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Marjorie Wilkinson was commissioned by Constable & Company to compile an anthology of verse and prose for children. She corresponded with various authors or their literary executors to receive permission to publish poems or short prose between 1914 and 1916. However, the project was never completed due to lack of funds and complications related to copyright fees and negotiations during World War I.

The correspondence in this collection consists of replies to her. Some significant letters were sold separately before the rest were offered for sale as a collection by Sotheby's on 12 December 1991. Those authors included D.H. Lawrence, Rupert Brooke, Walter De La Mare, John Masefield, Richard Le Gallienne, George Russell, Laurence Housman, and Thomas Hardy. Personal replies in the collection include letters from Gordon Bottomly, Robert Bridges, Harold Monro, Francis Thompson, and R.C. Trevelyan.