Collection Summary
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Callow, Philip, 1924-2007
Philip Callow Papers
1949-2006
Manuscript Collection MS-00664
22 document boxes, 1 oversize box (9.24 linear feet), 1 galley folder
(gf)
The Philip Callow Papers, 1949-2006,
consist mainly of manuscripts for novels, poetry, short stories, biographies, two
autobiographical works, and a radio play representing the bulk of Callow's published
writings, plus a small amount of correspondence with friends, other writers, agents,
editors, and publishers.
English
Acquisition:
Purchases, 1964-2009 (R1613, R2088, R4085, R5971, R7293, R12352, R12427, R13037,
R14340, R14473, R14499, 2009-04-02-P)
Access:
Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials.
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:
Joan M. Sibley, 2010
Biographical Sketch
Philip Kenneth Callow was born 26 October 1924 in Birmingham, England. He grew up in
Coventry and left Coventry Technical College when he was apprenticed to be a
toolmaker at the age of 15. This occupation exempted him from military service, and
he lived in Leamington Spa during World War II and in Nottingham and Plymouth in
later years. After the war, he took a variety of civil service and clerical jobs and
began writing in his spare time.
Many of Callow's novels draw from his own experiences growing up in a working-class
home in the Midlands and touch upon his education, employment, and the hardships
experienced in wartime and postwar England. His first novel,
The Hosanna Man (1956), was very well reviewed, but the threat of a
lawsuit by an individual who claimed to recognize himself in the book led publisher
Jonathan Cape to withdraw and pulp all unsold copies rather than fight a libel case.
The book still managed to win several awards and Callow received an Arts Council
grant that enabled him to write full-time.
Among his 16 novels, the trilogy formed by
Going to the
Moon (1968), The Bliss Body (1969), and
Flesh of Morning (1971) was perhaps his
best-received and appreciated fictional work. Callow also published several volumes
of poetry (his first collection, Turning Point,
appeared in 1964) as well as short stories, plays, and also essays and book reviews
contributed to New Statesman, Spectator, Tribune, Listen, and Vogue.
At the suggestion of his agent, Callow also wrote biographies of the figures he most
admired, beginning with fellow-Midlander and stylistic influence D. H. Lawrence
(
Son and Lover, 1975). Callow's talents as both
poet and lifelong amateur painter contributed to his ability to render a series of
sensitive biographical portraits of several other writers and artists, including
Anton Chekhov, Paul Cezanne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Vincent Van Gogh, and Walt
Whitman. He also published two autobiographical works, In My
Own Land (1965) and Passage from Home
(2002).
Callow was married to Irene Christian Vallance (1952-1973), Penelope Jane Newman
(1974-1987), and Anne Jennifer Golby (1987-2007). He died on 22 September 2007,
survived by his wife Anne and a daughter from his first marriage, Fleur Alyse
Harvey.
Sources:
Belbin, David.
Philip Callow. The Independent, 27 September 2007,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/philip-callow-403638.html (accessed 13
October 2010).
Philip Callow. Times Online Obituary, 25 September 2007,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2531271.ece (accessed 13
October 2010).
Philip Kenneth Callow. Contemporary Authors Online,
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/ (accessed 13 October 2010).
Scope and Contents
The Philip Callow Papers, 1949-2006, consist mainly of manuscripts for novels,
poetry, short stories, biographies, two autobiographical works, and a radio play
representing the bulk of Callow's published writings, plus a small amount of
correspondence with friends, other writers, agents, editors, and publishers. The
papers are arranged into two series: I. Works, 1949-2004, and II. Correspondence,
1952-2006. Part of this collection was previously accessible through a card catalog
but has been recataloged as part of a retrospective conversion project.
Series I. Works makes up the great majority of the collection and consists of drafts
and proofs for Callow's works. Arranged alphabetically by title, these include
manuscripts for nearly all of Callow's published output plus an early unpublished
novel (A Hood for the Brightness, 1949), an untitled work (My friend…, 1952) in the
form of a letter, Time for Johnnie (a juvenile version of
Some Love, 1991), and a collaborative epistolary work (Open Cage, 1961)
written with Ronald Hall. In addition to manuscripts for most of his published
collections of poetry, there are also several other proposed collections that
include poems eventually published in other volumes. Manuscripts for all of the
autobiographical and biographical works are present, often accompanied by research
materials, outlines, notes, illustrations, blurbs, dust jacket designs, and reviews.
All manuscript titles appear in the folder list in this finding aid.
