[Sierra Leone Content] – Luke, Harry Charles / Clarendon Press / Robert William Chapman.

Manuscript Letter to Harry Lukach while in Sierra Leone, sent from Robert William Chapman in his position as Delegate for the Clarendon Press, informing Harry Lukach that the Clarendon Press has accepted his book [″A Bibliography of Sierra Leone”, Oxford, At the Clarendon Press, 1910] for publication: “My dear Lukach – I think we used to meet sometimes at the Strafford Club – you will be glad to know that the Delegates have now made an order accepting your book for publication as a contribution to learning and in the interest of the public service…..I am afraid there is no prospect of paying expenses out of sales, but we shall do our best so you will not expect the price to be low. Perhaps 8/6. I think you will find that a good price will not damage a book of this kind either in sale or in reputation…..our terms to authors are 25% off the publication….I am to congratulate you on the Delegate’s behalf for keeping the flag flying. They are always glad to do what they can for Oxford men abroad who research in their leisure. Yours sincerely RWChapman”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Oxford, On Stationery of The Clarendon Press, 20th June, 1910. Quarto – Leaves. Two Quarto-Leaves Folded. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

Robert William Chapman (5 October 1881 in Eskbank, Scotland – 20 April 1960 in Oxford), usually known in print as R. W. Chapman, was a British scholar, book collector and editor of the works of Samuel Johnson and Jane Austen.

Chapman was the youngest of six children born to an Anglican clergyman, who died when he was three years old. He was educated at the High School of Dundee, St Andrews University and Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated with a First in classics and humanities. He worked as assistant to the secretary of the Clarendon Press. In 1913 he married Katherine Marion Metcalfe, an English tutor at Somerville College. Chapman did military service in Salonika during World War I, managing to study the works of Johnson there and continue to write for the Times Literary Supplement.

After the war Chapman would remain in Oxford until his death. In 1920 he succeeded Charles Cannan as secretary of the Clarendon Press. He played a part in producing the Oxford English Dictionary, combining editorial and administrative responsibilities at the press.
Although Chapman is generally credited as the scholar who established Austen’s canonical status in the twentieth century, his wife played a key role in igniting his interest in book collecting as well as Jane Austen’s works. He himself cited her antiquarian interests as the inspiration of his book collecting career, and her editions of Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey both preceded Chapman’s own. Her contribution to his work is self-evident in her ubiquitous handwriting in the Chapman archives. However, Chapman’s own negligence in acknowledging his wife’s contribution to his Jane Austen edition caused her work to go uncredited until later scholars such as David Gilson, Kathryn Sutherland, and Janine Barchas proved otherwise.
In 1923 Chapman produced an edition of five novels of Jane Austen; further Austen miscellanea were published separately in the 1920s and 1930s before being collected together as a sixth volume, Minor Works, of The Novels of Jane Austen. He also edited (1932) Austen’s correspondence, though this involved him in some controversy with Austen’s critics.
After retirement from the Clarendon Press in 1943, Chapman worked on “what many consider his greatest accomplishment”: a three-volume edition (1952) of Samuel Johnson’s letters. In 1948, Chapman rejected the authenticity of the Rice portrait of Jane Austen based on costume evidence. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: British Colonial Administration · British Colonial History · British Foreign Office · British Foreign Policy · Clarendon Press – Oxford · Harry Luke – Sierra Leone I (1908 – 1911) · Manuscript / Autograph – Rare · Manuscript Letter Rare · Manuscript Letter Signed · Oxford · Oxford University · Publishing History · Publishing History of Sir Harry Luke · Sierra Leone · Sierra Leone / First Posting 1908-1911 – Sir Harry Luke · Sierra Leone / Sir Harry Luke Collection · Sierra Leone Content (Autographed Letter Signed – ALS) · Sierra Leone Content / Sir Harry Luke Collection · Sir Harry Luke · Sir Harry Luke – Personal Archive of Books and Correspondence · Sir Harry Luke Collection
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 31773AB

EUR 275.000,--