Inventory of the Sir Leslie Stephen Papers, 1861-1959 (bulk 1866-1891)

Abstract

British author, philosopher, and first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography.

Chiefly correspondence between Stephen and his first wife, Harriet Marian ("Minny") Thackeray, daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray, during their courtship and marriage. Several letters written to family members during the Stephen's honeymoon and later sojourns in Switzeralnd were illustrated with drawings by both. Includes letters from other relatives and letters of condolence at Minny's death. In a few letters to his second wife, Julia Duckworth Stephen, Stephen mentions their children "Nessa and Ginia" (Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf). Five letters from Stephen to Sir Henry John Newbolt concern Newbolt's poetry. Includes 21 manuscript articles written by Stephen for CORNHILL MAGAZINE while Thackeray was editor. Also contains a small number of printed articles and a reproduction of Stephen's portrait by G. F. Watts.

Descriptive Summary

Repository: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
Creator: Stephen, Leslie, Sir, 1832-1904.
Title: Sir Leslie Stephen Papers, 1861-1959 (bulk 1866-1891)
Language of Material: English
Extent: 1.0 Linear Feet, 298 Items
Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

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Collection Overview

Chiefly family correspondence and manuscripts of articles by Sir Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), author, philosopher, and first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography. Included are the letters of his first wife, Harriet Marian (Thackeray) Stephen, daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray, and of his second wife, Julia Prinsep (Jackson) Duckworth Stephen, whose children included Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. Correspondence discusses visits to Cambridge, England, by Stephen in 1866, and 1869; almost yearly tours of Switzerland, especially the Alps, by Sir Leslie and Harriet Marian (Thackeray) Stephen after their marriage in 1867 until her death in 1875; a tour of America in 1868, where they met James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Sumner, and Elizabeth H. Putnam; meetings with George Otto Trevelyan, Henry Fawcett, Matthew Arnold, William Ernest Henley, and Alfred Tennyson; Stephen's opinion of a novel by Millicent Fawcett; and Stephen's biography of Henry Fawcett, the proceeds from his writings, and his work on the Dictionary of National Biography. Also included are a poem by Sir Henry Taylor written in 1864; report, 1895, of a committee for the establishment of a memorial to Thomas Henry Huxley; clipping, 1898, of a congratulatory letter to George Meredith on his seventieth birthday, with a note on Meredith by Stephen; report, 1900, concerning a memorial for Henry Sidgwick; several pages from the Proceedings of the Alpine Club, 1899, relating to the election of James Bryce as president, pages from The Cambridge Review, 1900, containing statements about James Porter, former master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge; proofs or printed copies of eight of Stephen's magazine articles; and twentyone manuscripts of articles by Stephen.

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The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.