Correspondence

This series of correspondence had been subdivided into two subseries, Personal and family letters (WCA/2/1/1 ) and Professional correspondence (WCA/2/1/2 ).

Of note amongst the personal and family correspondence are: an early love letter from Walter Crane to Mary Andrews (WCA/2/1/1/3 ), several family letters to Walter Crane regarding the birth of Beatrice Crane and some from Lucy and Thomas Crane regarding their collaboration on works with Walter Crane. Other significant correspondents include Mary Seton Watts, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Frederick Foottet, Richard Le Gallienne and Robert Anning Bell. There are also letters which indicate the high esteem in which Crane was held by others, including an interesting letter penned by his wife, Mary Frances Crane, of 1913 requesting a knighthood for her husband in the light of his artistic achievements (WCA/2/1/1/32 ). Included with this series are also several manuscript items that were originally kept with this correspondence. This material includes pages from a visitors book which contains some notable signatures, among which is that of Oscar Wilde (WCA/2/1/1/8 ).

The professional correspondence relates mainly to Crane's dealings with his publishers and printers, including correspondence with Edmund Evans Company, William Morris and the Kelmscott Press, Macmillan & Co., George Allen, John Lane, J.M. Dent & Co., Cassell & Co. and George Bell & Sons.

Other correspondence includes letters from various individuals concerning issues such as commissions, sales of his works and press reviews of his books from the American press, there are also miscellaneous letters from the publishers George Routledge & Son and Frederick Warne & Co.

All letters in this series are to Walter Crane unless otherwise specified.

When the material was acquired by the Library some attempts at a chronological grouping by correspondent had been made. Here the letters are arranged chronologically in an approximation of the order that they would have been received. They have been grouped into two classes, personal and family letters and professional correspondence, the latter being the more extensive series, arranged primarily by correspondent, but in some instances by the subject to which they refer in order to enhance their research potential.

The term 'letters' is used to denote incoming letters only, whereas the term 'correspondence' is used more generally for incoming letters which include Crane's copy replies. Crane's copy replies are often manuscript notes giving a general indication of his reply; occasionally they are written out in full. All letters are manuscript unless stated otherwise.