Showing 4 results

Some one hundred and seven letters and cards, 1953-1956, from John Cowper Powys to Dinah White, whom Powys addresses as 'dear adopted daughter'. The letters, some of which are illustrated with Powys's ink drawings, mostly refer to family, health and literary matters, in particular the declining health and death of his son Littleton Alfred Powys and White's role as his carer, the deaths of his brothers T. F. Powys and Littleton C. Powys and the health of his brother William (Willie). There are also references to John Cowper Powys and Phyllis Playter's move from Corwen to Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1955, and their new neighbours Raymond Garlick and his family; and to Cowper Powys's progress with his novel The Brazen Head (published 1956).

Ten letters (one incomplete), four telegrams and seven postcards, 1948-1949, 1952-1955 and undated, to John Cowper Powys from his brother Littleton Charles Powys, mostly containing personal and family news. One of the telegrams informs of the death of Littleton's and John Cowper Powys's sister Gertrude in 1952 (with enclosed obituary), the remainder announcing the success of Littleton's eye surgery. There is also an enclosed poem by Myra Reeve, dated February 1954. Two of the envelopes (ff. 19 and 32) have been inscribed by John Cowper Powys.

Twenty-three letters and postcards, 1953-1956, to Dinah White from various correspondents, including Eric Harvey, 20 February 1954 (f. 6), Phyllis Playter, June 1954-December 1955 (ff. 15, 24), Lucy Amelia Penny, June-September 1955 (ff. 18-19, 23), and Michael Hanbury, January 1956 (ff. 25-26). The letters mainly concern the illness and death of Father Littleton Alfred Powys (ff. 1-14) and the hospitalisation and death of Littleton Charles Powys (ff. 19-23). There are also letters, photographs and an obituary relating to the late monastic founder Dom Aelred Carlyle (ff. 25-30).

Photocopies of one hundred and thirty letters (including one partial letter), 1953-1955, from John Cowper Powys to his brother Littleton Charles Powys, containing mostly personal news and reflections. There are references to John Cowper Powys's novels Atlantis (1954) and The Brazen Head ("my Roger Bacon book") (1956), and to his plans to move to Blaenau Ffestiniog (with subsequent descriptions of 1 Waterloo), as well as mention of Littleton's health, the health of John's son Littleton Alfred and of Phyllis Playter's mother Minnie, and the last illness and death of John and Littleton's brother Theodore Francis Powys in 1953. Some of the letters are illustrated with John Cowper Powys's ink drawings, which include self-caricatures and representations of plants. Enclosed with one letter is a photocopy of a poem by Marjorie [?Yilden] entitled 'Need' (f. 273).