Correspondence in Series II. makes up only a single box of the papers and has been
subdivided into outgoing and incoming letters, and subsequently arranged
alphabetically by the name of the recipient or the author. Much of the
correspondence concerns the publication of his works, such as letters with agents,
editors, and publishers. Best represented correspondents include Graham Ackroyd,
Bodley Head (Firm), Peter Day (Allison & Busby), Ivan R. Dee (Ivan R. Dee,
Inc., Publisher), Elizabeth Fairbairn (John Johnson Author's Agent Limited), Ray
Gosling, John Killick (Littlewood Press), John Lucas (Shoestring Press), Carol
O'Brien (Constable Publishers), and David Tipton. There are also letters from fellow
authors, including Elizabeth Berridge, Norman Mailer, Stanley Middleton, John Cowper
Powys, and J. B. Priestley. An index of all correspondent names is included in this
finding aid.
Additional letters written by Philip Callow are present in the Ransom Center's
manuscript collections for Francis Henry King, John Lehmann, and J. B. Priestley.
The Literary File in the Photography Collection contains a portrait of Philip Callow
by Nicholas Elder. There is a single folder for Callow in the Center's Vertical File
Collection containing two newspaper clippings of articles by or about Callow and a
series of 14 printed postcards with poems by Callow and graphics by Geoff Clarke.
Container List
Series I. Works, 1949-2004
Another Flesh (omnibus of
three-novel trilogy, 1989) -- see Going to the
Moon, The Bliss Body, and
Flesh of Morning
1.1
Bare Wires (poetry, 1972), signed
typescript with editor's markings, undated
Black Rainbow (novel,
1999)
1.2
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions and notes,
undated (titled Wild Spring)
1.3
Complete typescript, bound photocopy, undated (title The
Silence of Stars crossed out)
The Bliss Body (novel, second in
trilogy, 1969)
1.4
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions and
handwritten and typed notes, undated
1.5
Final draft, typescript with printer's markings,
undated
1.6
Final draft, carbon copy typescript, undated
1.7
Proof copy, 1969
Body of Truth: D. H. Lawrence, the Nomadic
Years (biography, 2003)
1.8-9
Draft, typescript with corrections, undated
2.1-2
Final draft, typescript with editor's corrections and
printer's markings, 2003
2.3-4
Author's first proof, with handwritten corrections,
2003
2.5
Cave Light (poetry, 1981),
typescript, undated
Chekhov, the Hidden Ground
(biography, 1998)
2.6-7
First draft, typescript with corrections, undated
3.1-3
Final version, typescript with corrections and printer's
markings, 1998
3.4-7
Final version, photocopied typescript, undated
Clipped Wings (novel,
1964)
4.1
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions and
handwritten and typed notes, undated (titled The Birds)
4.2
Carbon copy typescript, undated (titled The
Naturals)
4.3
Typescript with handwritten revisions, undated (titles The
Naturals and The Birds deleted)
4.4
Typescript, undated
4.5
Carbon copy typescript, undated
4.6
Additional pages incorporated into final version, handwritten
and typed pages with handwritten revisions, undated
gf 1
Galley proofs with handwritten corrections, 1964
4.7
Signed proof copy, 1964
Common People (novel,
1958)
5.1
Handwritten manuscript / incomplete with revisions, in
notebook, undated
5.2
Typescript / first draft with handwritten emendations and
typed insert, undated (titled Raw Laughter)
5.3
Typescript / second draft, undated (titled Raw
Laughter)
5.4
Typescript / third draft with handwritten revisions, undated
(titled Death of an Old Man)
5.5
Critical extracts from five critics, typescript / copy,
undated
5.6
Facing South: Poems 1950-1962, typescript, undated (unpublished,
some poems used later in Turning
Point)
Fires in October (poetry,
1994)
5.7
Typescript, undated
5.8
Typescript with typesetting marks, 1993
5.9
Page proofs with corrections, 1994
Flesh of Morning (novel, third in
trilogy, 1971)
5.10
First draft, typescript with handwritten notes and revisions,
undated
6.1
Final, carbon copy typescript, undated
6.2
Final, typescript with handwritten corrections and printer's
markings, 1971; dust jacket
