Showing 34 results

Twenty-one letters and two postcards, 1923-1945, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Lucy Penny, mostly containing family news, including the death of Lucy's husband, Hounsell, in February 1945, Lucy's accounts of time spent in Kenya with her brother and sister-lin-law William (Willie) and Elizabeth Powys, and the marriage of Lucy's daughter Mary to Gerard Casey in November 1945. There are also a few references to and observations on wartime activities. A note in Mary Penny (later Casey)'s hand is written across the top of one letter dated 1923. Also included are one enclosed letter to Lucy Penny from her sister Philippa (Katie) Powys and one enclosed letter to Phyllis Playter from Lucy. Included as part of this correspondence and filed within an envelope are three undated letters to John Cowper Powys from Lucy which pre-date the death of Lucy's husband, Hounsell Penny, but which cannot be placed with any certainty within the chronology of the collection.

Eighteen letters and seven postcards, 1950-1952, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Lucy Penny, containing mostly family news, including the death of their sister Gertrude in April 1952 and Lucy's purchase of the cottage at Mappowder (accompanied by a flyer announcing the sale of the cottage by auction). A note from Lucy's and John Cowper Powys's sister Philippa (Katie) Powys is included in one letter and there is also an enclosed letter from Lucy to Phyllis Playter. One of Lucy's letters, dated Christmas Eve 1952, is written from Allington Sanatorium, Bridport. Included as part of this correspondence and filed within an envelope are five undated letters and one undated postcard to John Cowper Powys from Lucy which pre-date the death of Gertrude Powys but which cannot be placed with any certainty within the chronology of the collection.

Thirty-four letters and six postcards, 1953-[?1963] and undated, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Lucy Penny, containing mostly family news, including the death of John Cowper Powys's son Littleton Alfred in 1954 and the final illness and death of Lucy's and John Cowper Powys's brothers Theodore Francis (1953) and Littleton Charles (1955). Two of the letters are written from Allington Sanatorium, Bridport. Enclosures comprise one letter to Lucy from her husband's cousin, Nellie Hounsell, three letters and one note to Phyllis Playter from Lucy, one letter to Lucy from her daughter, Mary Casey, and one letter to Phyllis Playter from Philippa (Katie) Powys. Included as part of this correspondence and filed within an envelope are one undated letter and two undated postcards which pre-date the deaths of Theodore, Littleton Alfred and Littleton Charles but which cannot be placed with any certainty within the chronology of the collection.

Twenty-five letters and two telegrams, 1922-1939, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Gertrude Powys, containing mostly personal and family news, with a reference to the death of John Cowper Powys's dog, known as 'the Very Old', in 1939. The telegrams announce the deaths of Gertrude's and John Cowper Powys's father, Charles Francis Powys, in 1923, and of their brother, Albert Reginald (Bertie), in 1936. Enclosures comprise woodcuts made by Gertrude (ff. 24-6, 35), one letter to Gertrude from Helen [?Bussy], one letter to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude and one letter to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude's and John Cowper Powys's sister, Philippa (Katie) Powys. Ink drawings by Gertrude depict Charles Francis and Bertie Powys (f. 2 verso) and a caricatured head (f. 37 verso).

Twenty-six letters, 1940-1941, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Gertrude Powys, containing mostly personal and family news, with references to the death of poet and writer Frances Gregg in April 1941, and to the Second World War and its effects. Enclosures comprise three letters to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude, one letter to Gertrude from Yvonne Mackenzie, and one letter to John Cowper Powys from his and Gertrude's sister, Philippa (Katie) Powys, in which she refers briefly to the death of the writer Virginia Woolf in March 1941.

Twenty-five letters, 1942-1943, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Gertrude Powys, containing mostly personal and family news, with references to the Second World War and its effects. Enclosures comprise four letters to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude, and two letters to Gertrude's and John Cowper Powys's sister Philippa (Katie) Powys from Yvonne Mackenzie, containing the latter's response to John Cowper Powys's Owen Glendower (1940).

