Emory University acquires Ted Hughes' Personal Library

EMORY UNIVERSITY ACQUIRES LIBRARY OF LATE POET LAUREATE OF GREAT BRITAIN TED HUGHES

The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Emory University has acquired the library of the late poet laureate of Great Britain Ted Hughes. At the time of his death in 1998 Hughes was among Britain's leading literary figures and the author of dozens of critically-acclaimed collections of poems, including "The Hawk in the Rain," "Lupercal," "Wodwo" and "Crow." His 1998 collection, "Birthday Letters," chronicled his relationship with his first wife, the poet Sylvia Plath, and was an international bestseller as well as recipient of the Whitbread Book of the Year award. During the course of a distinguished life in letters, he also published many books for children, translations, a monumental critical study of Shakespeare, and other works.

The Hughes library, which numbers more than 6,000 volumes, offers students and scholars a detailed map of Hughes' own creative and intellectual development. In addition to many works of poetry by a wide literary circle (many inscribed to him by the author), the library also reflects Hughes' wide-ranging interests far beyond the field of literature. The library includes many works devoted to natural history, folklore, mysticism, religion, and esoteric knowledge, among other subjects.

The earliest books in the Hughes library date from his school days at the Mexborough Secondary School, including a pocket edition of Shakespeare's "Henry IV" as well as editions of Wordsworth and Keats which he read as a school boy. The copy of Robert Graves' "The White Goddess" presented by his English teacher on his going up to Cambridge also is included, as is the copy of Shakespeare which he read and reread while stationed at a remote RAF station in Yorkshire in the late-1940s. A number of the earliest books in the Hughes library contain sketches and notes in Hughes' hand.

Also of special interest are those books owned by Hughes and Plath during the years of their marriage. These include a study of nightmares which Plath presented to her husband as a Christmas gift in the first year of their marriage and a copy of Hart Crane's "Complete Poems" which Hughes inscribed to her. Plath often marked books as she read them, as revealed by her copies of D.H. Lawrence's "Kangaroo," Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" and "A Writer's Diary," Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment," and other works.

"The estate is very pleased that Emory University has acquired the poet's library. It was an essential criterion of the sale that the library should remain a single entity," says a spokesman for the Hughes estate.

"Uniting the library and the literary archives of the great poet, author and scholar Ted Hughes provides an invaluable resource for teaching and learning about not only his work, but about contemporary poetry as well. Emory is committed to investing in resources that expand knowledge in the arts and sciences and to making those resources available to students and researchers," says Emory Interim Provost Howard O. Hunter.

This acquisition unites the Ted Hughes library with the poet's literary archive which Emory acquired in 1997. The Robert W. Woodruff Library offers a competitive annual fellowship for researchers needing support to travel to Emory for work in these and other of the Library's literary collections.

Thanks to Claas Kazzer for this news item.