Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

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Evelyn Waugh:

An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center



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Descriptive Summary
Repository Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
Creator Waugh, Evelyn, 1903-1966
Title Evelyn Waugh Collection
Dates: 1843-1994 (bulk 1910-1966)
Extent 16 boxes (6.67 linear feet), 2 oversize bound volumes, 1 oversize folder, and 1 galley folder
Abstract The bulk of the collection consists of manuscript drafts for 100 of Waugh's works, including Brideshead Revisited (1945). Lesser amounts of Waugh's personal papers and correspondence are also present. Books, manuscripts, and art work collected by Waugh and others date from 1843 to 1994.
RLIN record # TXRC99-A13
Language English.

Administrative Information

Acquisition

Purchases and gifts, 1961-1991

Processed by

Chelsea S. Jones, 1999

Restrictions

Access

Open for research

Biographical Sketch

Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, born October 28, 1903, was the second son of Arthur, a managing director of Chapman & Hall, Publishers, and Catherine Raban Waugh. Reading and writing played a significant role in the home-life of young Evelyn, whose older brother Alec also became a well-known writer. Waugh began writing and illustrating short stories at the age of four, and at the age of nine he and a group of friends produced a creative magazine for their Pistol Troop club.

In addition to his youthful interest in writing, Waugh developed a strong interest in religion. When his brother's escapades made it impossible for Waugh to follow the family tradition of attending Sherbourne prep school, his father found a place for him at Lancing, a school with a strong religious tradition. During his tenure at Lancing, Waugh performed well in his studies, developed into something of a social bully, decided that he was an atheist, and earned a scholarship to Hertford College, Oxford.

When Waugh entered Oxford in 1922 he found his new freedom to be intoxicating. He soon found himself part of a crowd similar to the one he later described in Brideshead Revisited (1945), which included Harold Acton. He did very little studying and left after two years with many experiences and debts, but no degree. After a brief foray into art school he took a series of low-paying teaching positions. In 1927 he began to write steadily and launched himself into a successful career.

The critical success of his first book, a biography, Rossetti: His Life and Works (1928), and the popular success of Decline and Fall (1928) brought Waugh to the attention of the reading public. The financial success of Decline and Fall made it possible for Waugh to marry Evelyn Gardner, called She-Evelyn by their friends. The marriage was short lived, but served as a backdrop for several of Waugh's later works, including Vile Bodies (1930) and Labels: A Mediterranean Journal (1930). Also in 1930, Waugh converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism.

For the next several years Waugh spent his time writing short stories, travel books, a biography of Edmund Campion, and several more novels including Black Mischief (1932), A Handful of Dust (1934), and Scoop (1938). He obtained an annulment of his first marriage and in 1937 married Laura Herbert, with whom he had seven children.

1939 brought the start of WWII and Waugh took the earliest opportunity to join in the defense of England. As part of the Home Guard in 1940 he participated in the fiasco of the Battle of Crete which was the basis for Put Out More Flags (1942). Waugh was not a good leader, despite fearless action in the face of battle, and in 1943 he resigned from his Commando unit. In 1944 he was sent to Yugoslavia as part of a mission to shore up Tito's partisan efforts in the German held territory. During this mission he completed his best known and most controversial work, Brideshead Revisited (1945).

Discharged from the military in 1945, Waugh continued to write and travel. He went to Hollywood in 1947 to work on a screenplay for Brideshead, which fell through when he refused to give up the final say on the script. While he was in California he found a rich source of material: Forest Lawn Memorial Park. This lavish funeral home inspired Waugh to write The Loved One (1948), one of his funniest and most popular books.

Waugh continued to write, though he became increasingly reclusive. Growing health problems related to a lifetime of heavy drinking, smoking, and the use of sedatives to induce sleep, limited public appearances. On a cruise in 1956 he suffered a bout of paranoid hallucinations which formed the centerpiece of his most autobiographical novel the Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold (1957). Waugh lived until 1966, ending his writing career with the publication of The Sword of Honor Trilogy (1965).

Sources

Dictionary of Literary Biography -- Volume 15: British Novelists, 1930-1959, part 2, M-Z. Bernard Oldsey, Ed. (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1983). Hastings, Selina. Evelyn Waugh: A Biography. (Great Britain: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994).

Scope and Contents

Holograph and typescript manuscripts, some bound, and diaries and journals comprise the majority of the Evelyn Waugh Collection, 1843-1994 (bulk 1910-1966). The collection is organized into four series: Series I. Works, 1910-1964 (10 boxes); Series II. Correspondence, 1894-1994 (1 box); Series III. Personal Papers, 1924-1962 (2 boxes); and Series IV. Works by other Authors, 1843-1966 (3 boxes). This collection was previously accessible through a card catalog, but has been re-cataloged as part of a retrospective conversion project.

