Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1085

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.4 linear feet (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Archibald Elias collection of manuscripts, 1681-2000 (bulk: 1681-1760), Ms. Coll. 1085, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1681-2000 (inclusive) and 1681-1760 (bulk)

Creator:

Elias, Archibald C.

Form:

Poems, Epitaphs, Sermons, Wills, Poetry, and Correspondence

Abstract:

This collection consists of manuscripts and papers relating primarily to seveententh and eighteenth century Ireland and Great Britain formerly owned by A.C. Elias, a literary scholar who wrote extensively on Jonathan Swift and his circle.

Archibald Cameron Elias Jr. (1944-2008) was a literary scholar who wrote extensively on the writer Jonathan Swift and his circle with a special interest in the extended family of Sir William Temple. Dr. Elias' books include Swift at Moor Park (1982) and the Memoirs of Laetitia Pilkington (1997). His collection reflected his interest in 17th and 18th century Irish and English literature and in addition to the materials listed here he also owned a number of bound manuscript volumes which are cataloged separately.

The first part "Separate Documents and Letters" are those manuscripts which were clearly acquired separately by Elias and which stand on their own as discrete items. These include a 1711 letter to Jonathan Swift, a copy and notes on another Swift letter, as well as notes on the various documents by Elias.

The second part "Fragments and other manuscripts" are those documents found mixed together and whose original state, and to a large part, authorship, is unknown. These fragments are divided by content and genre but judging by physical evidence and similarity in handwriting may once have been part of one or several commonplace albums. These fragments consist of copied epitaphs, manuscript sermons, assorted copies of verse from prominent classical and contemporary authors, and copies of varied correspondence. Among the longer documents are a sermon on the death of Sir Thomas Gifford, a small booklet of commonplaced extracts, a copy of a 1681 address by Sir William Temple, and a bound booklet containing a poem by Benjamin Stillingfleet. At least two of the fragments are related to or in the hand of the scholar and critic Montagu Bacon.