Background on Wallace Stevens
One of America's most distinctive modernist poets and one of the most challenging, Wallace Stevens was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 1879. Entering Harvard as an undergraduate in 1897, Stevens immersed himself in the college's slender literary scene, however his family's financial straits obliged him to leave without a degree in 1900. Delaying, but not dampening his desire for a career in writing, Stevens soon landed a position at the New York Evening Post, but just as soon, he grew restless and bored and abandoned journalism. Instead, he followed his father's advice, taking a law degree at New York School of Law in 1903 and settling into the staid life of a specialist in insurance law. As he began working his way through law firms in New York City, he married Elsie Viola Kachel in Sept. 1909.
Although he appears to have written sparingly while in New York, Stevens indulged in the artistic and literary scene and returned bit by bit to poetry. As his legal career led him away from the city to the suburbs of Hartford, Connecticut, and a position with the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company (1916), Stevens began to publish in small magazines, leading to his first volume of poetry in 1923. Published when Stevens was already 44 years old, Harmoniumwas initially little noticed and not particularly well received critically, however several pieces have become central to the canon on which Stevens' reputation lies, including "Sunday morning," "Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird," and "The emperor of ice cream."
In Hartford, Stevens continued to produce slowly, with his second book, Ideas of order, not appearing until 1933 (with a revision and expansion in 1935). Its appearance, however, sparked the critical attention that Harmoniumdid not. Although sometimes criticized for obscurantism and disconnection with events of the world, his work was lauded for its philosophical richness and complex thought about imagination and reality, ideas that he pursued in later writing.
As Stevens entered his seventies, he was increasingly recognized as one of America's most important contemporary poets, receiving a succession of prizes and honorary degrees, including the Bollingen Prize for Poetry (1949), the Frost Medal of the Poetry Society of America (1951), the National Book Award (1951 and 1955), and the Pulitzer Prize (1955). Diagnosed with stomach cancer in March 1955, he succumbed on August 2, 1955, and is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford.
Scope of collection
Touching on poetry, criticism, and books, the collection consists primarily of letters received by the poet Wallace Stevens along with 35 annotated volumes from his personal library. Among the correspondents represented are Charles Tomlinson, Jean Wahl, Conrad Aiken, and the art collector and Stevens' close friend Henry Church, and there are retained copies of three letters from Stevens: two regarding an honorary degree at Harvard, and one to Tomlinson declining to respond to Tomlinson's analysis of "The comedian as the letter C."
Notes on the Stevens Library CollectionNotes and correspondence found in admin files in 2566 files cabinets indicate the Wallace Stevens Library is of questionable archival integrity. Reference correspondence by UMass Amherst Librarian Benton Hatch to a researcher in 1969 notes that "Since Mr. Stevens did not use a book-plate, and in only one instance signed his name, and since the dealer added subject-wise related material from his own stock, any listing, even if it would now be possible to achieve, would be valueless because it would be unprovable. It was for the above reasons that no list was attempted when the purchase was made."
A second instance of a Stevens' ownership signature and a few more volumes with annotations in Stevens' hand have since been discovered. There are now 35 titles in the UMass catalog with a searchable collection title of "Wallace Stevens' Library." These 35 have evidence that they were in fact owned by Stevens. A typescript list found in the admin file has 40 titles plus 4 runs of periodicals. Six of the titles on the list are Stevens' own works, five with no indication that they were his copies, and the sixth is a rare copy of the suppressed 1952 Fortune Press edition of "Selected Poems" which was donated to the library by Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Hopkins III. Three of the periodicals on that list may or may not have been owned by Stevens. The fourth, "New Verse," has a renewal invoice to Stevens bound in.
Below is a transcription of handwritten notes in the admin file, unsigned and undated, but presumably mid-1980s or later (Stevens d.1955 plus 30 years), possibly written by John Kendall:
Some thirty years ago, the library acquired from a bookseller a selection of books from the library of the poet Wallace Stevens, most of them serviceable copies of titles such as would be likely to be found in the working library of a scholar in literature or some related field in the humanities. Most of these volumes carried no evidence of their having belonged to Stevens, and were altogether unidentifiable as such (he did not generally even write his name in his books), so that his estate saw no reason not to dispose of the collection as an ordinary second-hand scholarly library. Along with the books, the library acquired duplicate copies of periodicals containing writings by or about Stevens, and a few papers, mostly correspondence to Stevens, often "laid in" the books. Apparently these latter items were overlooked or were thought by the estate to be without value.
