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University of Chicago Library

Guide to the William A. Nitze Papers 1905-1937

© 2006 University of Chicago Library

Descriptive Summary

Title:

Nitze, William A. Papers

Dates:

1905-1937

Size:

9.5 linear ft. (19 boxes)

Repository:

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.

Abstract:

William A. Nitze, Professor of romance languages, University of Chicago, 1909-1941. Contains professional correspondence, manuscripts, class preparation notes for the Arthurian Seminar, students' papers, lectures, research notes, transcriptions and photostats of research materials, offprints, and drafts of a critical edition of Perlesvaus. Material relates primarily to Nitze's work on Arthurian legends and his collaboration with Thomas A. Jenkins and others on the Arthurian Romances Project. Also includes correspondence relating to La Maison Française at the University of Chicago.

Information on Use

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Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Nitze, William A. Papers, , [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

William A. Nitze (1876-1957), Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professor of Romance Languages and Literature 1935-1941, came to the University of Chicago as a full professor to become head of the Romance Languages Department in 1901. Prior to his appointment he had been a lecturer at Columbia University (1899-1903), associate professor and professor of Romance Languages at Amherst (1903-1908) and professor of Romance Languages at the University of California (1908-1909). After his retirement from the University of Chicago he taught again at the University of California (1942-1946). At the University of Chicago Professor Nitze took a keen interest in his students as manifested in his articles on the problems and quality of contemporary education and in his papers by the records of his association with La Maison Française. He is most noted, however, as the originator and director of the Arthurian Romances Project, a long-standing project at the University of Chicago to trace the Arthurian legends and the story of the Holy Grail through the various literatures of medieval and post-medieval Europe. At the time of his retirement he was regarded as one of the leading American figures in Romance languages and literature.

Scope Note

The William A. Nitze Papers are organized in three series containing the following materials: (1) Professor Nitze's professional papers, especially papers stemming from the ongoing Arthurian Seminar and papers related to the publication of a critical edition of the Perlesvaus produced in collaboration with Professor Thomas Atkinson Jenkins and others; (2) correspondence; and (3) photostats of manuscripts used in the edition of the Perlesvaus and other works. (The Arthurian Seminar and the edition of the Perlesvaus are discussed in fuller detail below.)

The first part is arranged in ten sections: "Class and Seminar Preparation Notes," usually professor Nitze's introductions to, and line-by-line critical-exegetical notes on, the various Arthurian romances studied by the sessions of the Seminar (Box 1); "Arthurian Seminar Students' Papers," "Students' Work for French Language Courses, 1915" (Box 2, folders 6-10); "Formal Lectures and Manuscripts of Publications" (Box 2, folder 11 through Box 3, folder 30); "Topical Notes, Studies and Reference Materials," consisting of Nitze's files on various scholarly topics (Box 3, folders 4-15); "Transcriptions of Texts and Manuscript Descriptions," used by Nitze in the edition of the Perlesvaus and in other works (Box 3, folder 16 through Box 5, folder 12); "The Perlesvaus Edition, Volume Two, Part One: Commentary," "The Perlesvaus Edition, Volume Two, Part Two: Notes," and "The Perlesvaus Edition, Volume Two, Printer's Copy, proofs, and Miscellaneous" (Box 5, folder 13 through Box 12) consisting primarily of successive drafts and revisions of the studies comprising volume two of the edition; annotated or autographed "Offprints and Publications by Nitze and His Colleagues" (Box 13, folders 1-18).

The Nitze Papers include no materials from the publication of the Perlesvaus edition, Volume One, Text, Variants and Glossary, other than the photostats and transcriptions of manuscripts, and the card files of textual variants (Box 12, folder 2) included under Miscellaneous, all of which were used also for the publication of the second volume.

The Correspondence preserved in the Nitze Papers has been grouped together in four folders (Box 13, folders 19-22): the first a general collection of professional correspondence in alphabetical order by correspondent, the second and third correspondence on two particular topics pertaining to the Perlesvaus edition, and the fourth, correspondence pertaining to the establishment and financial support for La Maison Francaise, 1918-1922, the French House at the University of Chicago founded under the stimulus of Professor Nitze.

The collection of photostats comprising the third section of the William A. Nitze Papers (Boxes 14 through 19) represents only a portion of the photostats acquired in the course of the Arthurian Romances Project, see Box 3, folder 14, "Conference on the Study of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Chicago, January 1 and 2, 1933," the list of manuscript photostats in the United States compiled for the use of members of the conference.

In addition, the following photostats acquired by Professor Tom Peete Cross for Celtic studies in relation to the Arthurian Romances Project (see the description of the Arthurian Romances Project, below) are retained by the University of Chicago Library, catalogued under call numbers as listed below. Records pertaining to the acquisition of these photostats are preserved in the Humanities Division Research Grants Papers, Box 4 folder 1, in the Archives, The University of Chicago Library.

