W.E. BENJAMIN Page 8 of 8
MS COLL/BENJAMIN, W.E.
MOST OF THIS COLLECTION IS SHELVED OFF-SITE
William Evarts Benjamin
Papers, 1817-1940
15 linear ft. (ca 4,000 items in 29 boxes and 1 flatbox)
Biography: William Evarts Benjamin (1859-1940) was a prominent publisher and collector.
Summary: The personal and business papers concern Benjamin's publishing and bookselling company, his numerous benefactions, the disposal of his collections and many printed catalogues for his company, 1833-1940. The two major correspondents are Charles Hnery Phelps and Edmund Clarence Stedman. Also included are the business and financial records for the printing, binding and extensive promotion through a network of agents of Stedman's A Library of American Literature from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time; new ed. (New York, W.E. Benjamin, 1894). There are also letters, manuscripts, documents and drawings of English literary figures collected by Benjamin; among these are 6 letters by George Eliot; 47 letters and 6 manuscripts by John Ruskin; and 3 letters and 1 manuscript of Joseph Mallord Turner, with 4 letters relating to the artist. In addition there are 10 drawings and watercolors by Ruskin.
1985 Addition: 37 letters and 1 manuscript were removed from Benjamin's copy of Robert Langton's The Childhood and Youth of Charles Dickens and cataloged for this collection. One letter from Langton and 32 from others were addressed to Charles Roach Smith, a well-known antiquary of London. Several letters concern numismatics (including 2 from John Stuart, Earl of Darnley, 1 each from William Henry Ashe, Baron Heytesbury, and Chas. Spence). Most of these letters relate to Charles Dickens: 3 letters from his son, Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, 6 from Henry Gardiner Adams, of the Mechanics' Institute of Chatham and Rochester, 1 each from Frederick William Fairholt and Charles Stewart Montgomerie Lockhart, manuscript notes by John Gough Nichols, a letter from John Brown Rowlands, one each from W.J. Taylor and Joseph Cotton Wigram, Bishop of Rochester, 2 from Humphrey Wood of the Mechanics' Institute, and of particular interest the two letters from Sampson Seaton, whose father was a friend of the father of the famous novelist. Many of these letters were written at the time of Dickens' death from people living in the area of Rochester and Chatham, his early childhood homes.
Finding Aids: Contents list, 8 pages
Restrictions on Access: Available for faculty, students, or researchers engaged in scholarly or publication projects.
Restrictions on Use: Permission to quote or publish must be obtained in writing from the Director of The Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Provenance: Gift of Beatrice Benjamin Cartwright & Henry Rogers Benjamin, 1943
Processing History: Processed by RBML staff; revised by BRC 11/74 and 11/81
Microfilm Information: Royal Cortisso & John Ruskin letters are on microfilm
Physical Location: Boxes 1-3 are on-site; boxes 4-29 are off-site.
RLIN ID: NYCR89-A65
ORGANIZATION OF THE PAPERS
PAGE:
I. CATALOGED CORRESPONDENCE 3
II. CATALOGUES 3
III. BUSINESS & PERSONAL PAPERS 3
IV. LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 3
V. SCRAPBOOKS 3
VI. PHOTOGRAPHS 3
VII. PRINTED MATERIALS 3
I. CATALOGED CORRESPONDENCE
BOX #
1 Abbott, Lyman
1 Adams, Henry Gardiner
1 Benjamin, William Evarts
1 Burke, John Bernard
1 Byron, Anne Isabella Noël
1 Campbell, Thomas
1 Carrington, Katherine S. Batts
1 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
1 Coles, Jonathan Ackerman
1 Cirtisso, Royal
Note: Above available on microfilm
1 Crockett, Samuel Rutherford
1 Cumberland, Richard
1 Darnley, John Stuart, 6th earl
1 Davis, Richard Harding
1 Dickens, Charles
1 Dickens, Dir Henry Fielding
1 Dix, Morgan
1 Dumas, Alexander, fils
1 Edgeworth, Maria
1 Eliot, George
1 Fairholt, Frederick William
1 Fawkes, Walter Ramsden
1 Gilbert, Thomas "Bishop of Shropshire"
1 Gilder, Jeannette L.
1 Goldwin, J. H.
1 Hale, Edward Everett
1 Hay, John
1 Heytesbury, William Henry Ashe, 2nd Baron
1 Homer, Winslow
1 Hubbard, Elbert
1 Hughes, Charles Evans
1 Ireland, Joseph N.
1 Jones, William Alfred
1 Kitton, Frederick George
1 Langton, Robert
1 Leigh, Oliver
1 Lockhart, Charles
1 Lockhart, Charles Stuart Montgomerie
1 Lubbock, Sir John, 1st Baron Avebury
1 Lupton, Thomas
1 Maas, Joseph
1 Mayer, Joseph
1 Mellon, Andrew W.
1 Mills, Ogden L.
1 Mitchell, Donald Grant
1 Moore, Thomas Sir
1 Nichols, John Gough
1 Overall, William Henry
1 Pearman, Augustus John
1 Phelps, Charles Henry
1 Purland, Theodosius
2 Rheade, Louis J.
2 Rockefeller, John D.
2 Rowlands, John Bowen
2 Ruskin, John
Note: Above available on microfilm
2 Seaton, Sampson
2 Sheridan, Richard Brinsley
BOX #
2 Smith, Charles Roach
2 Spence, Chas.
3 Stedman, Edmund C.
3 Symons, Arthur
3 Taylor, W. J.
3 Turner, Joseph Mallord William
3 Vanderbilt, George W.
3 Walcott, Mackenzie Edward Charles
3 Wigram, Joseph Cotton, Bishop of Rochester
3 Wilson, Harriett
3 Wood, Humprey
3 Wright, Thomas
3 Miscellaneous
II. CATALOGUES
4 Duplicate File: Set No. 1
5 Duplicate File: Set No. 2
III. BUSINESS & PERSONAL PAPERS
6 American Antiquarian Society
Worcester, MA, 1927-1941
6 American Historical Association
1926/1927
6 The Book Lover
1888-1903
6 Bookplates
7 Eastern High School
Washington, DC, 1930
7 Engravings and illustrations
7 Government lists
7 Gutenberg Bible
1891-1929
7 Library of Congress
1926-1929
8 Library of Congress
1930-1935
8 Lyman Allyn Museum
New London, CT, 1935-1937
9
Murillo's Immaculate Conception
1926/1927
9 Murillo's Immaculate Conception - Pallavicini Catalogue
1927
BOX #
9 The New York Community Trust
1926-1931
9 The New York Historical Society
1937-1939
9 Photographs
9
Publishing business:
advertising
bills, receipts, etc.
James Mcdonald, Bookbinder
print catalogue
printed materials
stock lists
10 Rogers, H.H. - condolences re. his death
1909
10 S.S. "H.H. Rogers" - launching
1916
10 Speyer property dispute
1911-1913
10 Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation
1927-1930
10 Thatcher, John B.
The Continent of America
10 Union College
1890-1935
11 Union College
1936-1940
11 University of Virginia
1928-1930
11 George Washington
1889-1930
11 Washington family
1927-1930
11 Miscellaneous:
memoranda
notebook
clippings
pamphlet
title pages
IV. LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE
12 Accounts
1884-1903
BOX #
12 Accounts
1903-1910
12 Accounts – royalties
12 Advantages of the L.A.L.
12 Advertisements:
full page
1/2 & 1/4 page
retailo, printed copy
written copy
12 Advertising
12 Advertising, sets exchanged for
13 Agents
6 folders
13 Agents - printed materials
13 Benjamin, Charles R. [General Agent]
13 Binding
13 Boston orders
13 Braunworth & Co. [Bookbinders]
3 folders
13 Circulars
13 Colonial literature
14 Commendations
10 folders
14 Correspondence – miscellaneous
14 Courses of Reading
3 folders
14 Hovendon, John
Relating to E.C. Stedman
14 Illustrations
15 Improvements in manufacturing
15 Jenkins & McCowan
Printing
15 Legal matters
15 Macdonald, James
Bookbinder
15 Portraits
BOX #
15 Printed materials
15 Prospectus, etc.
3 folders
15 Specimin pages
15 Stedman, Edmond Charles
3 folders
15 Webster & Co.
2 folders
15 Miscellaneous
V. SCRAPBOOKS
17 Scrapbook of clippings
1884-1891
1 volume
FLATBOX 28 Scrapbook
VI. PHOTOGRAPHS
FLATBOX 28 Large photographs
VII. PRINTED MATERIALS
For related materials on Library of American Literature see E.C. Stedman Paper
16 Books from W.E. Benjamin's library
18 The Collector
19 The Collector
20 The Collector
21 Catalogs 1-10
21 Catalogs 11-29
22 Catalogs 30-42
22 Catalogs 43-53
23 Catalogs 77-95
23 Catalogs 13-66
24 Catalogs 54-67
24 Catalogs 68-76
25 The Book Lover
26 The Book Lover
27 The Book Lover
BOX #
28 The Book Lover
29 The Book Lover