On close inspection of the individual volumes in the process of cataloging, however, librarians here discovered some annotations, generally sparse, often consisting of underlinings, vertical lines in margins of texts, a few words on dust jacket flaps; there were 22 such volumes. All of these, together with the other Stevens items, were placed in Special Collections. There they were catalogued too late for the first edition (1960) of American Literary Manuscripts, a guide to the location of the papers of American literary authors, but when the second edition was compiled in the '70's, the University of Massachusetts Stevens materials were reported there; it was published in 1977. The late Peter Brazeau, a professor of English at St. Joseph's College in West Hartford, and a Stevens scholar, followed up on the first notice to the scholarly world of these Stevens materials (the bulk of Stevens's literary remains are at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California) and was sufficiently impressed with their potential importance to prepare a listing of them which he published in the Wallace Stevens Journal (Spring, 1978). Since that time, a fairly steady stream of scholarly inquiries and visits has developed. During the past two years, no fewer than four major studies of Wallace Stevens have made use of the University of Massachusetts materials:
The collection consists of some 20-odd volumes from Stevens's library and annotated by him, presentation copies of books of others to him, over 100 periodical appearances of writings by or about Stevens (26 of them not listed in the standard Stevens bibliography), and seven folders of correspondence, mostly letters to him (often formal or ceremonial, but sometimes substantive) but including three by him.
There is also a list compiled by Royann Hanson of 26 article citations, titled "Not Listed in Edelstein", which are presumably the 26 items not in the "standard Stevens bibliography" mentioned in the transcribed notes.
Inventory
Manuscripts and miscellaneous
1900-1973
Aiken, Conrad Potter
1935 Jan. 5
Folder 1
On interesting J.M. Dent in republishing Harmonium; Dent are interested in having Stevens contribute a long poem
Babb, James T.
1950 Mar.
Letter, press release, photograph, newsclippings
Folder 2
Re: winning the Bollingen Prize
Bewley, Marius
1952 Dec. 2-9
2 TLsS
Folder 3
Re: assembling a volume as a tribute to Adlai Stevenson's campaign
Book purchases, invoices, etc.
1921-1949
15 items
Folder 4
Brown, John L.
1953 Feb. 2
Folder 5
Sending his piece of Stevens written for Panorama (in French), asking for comments
Catalogue of Recent Paintings by Vanessa Bell, with a foreword by Virginia Woolf
1934 Mar.
Folder 6
With letter of transmittal by D. McDonald
Church, Henry
1943 May 5
Folder 7
French writers in war torn Africa. "When one gets in to 'fictions' it is difficult to know where to stop. God may be a fiction as well as man. The double fiction, Wallace Stevens, Lawyer and poet is creating by means of fictions a means to discover a supreme fiction which will lead us to that other supreme fiction: Truth, whether we like it or not."
Colophon: A book collector's quarterly
1930-1939
Folder 8
Eaton, Walter Prichard
1933 May 31
Folder 9
Letter from Eaton to C. B. Dana of Yale with note to Stevens asking "Why don't you take over the Cair on Kewats & Shelley?"
Ford, Charles Henry: The half-thoughts [Prospero Pamphlets, no. 1]
1947
Folder 10
Graham, W.S.: The voyages of Alfred Wallis. New York : Wittenborn and Co.
1948
Folder 11
Gruen, John
1954 Nov. 20-Dec. 9
2 items
Folder 12
On Vincent Perischetti's Harmonium; invitation to performance of Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird
Guthrie, James: Grasshopper Broadsides, no. 2, 4, 8
1942-1945
3 items
Folder 13
Hammer, Victor
1948 Jan. 17
Folder 14
Asking for help in obtaining uninked typewriter ribbon for binding books
Harrigan, Anthony: A poem by Anthony Harrigan printed for his friends
1948 Dec. 25
Folder 15
Harvard University
1951 Mar.-June
17 items
Folder 16
McAlmon, Robert
undated
Folder 17
Re: formatting Stevens' poems in an anthology; "Marianne Moore said she didn't deserve the 1st page and that P... All we mean is something worth attention that is not derivative and nothing but -- or emotional gush and nothing but --"
Miscellaneous and unidentified
1917-1953
6 items
Folder 18
Miscellaneous printed material
1902-1978
12 items
Folder 19
Moore, Merrill
1938 Apr. 4-1939 Apr. 7
2 letters
Folder 20
Sending a review of a book on life insurance medicine
Moore, Nicholas
1942-05-18
Folder 21
Enclosing a copy of the anthology: "Its appearance as a book rather than as a magazine is due to war-time conditions.."