From Noon to Starry Night: A Life of Walt
Whitman (biography, 1992)
6.3
Research materials, notes, proposal, undated
6.4-5
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions and
inserts, undated
6.6-7.1
Final draft, typescript with corrections, undated
7.2-3
Final draft, photocopy with corrections, undated
7.4-5
Setting copy, with printer's markings, 1992
23.1
Galley proofs, with corrections, 1992
7.6-8.1
Page proofs, uncorrected, 1992
8.2-3
Page proofs, with corrections, 1992
8.4
Jacket copy, blurbs, reviews, 1991-1993
Going to the Moon (novel, first in
trilogy, 1968)
8.5
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions and
handwritten and typed notes, undated
8.6
Final draft, typescript with handwritten emendations and
typed notes, undated
9.1
Final draft, carbon copy typescript, undated
9.2
Proof copy, with corrections, 1968
9.3
A Hood for the Brightness, typescript / incomplete, 1949
(unpublished)
The Hosanna Man (novel,
1956)
9.4
Handwritten manuscript / incomplete with revisions, in
notebook, undated
9.5
Typescript / incomplete with handwritten revisions,
undated
9.6
Icons (poetry, 1987), drafts of
poems, mainly typescript but also handwritten manuscripts, all with
revisions; typescript draft with table of contents and corrections; both
undated; proof copy, 1987
In My Own Land (autobiography,
1965)
9.7
First draft of diary section Progress of a Dream, handwritten manuscript with
revisions and notes, undated
9.8
First draft, typed and carbon copy manuscript with
handwritten revisions, undated
9.9
Carbon copy typescript, 1965
9.10
Final draft, typescript printer's copy with printer's notes,
1965
10.1
Printer's dummy and notes, with photograph proofs and
originals, 1965
gf 1
Galley proofs with handwritten corrections, 1965
10.2
Proof copy, 1965
10.3
In the Wonder (poetry), signed handwritten and typed manuscripts
of short poems, undated (unpublished, some poems used later in Turning Point)
Janine (novel, 1977)
10.4
First draft, typescript with handwritten changes, handwritten
notes, undated
10.5
Final draft, typescript with handwritten changes; also
editorial notes, publisher's blurb, jacket design, all
undated
Lost Earth: A Life of Cezanne
(biography, 1995)
10.6
Research material, undated
10.7-8
First draft, typescript with handwritten corrections,
undated
11.1-2
Second draft, typescript, undated
11.3-4
Final version, typescript setting copy with printer's
markings, 1995
11.5
First page proofs, corrected pages only, 1995
11.6-12.1
Second page proofs, 1995
Louis: A Life of Robert Louis
Stevenson (biography, 2001)
12.2-3
Typescript, complete with illustrations and captions, no
index, undated
12.4-5
Setting copy, typescript with printer's markings,
2001
The Magnolia (novel,
1994)
12.6
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
12.7
Second draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
13.1
Third draft, typescript, few changes, undated
13.2
Final draft, typescript setting copy with printer's markings,
1994
13.3
Page proofs, some corrections, 1994
13.4
My friend… (untitled work in the form of a letter, 1952), signed
handwritten manuscript with revisions, in notebook, dated 23 March
1952
Native Ground (short stories,
1959)
13.5
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
13.6
Setting copy, typescript with printer's markings,
1959
Nightshade and Morning Glory
(poems, 1998)
13.7
Typescript with few handwritten revisions, undated (titled
Splinters)
13.8
Typescript and handwritten mock-up proof, 1998
13.9
Page proofs with corrections, 1998
Notes over a Chasm (poetry,
1991)
13.10
Typescript, undated
13.11
Page proofs, 1991
13.12
On Some Road (BBC radio play,
1979), reproduced playscript, 1979
13.13
On the Earth: First Poems (poetry), typescript,
undated
14.1
Open Cage: A Collaboration, by Philip Callow and Ronald Hall,
typescript, accompanied by notebook with Callow's letters to Hall,
handwritten with some typed inserts (unpublished, 1961)
The Painter's Confessions (novel,
1989)
14.2
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
14.3
Second draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
14.4
Third? draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
14.5
Final draft, typescript, undated
