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Vernon Scannell, literary papers together with an autograph letter

Archive Collection: BC MS 20c Scannell Contains records with digital media

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: Vernon Scannell, literary papers together with an autograph letter

Level: Collection

Classmark: BC MS 20c Scannell

Creator(s): Scannell, Vernon (1922-2007)()

Date(s): 1962-1967

Language: English

Size and medium: 1 box; 7 files; manuscript, typescript, a press cutting, and printed material.

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/8567

Collection group(s): Leeds Poetry | English Literature

Description

Comprises: Literary papers of Vernon Scannell dated 1963-1966, including autograph manuscripts and revised typescripts of eight poems, together with a press cutting from the Sunday Times for 29 January 1967 of his poem 'View from a High Chair'; two manuscript notebooks of reviews and broadcasts, together with miscellaneous other typescripts (mainly of his reviews for 'The World of Books'); a printed copy of BBC Radio broadcast poems for schools in the Summer Term 1964, which includes Scannell's poem 'First Fight' with autograph marginal annotations written with a red ballpoint pen; a short article on Marcel Cerdan and 1 autograph manuscript letter from Scannell to David [Tipton] dated 13 November 1962.

Biography or history

Vernon Scannell was born John Vernon Bain on 23 January 1922 in Spilsbury, Lincolnshire. He left school aged 14 to work in an accounting firm; and enlisted in the Army in 1940, aged 18, following the outbreak of the Second World War. During the war he saw action in the Middle East and France, and was seriously wounded near Caen (Normandy) in 1944. He spent the remainder of the war recovering. Shortly after the announcement of VE-Day Scannell deserted, disillusioned and brutalised by army life; it was at this point that he changed his name to Vernon Scannell. He became a casual student at Leeds University in the late 1940s following a chance meeting with Bonamy Dobrée in a city centre pub. His time in Leeds was a great influence on the development of his poetry. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and free-lance author, poet, and broadcaster. Scannell died in November 2007.

Provenance

Literary papers purchased from Gekoski on 12 March 1987; letter to David Tipton purchased from Huggett on 29 January 1992.

System of arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following subfonds (sub-collections): Poetry Collections and Published Poems Other Poems Reviews, Broadcasting, Etc. Correspondence Obituaries

Access and usage

Access

Access to this part of the collection is protected under the Data Protection Act. You will need to complete a data protection access form and return it to Special Collections for review by staff before access can be granted

On our website

Vernon Scannell portrait

Profile: Vernon Scannell

A biography of Vernon Scannell a poet at the University of Leeds.

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