The Works Series contains manuscripts for 100 works by Waugh, including drafts of Brideshead Revisited, A Handful of Dust, A Little Learning, and Rossetti: His Life and Works, as well as most of his other novels and many short stories, essays, travel books, reviews, and juvenilia, arranged alphabetically by title. Of particular note are several diaries containing some of his first efforts at short stories at age four and continuing through his early days at boarding school. A complete list of his works present in the collection is available in the Index of Works as the end of this guide.

The Correspondence Series is organized into four subseries, arranged alphabetically and chronologically where possible: Subseries A. Outgoing Correspondence, 1921-1966; Subseries B. Incoming Correspondence, 1937-1965; Subseries C. Correspondence by Subject, 1946-1962; and Subseries D. Third-party Correspondence, 1894-1994. The Outgoing and Incoming Correspondence subseries are composed of mostly personal letters between Waugh and friends or acquaintances, including Earl Baldwin, John Betjeman, Dudley Carew, his brother, Alec Waugh, and others, as well as a few business letters with Little, Brown, & Company. The Subseries Correspondence by Subject contains exchanges between Waugh and his agent, Sylvia Pankhurst, and Vincent Whelen, grouped topically. The small Third-party Correspondence Subseries contains a few letters between people other than Waugh, including A.D. Power and Dame Edith Sitwell. The 1994 letter in this subseries contains a scholar's effort to correct biographical data about. There are also two letters written in the 1890s by Arthur Waugh. A complete list of correspondents can be found in the Index of Correspondents at the end of this guide.

The Personal Papers Series contains almost forty years of intermittent journals kept by Waugh. These journals contain day-to-day activities as well as thoughts and musings of the author. In addition to the journals, identity papers, lists and notes, and memoranda of agreement between Waugh and Albatross Verlag are present.

The Works by other Authors Series, arranged alphabetically by author, contains several illuminated volumes from the 19th century collected by Waugh, as well as twentieth century manuscripts written by Harold Acton, Ronald Knox, Alec Waugh, and others. Of particular interest is an album, created in 1854, by John Garland which contains about twenty collages of religious images with text added by Garland. Also included are Stuart Boyle's original pen and ink illustrations for The Loved One and a dissertation by Steven Jervis. A complete listing of these works is available in the Index of Works by other Authors found at the end of this guide.

Related Material

Other materials associated with Waugh may be found in the following collections at the Ransom Center:

Separated Material

Elsewhere in the Ransom Center are 14 Vertical File folders containing printed materials by Waugh as well as criticism of his work, printed post cards, and clippings and other items withdrawn from books in Waugh's library. The Literary Files of the Photography Collection hold over 100 individual photographs of Waugh, his family, friends, and landscapes, in addition to two photo albums. Also included in the holdings are two scrapbooks containing book covers, sketches, and other ephemera collected by Waugh, a home movie, seven cassette tapes of interviews with and about Waugh, and more than 4,000 books from the author's personal library, including a bound volume by Martin Luther printed ca. 1613 (call no. HRC 189).

The Art Collection contains 241 works of art by and related to Waugh. These include sketches, illustrations, and prints and are present in a variety of formats: pen and ink, ink wash, graphite and color pencil, and crayon. Of particular note are Waugh's illustrations for Decline and Fall, a bound volume of early drawings by John Wood and a sketchbook by Penelope and Ellen Parry. Some of Waugh's personal effects are also present, including his desk, an inkwell, and two fountain pens.

All A.D. Peters materials which were previously catalogued with the Waugh collection have been removed to the A.D. Peters Collection.

Index Terms

Correspondents

Albatross Verlag.
Betjeman, John, Sir, 1906- .
Little, Brown, and Co.
Pankhurst, E. Sylvia (Estelle Sylvia), 1882-1960.
Power, A. D. (A. David).
Sitwell, Edith, Dame, 1887-1964.
Waugh, Alec, 1898- .
Whelen, Vincent A.

Subjects

Africa--Travel and description.
Authors, England--20th century.
Catholics, England--Fiction.
England--Social life and customs--20th century.
Middle East--Travel and description.
South America--Travel and description.
Upper class--England--Fiction.

Document types

Diaries.
Galley proofs.
Journals.
Juvenilia.
Scrapbooks.
Sound recordings.

