Dobson, Henry Austin

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0096 MS 810
Held at	: Senate House Library, University of London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections ›
Full title	: Dobson, Henry Austin
Date(s)	: 1869-1966
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 25 volumes, 2 bundles
Name of creator(s)	: Dobson | Henry Austin | 1840-1921 | poet and literary biographer
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Henry Austin Dobson, civil servant and poet, was born on 18 January 1840. After leaving school at the age of 16, he joined the Board of Trade where he remained until his retirement as Principal in 1901. He had an enduring enthusiasm for the eighteenth century and for poetry. He composed a large quantity of his own poetry and was well known for his adaptation of old French verses. His earliest volume of poetry was Vignettes in Rhyme, (1873). Later in his life, Dobson turned his attention increasingly to prose, resulting in several volumes of essays including Eighteenth Century Prose (in 3 series; 1892, 1894 and 1896). He died in 1921.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

This collection, 1869-1966, contains manuscript material and printed volumes of Austin Dobson's work, and correspondence to him. Manuscripts of most of his published prose and poems are represented in the collection; there are also versions of poems that have never been published, leaf manuscripts of articles and essays, together with around one hundred small notebooks. There are also about 2500 items of correspondence.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Access to the items in the collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the controlled environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Access to archive collections may be restricted under the Freedom of Information Act. Please contact the University Archivist for details.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

Finding aids:

H. M. Young Handlist of the letters and manuscripts of H Austin Dobson in the University of London Library, University of London Library (1976).

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented by Alban Dobson in 1946 and Christopher Dobson 1973.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The Huntington Library, California, USA, holds manuscripts and letters, and letters and literary manuscripts, 1881-1919; the British Library, London, has literary papers, 1880-1915 (Ref: Add MS 48209), correspondence with Macmillans, 1867-1918 (Ref: Add MS 55010), and correspondence with the Society of Authors, 1909-1919 (Ref: Add MS 56694); the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, contains verses and letters, 1885-1920 (Ref: MS Eng poet d186); the Lewis Wapole Library, Connecticut, USA, has notebooks and papers relating to Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford; the Ealing Local History Centre, London, contains letters relating to illustrations for The life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell, edited by Arnold Glover (J M Dent, London, 1901), 1889-1900; the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University, holds a manuscript of Dobson's life of Sir Richard Steele, 1886; the Brotherton Library, Leeds University, has letters to Sir Edmund William Gosse, 1874-1921; University College London contains letters to David McDowall Hannay, 1906-1912 (Ref: MS ADD 203); the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA, contains correspondence with Frederick Locker-Lampson, 1873-1895 (Ref: NUC MS 81-581); West Sussex Record Office, Chichester, holds letters to Leopold James Maxse, 1898-1917.

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
1999-10-06 Keith Austin, 2000-06-08 Sarah Smith