Add MS 89081/1/12-13

The correspondence, chiefly between Scovell and Carcanet’s founder and editorial director, Michael Schmidt, reflects all stages of Scovell’s relationship with the publisher: her initial approach to Carcanet to publish a collection of poems first published in the 1940s and 1950s but long since out of print; Carcanet’s initial rejection of the collection which was consequently published by Secker and Warburg [The Space Between, 1982]; Carcanet’s regret and its approach to Scovell to publish her Collected Poems and discussions about how she might extricate herself from her commitments to Secker and Warburg; discussions regarding what exactly Collected Poems would comprise; publication, launch, and publicity for the book, published in 1988, and for Selected Poems, published in 1991. The correspondence also touches on Scovell’s contributions to P. N. Review, edited by Schmidt, and other poetry magazines, and includes proofs of poems, blurbs, catalogues, and a photocopy of an interview with Scovell by Jem Poster. Invitations to literary events, some contractual papers, and correspondence of a general, social nature is also included. A small amount of material relates to the Provisional IRA’s bombing of Manchester city centre on 14 June 1996, which destroyed Carcanet’s offices.