Sheffield Hallam University has established a collection of books which reflects the wide range of literary tastes during the period 1900-1950. The collection consists of some 750 novels, most in early editions, by 229 different authors. These books all had large readerships during the first half of the twentieth century, but they have not generally been studied in university English departments nor remembered by a general readership.
Most of the books in the Collection have been donated by the public, and we would be delighted to receive more interesting early editions of well-loved novels.
List of authors in the collection (Word document).
Events
Friday 22nd June 2012
Adapting The Constant Nymph:Film and the Bestseller between the Wars
This is a very rare opportunity to see the 1933 film, described as a 'sumptuous production'! This event is open to all: email e.brown@shu.ac.uk if you would like to attend. More details.
A new bespoke area has been built in the library at Sheffield Hallam to house the collection and to celebrate this we held an event on the 9th December 2011. The Lord Mayor of Sheffield officially opened the collection, and there were talks on the writers Elizabeth Taylor and J. B. Priestley.
Cllr Sylvia Dunkley, Lord Mayor of Sheffield, opens the collection
See more photos of the collection.
We hold collection events twice a year, with talks, film screenings and the opportunity to meet other people interested in popular fiction of the period. They are open to all, and we especially welcome non-academics.
For more information about the collection, to attend the events, or to offer books for donation, contact Erica Brown e.brown@shu.ac.uk.
Articles about the Collection
The launch of the Collection in November 2010: 'Rattling good reads', Yorkshire Post. Steven McClarence writes: 'a novel archive of novels from the first half of the 20th century, the sort that literary snobs have sneered at for decades and that high-minded public libraries have chucked in skips.'
The official opening of the Collection in December 2011: 'Forgotten writers who won't be pulped', Yorkshire Post and 'Forgotten novelists get a second outing', Information World Review.
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