Add MS 51291-51298

GORDON PAPERS (MOFFITT COLLECTION). Vols. I-VIII. Letters from General Gordon to his sister Mary Augusta Gordon; 1855-1884. Partly printed in Colonel Gordon in Central Africa 1874-1879, 1881, edited by G. Birkbeck Hill, and Letters of General C. G. Gordon to his sister M. A. Gordon, 1884, edited by the recipient. Both editions were subject to ruthless pruning and rearrangement, especially by Augusta Gordon, to emphasize the evangelical and theological content, and to improve the literary style. Both Augusta Gordon's and Birkbeck Hill's editorial marks (respectively pencil lines in the margin and pairs of double inverted commas in blue pencil) are still visible. Augusta Gordon has also extensively mutilated the letters by crossing out passages and by cutting out Gordon's signature, which in some cases (including Gordon's last letter) separates the postscript from the rest of the sheet.

Eight volumes.