Author: Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890.
Title: Edwards H. Metcalf manuscript collection of Sir
Richard Francis Burton, circa 1846-1939 (bulk 1871-1896)
Description: 1489 pieces.
46 boxes, also, five bound volumes.
Notes: Sir Richard Francis Burton, (1821- 90), English
explorer, writer, and linguist. From 1842 to 1871, he pursued
military and diplomatic careers, serving in the East India
Company's army, with Beatson's Horse in Crimea, and the
Foreign Office, as the consul at Fernando Po, West Africa,
and then at Santos, Brazil and Damascus, Syria. In 1872 he
was appointed to the British consulate at Trieste, the post
that he held until his death in 1890. Burton is remembered
for numerous accounts of his many travels in India, Arabian
Peninsula, Africa, the United States, and South America. A
polyglot and accomplished linguist, Burton was known for his
translations from many languages, and for his interest in
erotica.
In 1861, Burton married Isabel Arundell. Lady
Burton often accompanied her husband on his many travels and
used her connections in assisting him in his complicated
relations with the Foreign Office, academics, and publishers.
She was the author of the Inner Life of Syria (1876), A.E.I.
Arabia, Egypt, India (1879), and other works. A devout
Catholic, she was opposed to her husband's infatuation with
erotica, and after Burton's death, burned all his
(3z(Bcompromising(3y(B manuscripts. In the 1890 and until
her death of cancer in 1896, she worked with Leonard C.
Smithers, Henry & Co., and other publishers on the posthumous
editions of Burton's works.
Edwards Huntington Metcalf , grandson of Henry E.
Huntington. An avid collector, Edwards H. Metcalf served on
the Board of Overseers of the Huntington Library from 1978
until his death in 2001.
Collection of Burtoniana -- correspondence,
manuscripts, research papers, and ephemera -- assembled by
Edwards H. Metcalf over more than thirty years. The
collection contains personal, official, business, and social
correspondence and manuscripts of Sir Richard Francis Burton
and Lady Isabel Burton, chiefly covering the period of
Burton's consulship in Trieste and Lady Burton's life after
her husband's death.
Buton's correspondence covers his consular
service in Trieste; trips to Iceland (1872 and 1875), North
Italy (1874), India (1876), Midian (1877 and 1878) and the
Gold Coast; his business interests, especially his
involvement with James Irvine's gold mining enterprise; views
of domestic and international politics, including the
situation in the Balkans, and his literary pursuits, in
particular his work on the books about Midian and Gold Coast
and the translation of Camoens. Correspondents include
explorers, authors, and scholars -- George R. Fitz-Roy Cole,
Verney Lovett Cameron, Friedrich Wilhelm Paul Storck, James
Pincherle, Robert Bruce Napoleon Walker, Sir Henry Yule, and
others; James Irvine and other officials, representatives,
and investors of African Gold Coast Syndicate and the Guinea
Coast Gold Mining Company; geologists, assayers, and
engineers -- Georges Marie, J.H. Murchison, etc;, Egyptian
authorities of the administration of Khedive Ismail, and
editors and publishers -- Grattan Geary, William Forsell
Kirby, John Tinsley, Kegan Paul & Co., and others.
Burton's manuscripts includes his published and
unpublished works, research papers, and drafts, mostly
written in the 1870s and 1880s, including the voluminous
materials pertaining to his work on the translation of
Camoens. Among the unpublished writings are "The Eastern
Coast of South America" (1865), translations of "Ladislaus
Magyar : His residence in South Africa. From the German of
Prof. Johann Hunfalvy," "Roland the Rageful," Burton's
translation of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, "Original Tale of a
Tub from the Secchia Rapita of AlessandroTassoni,"
Giambattista Basil's "Neapolitan Muse," etc. There are also a
few miscellaneous notes pertaining to his translation of the
Arabian Nights.
The bulk of the correspondence of Lady Isabel
Burton consists of letters to her from Leonard C. Smithers,
dealing with editing (including the expurgation of "coarse"
expressions in Sir Richard's erotic writings), production,
copyright, royalties, property rights, and projected sales of
various works of Sir Richard Burton and Lady Isabel Burton.
Other correspondents include Albert Tootal, James Hain
Friswell, Oliver Notcutt, Henry & Co., Chapman & Hall, Harry
S. Nichols, A. Teixiera de Mattos, and others.
Also included is a collection of research papers
and correspondence of Thomas Wright, a biographer of Burton
and John Payne. Included are letters (some in copies) to John
Payne from Burton, Algernon Swinburne, Theodore Watts-Dutton
and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and letters from Payne to Lady
Elizabeht Lewis and Thomas Wright.
The collection also contains correspondence and
manuscripts of A. R. Allinson (b. 1872), a classical scholar
and translator who worked with Charles Carrington (Paul Harry
Ferdinando, 1867-1921). Carrington commissioned an edition of
Burton's translation of Apuleius's Golden Ass; the edition
never came out.
Some pieces are in French, Italian, Latin,
German, Arabic, Urdu, Persian, and Hebrew.
