Ivy Compton-Burnett - Gollancz files (one box).
Ivy Compton-Burnett – Gollancz Files
1937-1990s
Approx. one foot.
Files from British publisher Victor Gollancz Limited relating to author Ivy Compton-Burnett and the publication and re-issue of more than a dozen novels, beginning in 1937 with her seventh book, Daughters and Sons, the appearance of which marked her move from William Heinemann Limited to Gollancz, where she would stay for the rest of her career. Files include over 40 incoming letters from Compton-Burnett, together with outgoing carbons and interoffice correspondence generated by Victor Gollancz and others at Victor Gollancz Limited; additionally there are letters from Hilary Rubinstein at H.F. Rubinstein at Rubinstein, Nash & Co. Solicitors (Rubinstein routinely evaluated proof copies of manuscripts for potential libel) and other publishers; with related material including agreements and occasional printed matter.
Compton-Burnett’s letters to Gollancz give brief status updates on her work (e.g., mentioning when a manuscript might be ready or reporting that it is in the post), but by far spend the most time inquiring about the marketing and availability of each title. For example, on August 31,1950, she writes regarding Darkness and Day, “Will you tell me what the exact position is with regard to these books? How many were printed, how many are left, and why they are not supplied?” On February 13, 1955, she writes regarding Mother and Son, “I hope you are going to do better for my book than appeared in the Observer this morning. Surely that little incidental advertisement is hardly suitable at this stage…” Indeed, Compton-Burnett’s persistence on the matter of sales and advertising earned her a degree of notoriety quite early; a July 25, 1949, note from Curtis Brown to Gollancz regarding Two Worlds and Their Ways (1949) begins, “Dear V.G., I hope you have taken Ede’s advice and not destroyed your air raid shelter for I have today heard from Compton-Burnett…”
A great deal of correspondence between Gollancz and other publishers deals with re-issues, rights, permissions, licensing, etc.; for example, a slim file for Daughters and Sons (1937) contains mostly correspondence ca. 1970s-80s (including letters, carbons, photocopies, and faxes, together with corresponding agreements dated 1970 and 1983) relating to the “Special Collectors’ Edition” of Daughters and Sons. Highlights throughout the later correspondence includes McGraw-Hill’s evaluation of Compton Burnett’s “appeal on these [American] shores”; Heinemann’s work relating to the compilation of the Compton-Burnett Compendium (ca. 1972); Curtis Brown and Gollancz’s dialogue regarding reversion of rights, including discussions of sales and viability of Compton-Burnett’s books based on cost of reprinting (ca. 1975); Hilary Spurling, Compton-Burnett’s biographer, and Livia Gollancz’s exchanges regarding the printing history of Compton-Burnett’s works (ca. 1982); and various publishers writing in regard to anthologizing her work, obtaining foreign language rights, preparing a centenary exhibition and simultaneously reissuing her works in hardcover, etc. (ca. 1980s).
Summary
Approx. 44 autograph letters signed, Ivy Compton-Burnett to Victor Gollancz and Miss Horsman, his assistant; 8vos.; most one to two pages, on Compton-Burnett’s personal stationery, bearing her Cornwall Gardens address.
Original contracts for several works, including A Family and a Fortune (1939) and Elders and Betters (1944).
Reader’s reports for three novels, Daughters and Sons (1937), Elders and Betters (1944), and The Last and the First (posthumously published; 1971).
Dust-jacket proofs for re-issues, limited editions, etc.
Two autograph postcards signed from Evelyn Waugh, commenting favorably on Compton-Burnett’s work and providing a blurb
Autograph letter signed from John Lehmann
Two typed letters signed from Raymond Postgate
Representative examples from Compton-Burnett correspondence
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