15.1
Final draft, photocopy typescript, undated
15.2
Setting copy, typescript with printer's markings,
1989
15.3
Passage from Home: A Memoir
(autobiography, 2002), typescript with corrections, undated
15.4
Pastoral (poetry, 2004), page
proof with a few corrections, dust jacket proof, 2004
A Pledge for the Earth (novel,
1960)
15.5
Notes, handwritten and typed notes with revisions,
undated
15.6
Draft / incomplete, handwritten manuscript with revisions and
handwritten and typed inserts, in notebook, undated; also includes
handwritten manuscript / draft of autobiography; notes for A Pledge for the Earth; and journal
entries in unidentified hand
16.1
Early draft / incomplete, typescript with handwritten
revisions and typed inserts, undated
16.2
Early draft / incomplete, typescript with handwritten
revisions, undated (titled A New Life)
16.3-4
Carbon copy typescript, undated
16.5-6
Setting copy, typescript with printer's markings,
1960
Poems, handwritten drafts, undated:
17.1
At the Eve of Something (on sheet with Wonder
Beast)
17.1
Even Now (on sheet with Waiting Here for It to
Come)
17.1
God (on sheet with Though Blood Loves Always)
17.1
How Beautiful Is God
17.1
Man in His Deepest Nature
17.1
There Is No Name
17.1
These Golden Trophies of the Sun
17.1
This Convention of Anarchy (on sheet with Though Blood Loves
Always)
17.1
Though Blood Loves Always
17.1
Waiting Here for It to Come
17.1
Wonder Beast
The Real Life: New Poems (poetry,
1964)
17.2
Rough draft, handwritten and typescript / work sheets with
handwritten revisions, undated (duplicates of some poems; some poems
not in published version)
17.3
Typescript draft with handwritten and typed front matter with
printer's markings, undated
gf 1
Galley proofs, two sets, both with handwritten corrections,
one with handwritten and printed notes, 1964
17.4
Proof copy, 1964
17.5
Soliloquies of an Eye (poetry,
1990), first draft, typescript with handwritten corrections,
undated
Some Love (novel, 1991)-- see also
Time for Johnnie
17.6
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
17.7
Second draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
17.8
Final draft, typescript, undated
17.9
Extract entitled White Skirt, from
a new novel titled Intimacy (early title for Some Love), typescript,
undated
Son and Lover: The Young D. H.
Lawrence (biography, 1975)
18.1
Synopsis and first chapters, typescript with handwritten
corrections, notes, undated
18.2
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
18.3
Final draft, carbon typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
18.4-5
Setting copy, typescript with handwritten corrections and
printer's markings, 1975
19.1
Proofs, with corrections, 1975
19.2
Dust jacket and advertisement proofs, undated
19.3
Illustrations, original mounted photographs,
undated
19.4
Editorial notes, undated
19.5
Working notes, undated
The Subway to New York (novel,
1979)
19.6
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions and notes,
undated
19.7
Final draft, setting copy with some revisions and printer's
markings, 1979
19.8
Final draft, carbon typescript with some revisions,
undated
19.9
Threshold (poetry), handwritten and typescript manuscript,
undated (unpublished)
20.1
Time for Johnnie (novel, a version of
Some Love for teenagers),
typescript with handwritten revisions, circa 1991?
Turning Point (poetry,
1964)
20.2
Worksheets, handwritten and typescript drafts / incomplete
with handwritten revisions, undated
20.3
Setting copy, typescript with printer's markings,
1964
20.4
Proof copy, with handwritten correction, 1964
20.5
Two Poems (poetry, 1992), typescript signed as Christmas greeting
to David Tipton, 1992
Vincent van Gogh: A Life
(biography, 1990)
20.6
Proposal, outline, sample chapter, notes, permissions,
1989
20.7
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
20.8
Second draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
20.9-21.1
Final draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
21.2
Page proofs, index, dust jacket design, 1990
21.3
Woman with a Poet (stories, 1983),
setting copy, composite handwritten, typescript, and photocopied text
with printer's markings, 1983; proof copy
Yours (novel, 1972)
