Poetry Book Society records
Collection
0042-LIT
The Poetry Book Society was founded in 1953 under the auspices of the Arts Council of Great Britain to foster the art of poetry and to promote the work of contemporary poets. It continued to operate as recently as 2005. The society mails subscribers a book of poetry quarterly, accompanied by a Bulletin containing a contribution from the selected poet of the quarter. The collection includes proofs and issues of the society's Bulletin, typescripts, and correspondence between contributing poets and Charles Osborne, assistant secretary of the society. Among the significant figures represented are Barry Cole, Martin Dodsworth, Douglas Dunn, Thomas Kinsella, Geoffrey Grigson, Thom Gunn, John Fuller, David Harsent, Seamus Heaney, and David Holbrook.
This collection is open for research.
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0.25 Linear Feet
The Poetry Book Society records span the years from 1962 to 1970. The collection is comprised of correspondence between Charles Osborne and poets contributing to the Bulletin, typescripts and manuscripts, and short biographical notes written by the poets for inclusion in the Bulletin. There is also correspondence related to the administration of the society, proofs, copies of Bulletins, and material related to the International Poetry Festivals of 1967 and 1969, which the society organized.
The Poetry Book Society was founded in December 1953, under the auspices of the Arts Council of Great Britain, its purpose to "further the education of the people of this country by fostering and propagating the art of poetry and particularly by promoting knowledge, appreciation and enjoyment of the published work of contemporary poets." The first directors of the society included B. H. Blackwell, Joseph Compton, R. N. David, T. S. Eliot, Sir George Rostrevor Hamilton, and Erica Marx. Eric W. White became the society's first secretary. For further information about the society's beginnings, see Poetry Book Society: The First Twenty-Five Years, 1954-1978, by Eric W. White (London, 1979: Poetry Book Society).
Charles Osborne, assistant secretary of the society in the period represented in the Archives of the Poetry Book Society, was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1927. He published more than fifteen works on opera and several novelizations of Agatha Christie stage plays. His best known work is W. H. Auden: The Life of a Poet (Harcourt, 1979).
The Poetry Book Society celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 2003. It continues to publish a quarterly Bulletin which is mailed along with a selected poetry book to subscribers. It also sells poetry books, offers poetry education programs and materials for teachers, and awards the annual T. S. Eliot Prize for poetry. The society is based in London. Its web site is http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk (last accessed October 2005).
The collection is organized as three series.
The University of Maryland Libraries purchased thethe Poetry Book Society records on August 1, 1973.
Before reprocessing in 2005, the arrangement of the collection included three series: Series I: Correspondence; Series II: The Poets; and Series III: Miscellaneous. Series I contained intra-organizational memoranda and correspondence between staff members of the Poetry Book Society, while correspondence between the society and contributing poets was included in Series II. That series, arranged alphabetically by poet, also contained manuscripts. In 2005, all correspondence was moved into a single series and a second series for manuscripts was established. Manuscript material was separated from correspondence for Barry Cole, Martin Dodsworth, Douglas Dunn, John Fuller, Geoffrey Grigson, David Harsent, John Hewitt, David Holbrook, Glyn Hughes, Thomas Kinsella, R. S. Thomas, and Peter Whigham. Material originally filed in Series III: Miscellaneous was redistributed between the two series created for correspondence and manuscripts, and a third series, Publications, was created for issues and proofs of the Bulletin that had been housed in a single folder.
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives