Arrangement
The collection is arranged in two series. The H. G. Wells letters are arranged alphabetically by correspondents' surnames and then by date, with undated items placed at the end. The Anthony West correspondence is arranged alphabetically by the authors' surnames and then by recipients' surnames.
Administrative/Biographical History
Anthony "Panther" West (1914-1987) was the son of Rebecca West and H. G. Wells. West was a well-respected English author with novels such as On a Dark Night, Another Kind, and The Vintage. West based many of his novels' characters off of his own life, most notably in his fictionalized autobiography, Heritage. In addition to Heritage, West also wrote a biography of his father; H. G. Wells: Aspects of a Life explores the relationship between H. G. Wells and Rebecca West. West was a dairy farmer before becoming a journalist for the BBC Overseas Service, 1943-1947 and then an essayist and critic for The New Yorker, 1950-1972.
Anthony West had a close relationship with his mother's two older sisters, Letitia ("Lettie") Fairfield and Winifred ("Winnie") Macleod.
Alison Macleod Selford is a TV critic and novelist. She is the daughter of Winifred and Norman Macleod and niece to Rebecca West.
Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, screenwriter, and political figure and is considered to be the father of modern science fiction through works such as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds. Wells had a decade-long relationship with Rebecca West from 1912-1923.
Sources
Hodson, L. (1983). "Anthony (Panther) West." In B. S. Oldsey (Ed.), Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 15: British Novelists, 1930-1959. Online Edition, 2007.
Parrinder, Patrick. "Wells, Herbert George (1866-1946)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online edition. 2011. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/36831
Author: Lisa Vallen
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