Twenty letters and one postcard, 1944, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Gertrude Powys, containing mostly personal and family news, with references to the Second World War and its effects. Enclosures comprise five letters to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude, one letter to Gertrude from Alyse Gregory, and one letter to Gertrude from Joan [---?].

Thirty-eight letters and one postcard, 1945-1946 and undated, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Gertrude Powys, containing mostly personal and family news, with references to Socialism and to the end of Second World War hostilities in the summer of 1945. Enclosures comprise a series of cartoons featured in the Daily Sketch, two letters to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude, two letters to John Cowper Powys from his sister Philippa (Katie) Powys, and one letter to Katie Powys from her niece Isobel Powys Marks. F. 95 contains a note by Powys biographer Morine Krissdottir.

Thirty-six letters, 1947-1948 and undated, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Gertrude Powys, containing mostly personal and family news, including the death of Margaret, wife of John Cowper Powys, in February 1947, the marriage of Gertrude's and John Cowper Powys's nephew Peter Powys Grey and Barbara Tyler ('Ty') in 1948, and the death of 'Aunt Emily', possibly a maternal aunt of Gertrude's, also in 1948. Enclosures comprise six letters to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude, two letters to Gertrude from Marjorie C. Ingells (one of which refers to the death of Elizabeth, wife of Gertrude's and John Cowper Powys's brother Littleton, in 1947), one note to John Cowper Powys from his brother William Ernest (Willie) Powys, and one letter to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude. On f. 97 is an ink drawing by Gertrude of her cats.

Thirty-seven letters and two postcards, 1949-1950, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Gertrude Powys, containing mostly personal and family news, with a reference to the death of 'Aunt Harriet' [?Phyllis Playter's aunt] in 1949. Enclosures comprise five letters to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude, one letter to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude's and John Cowper Powys's brother Littleton Charles Powys, one letter to Gertrude from her sister-in-law Elizabeth (wife of her brother William Ernest ('Willie') Powys), and one letter to Minnie Playter, Phyllis Playter's mother, from Gertrude. There is a painted-in ink drawing of flowers by Gertrude on f. 43 verso and an ink drawing, also by Gertrude, of her sister Lucy's house on f. 68.

Twenty-two letters, 1951-1952, to John Cowper Powys from his sister, Gertrude Powys, containing mostly personal and family news, including Gertrude's response to a piece for radio broadcast by John Cowper Powys relating to their brother Llewelyn Powys ('Lulu'), who died in 1939, and to reading John Cowper Powys's novel Porius (published 1951), and Gertrude's and her sister Philippa (Katie)'s memories and reflections on their mother, Mary Cowper Powys. There is an ink drawing by Gertrude of 'Mr Kent' [?her brother Littleton Charles Powys's landlord] on f. 19. Enclosures comprise three letters to Phyllis Playter from Gertrude, two letters to Gertrude from her sister-in-law Elizabeth (wife of her brother William Ernest ('Willie') Powys), two letters to John Cowper Powys from Katie Powys, and one letter to Phyllis Playter from Katie Powys. Written at the head of the final letter in this collection is a note signed 'J' which reads: 'This is our Gertrude's last letter she must have died soon after writing this.'

Twenty letters, 1948, to John Cowper Powys from his sister Marian Powys, containing mostly personal and family news, including the relationship and subsequent marriage of Marian's son Peter Powys Grey and Barbara Tyler (Ty). Enclosures comprise one letter to Phyllis Playter from Marian.

