Tag Archives: novels

Additions to the John le Carré (David Cornwell) archive

20th century, 21st century, Archives and Modern Manuscripts, Humanities, Modern, Newly available (2025), , , , , ,

The Archive of John le Carré (David Cornwell) has been further expanded to include an extensive array of the author’s literary papers, personal and professional correspondence, photographs, interviews and articles, and an assortment of personal and family papers. The updated archive (see catalogue here: Collection: Archive of John le Carré (David Cornwell) | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts), available now to readers at the Weston Library, contains over 1,200 boxes of material spanning Cornwell’s entire life and career, from childhood photographs and letters written during his time as a student at Lincoln College, Oxford, to correspondence and book drafts penned in the last few weeks of his life. The archive is a brilliant resource not only for fans of John le Carré and his internationally renowned novels and adaptations, but for researchers interested in British novelists, 20th and 21st century literature, or the spy genre in particular.

Portrait of David Cornwell, taken by his son Stephen, n.d. (MS. le Carré 1196, folder 3) © Stephen Cornwell

Supplementing the hundreds of boxes of Cornwell’s literary papers already in the archive, the newly released material offers an insight into Cornwell’s life as a whole, including and beyond his career as John le Carré. Key moments and experiences throughout his early adulthood, for instance, are represented in detailed correspondence with his first wife Ann and his tutor, mentor and friend Vivian Green (later cited as an important inspiration for the character of George Smiley). These letters provide a window into Cornwell’s student years, his complicated relationships with both his father and new wife, his early jobs as a teacher, aspiring illustrator and – of course – intelligence officer, as well as his first ventures into writing. The hundreds of letters Cornwell wrote to Ann during their relationship in the 1950s and 1960s were often highly personal and detailed, and frequently featured small sketches, as in this letter sent in April 1954 (MS. le Carré 929, folder 2). Further illustrations are scattered throughout the archive: in correspondence with friends and family, decorating novel drafts, and offered as donations to various charities.

Letter to Ann Sharp, later Cornwell, April 1954 (MS. le Carré 929, folder 2) © John le Carré Ltd

Cornwell’s correspondence makes up a significant portion of the archive: letters to and from family, friends, colleagues and fans offer a unique insight into his professional experiences, personal thoughts, and sometimes variable relationships. The vast majority of this correspondence is handwritten, a lifelong preference touched upon in this ‘User’s Manual’ written by Cornwell when joining Penguin in 2009 (MS. le Carré 973, folder 2). He explains, ‘I write all my books by hand. I barely type, but can do one-finger e-mail. Jane & no-one else retypes my handwriting endlessly for me, & is my companion in all literary & professional matters’. As well as reflecting the distinctive way in which Cornwell wrote, this document highlights the essential role played by his second wife Jane, former publicist and foreign rights manager for Hodder & Stoughton. Cornwell goes on to write ‘her word is my word, & usually she’s better at it than I am. So when you get Jane, you are not getting second best, you are getting The One.’ This vital influence is evident throughout the archive, whether in Jane’s annotations across countless novel and letter drafts, the endless manuscripts she was responsible for typing, or David’s notes on almost every document asking ‘Oy’ (her nickname) to make x amendment, contact y person, or decline z invitation. This valuable collaboration is further explored by Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian, in his article reflecting on the acquisition of the archive.

‘User’s Manual’ draft sent to Johnny Geller of Curtis Brown, later to Penguin, 2009 (MS. le Carré 973, folder 2) © John le Carré Ltd

