Add MS 88918/12/1-8

Partly typewritten and printed, partly autograph material on loose papers and in a variety of notebooks written and stored by Hughes in his workroom and work hut. Both published and unpublished poetry is included as well as research notes, diagrams and notebooks. Further details about the contents of each folder are as follows –

88918/12/1: This folder includes notebooks containing notes on different subjects including kabbalah, being Poet Laureate and some poetic drafts. A 'Daler' notebook contains sketches of a bird that were included in the design on the Poet Laureate sherry boxes (an example of the side of one of these cardboard boxes can be found in Add MS 88918/148).

88918/12/2: This folder contains a 1939 diary that includes some early prose work and astrological charts (many of the pages of the original diary have been torn out and another volume inserted inside it). It is unclear whether the shorthand notes in the volume were written by Hughes or by someone else.

88918/12/3: This folder includes a notebook containing notes of self analysis, reflections and quotations, notes on Nietsche, Christianity and Coleridge. Papers and sprigs of heather formerly inserted into the notebook have been placed at the back of the folder (some of the papers appear to be much older than the notes in the notebook).

88918/12/4: This folder includes copies of the translated poetry of Wislawa Szymborska and Vasko Popa; published and unpublished poetry by Hughes and a note from Olwyn Hughes following the death of their mother. A broadcast script from ‘Poetry Now’ (1966), notes on Ancient Greece, Aeschylus and Icelandic sagas, sketches, research notes and lists of people are included. Notes on the arrangement of poems in Birthday Letters, mind maps and a chapter (author unknown) entitled ‘Visual Maps’ are also included.

88918/12/5: This folder includes notes on Tony Buzan’s ‘Use Your Head’ project, two mounted photographs by Fay Godwin and a folder with notes that appear to relate to Bardo Thodol and Crow. Copies of the following articles and pamphlets are also included - 'Descartes' Dreams' by Ben-Ami Scharfstein, 'The Court Poet in Medieval Ireland' by J.E. Caerwyn Williams (1971), 'The Performing of Dan' by Terence P. McCaughey, 'The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz', 'Note for Authors on the Preparation of MSS for the Printer and the Correction of Proofs' (by Faber and Faber) and 'Guide to Conservation Mounting and Framing of Works of Art on Paper' (published by Sotheby's).

88918/12/6: This folder includes a copy of Mind and Memory Training by Ernest E. Wood with annotations, a notebook with poetry drafts relating to Grimersta, notes about the publication of Sylvia Plath’s work and a set of biographical notes written by Edith Hughes about her family.

88918/12/7: This folder includes poetry and prose drafts some of which are unpublished, notes and a page from a draft of Phèdre. A copy of an interview with Hughes to be published in Wild Steelhead & Salmon, part of a copy of the article that Hughes was re-typing (this was in his typewriter in his workroom when he died) and a copy of Wild Steelhead & Salmon (vol.4, number 3, 1998) are also included (notes about where items were in the workroom have been retained along with some duplicates).

88918/12/8 – This folder includes a Tudor triplicate notebook containing a large number of astrological charts created by Hughes for different individuals and significant dates. In addition to these charts the notebook also includes an unpublished poem by Sylvia Plath about Christmas. Letters and enclosures sent to Hughes by Donald Stallybrass, which had previously been inserted into the notebook have now been removed and placed at the back of the folder.