Murphy, Deacon
1944-10-23
Folder 22
Announcing election to the St. Nicholas Society and next meeting.
Photographs and prints
1804-1922
5 items
Folder 23
Map of Ceylon (1804); lithographed holiday greetings from Erhard Weyhe and Carl Zigrosser; photograph of subway construction, 1909; photograph of birds
Picken, N. S.
1938 Mar. 2-1939 Mar. 7
2 letters
Folder 24
Sending tea and postcards from Ceylon
Poggioli, Renato
ca.1954
Postcard
Folder 25
Invitation to talk on Stevens' work.
Postcards
1917-1952
Folder 26
Quinn, Sister Bernetta
1950 July 15
Folder 27
Sending typescript of "Metamorphosis in Wallace Stevens" for comments
Rieser, Max
1942 Mar. 11
Folder 28
Roberts, Michael
1935 July 13-Aug. 16
Letter and postcard
Folder 29
Wishes to use four of Stevens' poems in an anthology
Schoen, Eugene
1939 Jan. 14
Letter and offprint of article
Folder 30
Soliciting for architectural and design services
Stevens, Elsie Viola
1927 May 8
Telegram
Folder 31
Sweeney, Maire
1953 Mar. 13
Folder 32
Has received gladly the seven poems he sent, including the Irish Cliffs of Moher
Tomlinson, Charles
1951 June 25-July 3
Letter and reply
Folder 33
Sending his essay on Stevens' "The comedian as the letter C": "Oley sounds delightful. There are a few places like it in England still. But the English -- even the country people -- have been rolled out into a pretty grey puritanical consistency and what the industrial revolution began, the ubiquitous radio set will finish off. An accord with unrealities and a national genius for uglification is destroying England."
Tomlinson, Charles: 'Credences of summer: A commentary on Wallace Stevens'
ca.1951
Folder 34
Tomlinson, Charles: 'Wallace Stevens'
ca.1951
Folder 35
Tucker, Robert
1954 July 21
Folder 36
Sending brochure on National Association of Educational Broadcasters "New England Anthology" radio program
Van Doren, Irita
1954 Oct. 29
Folder 37
Van Guppel, Leonard
1938 July 7
Folder 38
Has received the books and will send choice tea. Has not been to America and has "long since seen the futility of promising myself anything so costly as a sea trip these disastrous days."
Viereck, Peter
1951
3 items
Folder 39
Inscribed offprints of poems
Wahl, Jean
ca.1944-1947
2 letters
Folder 40
Wendell, Barrett letter to Oswald Garrison Villard
1900 June 4
Folder 41
Letter of introduction for Stevens, seeking "to engage in some occupation related to journalism or to literature."
Zaturenska, Marya: Summer to Lapland. S.l. : s.n.
1938
Folder 42
Wallace Stevens Library
1902-1965
35 items
Adams, H. P. (Henry Packwood): The life and writings of Giambattista Vico / by H. P. Adams. London : G. Allen & Unwin
1935
B 3583 .A3 1935
UMass Amherst Special Collections has Wallace Stevens' copy with some marginal notes, side lining and underscoring in pencil, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket and other notes on a sheet, captioned "From the desk of Wallace Stevens," laid in.
Anacreon: Greek songs in the manner of Anacreon / translated by Richard Aldington. London : The Egoist
1919
PA 3865 .E5 1919
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy is Wallace Stevens' copy with a marginal annotation in his hand.
Aristotle: Aristotle's Art of poetry : a Greek view of poetry and drama / with an introduction and explanations by W. Hamilton Fyfe. Oxford : The Clarendon Press
1940
PN 1040 .A5 F9 1940
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with some underlining and side lining in pencil, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket. Bywater, Ingram, 1840-1914, translator.
Bateson, Frederick Wilse, 1901-1978: English poetry and the English language : an experiment in literary history / by F. W. Bateson. Oxford : Clarendon Press
1934
PR 502 .B3 1934
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with some side lining and underscoring in pencil, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket.
Berdyaev, Nikolai, 1874-1948: Solitude and society / Nicolas Berdyaev ; [translated from the Russian by George Reavey]. London : G. Bles : The Centenary Press
1938
B 4238 .B43 I23 1938
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy is Wallace Stevens' copy with notes in his hand on front fly-leaf.
Blake, Melissa: A book for Wallace Stevens / from Melissa Blake. Big Sur, Calif. : [publisher not identified]
undated
PS 3552 .L3486 B6 +
Blake, Melissa: Creatures of the Big Sur / by Melissa Blake. [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1953].
