Harman Grisewood Papers

Christmas card for 1960 lettered by David Jones and sent to Harman Grisewood. Jones writes on the back an explanation of the inscription: "Mulier cantat from Joyce's Portrait of the Artist . . . Ego quasi etc, from Ecclesiasticus XXIV, 41. Middle English bit from Dunbar. The Welsh at the left margin means Deus erat Verbum and the word-order is the same as in Latin. But the Welsh at the top margin has a different word-order and reads: 'and became the Word in flesh'."

Among the library's most celebrated manuscript collections are those dealing with Catholicism and literature. Last year another important archive was acquired-papers of the noted author and broadcast director, Harman Grisewood of Suffolk, England. This recently processed collection is now open to researchers.

Mr. Grisewood began his long association with the BBC in 1929 as a member of its repertory company. He subsequently held a variety of positions: announcer, assistant director of program planning, acting controller of the European Division (during World War II) and in 1948 he became controller of the legendary Third Programme. This was followed by the directorship of the Spoken Word, and from 1955 until his retirement in 1964 he was the chief assistant to the director-general of the BBC.

But the collection centers on the extensive correspondence he received from three close friends and fellow Catholics: the poet and painter, David Jones, author of In Parenthesis; René Hague, printer, artist and son-in-law of Eric Gill; and Christopher Sykes, novelist and biographer of Evelyn Waugh. The library already houses the Sykes papers, so happily both sides of this unique correspondence are now united.

The David Jones portion of the archive is of special interest, comprising a rich assortment of materials valuable for any study of this profound and complex figure. It consists of more than a dozen letters by Jones; a long series from Grisewood to Jones; numerous original sketches and manuscripts, including a typescript of an early text of The Anathemata with nine full pages of Jones's manuscript corrections; galley pages for a section of In Parenthesis, heavily corrected by the author; and a lengthy series of letters about Jones from various friends: Tom Burns, Kenneth Clark, Douglas Cleverdon, T.S. Eliot, Philip Hagreen, Walter Shewring, Michael Richey, John Rothenstein, and Nancy Sandars.