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Paul Merchant Papers
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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
Paul Merchant is a poet, editor, and translator. He edited Modern Poetry In Translation 4 (1968), which included the first selection of Ritsos published in England. He is also the translator of Eleni Vakalo's Genealogy (1971). He taught for many years at Warwick University before becoming William Stafford Archivist at Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon. His collection of poems Bone from a Stag's Heart was a 1988 British Poetry Book Society Recommendation. His fourth collection of poems, Some Business of Affinity (2006), was a finalist for an Oregon Book Award. His recent translations from Yannis Ritsos are Monochords (Trask House Press 2007), and Twelve Poems about Cavafy (Tavern Books, 2010). (Entry from Oregon Poetic Voices http://oregonpoeticvoices.org/poet/77/).
Consists of Vakalo's autograph and typescript manuscripts of "Geneaologia" in Greek; Merchant's typescript drafts of the English translation with annotations; correspondence: Helene Vakalo to Paul Merchant (1967-1978); Vakalo with William Moelwyn Merchant (1971-1972) concerning the Rougemount Press edition "Genealogy"; Merchant's correspondence with Giannēs Ritsos, Kimon Friar, and Peter Dent, as well as some editorial correspondence; typescript of the talk "The Importance of Translation from Greek"; related materials regarding the honorary doctorate Ritsos awarded from the University of Birmingham in 1978, together with a single-poem memento of the occasion inscribed to Merchand by Ritsos and a photo with Ritsos; an offprint inscribed by Ritsos including manuscript alterations on pages 11 and 16 (1966); two books inscribed to Merchand by Vakalo and a few photographs of Helene and George Vakalo, slides and photo negatives; one recording of Ritsos reading and two recordings of the BBC Radio 3 Program. There are also two notebooks/diaries from Merchant's time in Athens, Greece from 1966-1967.
Gift of Paul Merchant in July 2019 (AM 2020-10).
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This collection was processed by Kalliopi Balatsouka in August 2019. Finding aid written by Kalliopi Balatsouka in November 2019.
No materials were removed from the collection during 2019 processing.
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- Manuscripts Division
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- This collection was processed by Kalliopi Balatsouka in August 2019. Finding aid written by Kalliopi Balatsouka in November 2019.
- Finding Aid Date
- 2019
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The collection is open for research.
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Collection Inventory
This file group consists of correspondence from poets, writers, editors and publishers, including Helenē Vakalo, Giannēs Ritsos, Kimon Friar and Peter Dent.
This file group has been arranged alphabetically by last name of correspondent and thematically.
Consists of TSL from Friar.
Consists of letters from Olwyn Hughes and Daniel Weissbort concerning the poems published in Modern Poetry in Translation translated from Greek into English by Merchand. There is also a copy of MPT 4 (1968).
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of correspondence between Helenē Vakalo and William Moelwyn Merchant, Paul Merchant's father, concerning the Rougemont Press edition of Geneaology
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Consists of an ALS by Ritsos and a copy of The Receiving End of the series Penguin English Project Stage Two including Ritsos' poem " Alone With his Work" translated from the Greek by Paul Merchand, 1973.
Includes autograph signed letters from Helenē Vakalo to Paul Merchant. There is also one letter from Merchand to Vakalo.
Consists of one email printout from Miltos Frangopoulos and letters from the publishers, John Stathatos (Oxus Press) and W.S. Merwin. Paul Merchant's handwritten note found in the file states: "Note from W.S. Marwin after a dinner with him and Dorothy Stafford (William Stafford's widow), when we talked about his friends, Stafford and Ted Hughes, and about Ritsos, whom he admired."
Consists of the first fragment of Geneaologia, an autograph manuscript and a typescript draft by Helenē Vakalo in Greek; typescripts of the English translation with penciled annotations by Merchant; and Vakalo's Introduction in the 1977 edition, with Merchant's translation.
Includes a typescript of an essay on Ritsos' poem Respectful comparison written for the Kedros festschrift Aphierōma ston Giannē Ritso (1981) with the Greek translation as published there; typescript of a talk "The Importance of Translation from Greek"; and an annotated typescript of the presentation on BBC Radio 3 in 1970, Ted Hughes reading the Ritsos poems. There is also a copy of 91st Meridian, Winter 2006 and a letter from Ninetta (Aikaterinē ) Makrynikola regarding the poem Respectful comparison.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of the first printing of the book (1963) inscribed to Paul Merchand by Ritsos in 1966 including two extensive revisions of the text in Ritsos's hand on pages 11 and 16.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of two notebooks/diaries with handwritten notes by Paul Merchant. The first notebook titled "Greece 1966-7, v. 1" covers the first month of Merchant's stay in Athens, Greece, from September to October 1966. Included also are his tranlsation of Twelve Poems About Cavafy by Giannēs Ritsos, poems by Nanos Valaōritēs, Tasos Leivaditēs, D̲akou, Theodōra, and G. Sarantēs. A smaller notebook is attached inside the front cover of the notebook consisting of Merchant's Greek translation of Ritsos's poem "Ghosts" and other poems. The second notebook is a diary that covers the years 1966-1967 entitled "Greece 1966-67, 9 October 1966 - 10 August 1967, v. 2".
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of clippings of reviews about the Genealogy and a xerox copy of a typescript with a partial (unpublished) translation of Vakalo's book About the World by Paul Merchant. Included also two books of Helenē Vakalo: Tou kosmou and Genealogia (copy no. 347) both inscribed to Merchant by Vakalo.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of literature regarding the honorary degree Ritsos was awarded from Birmingham in 1978 including a photograph of the poet and a celebratory chapbook Respectful Comparison inscribed to Merchand by Ritsos, translated and printed by Merchant.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of black-and-white and color photographs of Helenē and Giōrgos Vakalo, two slides of Helenē's portrait and negatives.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of 1 recording of Ritsos reading "Twelve Poems for cavafy" (in Greek) and 2 recordings of the BBC Radio 3 program, with Ted Hughes reading Paul Merchant's translations from Ritsos.
Includes reviews by Paul Merchant.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder