Literary manuscripts and correspondence of Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, with some similar material by his sister, Elizabeth Gibson, and holiday diaries by Dorothy Una Ratcliffe and Alfred C. Phillips.

Comprises: (a) 5 boxes of autograph manuscript and typescript drafts of Wilfrid Gibson's poems and plays, and some groups of correspondence between Gibson and various literary figures and publishers, written between 1902 and 1950, together with typed lists of the material as sold by Bertram Rota. Box 5 includes some autograph manuscript and typescript drafts of Elizabeth Gibson's poems, press cuttings containing obituaries of Wilfrid Gibson, and a collection of carbon typescript material for a memorial volume in tribute to Lascelles Abercrombie; (b) 11 vols of autograph manuscript and typescript letters from Wilfrid Gibson to Dorothy Una Ratcliffe 1927-1958, including a few poems and photographs; (c) 6 vols of autograph manuscript poems by Wilfrid Gibson, including, 'The Golden Room poems, 1925-27', 'The Alert', 'Islands', 'Challenge', 'Coldknuckles', and 'The Searchlight'; (d) 2 vols containing typescript diaries of a cruise to see the Scottish gardens on the West Coast arranged by the National Trust 12-18 May 1955 on board the ship 'Lady Killarney', one written by Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, the other written by Alfred C. Phillips, including some black and white photographs. Wilfrid Gibson was one of the passengers.

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878-1962), the English poet. For a fuller account of his life and achievements see the Dictionary of National Biography. His sister, Elizabeth Gibson (later Mrs T.K. Cheyne) (1869-1931), wrote eighteen books, mainly of poetry, which were published between 1899 and 1914. For a fuller account of her life and achievements see Who was who, Vol. 3.

Access is unrestricted.

The manuscript of 'The golden room poems, 1925-27' was purchased from Wilfrid Gibson by Lord Brotherton in 1927, but the remainder of the archive was purchased from Bertram Rota, booksellers, 13 August 1971.

In English.

At present only a minority of the letters are included in the Library's Letters database http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/letters/letlink.htm#gibson

Some 111 printed books and pamphlets either by, or owned by, Wilfrid Gibson form a related part of the collection and are shelved with the above.