The archive includes correspondence with prominent authors, activists and politicians, as well as numerous actors, directors, producers and screenwriters involved in the many successful adaptations of Cornwell’s work. Perhaps most notable among these actors is Sir Alec Guinness, lauded for his portrayal of George Smiley in the 1979 and 1982 television adaptations of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley’s People. Amongst a box of correspondence sent between the two from 1978 until Guinness’s death in 2000 are some brilliant letters discussing the prospect of Guinness playing Smiley in the very first television adaptation of a le Carré novel. In response to several pages from Guinness listing concerns regarding his suitability for the role, Cornwell sent this reassuring letter dispelling each one in turn (MS. le Carré 925, folder 1). As well as writing ‘no, you are not rotund or double chinned, though I think I have seen you in rôles where you have, almost as an act of will, acquired a sort of cherubic look!’, he assures Guinness that ‘apart from plumpness, you have all the other physical qualities: a mildness of manner, stretched taut, when you wish it, by an unearthly stillness and an electrifying watchfulness. In the best sense, you are uncomfortable company, as I suspect Smiley is’. This letter evidently had the desired effect: Guinness’s Smiley was an instant success and is still celebrated today. The archive highlights Cornwell’s frequent such involvement in adaptations of his works, assisting casting, script writing, and even appearing in several on-screen cameos.

Letter to Sir Alec Guinness, March 1978 (MS. le Carré 925, folder 1) © John le Carré Ltd

Understandably, papers specifically relating to Cornwell’s literary works, including manuscript and typescript drafts, lists of edits and corrections, and correspondence with researchers and translators, comprise the majority of the collection. The character and timeline notes for A Perfect Spy pictured below are a classic example of the hundreds of novel notes and drafts in the archive: handwritten, with large chunks completely crossed out, and additions and edits, often in different coloured pens, dotted throughout (MS. le Carré 607, folder 2). Such notes and drafts would often be written in small notebooks, especially during Cornwell’s many research trips, or on pretty much any paper he had to hand, even the endpapers of whichever book he happened to be reading when inspiration struck. This particular example, written on standard A4 paper, sees Cornwell formulating the central characters in A Perfect Spy, father and son Rick and Magnus Pym, a duo based strongly upon the relationship between Cornwell and his own father, Ronnie. The notes refer to ‘Rick’s rachmannism [sic]’, showing obvious parallels even in the book’s early conception to Cornwell’s property dealer father, jailed for fraud and declared bankrupt multiple times.

A Perfect Spy early notes, n.d. (MS. le Carré 607, folder 2) © John le Carré Ltd

The archive also extends beyond paper documents, including a great collection of photographs and press cuttings. In addition to the photo at the top of this blog post (MS. le Carré 1196, folder 3), the archive contains portraits of Cornwell taken throughout his life, as well as black and white family photos reaching back generations and photos with his Foreign Office colleagues in the 1960s. The impressive collection of press cuttings, dating from Cornwell’s debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961, also helps to put his work into a wider context. The scrapbook pictured below is filled with press cuttings relating to Cornwell’s first three novels, providing a glimpse into the beginning of his literary career and especially the sudden global success brought by his third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (MS. le Carré 1203, folder 1). Quotes from these cuttings, including ‘the spies are not playing Bond-like games: they operate nastily, unspectacularly and with real determination’ and ‘if it is not the best spy yarn I have read, it is certainly the finest anti-spy story’, illustrate the excitement surrounding this completely new style of spy novel.

Press cuttings scrapbook, 1961-1964 (MS. le Carré 1203, folder 1) © John le Carré Ltd

To take a closer look at any of the material mentioned in this blog post, or to explore this substantial collection further, browse the catalogue here: Collection: Archive of John le Carré (David Cornwell) | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts

We are also excited to announce that an exhibition celebrating Cornwell’s work and creative process, featuring many more fascinating items from the archive and beyond, Tradecraft: John le Carré, will be opening at the Weston Library in October 2025. Further information can be found here: Archive of John le Carré to go on display for the first time in major exhibition | Bodleian Libraries

Additions to the Archive of John le Carré (David Cornwell)

20th century, 21st century, Archives and Modern Manuscripts, Cataloguing, Humanities, Modern, Newly available (2024), , , , , ,

John le Carré at the ‘Zeit Forum Kultur’ in Hamburg, 10 November 2008 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)

The archive of David Cornwell (1931-2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré, has been expanded to include drafts of his later novels (post-2010) and non-fiction work, correspondence and research relating to almost all of his novels, and scripts for both realised and unrealised film and television adaptations. Cornwell was best known for his espionage novels, inspired by his years working in both MI5 and MI6 in the 1950s and 1960s, many following the fictional intelligence officer George Smiley. These include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (1974) and Smiley’s People (1979). He also used his work to explore wider global issues such as pharmaceutical corruption, in The Constant Gardener (2001), and the War on Terror, in A Most Wanted Man (2008). His 26th novel, Silverview, was published posthumously in 2021, whilst many of his novels have been adapted into successful films and television series.

