Collection of letters from A.J.A. Symons to Harold Fisher

Collection

Identifier: MS.2025.014

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains correspondence from A.J.A. Symons to longtime friend Harold Fisher, dating from 1921 to his death in 1941. It also contains some outgoing correspondence from Fisher to Symons, as well as original poems by Symons sent to Fisher, handwritten transcriptions by Symons of poems by Ernest Dowson, notes made by Fisher on John Addington Symonds, George Moore, and Walter Pater, and other miscellaneous items.

The collection was formerly housed in a custom made case, but the materials have been removed and placed in archival folders; the case is housed within the box now holding the collection.

Dates

Creation: 1921-1996

Creator

Symons, A. J. A. (Alphonse James Albert), 1900-1941 (Person)
Fisher, Harold, 1888- (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

The Clark Library owns the property rights to its collections but does not hold the copyright to these materials and therefore cannot grant or deny permission to use them. Researchers are responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials they may wish to use, investigating the owner of the copyright, and obtaining permission for their intended publication or other use. In all cases, you must cite the Clark Library as the source with the following credit line: The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Biographical Note

Alphonse James Albert Symons (pronounced Simmons) was born 16 August 1900 in London. After a brief apprenticeship as a furrier in his teens, Symons largely worked as a writer. In 1922, he founded the First Edition Club, bibliographical and bibliophilic dining club, which established Book-Collector's Quarterly in 1930. Symons published and researched several bibliographies throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and in 1934, published his best-known work, The Quest for Corvo, a genre-bending biography that included Symons' own journey to understand his subject, Frederick Rolfe (aka Baron Corvo). In 1933, he and André L. Simon established the Wine and Food Society. Before his death, Symons had been working on a biography of Oscar Wilde and corresponded with many of the members of Wilde's circle who were still living at the time. A.J.A. Symons died of heart failure in 1941. His younger brother Julian Symons published a biography of him in 1950. (Information above from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Wikipedia entries for A.J.A. Symons)

Extent

.42 Linear feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection contains correspondence from A.J.A. Symons to longtime friend Harold Fisher, dating from 1921 to his death in 1941, as well as a few copies of outgoing correspondence from Fisher to Symons, poems by Symons, handwritten transcriptions poems by Ernest Dowson, and notes made by Fisher on John Addington Symonds, George Moore, and Walter Pater.

Physical Location

Clark Library.

Provenance

Formerly owned by Barry Humphries and purchased from the Christie's auction of his collection, 13 February 2025 (Clark Library accession MS.2025.014).