Letters to John Cowper Powys from his mother Mary Cowper Powys (1), 1914, his sister-in-law Violet Powys (wife of Theodore Francis Powys) (1) (partial), [c. 1915], his father the Reverend Charles Francis Powys (2), 1918, his sister-in-law Alyse Gregory (wife of Llewelyn Powys) (7), 1924-1925, 1929, 1939-1940, 1960, his brother Llewelyn Powys (4), 1925, 1927 and undated, his sister-in-law Mabel Powys (first wife of Littleton Charles Powys) (2), [1939] and undated, his sister Katie (Philippa) Powys (1 + 1 postcard), 1941, 1949; his sisters Gertrude Powys, Lucy Penny and 'Marz' [?Marian Powys] (1 telegram), 1942; his brother Littleton Charles Powys (1 telegram), [1942]; his sister Lucy Penny (1, with an enclosed letter from Lucy to Phyllis Playter) 1946; his companion Phyllis Playter (1), undated; his son Littleton Alfred Powys (1 [?Christmas card]), undated; and Ernest Angell (aka Peter Grey), father of Powys's nephew Peter Powys Grey (1), undated; also an envelope (contents removed) from his sister Marian Powys (1954).

Fourteen letters, 1940-1962, to John Cowper Powys from Faith Powys (née Oliver), second wife of John Cowper Powys's brother Albert Reginald (Bertie) Powys. Enclosed with one letter is a note to John Cowper Powys from Faith Powys's son Oliver Powys, and there is a note to Phyllis Playter on the dorse of another letter. The letters contain mostly family news, including a proposed memorial for Bertie Powys at St Andrew's Church, Winterbourne Tomson, and one letter of 29 December 1940 vividly describes an air raid over their home in Cheltenham. The envelopes bear the names of the correspondents in the hand of Powys biographer Morine Krissdottir.

Letters largely to and between various members of the Powys family, as follows: To Lucy Penny from her mother Mary Cowper Powys (5), 1911-1912, 1914; to Marian (May) Powys from her mother Mary Cowper Powys (1), [1914]; to Margaret Powys from her son Littleton Alfred Powys (1), 1926; to Gamel Woolsey from Mary (Molly) MacCarthy (1), undated, which refers to Gamel's then contentious work One Way of Love (1930) (with a note by Powys biographer Morine Krissdottir); to Gertrude Powys from [her brother Theodore Francis Powys], (3), 1941, 1946 and undated (typescript copies); to Gertrude Powys from her sister Lucy Penny (1 postcard), [1944]; to Marian Powys from 'E. R.' (1), 1947; to Peter Powys Grey from his mother Marian Powys (1), 1948; to Bernard O'Neill from Philippa (Katie) Powys (1), 1949 (photocopy); to Francis Llewellyn Powys from his cousin Littleton Alfred Powys (1 postcard), 1951; to Littleton [?Charles] Powys from an unnamed correspondent (the letter lacking a signature and appearing incomplete) (1), 1953; to George Frederick Sims from John Cowper Powys's nephew Francis Llewellyn Powys (1), 1958 (photocopy); to Alyse Gregory, widow of Llewelyn Powys, from Francis Llewellyn Powys (1), 1960; to Jill Olson from Katie Powys (1), 1961 (photocopy) (with note by Morine Krissdottir); to Lucy Penny from her sister Marian Powys (1), [1963]; to Lucy Penny from Powys biographer Marie Canavaggia (including a note to Phyllis Playter) (1), 1964; to Lucy Penny from her niece Isobel Powys Marks (1), 1966; to Lucy Penny from her niece Rose Dyer (1), 1969; to Lucy Penny from her nephew Gilfrid Powys (1), 1969; to Lucy Penny from her great-nephew Michael (2) and her great-niece Lucy (1), 1969; to Francis Llewellyn Powys from C. Benson Roberts (1), 1970; to John Cowper Powys's brother William Ernest (Willie) Powys from Agnes [ ? ] in Poland, enclosing a photograph [?from Adrian Upfield]) (1), 2002; together with undated letters to Alyse Gregory from Lucy Penny (1) and Ty (Barbara) Powys Grey (née Tyler), first wife of Peter Powys Grey (1), an undated letter to Bernard O'Neill from Lucy Penny (photocopy), and an undated postcard from Marian Powys to an unnamed recipient (on the dorse of which is a printed notice of an auction of some of Marian Powys's lacemaking stock upon her retirement). Included separately in an envelope are photographs of Marian Powys and Peter Powys Grey, [?1936], and an obituary of Gertrude Powys, [1952].

