Guide to the Robin Waterfield Papers
| Collection Title: | Robin Waterfield Papers |
| Dates: | 1941-1999 |
| Identification: | 157 |
| Creator: | Waterfield, Robin E. (Robin Everard), 1914- |
| Extent: | 2 Boxes |
| Language of Materials: | English |
| Acquisition Information: | Purchase |
| Conditions Governing Access: | There are no restrictions on use of the materials in the department for research; all patrons must comply with federal copyright regulations. |
| Repository: | Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections Deering Library, Level 3 1970 Campus Drive Evanston, IL, URL: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/spec Email: special.collections@northwestern.edu Phone: 847-491-3635 |
Biographical/Historical Information
Robin (Robert Everard) Waterfield (1914-2002), the son of a doctor in the Sudan medical service, was originally intended for a career in medicine. After a failed attempt at a medical degree at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, Waterfield worked for a series of publishers and booksellers, including George Allen and Unwin, Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. in Windsor, and Grafton's, opposite the British Museum. During the Second World War, Waterfield was an anti-aircraft gunner, and later worked with Japanese diplomatic decrypts. From 1951-1956 Waterfield and his second wife, Sophie Harper, ran a children's home at Mortimer, Berkshire. In 1957 they became missionaries, and went to Iran to run a boys' hostel. They did not return to England until 1973. In 1974, he opened Robin Waterfield Ltd., an antiquarian bookshop, where he worked until being forced to retire in 1980.
Throughout his life, Waterfield was an active book dealer, publisher, and writer.
He was a friend of the poet Tambimuttu, and served as associate editor for Tambimuttu's 1979 revival issue of Poetry London/Apple Magazine. He was also a primary force behind 'Tambi's' memorial volume, Tambimuttu: Bridge between Two Worlds (1989), for which he wrote an introduction. It was Waterfield that assessed the portion of Tambimuttu's estate that included his papers and printed materials after Tambi's death in 1983.
Waterfield was also close friends with the poet and writer Anne Ridler, wife of the Oxford printer Vivian Ridler, and T.S. Eliot's secretary at Faber & Faber. It is probably through the Ridlers that Waterfield came into contact with Stanley Revell, who was widely believed to have amassed the best collection of T.S. Eliot first editions anywhere in the world. Waterfield was the primary orchestrator of Revell's exhibition at St. Mary's, celebrating the centenary of Eliot's birth. He also took charge of the disposition of Revell's book collection after his death, soon after the exhibit took place in 1988.
Scope and Content
The Robin Waterfield Papers consist of correspondence, financial materials, drafts of poetry and other writings, illustrations, publicity materials, and photographs.
Folders 1-8 contain Waterfield's correspondence with Tambimuttu and financial materials concerning the revival of Poetry London/Apple Magazine.
Folders 9-14 in Box 1 and 1-5 in Box 2 contain extensive Waterfield correspondence with Jane Williams and others, as well as other records concerning the compiling and publishing of the festschrift Tambimuttu: Bridge between Two Worlds. This is following Tambi's death in 1983.
Folders 6-14 in Box 2 contain records concerning Waterfield's role with Stanley Revell in planning the centenary exhibit celebrating T.S. Eliot, held at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, in May, 1988. Revell was widely considered to have one of the more complete collections of Eliot books, and Waterfield played a key role in selecting books to exhibit, publishing a keepsake volume for the event, and selling portions of Revell's collection in order to fund the exhibit. Information is also included here concerning Revell's death and the subsequent sale of his remaining collection. Revell's will is contained in the correspondence section.
Folders 15-16 in Box 2 contain a small amount of personal letters and Christmas cards from Anne Ridler, with whom the Waterfields were close friends, as well as a copy of her book A Little Book of Modern Verse, with an introduction by Eliot. Some letters, newsclippings, and a book from David and Judy Gascoyne are also included.
Subjects
Personal Name
Waterfield, Robin E. (Robin Everard), 1914-
