Manuscripts
Department of Special Collections
Washington University Libraries
Washington University in St. Louis

Finding-Aid for the Ford Madox Ford Papers (WTU00046)

Finding aid prepared by:
Special Collections Staff

Summary Information

Title: Ford Madox Ford Papers
Creator: Ford, Ford Madox, 1873-1939
Inclusive dates: 1914-1939.
Extent: ca. 177 items
Call number: WTU00046
Language: English
Repository: Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO 63130

Access and Use:

Source of Collection:

Purchased from various book dealers and individuals.

Access Restrictions:

Open.

Use Restriction:

None

Users of the collections must read and abide by the Rules for the use of manuscript collection materials.

Users of the collections who wish to use items from this collection, in whole or in part, in any form of publication (as defined in the form) must sign and submit to the Washington University Department of Special Collections a hard copy of the Notification of intent publish manuscript collection materials form.

All publication not covered by fair use restricted to those who have permission of the copyright holder.

Copyright to significant portions of the collection held by David Meltzer

Processing Information:

Processed by Washington University Department Special Collections Staff January 1974. EAD encoded finding-aid complete July 2003.

Biography

Ford Madox Ford is one of the most important, but overlooked, literary figures of the early 20th centuruy. He was a poet and novelist who wrote more than 60 books, but he is remembered as much for his literary associations as for his own writings.

He was born Ford Madox Hueffer in Marton, England into a family of German artists and writers and began his writing career at an early age. Ford befriended Joseph Conrad and the two collaborated on three novels, The Inheritor (1903), Romance (1903), and The Nature of Crime (1924). His own early works were well-received and critics predicted a promising career for Ford. He founded The English Review in 1908 and published Conrad, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, H. G. Wells, T. S. Elliot, and others. After serving in Wolrd War I, Ford settled in Paris. There he founded The Transatlantic Review and introduced the work of James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway. Other authors of note with whom Ford was associated as editor or friend include Ezra Pound, D. H. Lawrence, Wyndham Lewis, and Gertrude Stein. He spent his later years in the United States and in France where he died in 1939.

While he is remembered most often for his friendships with Pound, Conrad, Joyce, and others, Ford was also a major force in the development of the modern English novel. He was especially adept at new techniques involving narration and the shifting of time within his works. These innovative approaches to writing are best seen in his most famous novels, The Good Soldier (1915) and a quartet of novels written between 1924 and 1928 which were gathered into one volume, Parades End (1950). Ford was a distinguished critic and wrote numerous essays, reviews, and monographs about contemporary art and literature.

Collection Scope and Content Note

Scope and Contents Note

This collection includes accessions 7870, 8420, 9290, 9590, 9760, 12790, 13150, 15670, and 16490. These accessions have been interfiled.

The most significant portion of Washington University's Ford Madox Ford Papers is the carbon typescript of A Little Less Than Gods (1928), Ford's novel of romance and adventure set in the Napoleonic Wars. This manuscript contains numerous revisions and corrections by him. The collection also contains several letters from Ford, primarily to Alfred H. Mendes, whose book Ford was helping to get published, as well as an autograph draft of the poem The Old Faith by Ford and several drafts and galleys of work from The Transatlantic Review with corrections by Ford. Also included are a large group of photocopies of scarce columns written by Ford for The Outlook between 1913-1915.

Subject Terms

• Ford, Ford Madox, 1873-1939
• Hueffer, Ford Madox, 1873-1939
• Adams, Leonie, 1899-
• Hunt, Violet, 1866-1942