Gift of the estate of Edwards H. Metcalf, 2001.
The bulk of the collection was acquired by Mr.
Metcalf at two Sotheby's sales, in 1963 and 1965, featured
the property of R.J.R. Arundell who had inhertined them from
Lady Burton. Smaller groups and individual items came from
various booksellers in Britain and the United States,
including Spink & Son, Ltd, Maggs Brothers, David
Bickersteth, Howard S. Mott, III, John Shroeder, Argus
Bookshop, David Magee Bookshop, Bennett & Marshall, Bernard
Rota, and others.The collection of papers of A.R. Allinson
was purchased from Robert W. Mann in 1979.
Unpublished finding aid available in repository.
Subjects: Ariosto, Lodovico, 1474-1533. Orlando Furioso --
Translations into English.
Basile, Giambattista, ca. 1575-1632 --
Translations into English.
Burton, Isabel, Lady, 1831-1896 -- Archives.
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890 --
Archives.
Camões, Luís de, 1524?-1580 -- Translations
into English.
Magyar, László, 1818-1864. Reisen in
Süd-Afrika in den Jahren 1849 bis 1857 -- Translations into
English.
Payne, John, 1842-1916.
Smithers, Leonard C. (Leonard Charles), 1861-1907
-- Correspondence.
Tassoni, Alessandro, 1565-1635. La secchia rapita
-- Translations into English
Great Britain. Consulate (Trieste, Italy)
Arabian Nights -- Translation into Engliash.
Arabists -- Great Britain -- Correspondence.
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Archives.
Authors' spouses -- Great Britain -- Archives.
Authors and publishers -- Great Britain --
Correspondence.
Biographers -- Great Britain -- Correspondence.
Catholic women -- Great Britain -- Archives.
Consuls -- Great Britain -- Correspondence.
Diplomats' spouses -- Great Britain -- Archives.
Erotic literature -- Publishing -- Great Britain
-- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Explorers -- Great Britain -- Archives.
Gold mines and mining -- Arabian Peninsula
Gold mines and mining -- Ghana.
Italian language -- Study and teaching -- Great
Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Latin language -- Study and teaching -- Great
Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Lawyers -- Great Britain -- Correspondence.
Linguists -- Great Britain -- Archives.
Orientalists -- Europe -- Correspondence.
Poets -- Great Britain -- Archives.
Portuguese language -- Study and teaching --
Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Scholars -- Great Britain -- Correspondence.
Scientists -- Great Britain -- Correspondence.
Translators -- Great Britain -- Archives.
Travelers' writings, English.
Women authors, English -- 19th century --
Archives.
Africa, West -- Discovery and exploration.
Arabian Peninsula -- Discover and exploration.
Balkan Peninsula -- History -- 19th century --
Sources.
Brazil -- Description and travel.
Egypt -- History -- Ismail, 1863-1879 --
Sources.
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901
-- Sources.
Iceland -- Description and travel.
Italy, Northern -- Description and travel.
Trieste (Italy)
Business letters -- Great Britain -- 19th
century. aat
Collections -- United States -- 20th century.
aat
Legal correspondence -- Great Britain -- 20th
century. aat
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 19th
century. aat
Manuscripts -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
aat
Poems -- Great Britain -- 19th century. aat
Personal papers -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
aat
Professional papers -- Great Britain -- 19th
century. aat
Translations -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
aat
Circa 1846-1939.
1939.
Other authors: Allinson, A. R. (Alfred Richard)
Ariosto, Lodovico, 1474-1533. Orlando Furioso
Apuleius. Metamorphosis
Basile, Giambattista, ca. 1575-1632
Burton, Isabel, Lady, 1831-1896
Cameron, Verney Lovett.
Camões, Luís de, 1524?-1580.
Carrington, Charles, addressee.
Cole, George R. Fitz-Roy.
Ismail, Khedive of Egypt, 1830-1895.
Hunfalvy, János, 1820-1888, trans.
Kirby, W. F. (William Forsell), 1844-1912.
Magyar, László, 1818-1864. Reisen in
Süd-Afrika in den Jahren 1849 bis 1857.
Marie, Georges.
Metcalf, Edwards H. (Edwards Huntington), donor.
Murchison, J. H.
Notcutt, Oliver.
Payne, John, 1842-1916.
Pincherle, James.
Smithers, Leonard C. (Leonard Charles),
1861-1907
Storck, Friedrich Wilhelm Paul, 1829-1905.
Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 1837-1909.
Tassoni, Alessandro, 1565-1635. La secchia
rapita.
Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander, 1865-1921
Tinsley, John.
Tootal, Albert.
Walker, R. B. N. (Robert Bruce N.)
Yule, Henry, Sir, 1820-1889.
Guinea Coast Gold Mining Company.
Other authors: African Gold Coast Syndicate.
C. Kegal Paul & Co. Publishers.
John F. Henry & Co.
Location: Huntington Library, Manuscripts Dept., 1151
Oxford Rd., San Marino, CA 91108. mss RFB1 - 1489 CID=OAT
Control No.: CSHV05-A10058