IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0505 PP13
Held at: Royal Holloway, University of London
Title: MONKHOUSE, William Cosmo (1840-1901)
Date(s): 1889-1902, [1965]
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 box or 0.01m3
Name of creator(s): Monkhouse | William Cosmo | 1840-1901 | Poet and writer on art, civil servant
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Born 1840; educated St Paul's School, London; career in the Board of Trade, 1856-1901, ending as Assistant Secretary to the Finance Department; contributor to the Academy, the Magazine of Art, and the Saturday Review; published volumes of poetry; died 1901.
Publications: preface to The life and works of Joseph Wright (Bemrose and Sons, London, 1885) by William Bemrose; preface to A concise history of painting (1888) by Mrs Charles Heaton; introduction to Exhibition of drawings in water colour by A W Hunt (London, 1897); introduction to Exhibition of drawings and studies by Sir Edward Burne-Jones (London, 1899); introduction to Exhibition illustrative of the French revival of etching (London, 1891); introduction to Catalogue of coloured Chinese porcelain exhibited in 1896 (London, 1896); introduction to Catalogue of Blue and White Oriental porcelain exhibited in 1895 (London, 1895); introduction to Historical catalogue of the collection of water colour drawings by deceased artists (Manchester, 1894); A dream of idleness and other poems (London, 1865); A few words about Hogarth; A history and description of Chinese porcelain (Cassell and Co, London, 1901); A question of honour (London, 1868); The British contemporary artists (Heinemann, London and New York, 1899); Corn and poppies (E. Matthews, London, 1890); In the National Gallery (A.D. Innes and Co, London, 1895); Joseph Mallord William Taylor (Sampson Low and Co, London, 1929); Life of Leigh-Hunt (London, 1893); Masterpieces of English art (London, 1869); Nonsense rhymes (R Brimley Johnson, London, [1902]); Pasiteles the Elder, and other poems (R. Brimley Johnson, London, 1901); Pictures by Sir C Eastlake (London, [1875]); Pictures by W Etty (London, [1874]); Pictures of Sir Edwin Landseer (London, [1877]); Sir Edward J Poynter, President of the Royal Academy, his life and work (J.S. Virtue and Co, London, [1897]); The Christ upon the hill: a ballad (Smith, Elder and Co, London, 1895); The earlier English water colour painters (Seeley and Co, London, 1890); The life and works of Sir John Tenniel (1901); The National Gallery: the Italian Pre-raphaelites (Cassell and Co, London, 1887); The studies of Sir Edwin Landseer (London, 1877); The Turner Gallery (London, [1878]); The works of J.H. Foley (London, [1875]); The works of Sir Edwin Landseer (London, 1879); Turner: a sketch of his life and works (Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London, 1882); Verses: to Our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, June 22, 1897 (London, 1897).
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers, mainly relating to the publication of Corn and Poppies (E. Matthews, London, 1890), comprising letters, 1890-1901, to Cosmo Monkhouse from various discussing his poetry, notably William Blackwood, publisher and editor of Blackwood's Magazine, Edward Onslow Ford, Edmund Gosse, Hugh Stewart, Alfred Monkhouse, John Trivett Nettleship, L Solon, Richard Garnett, Alice Boyd, J M Davies, James Brander Matthews, E J Smilie, James Rustin, George Chester, M Eliot Hodgkin, S H Boughton, Walter Ashley, B Jowett, M J Linton, Edmund C Steadman, H D Cobban, J Foxhunter, George H Ellwanger, Rt Hon Anthony John Mundella, President of the Board of Trade, Alsager Hay Hill, Gertrude Vores, Agnes Elton, Violet (Vernon Lee) Paget, Euterpe Fraies, Alfred Earl, and William Sharp (pseudonym of Fiona Macleod); two signed illustrations for Corn and Poppies by William Strang, [1890]; a manuscript poem by Monkhouse about the Swan Inn at Littleworth, 22 May 1893. Biographical material for Monkhouse, including a typed copy of Sydney Lee's memoir, first published in the Athenaeum, 27 Jul 1901; a photocopy of an article by Edmund Gosse entitled 'Cosmo Monkhouse as an art critic', Art Journal, 1902; notes concerning the donation of the collection to Bedford College Library, [1964-1965].
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged in chronological order.
Conditions governing access:
Open to all registered users of the Royal Holloway, University of London Archives.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies may be supplied, subject to the condition of the original. Requests to publish original material should be directed to the College Archivist.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Handlist available in the Royal Holloway, University of London Archives reading room.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
The 42 letters were found inside an unprinted copy of Corn and Poppies (E. Matthews, London, 1890) which was part of a gift of books to Bedford College by Rose Monkhouse, daughter of Cosmo and sister of Olive Monkhouse, Secretary of Bedford College from 1919-1948. The other papers were probably donated by Rose around the same date. The papers were transferred from the Bedford College Archives when the College merged with Royal Holloway in 1985.
Immediate source of acquisition:
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
London University Library holds letters and miscellaneous notes, 1874-1892, from Monkhouse to Henry Austin Dobson (Ref: ULL MS 810).
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the AIM25 project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Mar 2000