Month 6 (December 2011)

‘Before last Christmas I said I had neglected the feasts of the Church too much, and that I should probably be more prosperous if I paid more attention to them: so I hung up three pieces of ivy in my rooms on Xmas Eve. A few months afterwards I got the entail cut off my reversion, but I should hardly think there was much connection between the two things. Nevertheless I shall hang some holly up this year.’ –Samuel Butler, Notebooks

The sitting room at 15 Clifford's Inn, London

The sitting room at 15 Clifford's Inn, London

The website has gained two new mini-exhibitions this month, Samuel Butler and Photography and Samuel Butler and Music. These are designed as basic introductions to some of the themes in Butler’s life and work, and will hopefully link to real events and exhibitions in the future.

On Tuesday 20th December, a not-insubstantial session of technical slavery/wizardry culminated in the appearance of ‘Success!’ on the ‘database upload’ screen of the Janus website, and a whoop of joy was unleashed in the Rare Books Reading Room (there may also have been an air-punch, but that’s probably best left off-record). This unusual display of frivolity signalled that sections VII (music) and VIII (papers) of the catalogue are now fully accessible online.

VIII/26/7/12 - Christmas letter from Alfred Cathie to Henry Festing Jones

VIII/26/7/12 - Christmas letter from Alfred Cathie to Henry Festing Jones

There were some great, unexpected finds in section VIII – not least a set of autograph letters from the novelist E.M. Forster to Henry Festing Jones, my favourite of which begins: ‘I stole this paper. My mother is rather upset. Are you?’ (VIII/34/9). Various autograph letters from literary men such as George Bernard Shaw and Robert Graves, and evolutionists Alfred Russel Wallace and Francis Darwin, also feature.

Butler on an avalanche. Maienthal', 1894

Butler on an avalanche. Maienthal', 1894

I also had a fascinating glimpse of the Darwin archive at the University Library, when Dr Paul White from the Darwin Correspondence Project very kindly took the time to show me the original letters Samuel Butler sent to Charles Darwin between 1865 and 1880. The early letters, written when Butler was a self-professed supporter of Darwin’s work, are unusually open and personal compared to Darwin’s correspondence with other contemporary thinkers. It was surprising, then, to see the letters written in 1880, which underpin the notorious ‘controversy’ between Butler and Darwin. Their public argument had deeply personal consequences for both men, as these letters reveal, and Dr Alison Pearn (Associate Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project) will discuss them in detail at the Butler Day on Saturday 17 March.

Next month

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