Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1887 - 1990 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
5 archival boxes.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Rosemary Joy Manning was born in Weymouth, Dorset, 9 December 1911. She attended boarding school in Devon and later studied at the Royal Holloway College from 1930 to 1933, graduating with a 2nd class honours degree in Classics.
Manning first worked in a department store on Oxford street and then as a secretary. Unhappy with her work she suffered a nervous breakdown and was treated at the Maudsley Hospital, following this Manning was offered a teaching job by her former headmistress where she stayed as a teacher for a further 35 years and in 1950 she moved to Hampstead, London to take over a long-established girls’ preparatory school as headmistress.
In 1957 Manning released Green Smoke, her first in the series of Dragon children’s books she would become well known for. In 1962 she released The Chinese Garden, following a failed suicide attempt. The book was later known as her greatest novel and an important piece of lesbian literature. After retiring, she publicly came out as a lesbian in a televised interview in 1980. She died on the 5th April 1988.
Name of creator
Administrative history
Marion Boyars Publishers is an independent publishing company located in London, England renowned for publishing adventurous and occasionally controversial fiction and nonfiction especially in translation within the humanities and social sciences.
Marion Boyars Publishers was formed in 1975, but had previously been formed in the sixties under the name Calder and Boyers being run jointly with John Calder. When Marion Boyars died in 1999, her daughter Catheryn Kilgarriff took over and currently is managing director of the company.
Name of creator
Administrative history
Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape and his business partner Wren Howard. The firm established a reputation for high quality design, production winning more Booker Prizes and short listings than any other publishers. After Cape’s death in 1960 the firm later merged with three other London publishing houses and in 1987 was taken over by Random House.
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Women’s Press LTD is a publishing firm established in 1978 and dedicated to publishing books for women by women, feminist fiction and non-fiction by women writers from around the globe. Publishing included literary and crime fiction, biography and autobiography, health, race and disability, women’s studies and cultural, sexual and political history. The publishers appear to have dissolved c.2013.
Name of creator
Administrative history
Curtis Brown LTD (Curtis Brown Literary and talent Agency) is a literary and talent agency based in London, United Kingdom. It was founded by Albert Curtis Brown in 1899 and has represented many famous figures in the literary and political world throughout the twentieth century. It is now led by Sarah Spear as CEO and has diversified with acting, television and theatre departments.
Name of creator
Biographical history
John Lancelot Agard Bramhall Davenport was born in London, England in 1908. He became known as a critic and book reviewer who wrote for The Observer and The Spectator.
Son of the writer Robert Davenport and the actress Muriel George, he was primarily raised by his grandmother and educated at ST Paul’s and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Following his studies Davenport worked for MGM as a screenwriter with F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1934 Davenport married Clemency Hale, a painter and set designer and had one child. In the 1940s he taught at Stowe School and worked for the BBC at Bush House as head of the Belgian Section. Following his divorce to Hale, Davenport married Marjorie Morrison and had another child. In the 1960s, he retired to the country and died shortly afterwards.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection consists of documents relating to Rosemary Manning including manuscripts, personal and professional correspondence, invoices, magazine and newspaper articles, newspaper clippings and photocopies, flyers and posters, diaries, photographs and brochures. The documents relate to the fictional writing of Rosemary Manning, both in the project research and in the writing process. LGBTQ+ material is also present in the collection, and writing referring to the writer’s coming out is present in autobiographical and interview form.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
No further accruals expected.
System of arrangement
Organised into 5 thematic series, original order has been maintained where possible. Sub series are also organised thematically.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access through consultation with Glasgow Women's Library's. Email to make an appointment: info@womenslibrary.org.uk
Conditions governing reproduction
Consultation with Glasgow Women's Library (GWL).
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
There are no physical characteristics that affect the use of this material.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Manning, Rosemary, 1911-1988, British writer (Subject)
- Davenport, John, 1908-1966, critic and book reviewer (Subject)
- Curtis Brown Group LTD, literary and talent agency, 1899- (Subject)
- The Women’s Press LTD, Publishers, 1978 - c.2013 (Subject)
- Marion Boyars Publishers LTD, Publishers, 1975- (Subject)
- Jonathan Cape LTD, Publishers, 1921- (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description, International Council on Archives (2nd edition, 2000)
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Created by Mae Moss, 27th June 2019.
Language(s)
- English