Herbert Read Archive
Contains records with digital mediaDetails
Type of record: Archive
Title: Herbert Read Archive
Classmark: BC MS 20c Herbert Read
Creator(s): Read, Sir Herbert Edward (1893-1968)
Date(s): c.1908-1977
Language: English; German; French
Size and medium: 148 boxes
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/692500
Collection group(s): English Literature | Special Collections Art | Herbert Read Collection
Description
Papers and correspondence of Sir Herbert Read (1893 - 1968).
The collection is divided into 17 series and reflects Read's broad interests, connections and activities:
1. First World War service
2. Writing and research by Herbert Read
3. Articles about Herbert Read
4. Publishing correspondence, agreements and sales
5. Editorial and advisory work
6. Writing by others
7. Events
8. Travel
9. Awards
10. Art works and reproductions
11. Correspondence: organisations
12. Correspondence: individuals
13. Personal, including family correspondence
14. Domestic and financial paperwork
15. Legacy
16. Inserts
17. Ephemera
Although distinct, the series are closely interrelated. Read's correspondence was divided, prior to deposit, into files by person and by institution. These distinctions have been maintained, so letters from a single individual may appear in several series. Where letters were filed with prepublication material or with photographs of art works they have been kept in situ to retain context. Similarly, carbon copies of prefaces or introductions to works (of which Read wrote many) may appear in prepublication files, as well as in files of correspondence with publishers, periodicals, or individuals.
BC MS 20c Herbert Read/16: Inserts relates to material found inserted into books in the Herbert Read Library. Inserts bridge the archival and printed books collections of Herbert Read. They are listed with the archive, but remain within books in the Library.
The Archive was fully listed in 2020 with support from the Archives Revealed Cataloguing Grants scheme. This built on initially listing work undertaken following a grant from the Strachey Trust in 2017.
Biography or history
Herbert Read was a First World War poet who was awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order. He remained a poet throughout his life, but he became better known for other areas of interest. He was a literary critic who co-founded the influential journal Art and Letters, a novelist and a respected publisher and editor. Read was also a passionate advocate for education through art and an internationally renowned art critic, largely responsible for the promotion of artists including Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.
Provenance
The majority of the collection was acquired from Read's family in 1998, following the 1997 acquisition of his Library, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Further accruals to the collection were made via Benedict and later Piers Paul Read, before the acquisition in 2018 of a group of Read’s letters and manuscripts which had formed part of Benedict Read’s estate. The 2018 purchase was supported by the Friends of National Libraries.
Access and usage
Access
Access to this 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
Profile: Sir Herbert Read (1893-1968)
Poet, critic, curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and knighted anarchist. Herbert Read was the son of a Yorkshire farmer who became one of the leading critics of art in Britain in the middle 20th century. His personal library of 14,000 volumes came to the University of Leeds in 1996.
Subject theme: Fine Art and History of Art
An overview of the fine art and history of art related collections held in Special Collections at the University of Leeds.
Collection guide: Herbert Read Collection
The Herbert Read Collection is comprised of the Library and Archive of Herbert Read, First World War poet, art historian, editor, publisher, novelist and literary critic.