Short Stories

Component identifier:

Series 5

Content Summary:

Drafts of most of Richardson's short stories are contained in this series. There is a typed final draft with a few handwritten alterations of the story 'Death', the title of which was later changed to 'Mary Christina'. There is also a typed German translation of this story with handwritten alterations and a newspaper cutting from the Swedish newspaper Nya dagligt allehanda (13 September 1931) containing a Swedish translation of the story, entitled 'Döden'. A handwritten draft of 'The bath: an aquarelle' is signed by Richardson, as are typed final drafts of 'Three in a row', 'Conversation in a pantry', 'Two hanged women', and 'Mary Christina'. All these drafts have handwritten alterations and there is a second typed draft of 'Two hanged women', which is a near final draft.

As well as a handwritten draft of the story 'The end of a childhood', the series contains the typed final draft with a few handwritten corrections of the book of short stories entitled The end of a childhood and other stories which contains the following stories: 'The end of a childhood', 'The bathe: a grotesque', 'Three in a row', 'Preliminary canter', 'Conversation in a pantry', 'The bath: an aquarelle', 'The wrong turning', 'And women must weep', 'Two hanged women', 'Life and death of Peterle Luthy', 'The professor's experiment', 'Succedaneum', and 'Mary Christina'.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The original collection of Richardson Papers was purchased from Miss Olga Roncoroni,the executrix of Richardson's will, in 1946 and consisted of the typescripts of mostof her books, as well as the notes that she compiled when doing the research forThe fortunes of Richard Mahony. In 1971 a majorconsignment of papers was purchased from Richardson's nephew, Dr Walter Neustatter ofLondon. It comprised correspondence, notebooks, photographs and other items relatingto Richardson's parents. In 1972 another large group of papers was presented by MissOlga Roncoroni. It contained personal papers and documents belonging to Richardson,diaries, letters, articles, and material collected by Richardson when writingThe young Cosima. Between 1946 and 1971 additional Richardson Papers were received from a number ofsources. They include letters from Richardson to Oliver Stonor, 1929-1946; typedcopies of letters from Richardson to Jacob Schwartz, 1931-1933; and photographicprints of letters from Richardson to Mary Kernot, 1911-1946, the originals of whichare held by the Mitchell Library. Papers relating to Richardson's husband, ProfessorJ.G. Robertson, include his biographical notes about Richardson, photocopies oflectures, and galley proofs of a book. The letters from Richardson to Mary Kernotwere closed until 20 March 1996. In 1983, the Library received Richardson's correspondence with Paul Solanges,1910-1914, about his translation of Maurice Guest, andnotes on the translation, as well as diaries and albums of newspaper cuttingsmaintained by Richardson and her heirs, and a number of editions of Richardson'sbooks. In 1993, the Library acquired from the University of Tasmania the collectionof books used by Richardson in researching her book The youngCosima. In 1996, 44 letters to Richardson from her sister Lilian were acquired from thelatter's granddaughter, along with two letters from Walter Neustatter and additionalphotographs. In 2001, original manuscript scores of music composed by Richardson donated under the Cultural Gifts Program by Professor Clive Probyn and Dr Bruce Steele. They in turn had acquired them from Margaret Capon as part of the Monash University Henry Handel Richardson Project in 1996. The music was used for the publications Henry Handel Richardson: the music and Songs of Henry Handel Richardson, both of which were edited by Bruce Steele and Richard Divall and published in 2000.

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