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Berta Ruck archive
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The Reckless Elopement

Manuscript draft, 1972, by Berta Ruck of a short story, 'The Reckless Elopement' (correct order of text ff. 1-21, 26-29, 25, 30-32, 22-24), with pasted in ink sketches by the author (ff. 2, 25 verso, 33, 34).

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, July 1972-January 1973, including letters from Rupert Croft-Cooke, July 1972, Elaine Morgan, [n.d.], and Gwyn Thomas, December 1971; and sketches for 'The Wild Elopement' (see also NLW MS 23745D for 'The Reckless Elopement'), and 'The Wishful Thought'.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, October 1971-June 1972, including letters from Cyril Connolly, [n.d.], and Brocard Sewell, February 1972.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, April-October 1971, including a letter from Anthony Swerling, June 1971.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, July 1970-January 1971, including letters from Shirley Hazzard, July-September 1970.

An Asset to Wales

The printer's copy, [1969x1970], in typescript, of Berta Ruck, An Asset to Wales (London, 1970), with manuscript additions and emendations by the author.
In addition to minor deletions throughout, there is an entire deleted section (4 ff.) from Chapter 2, most of f. 26 having been crossed through and ff. 27-29 having been omitted entirely. Some folios consist of two or more partial leaves pasted together.

Study of Berta Ruck

Typescript, 1969, by Beryl Gonzales of her apparently unpublished work, 'Berta Ruck. A Study of Literary Romance', containing publishing details and plot summaries of Berta Ruck's novels and autobiographical works, 1914-1967, together with extracts from reviews of them.

Gonzales, Beryl

Ancestral Voices

An incomplete manuscript and typescript draft of Berta Ruck's family history Ancestral Voices (London, 1972), based on the correspondence of her D'Arcy and De La Warr ancestors and conversations with her sister, Maud.
The volume contains drafts of the Foreword (ff. 1-10) and Chapters 2-3, 5-6, 8-10, 12-14, 16-20, 28-30, 33-34, 37-40, 43, 45-48, 51-53 and 55 (ff. 11-321, 332-382). 'Interval' (ff. 328-331) is an early draft of Chapter 51; 'Interval (for Argument)' (ff. 322-327) became part of Chapter 11. The volume consists of manuscript and typescript sections with annotations, often with fragments cut and pasted together to form single leaves.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, August 1968-October 1969, including letters from Glyn Tegai Hughes, August 1968, and Nancy Mitford, December 1968; and notes relating to her novel Ancestral Voices (London, 1972).

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, October 1967-June 1968, including letters from Rupert Croft-Cooke, February 1968, and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, [n.d.].

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, January-August 1967, including letters from George Mackay Brown, March 1967, Heather Jenner, February 1966-March 1967; and Glyn Jones, May 1967.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, 1966, including letters from Heather Jenner, October 1966, Professor Gwyn Jones, September 1966, Llywelyn Phillips, August-September 1966, Denise Robins and Sylvia Thorpe, November 1966, and Raleigh Trevelyan, February 1966.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, July 1964-[August] 1965, including letters from William Condry, September 1965, Dyfnallt Morgan, December 1964, and Raleigh Trevelyan, February-March 1965.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, April 1962-July 1964, including letters from Lord Toby Aldington, August 1962, Ursula Bloom, October 1963, Barbara Cartland, [n.d.], Harold B. Hewitt, October 1963, Heather Jenner, November 1963, Dyfnallt Morgan, October 1963, and Harold Nicolson, December 1962; and a memorial service card of her brother Oliver Laurence Ruck, Llanidloes Parish Church.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, May 1960-April 1961, including letters from Emyr Humphreys, February 1961, Hesketh Pearson, October 1960, and Vita Sackville-West, March 1961.

Humphreys, Emyr

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, 1957-1960, including letters from Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, February 1958, September 1959 and [n.d.], Eleanor Graham, September 1957, Harold Nicolson, September 1958, Brocard Sewell, February-March 1960, and Sacheverell Sitwell, March 1958; two sketches, 1901, which Ruck drew for a School of Art scholarship; and printed extracts from tributes to Alice Helena Alexandra Williams ('Alys Meirion') following her death in 1957, including Berta Ruck's broadcast in 'Woman's Hour'.

A Smile for the Past

Typescripts, 1956-1957, of radio scripts by Berta Ruck, which formed the basis of her autobiographical volume, A Smile for the Past (London, 1959).
They comprise scripts, some incomplete, for a series of six talks, also called 'A Smile for the Past', recorded 2-3 April 1957 for transmission in June and July on the Home Service (ff. 5-16 [Talk 1], ff. 17-23, 27-40 [2], ff. 24-26, 116 [3], ff. 69-81 [4], ff. 83-95 [5], ff. 82, 96-115, 117-118 [6]) and the script of a talk recorded on 22 May 1956 and transmitted on 24 June (ff. 41-68, two copies). Also included is an incomplete draft, [?1957], of a letter from Ruck to Aled Vaughan at the BBC, discussing the series (ff. 1-4, first page lacking); typescript drafts, [1957x1959], of Chapter 8 of the book A Smile for the Past (ff. 119-128); and a cutting of an article by Ruck, 'I enjoyed my boarding schooldays', Western Mail, 9 April 1955, containing material found in Chapter 8 (f. 129).

Autobiographical writings

Manuscript and typescript drafts by Berta Ruck, [1955]-[1974x1978], of chapters of projected and published autobiographical works, mainly concerned with her life in Wales.
They include a manuscript draft of the first chapter of An Asset to Wales (London, 1970), [?1969] (ff. 1-24); drafts, mainly typescript, of various chapters for projected works entitled 'Welsh Harlequinade' and 'Fanfare for Wales', [1974x1978] (ff. 25-137); a typescript poem entitled 'Stair-case Remorse', [1970x1978] (f. 138); a typescript of various fragments of fiction and autobiographical prose, [1970x1978] (ff. 139-144); a cutting of an article by Ruck, 'A Golden Prince Came to the Castle', [1955] (f. 145); and a cut-out watercolour sketch of a young man (f. 146). There are references to N. C. Hunter (ff. 47-50), Stephen Peet, producer of the 1970 television documentary featuring Ruck (ff. 106-120), and to E. Nesbit (ff. 141-142).

A Smile for the Past

Three volumes containing a draft, mainly autograph with typescript insertions bearing autograph revision, of Berta Ruck's autobiographical volume, A Smile for the Past (London, 1959).

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, 1951-1956, including letters from Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, May 1953, and Emlyn Williams, July 1955; notes for her novels Fantastic Holiday (London, 1953) and The Men in Her Life (London, 1954); and a copy of Dock Leaves, 3.9 (Winter 1952).

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