Keown (Anna Gordon), literary papers with related material, including some correspondence
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Keown (Anna Gordon), literary papers with related material, including some correspondence
Classmark: BC MS 20c Keown
Creator(s): Keown, Anna Gordon (1902-)()
Date(s): 1934-1959
Language: English
Size and medium: 1 box; manuscript, typescript, photographs, press cuttings, and printed material
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/8515
Collection group(s): English Literature
Description
Comprises: (1) Autograph manuscript and typescript drafts of some of Anna Gordon Keown's literary works, including at least 9 short stories or plays, dated ca. 1948-1955, and held in a red folder; at least 10 poems, undated, also held in a red folder; many undated poems and a few letters dated 1941 held in a green folder; a manuscript notebook of poetry and prose dated 1953; notes for two speeches given by her, one 'In defence of Woolgathering', 25 October 1934, at the National Liberal Club, the other given on 10 March 1937 at the London Central School of Art; and miscellaneous drafts of other individual works, notably, the typescript carbon copy of a novel entitled 'Mr Thompson and the horse', which has been bound up into a volume with a red plastic cover, a draft of a comedy, 'Poor Miss Pim', a poem entitled 'The initiate', another poem on 'The Unicorn', a prose work entitled 'The last holiday', and part of a novel; (2) Personalia relating to Anna Gordon Keown, including a printed blurb
for her 'Collected Poems' published in 1953, a black and white portrait photograph of her as a young woman mounted in a black wooden frame with glass, other black and white photographs of her and her husband, Dr Philip Gosse, in their house 'Low Thatch' and of the outside of the house, the 'Who's who' entry prepared for her in the 1952 edition, obituaries of her dated 1957, a miniature, 'The Unicorn of the Marshes', drawn by Raymond Lister, which was given by the artist to her, who bequeathed it to him, and which was subsequently presented by Lister in her memory to the Brotherton Collection in 1958, and a set of 9 illustrations drawn by Lister for a copy of Virgil's Second Eclogue and also later donated in her memory in July 1959; (3) A letter from Dr Philip Gosse to 'the Librarian' [Mr B.S. Page], dated 'Whit Monday 1959', concerning the donation of this manuscript material to the Brotherton Library in memory of his wife.
The miniature,'The Unicorn of the Marshes', is held in a custom-made box covered with red cloth and with a gilt-tooled spine which bears the lettering 'The/ Unicorn/ of the/ Marshes/ Raymond/ Lister,/ R.M.S./ 1958'. The illustrations drawn for Virgil's Second Eclogue are held in a custom-made box covered with cream cloth and with the following gilt lettering embossed on the spine, 'Raymond/ Lister/ Original/ Drawings/ for/ Virgil's/ Second/ Eclogue'. The first illustration bears the imprint 'Cambridge 1958'.
Additional material listed 2014:
Red folder undated typescript drafts with annotations for: The Other Guest; The Burgomaster and the Angel; The Fairy Forge; The Travelling Life!
Folder containing two typescript drafts: unidentified; The Woman who Creeked
Published score for All the Girls Love Khaki
Typescript testemonical for Keown from Grammar school
Unidentified manuscript notes
Manuscript draft for the Full Heart and Shephards Night Song by Robert Nichols, includes copy portrait of Nichols
Additional correspondence to Anna Keown listed October 2017:
A letter from Lascelles Abercrombie to Anna Keown thanking her for sending her book [Leeds, July 19], with an undated signed autograph note referring to an upcoming lecture at Birbeck College [on University of Leeds headed paper, presumably the last page of a letter].
A letter from the novelist Hugh Walpole to Anna Keown commenting upon and thanking her for a copy of her book.
A letter from Clara Dunton Watts to Anna Seymour, thanking her for her book of poems, and commenting on various other matters [Margate, 30 Sep 1925]
Four letters from Stephen Tennant to Anna Seymour providing advice on choosing a publisher, commenting on her book 'The Bright of Eye', and offering to provide illustrations for her forthcoming book [Wilsford Manor, Salisbury, 12 Apr 1920 - 17 Dec 1925].
Biography or history
Anna Gordon Keown (1902-1957), the daughter of Robert Keown, a London wool merchant, was a poet, novelist and playwright. Her best known works include the sonnet 'Reported Missing' and the book 'The Cat who saw God'. She was married twice: firstly to William Herbert Seymour from whom Keown filed for divorce in 1927. Her second marriage on 2 February 1943 was to writer and physician Dr Philip Gosse (1879-1959), son of Edmund Gosse.
For fuller details of her life and achievements see 'Who was who', Vol.5.
Provenance
Correspondence donated by her husband Dr Philip Gosse in April 1958.
Accessions Register no. B3949 - B3956
Access and usage
Access
Access to this material is unrestricted.