Ts translation by W. H. Auden (1907-1973) of 'The Knights of the Round Table', a play by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963)

Ts, 114pp, quarto. A final leaf of blue paper carries the printed mark of 'Mrs Marshall's', 28 Southampton Street, WC.2 (Play typists since 1884) and is stamped by the firm at 23 April 1957 [or 1951]. An embossed print bearing the same information is on the first page.

W. H. Auden translated the Jean Cocteau play The Knights of the Round Table at the request of Rupert Doone (1903-1966) for the Group Theatre and a production was planned for the Edinburgh Festival in 1952. The text supllied by Auden included alternate passages for stage and radio versions, and the first performance was an adaptation by Peter Watts produced for the BBC Third Programme broadcast on 22 May 1951, and subsequently. Although the Edinburgh Festival production never took place, it was put on by Group Theatre at the Playhouse Theatre, Salisbury, in May 1954, directed by Richard Scott.

Open to bona fide researchers, but please contact repository for details in advance of visit.

Material acquired July 2015. Accession no: E2015.71.

None created for this collection.

Catalogued by Graeme D. Eddie 16 November 2015

Also within Special Collections (Centre for Research Collections), Edinburgh University Library, is a collection of W. H. Auden letters, at Coll-45. This is a number of letters acquired over a number of years (1980s and 1990s). In addition, there is the Bloomfield collection of Auden realted material, at Coll-1623.