Papers of F.T. Rickards

Scope and Content

GB 231 MS 0569 - 0584 Works of Thucydides edited by F.T. Rickards, with voluminous notes and appendices, critical and exegetical, c 1917 - c 1919. The work, which extends to 16 volumes, was never published, although a small volume of correspondence enclosed within the volumes, between Rickards, John Harrower, Professor of Greek at the University of Aberdeen, P.J. Anderson, Librarian there, and A.W. Spratt, of the Broad House, ? Hickling, Norfolk, suggests that Harrower and Spratt were proof-reading the text, with a view to publication.

GB 231 MS 3168 Collection of classical compositions, collected and privately printed, by F.T. Rickards, whilst living and working in India, as Agent of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, Bombay c 1864 - 1914.

71 volumes, entitled Compositions (numbered 1 - 71), containing lecture room papers for Greek prose and verse from Trinity College, Cambridge, 1864 - 1913. The early volumes are holograph, and later volumes, printed .

8 volumes entitled Translations into Greek Prose (numbered 1 - 8), 1893 - 1911. Preface by Rickards describes them as a collection which has been compiled from private sources, and printed privately, for the use and satisfaction of contributors only. The number of copies has been purposely limited to 23, and they are, of course, not available for purchase, the intention being that they should eventually pass into libraries in which records of such contributions from classical scholars are esteemed with interest. Lists of translators/ contributors are given at the beginning of the volume, with serial numbers of passages translated by each.

Volumes 1 - 4 of series entitled Translations into Latin Prose, 1896 - 1901, with proof copies of volumes 1 - 3. Containing translations from English prose authors into Latin prose. John Harrower, University of Aberdeen, is one of 28 people named on the list of presentation copies.

Single volume entitled Select Speeches by Lord Curzon translated into Greek, c 1906. This volume appears to have attracted attention from the British press: cuttings from the Westminster Gazette, 1906, and correspondence between Rickards and various scholars, discussing the merits of the work, are pasted in the front pages of the volume.

Administrative / Biographical History

F. T. Rickards, a graduate of Cambridge University, spent much of his working life in India, where he was Agent of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, Bombay. By 1919, he had returned to Britain and was living in Ealing, London. He died c 1923. Much of his free time whilst in India was spent collecting, editing and printing Greek and Latin versions of English prose and verse for circulation amongst friends, scholars and British University libraries. Contributors to his volumes were drawn from the Classics departments of British Universities, principally fellows of Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

Arrangement

Interim arrangement as described in Scope and Content, above - listing in process

Access Information

Open, subject to signature accepting conditions of use at reader registration sheet

Acquisition Information

GB 231 MS 0569 - 0584 deposited in the University between Apr - Oct 1923 GB 231 MS 0569 - 0584 deposited in the University between Apr - Oct 1923 GB 231 MS 3168 deposited Nov 1922 - Mar 1923, added to Library stock, transferred to archives in the 1980s and in 1998

Other Finding Aids

Very brief collection level description available on Aberdeen University Library Catalogue, accessible online http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/library/

Alternative Form Available

No copies known

Conditions Governing Use

Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Special Libraries and Archives (e-mail: speclib@abdn.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Appraisal Information

This material has been appraised in line with normal procedures

Custodial History

Correspondence from 1919, between F.T. Rickards and P.J. Anderson, University Librarian, suggests that Rickards intended to bequeath these records and his library to the University of Aberdeen. University records and bookplates inside most of the volumes confirm that they were gifted by Mrs F.T. Rickards in 1923, although those in MS 3168 have been formally accessioned as archives at a later date.

Accruals

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Related Material

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Bibliography

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Additional Information

This material is original