Guide to the collection of Norman Lindsay correspondence.

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MS 10734

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Created: July 2023

Collection Summary

Creator
Lindsay, Norman
Title
Collection of correspondence of Norman Lindsay
Date Range
1923 - 1964
Collection Number
MS 10734
Extent
.03 metres (1 folder)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
Special Collections (Manuscripts)

Introduction

Content Description

This collection contains correspondence sent by and to Norman Lindsay. Correspondents include Jane Lindsay, Harry Chaplin, Brian James (John Lawrence Tierney), Keith Wingrove, Hugh McCrae, Frank Rinder, Adolphe Beutler and Guy Howarth, and childhood friend Mame.

Conditions Governing Access

Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn8853875).

Conditions Governing Use

Conditions for copying and publishing of this collection may apply, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn8853875).

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Collection of Norman Lindsay correspondence, National Library of Australia, MS 10734, [class/series/file/item number(s)]'.

Finding aid source(s)

Please note: This finding aid contains descriptive information provided by donors, researchers and/or volunteers.

Item Descriptions

Class. Original consignment received 2023

A collection of correspondence written by or to Norman Lindsay, 1923 (File 1) - Box Shared

Letter to Jane Lindsay from Norman Lindsay with sketch of a 'New York traffic cop', 1931 (Item 1)

The letter describes the police horse depicted in the sketch and gives other New York impressions.

Letter to Harry Chaplin from Norman Lindsay, c.1952 (Item 2)

Includes notes on Lindsay's process of writing as a relief from the technicality of producing etching plates, his writing technique, comments on poet/author E.J. Brady, his death and deaths of others of Lindsays generation, and notes on French culture.

Letter to Harry Chaplin from Norman Lindsay, c.1952 (Item 3)

Comments on egotistical artists, negatively mentions Whistler, Bernard Shaw & Cezanne, and complains about Dobel and includes a lengthy discourse on the narcissism of George Lambert.

Letter to Harry Chaplin from Norman Lindsay, c.1952 (Item 4)

Comments on the work of his friend and composer Adolphe Beutler, poet Browning and portraitist William Orpen. Includes mention of 'nature poems of Douglas Stewart'.

Letter to F.A.A. exhibition organiser Mr Ovenden from Norman Lindsay, n.d. (Item 5)

Agrees to supply two works and recommends the art of Margaret Coen 'she is our best ever flower painter here'.

Letter to Brian James (John Lawrence Tierney) from Norman Lindsay, c.1952 (Item 6)

Includes thoughts on the recent death of Percy Lindsay and death in general and a review of Australian writers and poets as influenced by American literature 'I told him (visiting U.S. professor) that Mark Twain and Brett Harte had strongly influenced our early writers, notably Lawson and Dyson, and that some of the very minor writers today were infected by Hemingway and the tough school...'

Letter to Keith Wingrove from Norman Lindsay, n.d. (Item 7)

Includes reminiscences of his early intellectual awakening aided by Kipling and Nietzsche, thanks to Windgrove for gifts of books and tobacco, and comments on Ralph Strauss in relation to 'Petronius & Strauss' father. Also includes mention of Joseph Conrad and Holbrook Jackson

Letter to Mame, a childhood friend, from Norman Lindsay, n.d. (Item 8)

Refers to his 1903-9 time in London with Bill Dyson 'but with my return from England I had practically done with health for the rest of my life, since I was taken, after the first World War, with a mad fanaticism to get work done, and that ensues the malice of the Gods.....one must go to hell to realise a concept of joy, as Beethoven did'. Also lengthy commentary on the Edwardians, Germans and WWI, pro bono WWI work for the Government, and ontological musings

Letter to Harry Chaplin from Norman Lindsay, c. 1958 (Item 9)

Covers life at the Bulletin, A.G. Stephens, character assessments of Archibald, MaCrae, Douglas Stewart, and Tennyson. Also lines on his creative process inducing anxiety and gastric problems, archeology, the enigma of life, German mentality and disrupted Europe.

Inventory note detailing previous item, n.d. (Item 10)
Letter from Harry Chaplin to Norman Lindsay, 10 June 1964 (Item 11)

Reminiscences and personal anecdotes on the Australian literary world of the early 20th century. Full paragraphs on Bernard O'Dowd/Mary Gilmore, Louis Stone (Jonah), Henry Lawson 'he wrote continually about "Mateship" and he was the worst possible mate', Albert Dorrington, Bill Fitzhenry, Steele Rudd and personal memories of Cole and the Book Arcade.

Note to Norman Lindsay postmarked from Camden, n.d. (Item 12)

Reads 'Post me half a crown, and I shall forgive you for having doubted me'. Possibly from Hugh McCrae.

Christmas card to Norman and Rose Lindsay in Hugh McCrae's script, n.d. (Item 13)

Includes printed toadstool illustration with monogram.

Letter from Hugh McCrae to Triad editor L.L. Woolcott, 15 March 1926 (Item 14)

Includes comments on the last issue 'P.S. I am glad you were able to save the Triad...Only the pious deserve to die young; and I hate the pious'.

Envelope marked 'Hugh McCrae Letters', n.d. (Item 15)

Originally housed with items 12-14.

Letter from Frank Rinder to Norman Lindsay, 12 July 1923 (Item 16)

Covers Gruner in London for the Royal Academy Show of Australian paintings, the second half is his mixed reaction to Lindsay's Idyllia 'Meanwhile I beg of you to recognise that much of your work in Idyllia fills me with admiration, enchants me. Some of it, on the other hand, leaves me sad, uneasy'. Then discusses marketing through Sampsons - a print dealer. Reveals that Rinder owns a Lindsay woodcut. The top margin carries a note from Lindsay to Harry Chaplin, to whom the letter was eventually forwarded.

Letter from Adolphe Beutler to Norman Lindsay, 11 May 1923 (Item 17)

Includes notes on the Lindsay works he owns 'your works do not hang on my walls by nails…but they hang on the anchor of my soul'. Goes on to mention various works in progress and planned.

Note from Guy Howarth to Norman Lindsay, 22 September 1952 (Item 18)

Expresses condolences for the death of Percy Lindsay.

Letter from Kenneth Slessor to Norman Lindsay, 3 May (Item 19)

Asks if he can visit Lindsay to introduce aspiring poet Colin Wills.


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