21.4
First draft, typescript with handwritten revisions,
undated
21.5
Final draft, setting copy, typescript with printer's
markings, 1972
21.6
Final draft, carbon typescript, undated
Series II. Correspondence, 1952-2006
Outgoing, 1952-1995
22.1
A-Z
22.2
Ackroyd, Graham, 1952, bulk undated
22.3
Tipton, David, 1981-1998, undated
Incoming, 1953-2006
22.4
A-L
22.5
Ackroyd, Graham, 1953; 1990-1991
22.6
The Bodley Head, 1972-1974
22.7
Day, Peter (Allison & Busby), 1990-1995
22.8
Dee, Ivan R. (Ivan R. Dee, Inc., Publisher),
1990-1998
22.9
Fairbairn, Elizabeth (John Johnson Author's Agent Limited),
1990-1997
22.10
Gosling, Ray, 1963-1966
22.11
Killick, John (Littlewood Press), 1987-1990
22.12
Lucas, John (Shoestring Press), 2005-2006
22.13
M-Z
22.14
O'Brien, Carol (Constable Publishers), 1996-1998
23.1
Oversize materials
Index of Correspondents
- Ackroyd, Graham--22.2 (from Callow); 22.5 (to Callow)
- Albion, Sue--22.4 (to Callow)
- Allen, Wal--22.4 (to Callow)
- B____, John--22.4 (to Callow)
- Barr, Barbara--22.4 (to Callow)
- Berridge, Elizabeth--22.4 (to Callow)
- Bodley Head (Firm) (Dobson, Carla; Michie, James;
Waldman, Guido A.)--22.6 (to Callow)
- Boothe, John (Panther Books Ltd.)--22.4 (to Callow)
- Boulton, James T. (Letters of D. H. Lawrence; University
of Nottingham)--22.4 (to Callow)
- Brander, Laurence, 1903- --22.1 (from Callow)
- Bratby, John, 1928-1992 (Art
Quarterly)--22.4 (to Callow)
- Brownjohn, Alan, 1931- --22.1 (from Callow)
- Busby, Christopher (Christopher Busby Ltd. Literary
Agency)--22.4 (to Callow)
- Causley, Charles--22.4 (to Callow)
- Davis-Poynter, R. G. (Macgibbon & Kee,
Ltd.)--22.4 (to Callow)
- Day, Peter (Allison & Busby)--22.7 (to Callow)
- Dee, Ivan R. (Ivan R. Dee, Inc. Publisher)--22.1 (from
Callow); 22.8 (to Callow)
- Fairbairn, Elizabeth (John Johnson Ltd.)--22.9 (to
Callow)
- Franklin, Colin (Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.)--22.5 (to
Ackroyd, Graham)
- Ginsberg, Harvey (G. P. Putnam's Sons)--22.4 (to Callow)
- Gosling, Ray, 1939- --22.10 (to Callow)
- Hall, Ron--22.4 (to Moore, Reginald; transcribed by
Berridge, Elizabeth)
- Killick, John (Littlewood Press)--22.1 (from Philip
Callow); 22.11 (to Callow)
- Kirkup, James, 1918-2009--22.4 (to Callow)
- Lockwood, Bernard, 1921- --22.4 (to Callow)
- Lucas, John, 1937- (Shoestring Press)--22.12 (to Callow)
- MacInnes, Colin--22.13 (to Callow)
- Mailer, Norman--22.13 (to Callow)
- Melly, George--22.13 (to Callow)
- Middleton, Stanley, 1919-2009--22.13 (to Callow)
- Miller, Brian, 1941- (BBC Bristol)--22.13 (to Callow)
- Mitchell, Adrian, 1932-2008--22.13 (to Callow)
- Moore, Harry Thornton--22.13 (to Callow)
- Multi Media Communications Consultants (Amy, Ruth;
Chapman, Jennifer)--22.7 (to Callow)
- Nottinghamshire County Council Leisure Services (Sims,
Jean)--22.13 (to Callow)
- O'Brien, Carol (Constable Publishers)--22.1 (to Callow,
on verso of draft letter Callow to Ivan Dee); 22.14 (to Callow)
- _____, Peter--22.1 (from Callow)
- Powys, John Cowper, 1872-1963--22.13 (to Callow)
- Priestley, J. B. (John Boynton), 1894-1984--22.13 (to
Callow)
- Randall, Peter (Greenwich Exchange)--22.13 (to Callow)
- Rose, John (Curtis Brown, Ltd.)--22.1 (from Callow)
- Sagar, Keith M. (Letters of D. H. Lawrence; University of
Manchester)--22.13 (to Callow)
- Segal, Israel--22.13 (to Callow)
- Seven Seas Books (Gelbin, Gertrude; Pankey, Kay)--22.13
(to Callow)
- The Tablet--22.13 (to Callow)
- Thwaite, Anthony--22.1 (from Callow)
- Times Press--22.13 (to Dor, Mr. from Callow); 22.13 (from
Quayle, H. B. to Callow)
- Tipton, David, 1934- --22.3 (from Callow)
- Vinogradoff, Julian, Mrs.--22.13 (to Callow)
- Whittaker, James (Andrew Melrose Ltd.)--22.13 (to Callow)
Bar-Code Index
- 1--059188000125373
- 2--059188000125384
- 3--059188000125395
- 4--059188000125409
- 5--059188000125410
- 6--059188000125420
- 7--059188000125431
- 8--059188000125442
- 9--059188000125453
- 10--059188000125464
- 11--059188000125475
- 12--059188000125486
- 13--059188000125497
- 14--059188000125500
- 15--059188000125511
- 16--059188000125522
- 17--059188000125533
- 18--059188000125544
- 19--059188000125555
- 20--059188000125566
- 21--059188000125577
- 22--059188000125588