The collection of some eighty plus books was acquired following the death of Ursula Vaughan Williams.
Addison, William. Suffolk. Robert Hale, 1950. (Signed ‘RVW 1957’ in Ursula’s handwriting. The book contains ‘A Twopenny Guide to Thaxted Church’)
Arnold, Matthew. The Poetical Works. Macmillan, 1892. (Inscribed ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams from M.J.V.W., Christmas 1893’. Contains detailed markings for An Oxford Elegy)
The Apocrypha according to the Authorised Version. OOUP, undated. (Inscribed ‘Ralph with love Ursula 6.6.51’)
Ault, Norman, (ed). Elizabethan Lyrics. Longmans, Green, 1925. (Contains detailed markings for The Bridal Day)
Barnes, William. Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect. C. Kegan Paul, 1879. (Inscribed ‘From M.J.V.W. Oct. 9th, 1904’)
Bell, Robert Poetical Works of Ben Jonson. John W. Parker, 1856. (Signed by S. Catherine Darwin, this book contains many markings including for The Triumph which VW included in Sir John in Love)
Bénet, Stephen Vincent. John Brown’s Body. William Heinemann, 1929. (Signed R. Vaughan Williams)
Berni, Francesco. Orlando Innamorato. Parigi, 1768. (Two volumes only)
Bridge, Joseph C. Three Chester Whitsun Plays. Phillipson and Golder, 1906.
Bridges, Robert. Poetical Works. OUP, 1913. (Contains markings to various poems in VW’s writing)
Bridges, Robert. The Testament of Beauty. OUP, 1930. (Signed R. Vaughan Williams with various lines highlighted)
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Aurora Leigh. Smith, Elder, 1898.
Buchan, John. Sir Walter Scott. Cassell, 1932.
Bullett, Gerald. The English Gallery of Shorter Poems. Dent, 1933. (Contains in Vaughan Williams handwriting a list of poems for possible musical settings, including texts by Rossetti, Hall and Cleveland)
Butcher, S. H. and Lang, M. The Odyssey of Homer. Macmillan, 1897.
Butterworth, George. A Memoir. privately printed, 1918. (Inscribed ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams from A. Kaye B., May 1918’)
Byron, Lord. The Works of Lord Byron with his Letters and his Life by Thomas Moore, in Fourteen Volumes John Murray, 1832.
Calverley, Charles Stuart. Verses and Fly Leaves. George Bell, 1887 and 1895 (two copies). (The 1887 edition is inscribed ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams’ and was, perhaps, a school prize. It is covered in ink spots)
Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop. Collins, 1953. (Inscribed ‘RVW 1957’ in Ursula’s writing)
Donne, John. The Love Poems of John Donne. Chatto and Windus, 1937. (Inscribed ‘Ralph’ in Ursula’s writing with a card saying ‘Thank you for a lovely, lovely, day, my love’ again in Ursula’s writing)
Edgworth, Maria. Popular Tales. Two Volumes. Craddock, 1832.
Ekwall, Eilert, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Placenames, OUP, 1940)
English Association, (ed). Poems of Today. Sidgwick and Jackson, 1918. (Signed R. Vaughan Williams)
Fisher, H. A. L. (ed). The Collected Papers of Frederic William Maitland. Three volumes. Cambridge University Press, 1911.
Fisher, H. A. L. Pages from the Past. OUP, 1939.
Fisher, H. A. L. An Unfinished Autobiography. OUP, 1941.
Ford, Ford Madox. Provence. George Allen and Unwin, 1938. (Inscribed ‘R.V.W. from Mary with love, 1955’)
Gilfillan, George, (ed). The Poetical Works of George Herbert. James Nicol, 1863. (Inscribed ‘Sophy Wedgwood from her Mother Feb 17, 1859’)
Greatheed, T. Poems by William Cowper, with the Life of the Author. Vol. 1, W. Wilson, 1821.
Hardy, Thomas. The Well-Beloved. Osgood, McIlvaine, 1897.