Twelve letters, three postcards and one illustrated Christmas card, 1928, 1945-1946, 1951, 1954-1955, 1957 and undated, to John Cowper Powys from John Redwood Anderson, several of the letters containing comments on drafts of John Cowper Powys's novel Homer and the Aether (1959). Two of the letters contain poetry lately written by Anderson, and three of the letters include notes to John Cowper Powys and to Phyllis Playter by Anderson's wife Gwyneth. Also included is an inscribed photograph of Anderson (f. 4), an inscribed printed copy of Anderson's To the Dyfrdwy, the River I Love (London, 1951) (ff. 6-13), and a typed copy of a poem by Anderson entitled To John Cowper Powys: A Reply in Gratitude (ff. 54-56).

Seventeen letters, 1958, to John Cowper Powys from John Redwood Anderson, several of which contain comments on John Cowper Powys's novel Homer and the Aether (1959), and three of which include notes to John Cowper Powys and to Phyllis Playter from Anderson's wife Gwyneth Anderson. Enclosures comprise a letter to John Cowper Powys from Gwyneth Anderson, typed copies of poems by John and Gwyneth Redwood Anderson, and a typed copy of a translation by John Redwood Anderson of No XXVI of Les Heures d'Après-midi by Emile Verhaeren. There are notes in John Cowper Powys's hand on f. 77 verso. Also included are typescript drafts (ff. 78-82) of part of John Cowper Powys's novel Homer and the Aether (1959), together with a typescript copy of Anderson's own prose translation of Chapter III of Homer's Iliad (ff. 83-90).

Three letters, 1962-1963, to John Cowper Powys from John Redwood Anderson, one of which includes a note to Phyllis Playter from Anderson's wife Gwyneth. Enclosures comprise one letter from Anderson to Phyllis Playter and typed copies of poems by Gwyneth Redwood Anderson (f. 15). Also included are advertising flyers (ff. 1-3) for Anderson's book While the Fates Allow (1962), a typescript English translation of Iorwerth Peate's review of While the Fates Allow (published in Y Cymro, 10 August 1962) (ff. 7-9), a letter, 1963 (ff. 16-verso), from Anderson to Gerard [ ? ] following the death of John Cowper Powys, and two photographs (ff. 17-18) of Anderson.

Carbon copies of one hundred and twenty-three typed letters (three of which are incomplete), 1916-1919, 1922-1923, 1927-1946 and undated, to John Cowper Powys from the poet Edgar Lee Masters, containing mostly discussions of Masters's own and others' writings and his responses to John Cowper Powys's works, with a reference also to the death of John Cowper Powys's brother Llewelyn Powys in 1939. Some of the copies bear annotations in Phyllis Playter's hand. Also included is a press cutting, dated 24 August 1949, relating to Masters's eightieth birthday and a list of crossed-out dates - probably relating to the sending or receipt of letters - in Phyllis Playter's hand.

Photocopies of one hundred and five letters, [1883, 1902, 1906-1907, 1909, 1912, 1914-1919, 1921-1933], 1935-1936, 1938, 1941-1949, 1951, from John Cowper Powys to his brother Theodore Francis Powys, the earliest of which was written by John Cowper Powys from Sherborne School, together with a typescript copy of one letter, 1947, possibly made by Phyllis Playter (f. 317), and one letter, 1956, from John Cowper Powys to Violet Powys, widow of Theodore (ff. 340-342). A substantial portion of the letters are undated, with likely dates (and other notes) added in pencil by Morine Krissdottir. The letters contain mostly personal, professional and family news and some are illustrated with John Cowper Powys's drawings. Enclosures comprise a photocopy of a printed article containing a review of Theodore Powys's The House with the Echo (1928) and photocopies of letters to John Cowper Powys from Barnet B. Ruder and Reginald Moore. The originals of these letters are housed in Texas. The photocopies were made by Jeffrey Kwintner and given to Morine Krissdottir.