Paul Solanges papers

Component identifier:

Series 12

Content Summary:

In 1910, Paul Solanges, a retired littérateur, wrote to Richardson and offered to translate Maurice Guest into French. They corresponded frequently on the work of translation, and Solanges sent notes of his queries about particular points for reply by Richardson. After the completion of the first draft, Solanges revised the chapters and progressively forwarded them to Richardson, who had her notes typed for the final revision by Solanges. The work was interrupted by Solanges' death in 1914 and the First World War. A small amount of correspondence took place between Richardson and Solanges' daughter Marthe until 1920. The translation, correspondence and notes were returned to Richardson in 1914 by Solanges' family. The translation itself was last known to be in the hands of Heinemann publishers, London, in 1947.

This series contains the correspondence and notes, as well as transcriptions of the Richardson letters by Margaret Capon and translations of some Solanges letters by Dorothy Green. Photocopies of the correspondence and notes are also included.

Since the items in this series were numbered after they were microfilmed, a detailed item listing of the letters is included at Appendix 2.

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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