G.K. Chesterton., 07/20/1924-11/02/1924

File — Box: 3, Folder: 2

Identifier: 49264

Collection-level Scope and Content Note

From the Collection:

This collection essentially comprises the life and letters of Sir Shane Leslie whose boundless energy and wide-ranging interests took him all over Britain, the United States and Canada, bringing him in touch with people in many fields including the arts, economics, education, literature, politics and religion. Sir Shane's personal papers also reflect his deep concern and interest in Irish culture and politics, particularly the question of Irish independence through Home Rule.

The correspondence series of the collection reads like a who's who particularly from 1900 through 1971. Famous names include Angela Antrim, Margot Asquith, Nancy Astor, William Maxwell Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, Hilaire Belloc, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, J.E.C. Bodley, Brendan Bracken, G.K. Chesterton, Winston Churchill (cousin), Sydney Cockerell, Bourke Cockran, George Curzon, Charles Dilke, Alfred Douglas, Mrs. Fitzherbert, Francois Aidan Gasquet, Rupert Hart-Davis, Vyvyan Holland, John Maynard Keynes, William Somerset Maugham, Alice, Francis and Viola Meynell, Horace Plunkett, George Bernard Shaw, Clare Sheridan (wife of Wilfrid Sheridan, great-great grandson of Richard Brinsley Sheridan), Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, Mark Sykes, Evelyn Waugh, William Butler Yeats.

The collection includes a signed black and white photograph inscribed by Leo Tolstoy to Shane Leslie, during the latter's visit to the great Russian author in Moscow in 1907. Sir Shane's manuscripts are also included in great abundance in the collection, including those for his autobiography, “Long Shadows.” The typescripts and drafts of a biography planned by Iris Leslie are also included in this series. Other notable series include Sir Shane's journals and appointment books; scrapbooks, particularly those concerning his visit to the U.S. 1957-1958; and editions of Sir Shane's own works that include tipped-in items such as correspondence relating to the work, notes by Sir Shane, and press cuttings.

Dates

07/20/1924-11/02/1924

Collection-level Access Restrictions

Most manuscripts collections at the Georgetown University Booth Family Center for Special Collections are open to researchers; however, restrictions may apply to some collections. Collections stored off site require a minimum of three days for retrieval. For use of all manuscripts collections, researchers are advised to contact the Booth Family Center for Special Collections in advance of any visit.

Extent

From the Collection: 40.25 Linear Feet (80 boxes and 1 oversized folder )

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Container Summary

Contains 3 TLS to Shane Leslie from G.K. Chesterton as follows - 1. TLS 7/20/1924: "I really do not know how to ask your pardon or express my distress and remorse over the black blunder or crime of stupidity of which the enclosed is the shabby and miserable relic; like a dingy clue to a dead crime. What you find inside this envelope is not a tattered and faded document to be presented to the Dublin Museum, but a review that I did once really and truly write for the Dublin Review. Heaven knows how long it was ago; but you will see by the prehistoric stamped envelope, which I enclose, that I really did intent to send it..." (Note: enclosures cited not in present collection). 2. TLS 10/14/19--: "...I have just had a book sent me called Roman Converts by Arnold Lunn; devoted to enquiring, with a supercilious innocence, how it can really be that I and other people who can read and write have voluntarily become Catholics. The book is just moderate enough to be misleading; and I should very much like to write something about it somewhere..." 3. TLS 11/2/19--: "...I wish I could be a real editor...and as your are incidentally a real editor, among other and better things, I feel the more abashed before you. In which connection may I say that I do certainly read the Dublin Review, though I also read the New Witness...; and if you are so kind as to send a copy of the former I will see it is appreciated in the latter."