LETTERS: Correspondence from Rose Macaulay
The Correspondents of Sylvia Lynd
An archive of incoming correspondence to Sylvia Lynd, a poetry, essayist, and fiction writer who, though she did not achieve the status of household name generations later, was well connected in literary circles by birth (as the daughter of Dubliner A.R. Dryhurst), by education (at the Slade School of Art and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and marriage (as the wife of Robert Lynd).
The correspondence is broken down as follows:
Rose Macaulay (1881-1958)
74 ALsS and 16 ACsS, 1920-1949, totalling 191pp., 12mo; 17pp., 16mo, with a few exceptions written from one of the following: Hedgerley End, Beaconsfield; 2 [and then 10] St Andrews Mansions, Dorset St, W1; 20 Hinde House, Hinde St, W1; 7 Luxborough House, Northumberland St, W1; Flat 7, 8 Luxborough St, W1. The correspondence begins with RM addressing SL formally as ‘Mrs. Lynd’, and signing her name in full; by the end she is addressing the letters to ‘Dearest Sylvia’, and signing them ‘Rose’ or ‘R.’ Closely written, often in green ink. 18 of the letters are fully dated between 1920 and 1949, the other 56 all lack at least the year. The cards have postmarks from 1920 to 1948, with two sent from the United States, two from Italy, and the rest from England.
Macaulay has been described by A. N. Wilson as ‘ one of the great letter-writers in her language’, and this correspondence is a fine example of her virtues. Although topics include personal news, domestic advice, her health, her t
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