Other Finding Aids

A Catalogue of the Evelyn Waugh Collection at the Humanities Research Center was written by Robert Murray Davis (New York: The Whitston Publishing Company: 1981). This catalogue covers all works and letters by Waugh found in this collection, at the time of its publication, as well as general correspondence to Waugh, but omits letters to Waugh contained in the A.D. Peters files, as well as any manuscript material in those files which is duplicated in the Works Series. Additionally, scrapbooks, memoriabilia, manuscript material about Waugh, and items withdrawn from books in Waugh's library are not described in the catalog.

Container List

Series I. Works, 1910-1964

boxfolder
1 1 Untitled works
2 Untitled tribute to Ronald Knox, holograph with author revisions, nd, 
8pp
3 A-D
Basil Seal Rides Again; or the Rake's Regress
boxfolder
1 4 Holograph and typescripts with author revisions, 1962, 
40pp
5 Holograph with author revisions, bound, with an illustration by Kathleen Hale, 1962, 
20pp
6 Black Mischief, bound holograph with author edits and notes, 1931-32, 
115pp
Brideshead Revisited
boxfolder
1 7 Bound holograph with author revisions, 200pp, includes "Ms interpolations in second draft," holograph with author pasteins, 25pp 1944, nd,
   
2 1-2 Typescript, nd, 
471pp
3 Uncorrected proofs, earliest state of printed text, 1945, 
304pp
4 Edited typescript for revised edition, 1960, 
304pp
5 Volume marked with changes from various editions of the book, prepared by Edward Hennessy, nd, 
351pp
6 Charles Ryder's School Days, holograph and typescript of chapter one, with author edits, 1945, 
56pp
7 The Cynic, bound in brown paper, eight mimeo issues 1916,
   
3 1 Decline and Fall, bound holograph with author revisions, 1928
Diaries
boxfolder
3 2 1911
3-5 1913
6 1914
7 1914-1916
8 1916
9 1919-1921
10 E-O
Edmund Campion
boxfolder
4 1 Bound holograph with author corrections, 1934-35, 
100pp
2 Bound proofs with author edits, 1935, 
235pp
3 A Handful of Dust, bound holograph and typescripts with author edits, 1934, 
120pp
4 Helena, bound holograph with author edits, 1946-1950, 
150pp
   
5 1-2 Juvenilia, literary and illustrative, holograph and typescript short stories, poems, and colored items, various dates
3 The Life of Ronald Knox, bound holograph and typescripts with author edits and paste-ins, 1959, 
350pp
4 A Little Learning, holograph and typescript drafts with author edits and paste-ins, ca. 1961, 
700pp
   
6 1-3 A Little Learning (cont.)
The Loved One
boxfolder
6 4 Bound holograph and typescript with author revisions and paste-ins, 1947, 
95pp
5 Horizon magazine print with author revisions and notes, nd, 
159pp
   
7 1 Marginalia in The Unquiet Grave by Cyril Connolly, holograph notes, signed and dated by Waugh, 1945
2 Men at Arms, holograph with author revisions and paste-ins, 1952, 
190pp
3 Officers and Gentlemen, holograph with author revisions and paste-ins, 1952-54, 
200pp
   
8 1 An open letter to His Excellency the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, bound holograph with author edits and notes, 1933, 
10pp
2 The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, bound holograph with author revisions, 1956, 
100pp
3 P-Z
4 Period Piece: The Case of Lord Cornphillip, typescript with author edits, nd, 
13pp
5 The Pistol Troop Magazine, edited by E. Waugh, typescript with hand illustrations, 1912, 
83pp
6 Prefaces to various works, holograph and typescript, various dates
7 Preface to Count Bohemond by Alfred Duggan, holograph with author edits, 1964, 
6pp
8 Reviews of various titles, holograph and typescript, various dates
   
9 1 Rossetti: His Life and Work, bound holograph with author revisions and paste-ins, includes clippings and letters re the book, 1927, 
150pp
Scoop
boxfolder
9 2 Holograph with author revisions, inserts, and notes, nd, 
146pp
Galley proofs, 76pp (removed to galley folder) nd,
boxfolder
9 3 Scott-King's Modern Europe, holograph with author edits, nd, 
30pp
   
10 1-2 Sword of Honor, printed versions with author revisions and additions, 1964, 
700pp
3 Tourist in Africa, bound holograph with author revisions, 1958, 
80pp
4 Unconditional Surrender, bound holograph with author revisions and paste-ins, 1961, 
160pp
5 Vile Bodies, typescript with author corrections, ca. 1930, 
75pp
   
