discusses his work Aylwin. Other correspondents include Ruth R. Chadwick, George Alexander Dewar, and Roden Noel.

The collection is arranged by accession number.

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.

Material in the collection was purchased from different sources over a period of several years.

Folder inventory added by Nicholas Williams '2015 in 2012.

No appraisal information is available.

Publisher
Manuscripts Division
Finding Aid Date
2008
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions

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

Letter from Theodore Watts-Dunton to George A. B. Dewar, 1914 February 28. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Letter to Theodore Watts-Dunton, 1878 May 9. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Letter from Theodore Watts-Dunton to Messrs. Henry Sotheran and Co., 1911 June 28. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

2 Letters from Theodore Watts-Dunton to Mrs. Wheeler, 1910 October 24. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

28 Letters to Walter Jerrold (21 Signed by Theodore Watts-Dunton) and 1 Letter to Mrs. Jerrold, 1906-1913. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

2 Letters from Theodore Watts-Dunton to Ruth R. Chadwick, 1913. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

4 Letters from Theodore Watts-Dunton to Francis Bickley, 1913. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

4 Letters from Theodore Watts-Dunton, 1884-1894. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

8 Letters from Theodore Watts-Dunton to J. A. Hammerton, 1905-1910. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

2 Letters from Theodore Watts-Dunton to Roden Noel, 1883. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Walton, Sydney, 1912-1913. 1 folder.
Scope and Contents

9 secretarial letters by Theodore Watts-Dunton, seven of them signed by him, to the journalist and publicist Sydney Walton, regarding an interview in the Morning Post, with references to Swinburne and Tennyson, and an assessment of his own merits

Physical Description

1 folder

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