Walpole, Hugh

Comprising: i) "The Cathedral," autograph synopsis ("It attempts...to give a history of a certain group of people and at the same time to be a comment on English life and beyond that a philosophy of life itself..."), signed "HW," occasional corrections, nine pages, four pages on Vanity Fair stationery, 2 January 1920; ii) "Letter XIII The Future of the English Novel," autograph essay ("...It is generally conceded I believe that there has been no period in English Literature when the average level of the novel has stood so high as it does now..."), signed "HS Walpole," eleven pages, all but two pages on Multnomah Hotel, Oregon stationery, 26 January 1920; iii) 'Lecturing in America', autograph essay reflecting on his first US lecture tour ("Many famous men from Dickens and Thackeray downwards gave given their opinions of this lecture adventure..."), signed "Hugh Walpole", scattered deletions, five pages, 26 January 1920; iv) "The Rose Tree in the Night," autograph synopsis ("This tale — it is that above everything else - is a modern Arabian night..."), signed "Hugh Walpole," nine pages, 12 February 1923; v) "The Crusaders, I: The Adventure of Mrs Farbman," incomplete autograph manuscript draft, scattered revisions and deletions, fifteen pages, [c.1925]; all 4to (11 x 8½ in.; 280 x 216 mm. and smaller); some light soiling and minor creasing. Red brown morocco chemise gilt and morocco-backed box.

acquisition: Rosenbach

Dating from the 1920s, Walpole's most productive creative period, where he completed at least one book each year even as he undertook extensive US lecture tours, travelling by train between each engagement. A "brilliant raconteur" (ODNB), Walpole completed five lecture tours in all; a number of these manuscripts date from his first such trip during 1919-1920.