Herbert Read Fonds/Collection

Biographical History

Herbert Edward Read (1893–1968) was a poet, anarchist, art critic, political theorist and key figure in the history of modern art. He produced approximately 1,150 titles on a broad range of topics. His 80 monographs include: 26 on art and artists; 14 on literary criticism; 13 collections of poetry; 10 on politics, primarily on anarchism; 7 on “belles lettres” and biography; 5 on education, most notably Education Through Art; and 5 autobiographies. He played a critical role in the development of anarchism in Britain and internationally from the late 1930s through to the 1960s.

For more on Read, watch the documentary To Hell With Culture.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists primarily of correspondence with many individuals, including Richard Aldington, Wilfred R. Childe, Alex Comfort, Edward Dahlberg, Bonamy and Valentine Dobree, T. S. Eliot, Naum Gabo, Rayner Heppenstall, Barbara Hepworth, David Jones, Jacob Kramer, Percy Wyndham Lewis, Henry Miller, Henry Moore, Frank Morley, Edwin Muir, Ben Nicholson, Alfred R. Orage, George Orwell, Robert Payne, Kathleen Raine, Stephen Spender, Adrian Stokes, Allen Tate, Arthur W. Wheen, George Woodcock and Wilhelm Worringer. Also included are notebooks, worksheets, proofs and mimeographed BBC programs; mostly from the 1950s and 1960s.