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Willow Wray Collection
Willow Wray Collection
Collection 004
The Willow Wray Collection of the Writings of Lord Dunsany
The Willow Wray Collection of the Writings of Lord Dunsany is part of the holdings of the Department of Archives and Special Collections in the William H. Hannon Library at Loyola Marymount University. The Willow Wray Collection of the Writings of Lord Dunsany contains approximately 2.7 linear feet of material in 6 boxes and 1 oversize box. The collection is open to all researchers who are willing to comply with the rules of the Department of Archives and Special Collections
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, better known as Lord Dunsany (1878-1957), was an Anglo-Irish writer best known for his mythological fantasies and macabre stores. His first collection of fiction, The Gods of Pegana appeared in 1905 and his first play, The Glittering Gate was performed in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1909. During his lifetime he produced more than fifty plays, novels, poems, short stories and essays.
The University acquired the collection from Willow Wray in 1962. Wray was Dunsany's literary agent. The collection consists of signed and unsigned manuscripts, letters, photographs, clippings, and numerous published works. In 1965 Willow Wray's sister, Fay Wray, donated another small collection of her sister's Dunsany material. This second acquisition is also in the Department of Archives and Special Collections as the Addendum to the Willow Wray Collection of the Writings of Lord Dunsany, collection number 005.
The collection is divided into the following series: 1.Short stories, plays, essays; 2. Poems; 3. Book -- "Another Year"; 4. Letters; 5. Photographs of Lord Dunsany; 6. Clippings
Box and folder list
Series 1: Short stories, plays, essays (typescripts or carbons of typescripts unless otherwise noted)
box/ folder/ contents
1 1 At the scene of the crime (signed)
1 2 At the Stavlokratz Chess Club
1 3 A bit of counter-espionage (4 copies, 1 signed)
1 4 The black mamba (3 copies)
1 5 The chambermaid of the Splendide
1 6 A channel rescue (3 copies)
1 7 The charm against thirst
1 8 A conscience in trouble (signed)
1 9 The cook of Santamaria
1 10 The dark horse (signed)
1 11 A deal with a witch (4 copies)
1 12 The earth's secret (3 copies)
1 13 The electric king
1 14 The escape from the valley (3 copies)
1 15 A fatal mistake
1 16 The glittering gate (A play--3 copies)
1 17 Greek meets Greek (3 copies)
2 18 Hard horses (signed)
2 19 The homecoming (A play--3 copies)
2 20 In a hotel lounge
2 21 The Irish immigrant
2 22 Jorkens' regret (4 copies)
2 23 A large diamond
2 24 Lost lyrics (signed)
2 25 The mistake (signed)
2 26 Mrs. Jorkens
2 27 Murder in a flat (A play)
2 28 A queer island
2 29 The quiet laugh (2 copies)
2 30 The romance of his life
2 31 A romance of the suburbs (signed)
2 32 The slugly beast (3 copies)
2 33 A snake story (3 copies)
2 34 The speech
2 35 The strange lover (a three-act play)
3 36 The strange lover (a three-act play)
3 37 The strange lover (a three-act play)
3 38 The tale of Abu Laheeb (3 copies)
3 39 Too long ago
3 40 The two bottles of relish
3 41 The two jenets
3 42 The two scientists (3 copies)
3 43 Two young officers (signed)
3 44 The visitor (3 copies)
3 45 Where two ages meet (signed)
3 46 A wonderful day (signed)
3 46a Bibliography of Dunsany's writings
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Series 2: poems (typescripts or carbons of typescripts unless otherwise noted)
box/ folder/ contents
3 46b A day in California--2 copies (ms, signed; ts, signed)
3 47 A dialogue--2 copies (on is a carbon of ms., signed)
3 48 A farewell to California--3 copies (one is a ms., signed)
3 49 Fossils (printed: Tomorrow, August 1950)
3 50 In a Kentish Church (carbon of ms.?)
3 50a In a time of scorn for the muses
3 51 The listener (ms., signed)
3 52 Man & moth (ms.)
3 53 No? (ms.)
3 54 The ruler (carbon of ms.)
3 55 Slow cobbler
3 56 War-planes at evening
3 57 [untitled] (ms., signed)
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Series 3: book-- "ANOTHER YEAR"
box/ folder/ contents
4 58 Folder that held 2 copies of typescript for "Another Year" with note: "Please return to Miss Willow Wray..."
