]> ms.317 Bacon (Leonard) 1887-1954 Collection 1928-1953 MS 317 Joan Grattan Special Collections, The Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University
3400 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 USA Phone: (410) 516-8323
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Diwakar Bhandari Finding aid written in English Bacon (Leonard) 1887-1954 Collection 1928-1953 MS 317 Special CollectionsThe Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University Contact Information Special Collections The Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University 3400 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 (410) 516-8323 Joan Grattan March, 1992 Diwakar Bhandari

©2003 The Johns Hopkins University

 Descriptive Summary MS 317 Bacon (Leonard) 1887-1954 Collection 1928-1953 Bacon, Leonard, 1887-1954 Johns Hopkins University. Special Collections .2 linear ft (0.5 document box) English The collection of poet and critic, Leonard Bacon, consists of a small grouping of correspondence, 2 Christmas cards privately printed with Bacon's original poetry, and 6 reprints of his published poetry. The material was included with a gift of Bacon's books received in Special Collections and cataloged for Rare Books. The letters, cards, and reprints were removed to form the manuscript collection. No personal items of the poet are included in the collection. The correspondence includes a letter of Bacon to R.A. Rushmore, October 27, 1928. Apparently, Rushmore was the printer who selected the style in which Bacon's epic poem, The Legend of Quincibald, was printed in 1928. In the letter, Bacon expresses his appreciation to Rushmore for the care and artistry shown in his finished work. In 1953, Bacon corresponded with Arthus W. Rushmore to arrange for a design of a Christmas card which would include a poem written by Bacon. An original poem, "Birds," is printed on the 1953 Christmas card and included in the collection. A Christmas greeting for 1952 includes a poem entitled "On the Frontier."Reprints of poems written by Leonard Bacon and included in the collection are: "In Memoriam: R.B.,"" New England-What it Means," "The Saga of Finn," "Sophia Trenton," "Simeon of the Pillar," and "Arthurian Interludes."A final item of the collection is a letter of Mrs. John Farrar to the publisher, John Farrar, May 16, 1934 in which she relates a family incident. Administrative Information Provenance

The items that form this collection were included with a gift of Leonard Bacon's published volumes given to the University by William and Nina Matheson in 1988. The accession number is 91-92.11.

 Use Restrictions

Access to the collection is unrestricted.

Permission to publish material from this collection must be requested in writing from the Manuscripts Librarian, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Md. 21218.

 Preferred Citation

Leonard Bacon Collection MS 317, Special Collections, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University

 Biographical Note

Leonard Bacon, poet and critic, was born in Solvay, New York, May 26, 1887. He was descended from a line of Connecticut Valley clergymen and controversialists. Bacon grew up in Peace Dale, Rhode Island and graduated from Yale university in 1909. After working in several of his father's businesses, he obtained a teaching position in the English department, University of California, Berkeley. Bacon's earliest literary efforts were given to translating Spanish works including the Heroic Ballads of Servia (1913), the Chanson the Roland (1914), and The Cid (1919). In 1923 he published Ulug Beg, a mock epic that founded his career. He retired from teaching in 1923 and devoted the rest of his life to writing poetry, reviews, and occasional essays.

During the 1920s, Bacon published poetry in the Saturday Review of Literature using the pseudonym Autholycus. Ph.D.s, a volume of satiric verse, was published in 1925, followed by Guinea-fowl and other Poultry (1927), The Legend of Quincebald (1928), and Lost Buffalo, and other Poems (1930). Between 1927 and 1932, Bacon lived with his wife and three daughters in Florence, Italy. He returned to the United States in 1932, and his poetry began to regularly appear in Atlantic, Harper's, New Yorker, and Saturday Review. Bacon won a Pulitzer prize in 1940 for Sunderland Capture, and Other Poems. Critics described Leonard Bacon's poetry as "an eloquent expression of the fierce Puritan intellectual tradition." Leonard Bacon died in Peace Dale, Rhode Island, January 1, 1954.