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Constable and Company Records
Notifications
Held at: Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center. 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
Constable and Company was founded by Archibald Constable, a bookseller from Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1795. After Archibald Constable's death in 1827, the company suffered financial difficulties until his grandson, also named Archibald, reinvigorated it in 1890. He opened an office in London but retired soon after, handing the company over to his nephew H. Arthur Doubleday in 1893. Doubleday added Otto Kyllmann and William M. Meredith as partners in 1895, with Michael Sadleir joining the company in 1912. Constable and Company became one of the foremost publishing houses in England. The firm published many distinguished and famous authors including George Bernard Shaw, Damon Runyon, Theodore Dreiser, Dorothy Sayers, and James Bridie. The often personal correspondence between the three main directors, Kyllman, Meredith, and Sadleir, and the authors represented demonstrate that these men were friend, confidant, and literary advisor to their clients, as well as businessmen. In 1999, Constable and Company merged with Robinson Publishing to become Constable and Robinson.
The Constable and Company Records consist primarily of correspondence between two editors and directors of the firm, Otto Kyllmann and Michael Sadleir, and authors and publishers. Editors Ralph Arnold and William M. Meredith are also represented. The files include a limited amount of legal documents, typescripts, page proofs, financial documents, project files, and company letterhead samples.
Series 2. Letters of Sir Walter Scott Correspondence, 1925-1937
Series 3. Personal Correspondence, 1937-1938
Series 4. Financial Records, 1940
Series 5. Legal Records, 1932-1938
Series 6. Letterhead Samples, 1901-1946
Series 7. Drafts and Project Files, 1929-1938, undated
Purchased from the House of El Dieff, 1972-1973.
Original audiovisual materials, as well as preservation and duplicating masters, may not be played. Researchers must consult use copies, or if none exist must pay for a use copy. Certain digital files may also be inaccessible. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.
Initial processing occurred in the 1970s and 1980s by Carleton C. Schwager and others. Reprocessed to modern archival standard by Kathleen McCarty, Temple University English 3085 intern, Fall 2012.
People
- Belloc, Hilaire, 1870-1953
- Bottomley, Gordon, 1874-1948
- Crowley, Aleister, 1875-1947
- De la Mare, Walter, 1873-1956
- Ellis, Havelock, 1859-1939
- Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890
- Jameson, Storm, 1891-1986
- Kyllmann, Otto
- Meredith, William M.
- Sadleir, Michael, 1888-1957
- Santayana, George, 1863-1952
- Scott, Walter, 1771-1832
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center
- Finding Aid Author
- Machine-readable finding aid created by: Rajkumar Natarajan, Sky Global Services India (P) Ltd.
- Finding Aid Date
- January 2024
- Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
The Constable and Company Records are the physical property of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. Temple University holds literary rights only for material created by university employees and to material given to the university with such rights specifically assigned. For all other material, literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. Researchers are responsible for determining the identity of rights holders and obtaining their permission for publication and for other purposes where stated.
Collection Inventory
Series 1 includes letters from over 400 authors ranging from 1894 – 1966. The number of letters in the folder is indicated in parentheses after the author's name. Where there are multiple folders for one correspondent, the total number of letters appears after the first folder.
Series 2 contains correspondence documenting the collection and publication of the Letters of Sir Walter Scott (1932-37).
Series 3 includes copies of correspondence between Kurt Hahn and Philip Henry Kerr, Marquis of Lothian, over the case of Hans Litten, who was arrested by the Nazi regime in 1933.
Series 4 includes the royalty statements for multiple authors between January and July 1940.
Series 5 includes a legal review of an unidentified manuscript. Also, included are correspondence, court documents, and clippings from the "Laughing Torso" lawsuit, a libel suit brought by Aleister Crowley against Nina Hamnett for her novel Laughing Torso.
Series 6 includes letterhead samples from Constable ranging from 1901-1946.
Series 7 includes typescripts and proofs of works by authors James Bridie, Clark Kinnaird, and Arthur Schnitzler. The series also contains a photocopy of an article about Bridie by Michael Sadleir, a project file with documents pertaining to the collection and publication of the Sir Walter Scott letters, as well as four folders of letters from George Allen & Unwin, V. W. (Vincent Willem) van Gogh, Ferris Greenslet, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Walter Pach, Viking Press, Wereldbibliotheek, and others regarding various publications about artist Vincent van Gogh, including Letters to an Artist; from Vincent van Gogh to Anton ridder van Rappard, 1881-1885, translated by Rela van Messel; Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred Hamilton Barr of the Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.); From Vincent van Gogh to Anton G.A. Ridder van Rappard 1881-1885; Vincent van Gogh's great period, Arles, St. Rémy and Auvers sur Oise; and a proposed collection of van Gogh letters by Irving Stone.