Over 300 new boxes of material have been added to the existing John le Carré archive, previously comprising only manuscript and typescript novel drafts, offering a much greater insight into Cornwell’s research and writing processes. The newly catalogued material includes hundreds of handwritten novel drafts, notebooks full of character, plot and research notes, correspondence regarding edits, research trips and publicity, and scripts for film, radio and television adaptations. In addition to further demonstrating the meticulous technique that went into the creation of each of his novels, this expanded archive uncovers drafts of unpublished and shelved novels, as well as scripts of an array of both unrealised adaptations and entirely new (non-adaptation) plays and television shows. Readers can explore the countless iterations of Cornwell’s novel drafts, the depth with which he researched the people and places he brought to life, and a wealth of previously unseen stories and characters.

Cataloguing work of Cornwell’s correspondence files, interviews, speeches and personal papers is ongoing, and the archive will be further expanded in 2025.

The updated catalogue can now be viewed online at: Collection: Archive of John le Carré (David Cornwell) | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts

New catalogue: the Archive of Joanna Trollope

20th century, 21st century, Archives and Modern Manuscripts, Cataloguing, Humanities, Modern, Newly available (2023), , ,

Photograph of Joanna Trollope.
Joanna Trollope. Reproduced with kind permission of www.barkerevans.com

The archive of the novelist and Oxford alumna Joanna Trollope, generously donated to the Bodleian by Joanna herself between 2014 and 2021, has now been catalogued and is available to view at the Weston Library.

A prolific author of numerous best-sellers, Joanna first started out writing historical fiction in the 1970s whilst working as an English teacher. By 1980 – the year her novel Parson Harding’s Daughter was awarded the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists’ Association – she had become a full-time author. Her only non-fiction title, Britannia’s Daughters, was published in 1983.

During the 1980s, Joanna’s writing evolved to contemporary fiction and The Rector’s Wife (1991) was her first number one bestseller. Her works have been translated into over twenty different languages as well as being adapted for audiobook, television, radio, and theatre. In 2010, Joanna was awarded the Romantic Novelists’ Association Lifetime Achievement Award. She was made an OBE in 1996 for services to charity and a CBE in 2019 for services to literature.

Manuscript draft of Parson Harding’s Daughter (1979), Oxford, Bodleian Libraries,                 MS. 9515/29. Reproduced with kind permission of Joanna Trollope.

The undoubted highlights of the collection are the neatly-tied handwritten manuscript drafts of Joanna’s novels, ranging from her earliest work Eliza Stanhope (first published in 1978) right up to An Unsuitable Match (published in 2018). The collection also includes several notebooks demonstrating Joanna’s careful background research into the topics and places featured in her work, covering anything from football matches to inheritance tax. They bely the preconception that her characters are consigned to cosy, country lives but instead deal with some of the tougher elements of life – bereavement, adoption, sexuality, and self-harm. They also show how much Joanna’s work mirrors life in the 1990s and 2000s and in years to come the collection will be of much interest to any one researching (to paraphrase Joanna’s family’s famous Victorian author ) ‘the way we lived then’.

-Rachael Marsay

E.F. Benson’s Mapp and Lucia

20th century, Humanities, Modern, Spotlight, , , ,

E.F. Benson (1867-1940) was a prolific author who published over 93 books in his lifetime, including novels, short stories, horror stories, reminiscences, and eight biographies. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Queen Lucia, the first of Benson’s ever-popular Mapp and Lucia books.

