Letters to and from Jon Silkin

Description

83 letters sent to Jon Silkin from/via various correspondents at Penguin publishers, and copies of 39 letters from Silkin to Penguin. The correspondence includes:

- 1 ts letter from Richard Newnham's secretary to Silkin, 6 typescript letters from Anthony Richardson to Silkin, 2 carbon copy ts letters from Silkin to Newnham and 3 cc ts letters from Silkin to Richardson (1 with cc ts letter from Silkin to Norah Smallwood at Chatto and Windus attached), and 1 ts postcard from Penguin concerning proofs, relating the Penguin Modern Poets series (10 March 1962 - 20 January 1965). Also 1 ts letter to Silkin from Allen Lane (12 March 1962).

- 2 ms letters from Al Alvarez, 1 ts letter from Esther Sidwell and 1 ts letter from Dorothea Duncan to Silkin; and 1 cc ts letter from Silkin to Alvarez regarding the inclusion of poems by Silkin in the anthology The New Poetry (2 February 1965 - January 1966).

- 9 cc ts letters from Jon Silkin to Will Sulkin, and 5 ts letters from Sulkin to Silkin regarding The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry (31 January 1977 - 18 June 1980). Also 1 ms letter from Claire Blunden to Silkin regarding permissions to Edmund Blunden's poetry, 1 photocopied ts letter from Sulkin to Claire Blunden, 1 cc ts letter to Claire Blunden from publishers Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 2 ms letters and poem The Raid sent to Silkin via Penguin from H. Cotton, 1 ts letter to Silkin regarding cover images.

- 2 ts letters from Anthony Mott to Silkin (one accompanied by photocopies of poems with Silkin's ms annotations), and 1 cc ts letter from Silkin to Mott regarding The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry (28 March - 28 April 1978).

- 4 ts letters from Robin Robertson to Silkin, and 2 cc ts letters from Silkin to Robinson (accompanied by cc ts lists of corrections and photocopied and annotated ts poems) relating to The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry (4 December 1980 - 4 June 1981).

- 6 ts letters from Donald MacFarlan to Silkin, 3 copy ts letters from Silkin to MacFarlan, 2 ts letters from Matthew Faber to Silkin, 1 cc ms letter from Silkin to Macfarlan and Faber, relating to The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, The Penguin Book of First World War Prose, and Silkin's Wilfred Owen anthology/the Stallworthy dispute (24 November 1978 - 13/14 March 1986). Also a copy of Silkin's contract for the Owen anthology, cc ts letters from MacFarlan to Jon Glover and Ms Donley; ms and ts lists of extracts for the prose anthology.

- 7 ts letters from Paul Keegan to Silkin, 6 cc ts and 1 cc ms letter from Silkin to Keegan (21 January 1986 - 31 March 1993), and 1 cc ts letter from Jon Glover to Keegan (accompanied by 3 photocopied letters from Donald MacFarlan to Glover), regarding Owen/Stallworthy dispute and the Penguin anthologies of First World War poetry and prose. Keegan's letters to Silkin are variously accompanied by cc letters from Chatto and Windus and Jon Stallworthy, a copy of the brief given to Penguin's lawyers regarding the Owen/Stallworthy dispute, and a colour photocopy of Colin Gill's painting Heavy Artillery.

- 8 ts letters from Peter Carson to Silkin, and 4 cc ts letters from Silkin to Carson (24 June 1986 - 4 February 1987), regarding the Owen/Stallworthy dispute.

- 5 ts letters from Nick Wetton (freelance permissions consultant) to Silkin (incl. letter accompanied by photocopied tss re. outstanding permissions), 2 cc ts letters from Silkin (18 September 1986 - 6 September 1997) largely relating to permissions for The Penguin Book of First World War Prose.

- 12 ts letters and 1 photocopied ms letter from various at Penguin to Silkin relating to The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry (19 June 1979 - 5 September 1997)

- 4 ts letters to Silkin from various at Penguin relating to The Penguin Book of First World War Prose (28 July 1980 - 28 September 1989), including a list of queries from Esther Sidwell.

- 1 letter from Maureen Donnelly at Penguin USA to Silkin, and Silkin's cc ts reply; 2 cc ts letters from Silkin to Dawn Drzal at Viking Penguin (USA) and 1 letter from Drzal to Silkin (22 January - 31 July 1991).

- 1 fax from Haruo Ono, President of Penguin Books Japan, to Silkin (16 June 1993). Also, press cutting from the 'Independent on Sunday' (23 Feb 1997) with Jan Dalley's article 'The Future May Not Be Orange' (on the future of Penguin Books).

Access and usage

Access

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Related material

Correspondence between Jon Silkin and Jon Glover is largely held at Brotherton Collection MS 20c Silkin/8/GLO-3.Papers relating to Silkin's edition of the poetry of Wilfred Owen and the Stallworthy dispute are held at Brotherton Collection MS 20c Silkin/4/6/1.Papers relating to the 'Penguin Book of First World War Poetry' and the 'Penguin Book of First World War Prose' are held at Brotherton Collection MS 20c Silkin/4/4 and Brotherton Collection MS 20c Silkin/4/5 respectively.Correspondence relating to a proposed volume of Amir Gilboa's poetry in translation is held at Brotherton Collection MS 20c Silkin/2/1/4/3.

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