Add MS 89235/1/3

Correspondence of printed and handwritten letters, telegrams, official notifications, postcards, with envelopes in most cases. Main recipient is Alfred's wife Sarah Elizabeth (Essie). Correspondence between them is almost unbroken through Jan 1917 to the first quarter of 1919.

As far as possible attempt has been made to order items chronologically. Accounted dates, narrative contents, subject references and paper type, have guided this process. Where there are cases of uncertainty this has been noted in the catalogue record.

Nature of content includes mainly domestic, recreational and political subjects and opinion, with some reference to war duty. Specific military activity is restricted by Alfred due to confidentiality and otherwise a preference to focus on matters remote from war. Locations and environments too are mainly described by character rather than explicitly due to an imposed no-name policy, yet have been accounted in the catalogue record where identified.

Frequent references to published material Alfred read during his time in service are made throughout, and have been clarified in the catalogue record respective to each letter, as well as in the series description below.

'I generally manage to read a book every time I am at the O.P. as there are generally many hours in the early part of the day when it is too hazy to see anything.'

'39 Steps', John Buchan, (1915)

'A Change in the Cabinet', Hillaire Belloc, (1909)

'A History of The Four Georges', Vol. 1.' Justin McCarthy, (1903)

'André Cornelis', Paul Bourget, (1886)

'Anna Karenina', Leo Tolstoy, (1877)

'Barnaby Rudge', Charles Dickens, (1850)

'Beyond', John Galsworthy, (1917)

'Bindle', Herbert Jenkins, (1916)

'Bleak House', Charles Dickens, (1852)

Book of French plays by Alfred Capus

'Chance', Joseph Conrad, (1913)

'Cranford', Elizabeth Gaskell, (1851)

'Cyrano de Bergerac', Edmond Rostand, (1897)

'Daisy Miller', Henry James, (1880)

'David Copperfield', Charles Dickens, (1849)

'Diana of the Crossways', George Meredith (1909)

'Doctor Thorne', Anthony Trollope (1858)

'E. V. Lucas, [Collection] [Selection of Letters, inc Charles Lamb]

Edmond de Goncourt work

Edward Frederic Benson work

'Elizabeth and Her German Garden', Elizabeth von Arnim, (1898)

'Emma', Jane Austen, (1815)

'For Second Reading', Stephen Gwynn (1918)

'Four Men', Hilaire Belloc, (1911)

'Guy Mannering or The Astrologer', Sir Walter Scott, (1815)

'Hossfeld's Pocket Manuals'. Hossfeld's Spanish Dialogues and Idiomatic Phrases, C. Hossfeld. (1915)

Ian Hay Beith book. [could be- The First Hundred Thousand], a series of articles written for Blackwood's Magazine, describing with wry humour life in his battalion. Major General John Hay Beith, CBE (17 April 1876 – 22 September 1952),pen name Ian Hay.

'Joan and Peter', by H. G. Wells, (1918)

'John Inglesant', Joseph Henry Shorthouse, (1881)

'Joseph Vance', William De Morgan, (1906)

'Le Médecin de campagne' (The Country Doctor), Honoré de Balzac, (1833)

'Le Roman d'un Spahi', Pierre Loti, (1881)

'Le Rouge et le Noir', Henri Beyle Stendhal, (1830)

'Leonora'/ Five towns Tales, Arnold Bennett (1903/ 1905)

'Les Trois Mousequetaires', Alexandre Dumas, (1844)

'Les Vrais Riches', François Coppée, (1908)

'Letters of Lady Montague': Letters of the Right Honourable Lady M--y W--y M--e: written during her travels in Europe, Asia and Africa, ... (1790)

'Life of Johnson', James Boswell, (1965)

'Little Dorrit', Charles Dickens, (1855 and 1857)

'Lord Jim', Joseph Conrad, (1900)

'Madame Bovary', Gustave Flaubert, (1856)

'Manalive', G. K. Chesterton, (1912)

'Mansfield Park', Jane Austen (from 1816)

'Married Love', Marie C. Stopes (1918)

'Martin Chuzzlewit', Charles Dickens, (1842)