1953
PS 3552 .L3486 C7 1953
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: author's signed autograph presentation inscription to Wallace Stevens on verso of front wrapper.
Blum, Etta: Poems / Etta Blum. New York : Golden Eagle Editions
1937
PS 3503 .L85 P6 1937
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: author's autograph presentation copy to Wallace Stevens, dated 9/25/37.
Burckhardt, Jacob, 1818-1897: Reflections on history / [by] Jakob Burckhardt. Translated by M.D.H.. London : G. Allen & Unwin ltd.
1943
D 16.8 .B813 1943
UMass Amherst Special Collections has Wallace Stevens' copy with some side lining in pencil, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket.
Butcher, S. H. (Samuel Henry), 1850-1910: Harvard lectures on Greek subjects / by S. H. Butcher. London, New York : Macmillan and co., limited : The Macmillan company
1904
DF 77 .B95 1904
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with his signature on front fly-leaf, dated "Fordham Heights / April, 1907."
Coulton, G. G. (George Gordon), 1858-1947: Europe's apprenticeship ; a survey of Medieval Latin with examples. London, New York : T. Nelson
1940
PA 2815 .C6 1940
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy is Wallace Stevens' copy with some side lining and underscoring in pencil, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket.
Croce, Benedetto, 1866-1952: The defence of poetry : variations on the theme of Shelley / by Benedetto Croce; the Philip Maurice Deneke lecture delivered at Lady Margaret hall, Oxford, on the 17th of October 1933, translated by E.F. Carritt. Oxford : The Clarendon Press
1933
PN 1031 .C7 1933
UMass Amherst Special Collections' copy is Wallace Stevens' copy with some underlining and side lining in pencil and a note in his hand inside back wrapper.
Focillon, Henri, 1881-1943: The life of forms in art / by Henri Focillon ... Translated by Charles Beecher Hogan and George Kubler. New Haven : Yale University Press; London : H. Milford, Oxford University Press
1942
BH 202 .F63 1942
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with side lining and underscoring in pencil, marginal notes, and other notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket. Laid in is a picture postcard addressed to Wallace Stevens from Walter Pach, dated: Av. Michoacan 81, Mexico, January 27, 1943.
Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939: The future of an illusion / [by] Sigmund Freud. Translated by W. D. Robson-Scott. London : Published by L. & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth press and the Institute of psycho-analysis
1928
BL 53 .F67 1928
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with a little side lining in pencil, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket.
Green, F. C. (Frederick Charles), 1891-1964: Stendhal. Cambridge [England] : The University Press
1939
PQ 2436 .G7 1939
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with some underlining, side lining, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket.
: New verse. [London] : [G. Grigson]
1933-1939
PR 500 .N4
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy is Wallace Stevens' set with a receipted invoice bound in.
: Ten poets anthology / [edited by Anthony Harrigan]. East Dorset, Vt. : Anthony Harrigan, Publisher
ca.1965
PS 614 .H3
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy is #79, with editor/publisher's signed autograph presentation inscription to Wallace Stevens on verso of front wrapper.
Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus), 1776-1822: Mademoiselle de Scudéry & Salvator Rosa / [Traduit de l'Allemand par Loève-Veimars ... illustré par François-Martin Salvat]. Paris : Enseigne du Pot Cassé
1929
PT 2361 .F5 F8 1929
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy is Wallace Stevens' copy with a note in his hand on leaf before half title.
: Folios of new writing : [series 3, vol. 2] autumn 1940. London : The Hogarth Press
1940
AP 4 .F68 ser. 3, v. 2
UMass Amherst Special Collections has Wallace Stevens' copy with side lining and underscoring in pencil, marginal notes, and other notes in his hand on a Holliday Bookshop order card laid in.
Lezama Lima, José: Analecta del reloj ; ensayos. Habana : Origenes
1953
PQ 7389 .L49 A7 1953
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy has author's signed autograph presentation inscription to Wallace Stevens on half-title.
Lezama Lima, José: La fijeza / Viñetas de René Portocarrero. Habana : Ediciones Origenes
1949
PQ 7389 .L49 F5 1949
UMass Amherst Special Collctions copy has author's signed autograph presentation inscription to Wallace Stevens on p. [7].
Lucas, F. L. (Frank Laurence), 1894-1967: The criticism of poetry / by F.L. Lucas. London : H. Milford
1933
PN 1055 .L8 1933
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with some side lining in pencil, and notes in his hand on inside back wrapper.