The Arthurian Romances Project

During the years 1927-1937 William A. Nitze collaborated with Professors Thomas Atkinson Jenkins (until his death in 1935) and Tom Peete Cross in carrying out the project of the origins and history of the Arthurian Romances. The project was supported by funds from the General Education Board and the Rockefeller Foundation administered through the Humanities Division of the University of Chicago. This "Arthurian Institute," as the project was unofficially titled during its latter years, produced an impressive number of editions of texts, as well as monographs and articles on related subjects. Two long-range projects comprised the core of the Arthurian Romances Project. The first and major project was a critical edition of the late twelfth or early thirteenth century French prose romance of the Grail known as Le Haut Livre du Graal, or Perlesvaus, for its central character better known today as Perceval. This edition had its genesis in Nitze's doctoral dissertation, The Old French Grail Romance Perlesvaus (Johns Hopkins University, 1899, published by John Murphy Co., Baltimore, 1902), which Nitze undertook at the suggestion of Professor F. M. Warren of Yale University. The plan for the edition was ambitious, including linguistic, historical and literary notes requiring the close cooperation of scholars in widely divergent fields of specialization, and an introduction and commentary which traced the origin and evolution of the Arthurian legends in the Perlesvaus. The related study of the history of Glastonbury Abbey required the assistance of archaeologists and historians of architecture, while the interpretation of some of the Arthurian legends, which appeared to have had their origin in rites of initiation and other primitive customs, involved incursions into the realm of sociology and cultural anthropology. Consequently the project, and the resource materials collected in the course of the work, were relevant to a wide range of academic disciplines. The experience of scholarly cooperation on such a wide scale seems to have inspired, moreover, some of Nitze's ideals for contemporary education.

The second project whose progress was regularly described in the reports written for the Humanities. Division Research Grants committee was a study of the origin and evolution of the Guenevere theme in medieval literature. These two projects culminated in the publication in Modern Philology Monographs of the University of Chicago of the two volume edition, Perlesvaus, Le Haut Livre du Graal (volume one: text, variants and glossary, ed. by William A. Nitze and T. Atkinson Jenkins, 1932; volume two: commentary and notes, ed. by William A. Nitze and collaborators, 1937), and of the monograph, Lancelot and Guenevere: A Study in the Origins of Courtly Love (ed. by Tom Peete Cross and William A. Nitze, 1930).

The context in which much of the work of these and related smaller projects was carried out was the Arthurian Seminar, or "Seminary," as it is frequently called in Nitze's papers. During the years of its existence, the Arthurian Seminar dealt with such problems as the sources of the Perlesvaus and the history of the various legends and motifs shared by the Perlesvaus and other Arthurian romances. Thus, for example, the Winter, 1910 session of the Seminar was devoted to the Perceval problem (Box 1 folder 3), under the name "Perceval Seminary." Likewise, Nitze noted in his progress report of 1928-29 (Humanities Division Research Grants Papers, Box 4, folder 1) that the "Romance Seminary" was studying the Knight of the Cart, the title given the Lancelot and Guenevere story composed by the twelfth century French poet, Chrétien de Troyes.

The Arthurian Seminar produced a number of well known scholars whose work began with dissertations on problems raised in the Seminar. Many of these persons carried on the tradition of Chicago Arthurian studies, maintaining close relationships with each other and with their Chicago mentors. Their contributions to the project, reflected in the title page rubric "edited by William A. Nitze and collaborators" in volume two of the Perlesvaus edition, are attested in the papers of the project preserved in this collection. The following is a list of persons who contributed directly or indirectly to the edition of the Perlesvaus and whose names or initials occur throughout the Nitze Papers:

G.E. Bentley, Karl Pietsch, Caleb Bevans, James O. Powell, Justice Neale Carman, Edith Rickert, Sir William Craigie, William Joseph Roach, Edwin Preston Dargan, Henry Leon Robinson, Ernest Haden William Hobart Royce, Urban T. Holmes, Clark H. Slover, Ruth Kline, Leon P. Smith, Gloria Leven, John Spargo, John Thomas Lister, Adolph Benjamin Swanson, John M. Manly, W.H. Tretheway, Clarence Mills, Salomon Narciso Trevino, Elizabeth Miller, John A. S. Verdier, Courtney Montague, Bernard Weinberg, G.T. Northup, Massimila Wilczynski, Clarence Edward Parmenter, Louis Edgar Winfrey, Dorothy Winters

Of the above, Sir William Craigie, John M. Manly and Edith Rickert received portions of their salaries from the funds of the Arthurian project; E.P. Dargan apparently received funds for the continuation of William Hobart Royce's A Bibliography of Balzac, and S.N. Trevino received subsidy for assistance on an unspecified humanistic project under the direction of C.E. Parmenter. The relation of these projects to the Arthurian Romances Project is not clear from the Nitze Papers or from the Humanities Division Research Grants Papers. Ernest Haden, Urban T. Holmes and John Spargo were employed at various times to teach courses thereby freeing the principals of the Arthurian Romances Project for research, and at least Holmes acted as a consultant on the project itself. The remaining persons were all members of the faculty or graduate students participating directly in the Arthurian Seminar.