One of a talented brood of siblings, Edward Frederic (‘Fred’) was born in 1867, the third son of Edward White Benson (1829–1896), headmaster of Wellington College and later Archbishop of Canterbury. After studying Classics at King’s College Cambridge, Fred headed abroad to work as an archaeologist for the British School of Archaeology in Athens between 1892 and 1895. His first novel, Dodo: A Detail of the Day, was published to some acclaim in 1893. Like many of his novels, it was a social satire of modern society. In 1895, after working for the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in Egypt, he moved to London to focus on his writing.

E.F. Benson by Lafayette, whole-plate film negative, 1 August 1926, NPG x37036 © National Portrait Gallery, London (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

From 1918 onwards, Benson spent most of the year at Lamb House in the coastal town of Rye, Sussex. Lamb House had previously been the home of the novelist Henry James, who had lived there from 1897 to 1914 (it was also later the home of the author of Black Narcissus, Margaret Rumer Godden, who lived there between 1968 and 1973). Benson settled in Rye, becoming a Justice of the Peace as well as serving as Mayor between 1934 and 1937. He was appointed an OBE and, in 1938, became an honorary fellow of Magdalene College Cambridge (his elder brother, Arthur Christopher Benson, was Master of Magdalene College from 1915 until his death in 1925). E.F. Benson died on 29th February 1940, having just sent off a copy of his autobiography, Final Edition, to his publishers.

Photograph of Lamb House, Rye by Jim Linwood 19 June 2008 and originally posted on flickr (Creative Commons CC BY 2.0)

Today, Benson is probably most famous for his Mapp and Lucia novels of social manners. Contemporary fans of the series included Noel Coward, W.H. Auden, and Nancy Mitford. The series included six novels: Queen Lucia (published in 1920), Miss Mapp (1922), Lucia in London (1927), Mapp and Lucia (1931), Lucia’s Progress (1935), and Trouble for Lucia (1939). Benson also wrote two short stories, ‘The Male Impersonator’ and ‘Desirable Residences’, set in the same fictitious world. The books focus on the social snobbery and one-upmanship of the upper-middle class society of the time, predominantly following the lives of the social-climbing Emmeline ‘Lucia’ Lucas and the formidable Elizabeth Mapp.

Photograph of Mermaid Street, Rye, East Sussex by David McKelvey 22 April 2013 and originally posted on flickr (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

In the novels, Mapp and Lucia both live at some point at Mallards, which was based on Benson’s own Lamb House, in the small seaside town of Tilling (likewise modelled on Rye). The Bodleian Libraries hold E.F. Benson’s original draft manuscript of Mapp and Lucia, dated 1930, in the Archive of the Benson Family, which includes many of E.F. Benson’s original manuscripts. The novel, which was published in 1931, was originally given the title of ‘The Queen of Tilling’ and is the first novel in the series to feature both Elizabeth and Lucia.

Front cover and first page of E.F. Benson’s manuscript draft of ‘The Queen of Tilling’ [Mapp and Lucia], 1930, Bodleian Libraries, MSS. Benson adds. 2/1-2

The novels remain in print today and have been made into several radio adaptations and two television adaptations, bringing the stories and characters to a larger audience. A ten episode television series adaptation by Gerald Savory on Channel 4 was broadcast in 1985 and 1986, and starred Geraldine McEwan as Lucia, Prunella Scales as Mapp, and Nigel Hawthorne as Georgie. More recently, in 2014, the BBC broadcast a television dramatization starring Miranda Richardson as Mapp, Anna Chancellor as Lucia, and Steve Pemberton as Georgie.

Two societies were set up to celebrate the life and work of E.F. Benson. The E.F. Benson Society was founded in London in 1984 and produces a yearly journal, The Dodo, named after Benson’s first published novel. The Tilling Society was set up in 1982 and was active until 2006. The Archive of the Tilling Society was generously donated to the Bodleian in 2012 and 2014. More about the Tilling Society archive can be found in an earlier blog post.

-Rachael Marsay