Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1941-2014 (Creation)
Level of description
Sub-fonds
Extent and medium
10 large boxes + 6 small boxes (0.340 m³) + 3 over-sized wallets + 1 over-sized square box
Context area
Name of creator
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Purchased from Keren Abse, daughter of Dannie Abse, December 2022.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Papers, mostly relating to the literary career of poet, writer and physician Dannie Abse, comprising poetry, prose, plays, articles and reviews, diaries and notebooks, correspondence, accounts and press cuttings. Together with papers of or relating to Abse's wife, the writer and art historian Joan Abse.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
See under individual headings.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
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Existence and location of copies
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Notes area
Note
A report on this archive from poet, writer and academic Professor Tony Curtis states the following:
'There is a considerable collection of correspondence going back over several decades, some between Dannie and Joan Abse dating back to the 1940s. There are notable letters from other writers such as Arnold Wesker, Jonah Jones and the American former laureate Daniel Hoffman. There is correspondence from many American institutions concerning the numerous visits that Dannie and Joan made to conferences and on reading engagements. There are many family letters, including those from [Dannie Abse's] brothers - the [socialist politician and lawyer] Leo [Abse] and ... the American-based psychoanalyst [Wilfred Abse].'
A report from author and former teacher Keren Abse, daughter of Dannie Abse, states:
'... [T]here are the odd clearly rejected/draft poems in manuscript; letters to my mother [Joan Abse] from writers including Arnold Wesker and photographs of my father with other writers including Seamus Heaney as well as with Harry Secombe and Ben Gurion. There [are] also ... various ephemera such as programmes for his plays and reviews.'
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Description control area
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Dates of creation revision deletion
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Sources
Archivist's note
Compiled by Bethan Ifan, August 2025, utilising the following sources: Dannie Abse: Goodbye, Twentieth Century (Parthian, 2011); Tony Curtis: Dannie Abse (Writers of Wales series) (University of Wales Press, 1985); primary source material; online search engines.