Hatchette (publisher). Greece, 1955. (Inscribed ‘R. Vaughan Williams, 10 Hanover Terrace, London NW1, 1955’ in Ursula’s writing)
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Routledge, 1860. (Inscribed ‘MSVW from E. Darwin’)
Henderson, Philip, (ed). The Complete Poems of John Skelton. Dent, 1931. (Contains detailed markings for Five Tudor Portraits)
Heseltine, Olive. Lost Content. privately printed, 1948. (Inscribed ‘AMVW’)
Hickie, William James, (ed). The Comedies of Aristophanes, Vol. 1. George Bell, 1905. (Includes The Wasps)
Ingelow, Jean. Poems. Longman Green, 1864.
Jackson, Holbrook. The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear. Faber and Faber, 1947. (Marked ‘RVW’)
Kramer, Aaron. Roll the Forbidden Drums! Cameron and Kahn, 1954. (Inscribed ‘For Ralph Vaughan Williams, with admiration, Aaron Kramer, 7.10.56)
Krippner, Monica. Greece Invites. Hutchinson, 1955.
Lamb, Charles. Essays of Elia and Eliana. In Two Volumes, George Bell, 1891.
Lang, Andrew, (translated). The Iliad of Homer. Macmillan, 1895.
Lee, Sidney. Principles of Biography. Cambridge University Press, 1911. (Inscribed ‘To Mrs Herbert Fisher with the author’s very kind regards, 13.11.1911’)
Locock, Katharin. Poems of Abraham Cowley. Unit Library, 1903.
Long, George, (translator). The Thoughts of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. George Bell, 1892. (Inscribed ‘M.S.V. Williams 1893’)
Maitland, Frederic William. The Life and Letters of Leslie Stephen. Duckworth, 1906. (Contains press cuttings including an article on Leslie Stephen by Virginia Woolf, probably from 1932)
Mare, Walter de la. Love. Faber and Faber, 1943. (Inscribed ‘R.V.W. 12.x.43’ in Ursula’s writing)
Masefield, John. The Tragedy of Nan and Other Plays. Grant Richards, 1911.
Matthews, Elkin (ed), Georgian Poetry 1911-1912. Poetry Bookshop, 1913.
Matthews, Elkin (ed). Georgian Poetry 1916-1917. Poetry Bookshop, 1918.
Matthews, Elkin (ed) Georgian Poetry 1918-1919. Poetry Bookshop, 1919. (With a marking suggesting VW was looking at a poem by Edward Shanks, Fête Galante – The Triumph of Love)
MacCarthy, Desmond. Humanities. MacGibbon and Kee, 1953. (Inscribed ‘For Ursula Wedding Anniversary Feb 7th, 1954 “Not think to repent”’)
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick or The Whale. OUP, 1923. (Inscribed ‘RVW Xmas 1924’)
Meredith, George. Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth. Macmillan, 1894. (Inscribed ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams’. This book contains ‘A Lark Ascending’)
Mitford, Nancy. Voltaire in Love. Hamish Hamilton, 1957. (Inscribed ‘Ursula Vaughan Williams from R – 1957’)
Murray, John (publisher). A Handbook for Travellers in Somerset, 1899. (Inscribed ‘R.V.W. 1907’ and contains a letter to Mrs Vaughan Williams, dated 1 September 1901, recommending lodgings in Somerset)
Partridge, Eric (ed). A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1953. (Inscribed ‘R.V.W. from U. Christmas 1956’)
Pollard, Alfred, (ed). Robert Herrick Volume II. Lawrence and Buller, 1898
Pollard, Alfred W. (ed). The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Macmillan, 1908. (Signed ‘RVW’ and ‘Frederic Maitland, Newham College’)
Pope, Alexander. The Works in Eight Volumes. Cavil, Martin, French, 1795.
Quiller-Couch, Sir Arthur. The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918. OUP, 1949 edition. (Inscribed ‘R.V.W. August 1955’ in Ursula’s handwriting. Contains markings for Epithalamion)
Quiller-Couch, Sir Arthur. Felicities of Thomas Traherne. Dobell, 1934.
