Norman Cameron, letters by or about with photocopies of drafts of four of his poems
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Norman Cameron, letters by or about with photocopies of drafts of four of his poems
Classmark: BC MS 20c Cameron
Creator(s): Cameron, Norman (1905-1953)()
Date(s): 1940-1971
Language: English
Size and medium: 1 folder; manuscript and typescript (mostly photocopy).
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/8587
Collection group(s): English Literature
Description
Comprises: (1) Photocopies of autograph manuscript and typescript correspondence of Norman Cameron with Alan Hodge and others during the Second World War and afterwards, dated 1940-1951; (2) Autograph manuscript and typescript correspondence relating to the Norman Cameron letters, dated 1956-1971, together with an obituary on Cameron by Alan Hodge; and (3) Photocopies of four manuscript and typescript poems by Norman Cameron which were later included in the 'Collected Poems' published in 1957, or in the later collected poems (edited by Warren Hope and Jonathan Barker) in 1990.
Biography or history
(John) Norman Cameron, the poet and translator, was born in 1905 in India and educated at Fettes and Oriel College, Oxford, where he read Classics. He published poems in 'The Fettesian' and 'Oxford Poetry', as well as 'New Verse'. During the 1930s he worked for some years in the Colonial Service in Nigeria, then as an advertising copy-writer in London. His only original collection of poetry to be published during his lifetime, 'The Winter House', appeared in 1935. He was also a notable translator, of Rimbaud and Villon and much French prose, including 'Candide', 'Cousin Pons', and Stendhal's letters. During the Second World War he became a propagandist, notably in Italy. His 'Collected Poems', with an introduction by his close friend Robert Graves, did not appear until 1957, four years after his death in 1953, and his 'Complete Poems' did not appear until 1985.
Provenance
The material was acquired by Ian Hamilton from Alan Hodge, who worked with Robert Graves on Norman Cameron's Collected Poems of 1957.
System of arrangement
The BC MS 20c Cameron catalogue is based on an historic inventory. The arrangement of material does not necessarily represent the original order of the archive and it is considered partly processed by an archivist. When making requests to consult, please be aware that there may be discrepancies between description and physical arrangement. The retrievable unit for this collection is file level.
Access and usage
Access
Access to this material is unrestricted.