May Sinclair, [short stories] [suffragist]

'Mr Britling Sees it Through', H. G. Wells, (1916)

Oliver Lodge: possibly: 'Raymond or Life and Death', (1916)

'Parallel Lives', Plutarch (2ndC)

'Pendennis', William Makepeace Thackeray, (1914), Vol.II

'Pickwick Papers', Charles Dickens (from 1836)

'Pride and Prejudice', Jane Austen, (1813)

Reading author, Hudson

'Recollections', John Morley, 1917

Review of Keeling Letters & 'Recollections'. Edited by E. Townshend, introduction by H. G. Wells. Frederic Hillersdon Keeling, (1918)

Reviews of Edward Moore's studies in Dante's Fourth series

'Romances' of Alexandre Dumas, (1899)

'Sally Bishop', Temple Thurston, (1910)

'Sandra Belloni', George Meredith, (1914)

'Sapho', Alphonse Daudet, (1886)

'Sinister Street', Compton Mackenzie, (1914)

Sir Martin Conway, perhaps: 'No Man's Land', (1906)

'Sonia, Between Two Worlds', Stephen McKenna, (1917)

'Tales on Unrest', Joseph Conrad, (1898)

'Thaïs', Anatole France, (1890)

'The Adventures of Roderick Random', Tobias Smollett (1824)

'The Amateur Gentleman', John Jeffery Farnol, (1916)

'The Amazing Marriage', George Meredith, (1895)

'The Count of Monte-Christo', Alexandre Dumas, (1846)

'The Egoist', George Meredith (1879)

'The Green Mirror', Hugh Walpole, (1918)

'The Ivory Tower', Henry James, (1917)

'The Life of Charlotte Brontë', Elizabeth Gaskell, (1858)

'The Life of Wilkes', Horace Bleackley, (1917)

'The lighter side of school life', Ian Hay, (1914)

'The Little Minister', James Matthew Barrie, (1903)

'The Loom of Youth', Alec Waugh, (1917)

'The Loot of Cities', Arnold Bennett, (1903)

'The Master of Ballantrae', Robert Louis Stevenson, (1889)

'The Monastery', Sir Walter Scott, (1820)

'The Old Curiosity Shop', Charles Dickens, (1841) (printed for 1917 private circulation)

'The Old Wives' Tale', Arnold Bennett (1908)

'The Regent', A Five Towns Story of Adventure in London, Enoch Arnold Bennett, (1913)

'The right Stuff', Ian Hay, (1914)

'The Second Blooming', Walter Lionel George, (1914)

'The Soul of a Bishop', H. G. Wells, (1918)

'The Stucco House', Gilbert Cannan, (1917)

'The Vicar of Wakefield', subtitled A Tale, Oliver Goldsmith, (1766)

'The Westminister';

'Times Literary Supplement';

'La Vie Parisienne';

'New Statesman';

'Daily Mail';

'The Morning Post';

Blackwood Magazine;

Punch mags;

'Printers Pie';

Periodical, which was sometimes a Christmas annual, called either Winter’s Pie or Christmas Pie, sometimes appeared twice a year with the other volumes: Summer Pie, and briefly four times a year with a Spring Pie and Autumn Pie. Seasonal titles were named as such and Printers’ Pie did not appear in the title.

'Land & Water': (a British magazine best known for its commentary on World War I and its aftermath.)

'The Wheels of Chance', H. G. Wells, (1896)

'The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman', H. G. Wells, (1914)

'The Wrecker', coauthored by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott. (1907) OR'The Wrecker', Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne (1892).

'They and I', Jerome K Jerome, (1909)

[Thomas] Hardy

'Tom Cringle's Log', Michael Scott, (1915)

'Twixt Land and Sea', Joseph Conrad, (1914)

'Vailima' letters, Robert Louis Stevenson, (1908)

'Vanity Fair', William Makepeace Thackeray, (1901)

'Vingt Ans Apres', Alexandre Dumas, (1845) (Vol 1, Vol 2)

'Vittoria', George Meredith, (1867)

'Waifs and Strays', [perhaps], O. Henry, (1917)