Raverat, Gwen. Period Piece – A Cambridge Childhood. Faber and Faber, 1952. (Inscribed R. Vaughan Williams in Ursula’s writing)
Rhys, Ernest. The Lyric Poems of Thomas Campion. Dent, 1895. (With various markings in VW’s writing)
Rossetti, William M. The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti Volume II. Ellis and Elvey, 1897.
Rossetti, William M. The Poetical Works of Christina Georgina Rossetti. Macmillan, 1904.
Shaw, T. E. (translated). The Odyssey of Homer. OUP, 1935. (Inscribed ‘R. Vaughan Williams’)
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Poetical Works. Frederick Warne, 1892. (Signed R. Vaughan Williams; contains markings for the Shelley song cycle In Time of War)
Shove, Fredegond. Christina Rossetti – A Study. Cambridge University Press, 1931.
Shove, Fredegond. Poems. Cambridge University Press, 1956. (Contains letter and a poem by Fredegond written when she was seven)
Squire, J. C. (ed). Selections from Modern Poets. Martin Secker, 1921. (Signed R. Vaughan Williams)
Steegman, John. Cambridge. Batsford, 1948. (Inscribed ‘Uncle Ralph from Gil 12 October 1952’)
Sullivan, Seumas O’. Collected Poems. Dublin: The Orwell Press, 1941. (Signed ‘To Dr Vaughan Williams with due respect from Seumas O’Sullivan’)
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. Poems and Ballads. Chatto and Windus, 1893. (Inscribed ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams’)
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. Atalanta in Calydon. Chatto and Windus, 1901.
Tennyson, Alfred Lord. Harold – A Drama. Henry S. King, 1877.
Tennyson, Alfred Lord. Becket. Macmillan, 1884.
Tennyson, Alfred Lord. The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Macmillan,
- (Inscribed ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams from M.J.V.W., November 1892)
Tennyson, Charles. Alfred Tennyson. Macmillan, 1949. (Inscribed ‘R.V.W.’)
Tennyson, Hallam Lord. Tennyson and His Friends. Macmillan, 1911.
Trevelyan, R.C. Beelzebub and Other Poems. Hogarth Press, 1935. (Inscribed ‘A. and R. Vaughan Williams from R.C.T., Xmas 1935’)
Trevelyan. G. M. An Autobiography. Longmans, Green, 1949.
Trollope, Anthony. The Eustace Diamonds. OUP, 1930. (Inscribed ‘R.V.W. from M.S.V.W., Christmas 1930’)
Wade, Gladys. The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne. Dobell, 1932.
Warren, C. Henry. Essex. Robert Hale. 1950. (Inscribed ‘RVW 1957’ in Ursula’s writing)
Weekly, Ernest. The Romance of Words. John Murray, 1913.
Wheatley, Henry B. The Diary of Samuel Pepys. George Bell, 1904.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. David McKay, 1891. (Signed R. Vaughan Williams and M. Sheepshanks; contains detailed markings for A Sea Symphony)
Williams, Oscar (ed). A Little Treasury of Modern Poetry. Routledge, 1947. (Inscribed ‘Ursula from RVW Xmas 1948, not suitable for Tigs’)
Wordsworth, William, The Poetical Works in Seven Volumes. Edward Moxon, 1846.
Yeats. W. B. Four Plays. Macmillan, 1936.
Young, E. Hilton. Verses. Sidgwick and Jackson, 1935. (Inscribed ‘Vaughan Williams with remembrances from Hilton Young, 1935’)
NOTES
A.M.V.W. is Ralph’s first wife, Adeline Maria Vaughan Williams
M.J.V.W. is Ralph’s sister, Margaret Jane Vaughan Williams (Meggie)
M.S.V.W. is Ralph’s mother, Margaret Susan Vaughan Williams
Gil is Sir Gilmour Jenkins, VW’s best man (and Ursula’s lover)
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- Catherine Darwin was Charles Darwin’s sister
- Darwin was Charles Darwin’s older brother, Erasmus
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