Macau, Miguel A. (Miguel Angel), 1886-: Impresiones del camino : (prosa) , 2d ed.. La Habana, Cuba : Imp. La Republica
1942
PQ 7389 .M15 I5
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy is presented by the author to Wallace Stevens.
Mallarmé, Stéphane, 1842-1898: Propos sur la poésie / recueillis et présentés par Henri Mondor. Monaco : éditions du Rocher
1946
PQ 2344 .Z5 A55 1946
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy inscribed to Wallace Stevens on page preceding half-title page, "For / Mr. Wallace Stevens, / with thanks for the / pleasure of reading / & re-reading his / rare and beautiful / poems / Nov. 1/51 / [signed] H. Oppenheim[er?] / N.Y. City."
Pourrat, Henri, 1887-1959: Le chasseur de la nuit : roman. Paris : Michel
1951
PQ 2631 .O8 C48 1951
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy has author's signed autograph presentation inscription to Wallace Stevens tipped in.
Pourrat, Henri, 1887-1960: L'exorciste / vie de Jean-François Gaschon p.m.. Paris : A. Michel
1954
PQ 2631 .O8 E9 1954
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy has author's signed autograph presentation inscription to Wallace Stevens, tipped in.
Pourrat, Henri, 1887-1961: Sous le pommier ; les proverbes de la terre; ou Le commencement de la sagesse / dessins de Henri Charlier. Paris : A. Michel
1945
PQ 2631 .O8 S6 1945
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy has author's signed autograph presentation inscription to Wallace Stevens, dated: 26-8-1951, on front fly-leaf.
Pourrat, Henri, 1887-1962: Le trésor des contes [t. V]., 2d ed. [Paris] : Gallimard
1954
PQ 2631 .O8 T8 1954b
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy has author's signed autograph presentation inscription to Wallace Stevens laid in, formerly taped to front flyleaf.
Raesly, Ellis Lawrence, 1898-: Portrait of New Netherland / [by] Ellis Lawrence Raesly. New York : Columbia university press
1945
F 122.1 .R15 1945a
UMass Amherst Special Collections has Wallace Stevens' copy with a little side lining in pencil, a marginal annotation, and a note on the inside of the back cover, in his hand.
Rimbaud, Arthur, 1854-1891: Prose poems from Les illuminations of Arthur Rimbaud / put into English by Helen Rootham ; with an introductory essay by Edith Sitwell. London : Faber & Faber
1932
PQ 2387 .R5 I42 1932
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy is Wallace Stevens' copy with some side lining and underscoring in pencil, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket.
Roth, Leon, 1896-1963: Descartes' Discourse on method / by Leon Roth. Oxford : The Clarendon press
1937
B 1849 .R6 1937
UMass Amherst Special Collections has Wallace Stevens' copy with some side lining and underscoring in pencil, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket.
Sinclair, Angus, 1905-1954: An introduction to philosophy / by W. A. Sinclair. London, New York [etc.] : Oxford university press
1944
BD 21 .S5
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy is Wallace Stevens' copy with some side lining in pencil, and notes in his hand on the back flap of the dust jacket.
Stevenson, Robert Alan Mowbray, 1847-1900: Velasquez / by R. A. M. Stevenson. London : G. Bell & sons
1902
ND 813 .V4 S8 1902
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with his signature on front fly-leaf, dated "Fordham Heights / April, 1907."
Wahl, Jean André, 1888-1974: The philosopher's way. New York : Oxford Univ. Press
1948
B 72 .W3 1948
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with a long note in his hand on the front end-paper.
Wunderlich & Company (New York, N.Y.): Catalogue of a few fine and scarce prints recently purchased / Exhibited by H. Wunderlich & Co. New York : [publisher not identified]
1900-10
NE 45. N6 W9 1900 Oct
UMass Amherst Special Collections copy: Wallace Stevens' copy with numerous annotations in pencil and three small sketches, dated on p. [24]: October 15, 1900.
Administrative information
Search terms
Subjects
- Aiken, Conrad, 1889-1973
- Bewley, Marius
- Church, Henry
- Gruen, John
- Moore, Merrill, 1903-1957
- Poets--Connecticut
- Schoen, Eugene, 1880-1957
- Tomlinson, Charles, 1927-2015
- Viereck, Peter, 1916-2006
- Wahl, Jean André, 1888-1974
Contributors
- Stevens, Wallace, 1979-1955 [main entry]
Link to similar SCUA collections
