John Hamilton Edwards collection of Ezra Pound, 1901-1962

The Jonathon Edwards Collection of Ezra Pound represents the personal archive of noted Pound scholar Jonathon Edwards, including Edwards' working papers for a biography of Pound and his Annotated Index to the Cantos. Highlighting the Pound Collection is a copy of A Lume Spento in the original wrappers, signed by Ezra Pound: it is one of the true rarities in modern literature. Also included in the collection are photocopies of letters by Pound written during three crucial periods in his life: 1912-1914, 1936-1937, and 1955-1956. As assembled, the collection included a number of Pound titles, some in inscribed copies. Not inscribed but certainly the copy presented to Mary Moore Cross was A LUME SPENTO; a copy of EXULTATIONS (1909) inscribed to here (cf. also 3:11); and copies of LUSTRA, PROVENCA, POEMS 1918?1921, TA HIO, IMAGINARY LETTERS, QUIA PAUPER AMAVI and a reprint of THE CANTOS with occasional annotations by Pound. These??and other??printed materials have been separated from the collection inventoried here and can be found via the Library's online catalog. A list can also be found in the booksellers' inventory of the collection stored in the collection's administrative file.

The collection is arranged into two series. Series 1 consists of Edwards's working papers. Edwards had assigned file numbers to his working papers (possibly in order of acquisition), and the materials are described in that order; the Edwards number is noted at the end of each entry. Series 2 consists of photostats and photocopies of approximately 2000 Pound letters from the Yale University collections. Much of the correspondence was accumulated in the course of Edwards' publication of The Pound Newsletter. The collection also includes printed ephemera, Edwards' correspondence with friends of Pound and with fellow Pound scholars, as well as letters from Pound to Edwards and from Pound to Maturin Dondo.

John Hamilton Edwards formed this collection of materials by and about Ezra Pound in the course of developing a biography of the poet. Edwards wrote his dissertation (on Ezra Pound) at Berkeley. He also published A Preliminary Checklist of Writings of Ezra Pound, Especially His Contributions to Periodicals and The Annotated Index to the Cantos.