4 59 Preface (March 1, 1948)
4 60 March [1947]-May
4 61 June-July
4 62 August
4 63 September
4 64 October
4 65 November
4 66 December
4 67 January (1948)
4 68 February
4 69 Another March
4 70 Preface (March 1, 1948)
4 71 March [1947]
4 72 April
4 73 May
4 74 June
4 75 July
4 76 August
4 77 September
4 78 October
4 79 November
4 80 December
4 81 January (1948)
4 82 February
4 83 Another March
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Series 4: letters
box/ folder/ contents
5 84 1953 May-June
5 85 1953 July
5 86 1953 August
5 87 1953 September
5 88 1953 October
5 89 1953 November
5 90 1953 December
5 91 1954 January-February
5 92 1954 March-July
5 93 1954 August-November
5 94 1955 January-March
5 95 1955 May-June
5 96 1955 July
5 97 1955 September-November
5 98 1956 January-June
5 99 Undated
5 100 envelopes: Lord Dunsany to Willow Wray
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Series 5: photographs of Lord Dunsany
box/ folder/ contents
Photographs by S.M. Boland:
6 101 "Lord Dunsany speaks on lyric verse," 5 1/2x8 1/2
6 102 "Lord Dunsany...Reading from his book of verse,"
5 1/2x8 1/2
6 103 "Lord Dunsany reading `Lilith'" 5 1/2x8 1/2
6 104 "Lord Dunsany observations on ultra modern poetry," 5 1/2x8 1/2
Photographs by Jack Case, 3/28/54:
6 105 Dunsany with a man and woman, 7 1/2x4
6 106 Dunsany with a man and woman. Note on verso: "Many thanks again for a great show. We have been receiving many compliments for you." 7 1/2x4
Photographs by Al Frederick:
6 107 Dunsany seated in front of bookcase, 8x10
6 108 Same image as above, 5x7
6 109 Cropped view of above, 4x5
6 110 Dunsany seated and looking down at a book, 5x7
6 111 Dunsany standing next to a grotto, 8x10
Photograph by Bob Lynds
6 112 Dunsany seated, holding cup, 8x10
Photographs by George F. Weld
(The portraits in the following series are identified by photographer's number. Prints are 8x10.)
6 113 #6
6 114 #7
6 115 #10
6 116 #19
6 117 #20 (2 copies)
6 118 #20A (3 copies)
(Negative is in folder 140)
6 119 #22
6 120 #23
6 121 #23A
6 122 #26
6 123 #27
6 124 #R-1-A
6 125 #R-2-A
6 126 #R-3-A
6 127 #R-4-A
6 128 #R-5-A
6 129 #R-8-4
6 130 Unnumbered (7 copies) 8x10
(Negative is in folder 141)
Photographs by unidentified photographers
6 131 "Lord Dunsany, Red Skelton taken on the set of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's THE GREAT DIAMOND ROBBERY..." 8X10
6 132 "Walter Plunkett, Lord Dunsany and Red Skelton taken on the set of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's THE GREAT DIAMOND ROBBERY..." 8x10
6 133 "Lord Dunsany, Stewart Granger taken at lunch in the MGM commissary..." 8x10
6 134 Stanly [ ], Sol Baer Fielding, Dunsany, and Gene Kelly 8x10
6 135 Johnny Greer [?], Sonya Levier [?], Chas. Fitzsimmons, Mitzi Fielding, Lord Dunsany, Jack Cummings, Sol Baer Fielding, Dorothy Kingsley, Wm. Ludwig, Saul Kaplan [?], 8x10
6 136 Sol Baer Fielding, Dunsany, Edmund[?] Given, Charles Fitzsimmons, 8x10
6 137 Dunsany writing, (2 copies) 6x8 and 5x7
(Negative is in folder 142)
6 138 Dunsany standing with cane, color photo, 3 1/2x5
6 139 Photographs of political demonstrations in Berlin, ca 1931 (19 images, 5x7)
Negatives
6 140 Negative of George Weld print #10a (see folder 118 for print)
6 141 Negative of unnumbered George Weld print (see folder #130)
6 142 Negative of Dunsany writing (see folder 137 for print)
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Series 6: clipping
box/ folder/ contents
1ov -- Scrapbook of clippings, 1950-1959.
1ov 143 New Yorker clipping mentioning Dunsany, n.d.
1ov 144 "The Romance of His Life," by Lord Dunsany. Harper's Bazaar, March 1952.
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