Research Catalog

Collection of 29 autograph letters signed, 2 typed letters signed, and 1 postcard signed : location varies, to John Bicknell Auden and his wife, Sheila

Title: Collection of 29 autograph letters signed, 2 typed letters signed, and 1 postcard signed : location varies, to John Bicknell Auden and his wife, Sheila, 1927-1965.
Author: Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973.
Publication: 1 size varies +

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Permit needed	Berg Coll m.b. Auden, WH A.l.s. to Auden, JB 1927	Schwarzman Building - Berg Collection Room 320

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Additional Authors

Summary

Contents include: numerous accounts of incidents in W.H. Auden's personal life and in those of family members and friends; his comments on the progress of his writing, including Christmas Oratorio for Constance Rosalie, The Sea and the Mirror, an introduction to Henry James's The American Scene, and The Rake's Progress; his reactions to literature, including Anna Karenina, Aubrey Menen's The Prevalence of Witches (1948); Geoffrey Gorer's The American People (1948), and Colette's Cheri (1920) and The Last of Cheri (1926); his recommending the practice of "Raj Yoga"; his thoughts on Christianity, inculding the revelation of Christ in Nature, as represented in the work of a modern French theologian, Malcolm de Chazal, as well as in those of St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Francis of Assisi; his reaction to Bennet Cerf, head of Random house (Auden's American publisher), excluding Pound from an American anthology of poetry after Pound had been convicted of high treason against the U.S. (Auden severed ties with Random house until Cerf reversed the policy); and his thoughts on political and social matters, including: anti-Semitism of Birmingham's Conservative Party in 1938; his decision to remain in America, in September 1939, out of the fighting ("This may be cowardly but it is genuine"), following Germany's invasion of Poland and Britain's imminent declaration of war ("the war is not our war [...] it is a war between Big Business imperialism and Nazi-Soviet bureaucracy"); the fall of the British empire; British imperialism; American imperialism ("thank God for it"--Aug. 6, 1950); Mahatma Gandhi; and the Kinsey Report on the Sexual Behavior of the Human Male.

Subjects

Note

Written from Birmingham [England]; New York; Forio d'Ischia [Italy]; and Kirchstetten [Austria].
Three letters with postmarked envelopes.
With one a.l.s. (Mar. 15, [1952]) to Anita and Rita, daughters of John and Sheila Auden.
Dates of letters: [1927]; Feb. 24, 1936; [Oct. 10, 1936]; [Oct. 1938]; [Sept. 1939]; Sept. 9 [i.e., 8], 1941 (envelope postmarked Sept. 8); Dec. 12, 1941; Nov. 20, 1943; Feb. 27, 1946 (with envelope); Jan. 17, 1948; "Easter Sunday" [March 28, 1948]; [Apr. 12, 1950] (postmarked postcard); Aug. 6, [1950]; Feb. 7, [1951]; Feb. 22, 1951; Mar. 6, [1951]; "Monday" (envelope postmarked Apr. 13, 1951); June 9, [1951]; Nov. 3, [1951]; Jan. 13, [1952]; Mar. 15, [1952] ("Dearest Sheila"); Mar. 15, [1952] (Dear Anita & Rita"); June 10, [1952] ("Dearest Sheila"), with envelope; June 10, [1952] (t.l.s., "Dearest John"); Sep. 19, [1952]; Dec. 20, [1952]; May 10, [1953?]; Nov. 25, 1958; [1964?] (t.l.s. from Kirchstetten); 1 loose envelope dated 1964 addressed to Sheila Auden at Via Ugo Foscolo; May 1, 1965; "Monday" [1965?] ("Dear Sheila: I thought you might like to know"); [1965?] ("Dear Sheila: Am coming to England for a few days"), 3 more envelopes dated 1965, from Kirchstetten, addressed to Sheila Auden.
Attributed dates for undated letters provided usually by John B. Auden, twice deduced from postmark, and once provided by Anita (Auden) Money, daughter of John B. Auden.
John Bicknell Auden (1903-1991) was a geologist and explorer, and the elder brother of poet W.H. Auden.
Postcard is Italian greeting card for Easter, the back of which depicts, in color, two cherubs transporting wagon filled with palm leaves along country road, with printed inscription "Buona Pasqua."

Access (note)

Restricted access;

Call Number

Berg Coll m.b. Auden, WH A.l.s. to Auden, JB 1927

OCLC

796571487

Author

Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973.

Title

Collection of 29 autograph letters signed, 2 typed letters signed, and 1 postcard signed : location varies, to John Bicknell Auden and his wife, Sheila, 1927-1965.

Imprint

1 binder (32 items), size varies + 3 envelopes.

Access

Restricted access; request permission from holding division.

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Added Author

Auden, J. B., 1903-1991. Addressee

Auden, Sheila. Addressee

Money, Anita. Former owner

Research Call Number

Berg Coll m.b. Auden, WH A.l.s. to Auden, JB 1927

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