Contents List

		Title
box-folder   1/1-2		I. Correspondence. 1914-1939. [series]: (14 items.)    Scope: Consists of correspondence by Violet Hunt and by Ford Madox Ford, arranged by author then chronologically.
box-folder   1/1		I.1. Correspondence from Violet Hunt. (2 items.)
		To Mr. Dibden. [Accession 9290.]
		[1914]:
box-folder   1/1		July 9, ((ALS, 4p))    Scope: South Lodge, Campden Hill Road, London. She asks him if he would care to handle the sale of some black and white drawings and sketches by Ford Madox Brown and two drawings by Rossetti. Signed "Violet Hunt Hueffer."
box-folder   1/1		December 4, ((ALS, 4p))    Scope: South Lodge, Campden Hill, Kensington. She expresses disappointment at prices fetched by the drawings and sketches. She feels that her father's works [Alfred Hunt] have been particularly undervalued. She asks him to see if he can get the figure raised.
box-folder   1/2		I.2. Correspondence from Ford Madox Ford. (12 items.)
		To J[ames] B[oliver] Manson, Director of the National Gallery, London. [Accession 7870.]
		1929:
box-folder   1/2		January 11, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: 32 Rue de Vaugirad, Paris. Thanks him for his comments on his Tietjens novels and complains about the critical reception of his work in England and about the general financial problems of the artist in British society.
		To Leonie [Adams].
		1929:
box-folder   1/2		May 31, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: 30 West 9th Street, New York City. Asks her to contact him, explains that he is moving, suggests they meet.
		To Winnie Winsom.
		1937:
box-folder   1/2		March 27, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: Ten Fifth Avenue, [New York]. Asks her to arrange a meeting before he leaves for the south in one month.
		To [Don] Purvis. [Accession 9590.]
		1937:
box-folder   1/2		June 17, ((ALS, 1p))    Scope: Allen Tate, Clarksville, Tenn. to Purvis, Washington, D.C. Apologizes for delay in sending the Nightingale.
		To Alfred H. Mendes. [Accession 8420.]
		1938:
box-folder   1/2		October 28, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: Ten Fifth Avenue, [New York]. Notes he plan to publish only first books by new authors but invites him to submit his book for possible referral to another publisher.
box-folder   1/2		November 18, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: Ten Fifth Avenue, [New York]. He has read Mendes' Black Fauns with great interest and would like to discuss it further.
		1939:
box-folder   1/2		January 4, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: Ten Fifth Avenue, [New York]. Ford has not yet written a preface to [Black Fauns] because he has yet to find a publisher for the book. Asks him to visit as his rheumatism prevents him from going out.
box-folder   1/2		January 19, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: Ten Fifth Avenue, [New York]. Reviews the publishing prospects for Black Fauns and suggests Mendes apply for a Houghton-Mifflin scholarship.
box-folder   1/2		March 9, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: Ten Fifth Avenue, [New York]. Ford continues to try to place Black Fauns. Asks for another copy to send round to publishers.
box-folder   1/2		March 30, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: Ten Fifth Avenue, [New York]. Ford has still not found a publisher for Black Fauns. Suggests that Mendes approach the Frederick Stokes Co. about the possibility of doing a topographical work for them, in line with his WPA work.
box-folder   1/2		April 26, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: Ten Fifth Avenue, [New York]. Agrees to write a preface to [Black Fauns]. (Portion of blank page cut from sheet).
box-folder   1/2		May 15, ((TLS, 1p))    Scope: Ten Fifth Avenue, [New York]. Scolds him for not telling him that [Black Fauns] is not yet placed, as his proposed Preface is difficult and time-consuming when publication is not assured. Instructs him to how to approach other publishers. Encloses a TL, 1p., May 15, 1939 letter of admiration for the book that Mendes may show to publishers.
box-folder   1/3-4, 2/10-14		II. Miscellany. [series]: (3 items.)
box-folder   1/3		Paintings of Provence by BIALA with originals of illustrations for Ford Madox Ford's Provence , April 25 - May 9. Gallery of Georgette Passedoit... New York, etc. [1935]. (1 item.)    Scope: Includes list of works shown, and note on Biala by Pierre Lamure. Printed sheet folded, with autograph note by Ford of invitation ot he gallery across the sheet. Signed.
box-folder   1/3		Autograph note of new address, phone, etc. on Ford Madox Ford letterhead, Ten Fifth Avenue. 1p. (1 item.)
box-folder   1/4		Press release. [Accession. 8420.] (1 item.)    Scope: Ts [duplicated], 2p. Announcing formation of The Society of the Friends of William Carlos Williams, and stating the next meeting would be in honour of Edward Dahlberg. Includes list of selected members of the society.
box-folder   2/10		The Only Gifted Uncle of the Gifted Young . [Accession 15670.] (2 items.)    Scope: Ts[x], 24 pages.
box-folder   2/11		Photograph of Janice Biala painting of Ford. [Accession 15670.] (1 item.)
box-folder   2/12		Photocopies of newsclippings and magazine articles about Ford from Janice Biala's files. [Accession 15670.] (ca. 45 items.)
box-folder   2/13-14		Photocopies of newsclippings by and about Ford Madox Ford. [Accession 16490.] (ca. 148 items.)    Scope: Photocopies of newsclippings from Daily Mail, The Tribune, The Outlook, and others.
box-folder   1/5		III. Poem Draft. [series]: (1 item.)
box-folder   1/5		The Old Faith . (1 item.)    Scope: Autograph draft, with corrections and revisions. By Ford Madox Hueffer in unidentified hand at close of poem. Single sheet folded, 2p.
box-folder   1/6-7		IV. Works by Others. n.d. [series]: (3 items.)    Scope: Consists of work by Luke Ionides. [Accession 9760.]
box-folder   1/6		Ionides, Luke. Memories . (1 item.)    Scope: no. 1. Whistler in the Quartier Latin. Appeared in Transatlantic Review, Vol.1, no. 1, January 1924.
box-folder   1/6		Ionides, Luke. Memories . (1 item.)    Scope: Galley proof, corrected, with printer's marks. Incomplete; breaks off at p. 48 as it appeared in the Transatlantice Review. Galleys dated 12 November 1923. Includes typed note on galley 2 [by Ford] about retunring the proofs.
box-folder   1/7		Ionides, Luke. Memories . (1 item.)    Scope: no. 2. William Morris and Richard Wagner. Appeared in Transatlantice Review, Vol. 1, no. 2, February 1924.
box-folder   1/8		V. Newspaper Column. 1913-1915 [series]: (ca. 88 items.)    Scope: Consists of photocopies of Ford's column, July 5, 1913 - June 26, 1915 in The Outlook. [Accession 12790.]
box-folder   1/9		VI. Novel Draft. 1928. [series]: (1 item.)    Scope: Consists of A Little Less Than Gods. [Accession 13150.]
box-folder   1/9		A Little Less Than Gods . (1 item.)    Scope: A romance novel. Bound in two volumes. Typescript, typescript carbon text, with corrections and revisions by Ford, ca. 312 pages. Various paper, type, and carbon used throughout.