Call Number:

F0092

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

14 item

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0099 F0092, Edmund Gosse letters, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1890-1928 (inclusive)

Creator:

Gosse, Edmund, 1849-1928, Besant, Walter, 1836-1901, Pleadwell, F. L. (Frank Lester), 1872-1957, Le Gallienne, Richard, 1866-1947, and Jean-Aubry, G. (Georges), 1882-1950

Form:

correspondence

Abstract:

This small collection contains fourteen letters from English author Edmund Gosse (1849-1928) to literary figures, agents, and book collectors, as well as members of high society, reflecting Gosse's close relationship to all aspects of the literary industry. The letters covered a spectrum of topics, including the history of literary circles, historical figures, current literature by himself and others, as well as the movements and travels of people in his social circle.

English author Edmund Gosse (1849-1928) wrote works of poetry, literary criticism and biography. Primarily active in the Victorian period, Gosse was one of the group of poets working as a civil servant at the English Board of Trade that included English poet Austin Dobson (1840-1921). Throughout his career, Gosse remained in contact with many of the most important writers of his time, including Charles Swinburne and Henry James.

One of Edmund Gosse's most acclaimed works,

Father and Son (1907), chronicles his childhood growing up with fundamentalist Christian parents. As he established his literary career, Gosse drifted toward the artistic circles blossoming in England in the latter half of the nineteenth century. His first work of poetry, Madrigals, Songs and Sonnets (1870), circulated among the painters and poets of the Pre-Raphaelites. In 1875, he married the aspiring painter Ellen Epps (1850-1929), a student of Ford Madox Brown. Gosse continued to write poetry and expand his literary circle to such considerable figures as Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Browning. Although Gosse did not achieve the literary fame his friends and contemporaries did, he is known for his vivid descriptions of the figures who moved in his literary and social networks. Gosse is also known for his full length biographies that include works on John Donne (1899) and Charles Swinburne (1917).

In addition to his creative writing, Edmund Gosse wrote works of literary criticism. His first critical book and perhaps most significant was

Studies in the Literature of Northern Europe (1879), which is credited with introducing Henrik Ibsen to English audiences.

Thwaite, Ann. "Gosse, Sir Edmund (1849-1928)."Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2011. http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/33/101033481/ (accessed October 2014). "Edmund (William) Gosse." Contemporary Authors Online (reproduced in Gale Biography in Context). http:/galenet.galegroup.com (accessed October 2014).

This small collection contains fourteen letters from English author Edmund Gosse (1849-1928) to literary figures, agents, and book collectors, as well as members of high society, reflecting Gosse's close relationship to all aspects of the literary industry. The letters covered a spectrum of topics, including the history of literary circles, historical figures, current literature by himself and others, as well as the movements and travels of people in his social circle.