11 1 Waugh in Abyssinia, bound typescript with related documents tipped in, 1936, 
253pp


Series II. Correspondence, 1894-1994

Subseries A. Outgoing, 1921-1966
boxfolder
11 2 A-Z
3 Baldwin, Arthur, 1932-1964
4 Carew, Dudley, 1921-1923
5 Little, Brown, & Company, includes an introduction to Irregular Adventure by Christie Lawrence 1947,
6 Waugh, Alec, 1936-1966
Subseries B. Incoming, 1937-1965
boxfolder
11 7 A-Z; Unidentified
Subseries C. Correspondence by Subject, 1946-1962
boxfolder
11 8 Complaints by Sylvia Pankhurst of inaccuracies in Waugh's Waugh in Abyssinia, 1947
9 Preface and edits for Longman's edition of Edmund Campion, 1946
10 Vincent A. Whelen's visit to Waugh, 1961-1962
Subseries D. Third-Party, 1894-1994
boxfolder
11 11 A-Z; Unidentified


Series III. Personal Papers, 1924-1962

Journals
boxfolder
12 1 1924-1925
2 1925-1926
3 1926-1927
4 1927
5-6 1928
7 1930
8 1930-1931
9 1932-1933
10 1934
11 1936-1937
12 1937-1940
13 1940-1942
14-15 1943-1944
16 1944-1945
   
13 1 1945-1946
2 1946-1948, 1953
3 1947
4 1952
5 1952-1953
6 1953
7 1954
8 1955-1956
9 1960-1965
10 1961-1962
Gallery for Living Catholic Authors Certificates of Award to Waugh, (removed to oversize folder 1) 1945, 1949
boxfolder
13 11 Identity papers, passports, and military papers, 1939-1946
12 Lists and notes, nd, 
8pp
13 Memoranda of Agreement, 1932-1946


Series IV. Works by other Authors, 1850-1966

boxfolder
13 14 Unidentified; A-Z
Unidentified authors
boxfolder
13 15 Address to G. Wyndham Murphy on the occasion of his resigning connection as medical office with the Ramelton Dispensary District, illuminated by Marcus Ward & Co., 1878
Address to Oswald Mosley upon his coming of age, illuminated by Witherby & Co., 5pp (bound volume shelved at end of collection) nd,
boxfolder
14 1 To My Child, holograph velvet notebook with illuminated images, 1843, 
28pp
2 Acton, Harold, English Realism in Early Victorian Art, paper read to the Newman Society, Oxford, 1924, 
31pp
3 Boyle, Stuart, original pen and ink illustrations for The Loved One, nd, 
17pp
Garland, John Bingley, "To Amy Lester Garland--A legacy left in his lifetime for her future examination by her affectionate father," bound album with images pasted in and text added by Gardner, (removed to oversize volumes) 1854
boxfolder
14 4-5 Jervis, Steven Alexander, The Novels of Evelyn Waugh: A Critical Study, typescript dissertation submitted to the Department of English of Stanford University, 1966, 
259pp
6 Knox, Ronald, The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Matthew,typescript with author revisions, nd, 
66pp
Waugh, Alec
boxfolder
14 7 The Lonely Unicorn, bound page proofs with author revisions, 1922, 
302pp
   
15 1 "My Brother Evelyn," holograph with author revisions, 1966, 
24pp
2 Myself When Young, page proofs with author's marks, 1923, 
259pp
Waugh, Arthur
One Man's Road, holograph with notes by Alec Waugh, 422pp (special housing at end of collection, box 16) 1930-1931,
The Thames, a prize winning poem, illuminated and bound, 34pp (removed to oversize volumes) 1885,
boxfolder
15 3 Waugh, J.H., souvenir album, holograph notes and clippings celebrating the coming of age of Viscount Weymouth, 1883, 
12pp
4 Wood, John, The Artist, bound holograph, illustrated with three full page ink drawings, nd, 
7pp
5 Withdrawals from books in Evelyn Waugh's library
6 Empty envelopes
 
16 Oversize box


Evelyn Waugh Collection--Index of Correspondents

Box and folder numbers are followed by a number in parenthesis which indicates the number of items by that person. A single item is indicated where there is no number in parenthesis following the box and folder number. Where there is correspondence from Evelyn Waugh, the number in parentheses is followed by the phrase "from Waugh." So in the example:

Whelen, Vincent A.--12.10 (5 from Waugh) (2)

there are 5 letters from Waugh and 2 letters from Whelen in Box 12, folder 10.

Evelyn Waugh Collection--Index of Works

Evelyn Waugh Collection--Index of Works by other Authors