Charles Morgan letters to Ronald Armstrong

The collection of Charles Morgan’s letters to his friend Ronald Armstrong spans the dates 1930 – 1958. Nearly all 240 letters were written by Morgan and addressed to his friend Ronald Armstrong, a British Consulate official based in Geneva, Switzerland. A third of the letters are addressed to Armstrong’s wife, Petronella (Nellie), while Morgan’s wife Hilda Morgan (a.k.a. Hilda Vaughan) has written others. The collection also includes three photographs, several of Morgan’s publications, including a proof copy of his novel, The Judge’s Story (1947), and other ephemera.

The collection is organized in three series: the correspondence—which makes up the largest group of materials—followed by Morgan’s writings, and then the photographs and ephemera. All of the correspondence is organized in one chronological sequence, including the letters written by Hilda Morgan and those addressed to Nellie Armstrong. The majority of Morgan’s letters are clearly written in his neat hand on personal stationery, and all but a few are dated. Many of the letters are accompanied by their original envelopes. A few of the letters have autograph notes in what appears to be Ronald Armstrong’s hand.

The letters discuss Morgan’s work as a writer and theater critic, the demands of the publishing world, book sales, and the literary scene in England, France, and the United States. The letters written by Morgan during the 1930s reveal that Nellie Armstrong assisted Morgan with many of the Dutch references in his early novel The Fountain, and also helped him to find Dutch translators and publishers for his work. In other letters vacations and travel plans are discussed, and there are several one-page letters confirming lunch and dinner engagements. Many of the letters written during the 1940s discuss the difficulties of war rationing and the lack of basic necessities in post-war London. In one letter, written in December 1944, Morgan briefly describes liberated Paris and his impressions of the advancing Allied armies. One particularly interesting letter contains a short autobiographical note that Morgan prepared for an article Nellie Armstrong planned to write. Morgan’s self-assessment is objectively written, yet shows how keenly aware he was of his position among other British writers.

The letters reveal the Morgans’ developing friendship with the Armstrongs, while also providing a look at the lifestyles particular to a successful man of letters and a consulate official.

The second series of items contains some of Morgan’s writing in both manuscript and published versions. Included are two different editions of Morgan’s poem “Ode to France”—which he read from the stage of the Comédie Française to the French president and other dignitaries—a set of first page proofs of the novel The Judge’s Story, and a manuscript of a lecture he delivered in Switzerland.

The third series includes three photographs, one of which portrays Morgan, Ronald Armstrong, and Osbert Sitwell together at Armstrong’s home in Geneva. Among the other items in the series are the program from Morgan’s memorial service, annotated by his wife; a typescript copy of Dame Edith Sitwell’s funeral oration for Morgan; and several news clippings. There are also several typescript letters written by Armstrong to journalists and publishers concerning Morgan’s work.