urn:taro:utexas.hrc.00245 Louis Umfreville Wilkinson: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center Finding aid created by Ransom Center Staff Harry Ransom Center, 2003 Text converted by SPI Content Sciences Inc., July 2003. Finding aid written in English. Collection Summary Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin Wilkinson, Louis Umfreville, 1881-1966 Sixty-seven holograph notebooks chiefly relating to his published fiction and non-fiction make up the bulk of the Louis Wilkinson Collection. English Louis Umfreville Wilkinson Collection 1916-1960 7 document boxes (2.94 linear feet) and 4 galley folders (gf) TXRC02-A6 Manuscript Collection MS-4521 Acquisition:

Purchases, 1967-1977 (R3456, R7675)

 Access:

Open for research. Part or all of this collection is housed off-site and may require up to three business days notice for access in the Ransom Center’s Reading and Viewing Room. Please contact the Center before requesting this material: reference@hrc.utexas.edu

Processed by:

Chelsea S. Dinsmore, 2002, updated by Betsy Nitsch, 2012

 Biographical Sketch

Louis Umfreville Wilkinson was born in 1881, the only son of a clergyman. He attended Radley School where he struck up a correspondence with Oscar Wilde, then imprisoned in Reading Goal. He attended Oxford for four semesters before being sent down for blasphemousness in 1901. He next went to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took his degree and published his first novel in 1905. Also at Cambridge he made a group of lifelong friends including Llewelyn Powys, J.C. Squire, Ronald Storrs, and Ralph Strauss. Powys' two brothers, John Cowper and Theodore Francis, also became close friends.

Throughout his life Wilkinson wrote autobiographical and satirical novels, publishing them under the pseudonym Louis Marlow. He supported himself largely through writing, though he also took to the lecture circuit on occasion. He was married four times and upon his death in 1966 he had two surviving children.

 Index Terms Correspondents Germer, Karl Johannes. Sackville, Nigel Victor Stopford, 1901-. Subjects Crowley, Aleister, 1875-1947. Marlow, Louis, 1881-1966. Powys, John Cowper, 1872-1963. Powys, Llewelyn, 1884-1939. Powys, Theodore Francis, 1875-1953. Autobiography. Authors, English. Document Types Galley proofs. Notebooks. Scope and Contents

Sixty-seven holograph notebooks chiefly relating to his published fiction and non-fiction make up the bulk of the Louis Wilkinson Collection, 1916-1958. The collection is organized into three series: Series I. Works, 1934-1952 (2 boxes); Series II. Aleister Crowley's Estate, 1947-1960 (2 folders); and Series III. Notebooks, 1916-1958 (5 boxes).

Series I contains typescripts and page proofs for The Devil in Crystal, Forth, Beast!, Seven Friends, and Welsh Ambassadors. Also present are galley proofs for The Letters of Llewelyn Powys. Representing Wilkinson's biography of Lord George Sackville, Sackville of Drayton, are typescripts, page and galley proofs, drafts of the appendix and indices, and correspondence regarding publication of the book. Correspondents are listed in the Index of Correspondence at the end of this guide.

The second series is composed of correspondence regarding Wilkinson's duties as an executor of Aleister Crowley's estate. All correspondents are listed in the Index of Correspondence at the end of this guide.

Series III contains 67 notebooks in which Wilkinson wrote drafts for his novels, drafted letters, jotted down lines of poetry, and noted shopping and expense lists. The notebooks have been listed under the titles to which they chiefly relate, where possible. Notebooks that do not contain identifiable titles have been placed at the end of the collection.

Other materials associated with Louis Wilkinson may be found in the following manuscript collections at the Ransom Center: British Sexological SocietyBennet, ArnoldCrowley, AleisterDick, KayHarris, FrankHopkins, KennethLehmann, JohnMeredith, GeorgeMorrell, Ottoline VioletAnne, LadyPENPowys, John CowperPowys, LlewelynPowys, Theodore FrancisShaw, George BernardSymons, Alphonse James Albert

 Louis Wilkinson Collection--Folder List I. Works, 1934-1952 The Devil in Crystal (1943) 1 1-2 Typescript with author revisions, some page duplications, 161pp, undated 1 3 Page proofs with author revisions, 118pp, undated Forth, Beast! (1946) 1 4-5 Typescript with heavy author revisions and additional pages of an earlier draft, 350pp 1 6 Page proofs, with author revisions and notes, 199pp gf 1 The Letters of Llewelyn Powys (1943), galley proofs Sackville of Drayton (1948) 1 7 Loose pages, holograph and typescript notes with author revisions and comments 1 8 Typescript with author revisions and comments, 345pp 1 9 Appendix, typescript with author revisions, 39pp 2 1 Index, typescript with author revisions, 15pp 2 2 Indices and errata sheets, typescript with author revisions, 44pp 2 3 Page proofs with author revisions, 28pp 2 4-5 Galley proofs, with author revisions, 290pp gf 2-3 Galley proofs, two uncut sets 2 6 Correspondence, 1934-1952 2.7, gf 4 Seven Friends(1953), typescript with author revisions, 164pp Welsh Ambassadors (1935) 2 8 Notes and loose notebook pages with first draft notes with author revisions, 93pp 2 9 Page proofs with heavy author revisions, 283pp II. Aleister Crowley's Estate, 1947-1960 2 10 Letters from Karl J. Germer 2 11 Letters from lawyers, associates and Wilkinson III. Notebooks, 1916-1968 3 1 Brute Gods, six notebooks 3 2 The Buffoon, four notebooks 3 3 A Chaste Man, four notebooks 3 4 Devil in Crystal, four notebooks 4 1-3 Fool's Quarter Day, twelve notebooks 5 1 Forth, Beast!, five notebooks 5 2 The Lion Took Fright, four notebooks 5 3-4 Love By Accident, four notebooks 6 1 Mr. Amberthwaite, three notebooks 6 2 Sackville of Drayton, three notebooks 6 3 Seven Friends, six notebooks 7 1 Swan's Milk, six notebooks and one loose page 7 2 Two Made Their Bed, three notebooks 7 3 Unidentified, nine notebooks, two include material re Aleister Crowley and one seems to hold part of an untitled and unfinished novel Louis Wilkinson Collection--Index of Correspondents

Names in bold appear in the RLIN record.

Board of Trade, Dept. of Official Receivers--2.11 Braby & Waller, Solicitors--2.11 Cassazza, Alice--2.11 Clark, Denis--2.11 Cowtan & Sons, Ltd--2.11 Curtis Brown, Ltd.--2.6 Davy, Clark (see also The Observer)--2.6 Denny & Co., Solicitors--2.11 Denny, Henry Littleton Lyster, b. 1878--2.6 Elwin, Malcolm, 1902- --2.6 Eyre & Spottiswoode--2.6 Gardner, G. B.--2.11 Germer, Karl Johannes--2.10 Home & van Thal, Ltd.--2.6 Lloyds Bank--2.11 MacDonald, & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.--2.6 Menneer, Idle & Brackette--2.11 Murray, John--2.6 National City Bank--2.11 The Observer--2.6 Renier, Anne--2.6 Sackville, Nigel Victor Stopford, 1901- --2.6 Sackville-West V. (Victoria), 1892-1962--2.6 W.A. Guy, Ltd.--2.11 W. J. W. Hill--2.11 Watson, H. F.--2.11 Bar Code List 1--059188000054570 2--059188000054581 3--059188000054592 4--059188000054606 5--059188000054617 6--059188000054628 7--059188000054639