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John Horder letters and poetry manuscripts

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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. 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

Poet and journalist John Horder was born on November 20, 1936 in Brighton, Sussex, England. He was a journalist for

BBC Radio, where he interviewed poet Stevie Smith, and later worked for The Guardian. He has published several collections of poetry, including A Child Walks Around His Own Grave (1966), A Sense of Being (1968), and Meher Baba and the Nothingness (1981).

The John Horder letters and poetry manuscripts collection consists of two letters by Horder regarding the publication of his poetry and seven typed poetry manuscripts from 1963.

Horder wrote both letters, dated August 7 and September 30, 1963, to a woman named Erica, and briefly described the accompanying poems. In the August 7th letter, Horder included six of the poetry manuscripts, noting that "The Mindful" would appear in a forthcoming P.E.N. anthology. He discussed his difficulty persuading Constable and Co. to publish any new poetry and suggested that he and the recipient co-edit a series of "Constables New Poets." Horder suggested David Wevill as a possible poet to include in the project. The September 30th letter is a brief handwritten note regarding the seventh poem he sent to Erica.

The seven typed poetry manuscripts consist of "Knowing the Measure of Their Fear Yet Quite Mastering It," "Mocio Among the Litmus Trees," "Poor Mocio," "Mocio at Last Trusts the Conjurer (for Gabriel Fielding)," "Harvest Song," "Hope Full," and "The Mindful." Several of the poems appeared in Horder's 1968 poetry collection

A Sense of Being.

Box 71, F1030: Shelved in SPEC MSS 0099 manuscript boxes.

Gift of William Reese, April 2017

Processed and encoded by Elizabeth Jones-Minsinger, July 2017.

Publisher
University of Delaware Library Special Collections
Finding Aid Author
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
Finding Aid Date
2017 July 14
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec

Collection Inventory

John Horder letters and poetry manuscripts, 1963 August 7-September 30.
Box 71 Folder F1030

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