In addition to the above persons, the Arthurian Romances Project profited from consultation with several other American and European scholars, whose contributions are documented in the correspondence preserved in the Nitze Papers, and whose names are listed in the following guide. Their initials occur frequently in association with critical comments appended to drafts of various portions of the Perlesvaus edition, and can be identified by reference to the list of correspondents. Where the list of correspondents fails, usually the bibliography in volume two of the Perlesvaus edition (pp. 345-375) will yield the identification; thus, for example, the ACLB whose initials occur in the Perlesvaus edition drafts will be identified as A. C. L. Brown of Harvard University.

The William A. Nitze Papers were acquired by the University of Chicago Library on August 20, 1972 from the Romance Languages Department through Professor Bernard Weinberg.

Related Resources

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Subject Headings

INVENTORY

Series I: Professional Papers

Subseries 1: Seminar Preparation Notes

Box 1   Folder 1-2

Introduction to Romance Philology (Lecture notes prepared by Prof. Karl Pietsch, taught later by Prof. T. Atkinson Jenkins and received by Nitze after Jenkins' death in March, 1935).

Box 1   Folder 3

"Perceval Seminary, 1910, Oct.-Dec." (lecture notes: "Grail Episode" and "The Perceval Problem").

Box 1   Folder 4

Chrétien de Troyes' Ivain (lecture notes: introduction and line-by-line commentary).

Box 1   Folder 5

Chrétien de Troyes' Erec (lecture notes: introduction and line-by-line commentary)

Box 1   Folder 6

Chrétien de Troyes' Erec (notes from the Arthurian Seminar by Caleb Bevans).

Box 1   Folder 7

Chanson de Roland (lecture notes: line-by-line commentary).

Box 1   Folder 8

The Peredur, Wolfram and Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval (lecture notes: comparative study).

Box 1   Folder 9

Legend and manuscripts of the Destruction de Jérusalem or Vindicta salvatoris (notes).

Box 1   Folder 10

Marie de Champagne and the Lyric Poets (notes).

Box 1   Folder 11

"Les livres de Jean de France, Duc de Berry, frère du roi Charles V. (notes, 1930)."

Subseries 2: Arthurian Seminar Students' Papers

Box 2    Folder 1

Caleb Bevans, "Some Analogies to Welsh Material in 'Li Chevaliers as deus espees'" (typed MS).

Box 2    Folder 2

J. Neale Carman, materials on the dating of the Perlesvau

  • Inferences from the Br (Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale des Ducs de Bourgogne, MS 11145) colophon," "The Perlesvaus, Its Date," "The Perlesvaus, Its Author," and "Bibliography of the Historical Works Cited in the Chapter on the "Dating of the Perlesvaus"
Box 2    Folder 3

W. H. Tretheway, "Automata in the Perlesvaus" (typed MS).

Box 2    Folder 4

Marjorie Williamson, "The Dream of Cahus in Perlesvaus" (typed MS).

Box 2    Folder 5

Without signature, "The Eucharistic Vision in the Perlesvaus, Branch I" (typed MS).

Subseries 3: Students' Work for French Language Course, 1915

Box 2    Folder 6

Exercises, French 2, Spring, 1915.

Box 2    Folder 7

Exercises, French 5, Spring, 1915.

Box 2    Folder 8

Exercises, French 4, Winter, 1915.

Box 2    Folder 9

Exercises, French 5, Winter, 1915.

Box 2    Folder 10

Examinations, French courses, 1915.

Subseries 4: Formal Lectures and Manuscripts of Publications

Box 2    Folder 11

Chrétien de Troyes' Cligés and Ivain, chevalier au lion (series of three lectures for delivery at Johns Hopkins University).

Box 2    Folder 12

"Claudas" (typed MS).

Box 2    Folder 13

"Some Facts Concerning Brien des Isles that may have a Bearing on the Date of the Perlesvaus" (typed MS).

Box 2    Folder 14

"The Historical Arthur" (a lecture; typed MS).

Box 2    Folder 15

"The Forms and Etymologies of Perceval: A Summary" (dealing with the question, "Who, then, is Peredur the Grail Knight, and whence does he derive his name?" typed MS).

Box 2    Folder 16

"The Exhumation of King Arthur at Glastonbury" (typed MS; published: Speculum 9 (1934) pp. 355-61.

Box 2    Folder 17

"The Beste Glatissant in Arthurian Romance (typed MS; published, Zeitschrift fur romanische Philologie 56 (1936) pp. 409-18.

Box 2    Folder 18

"The Unasked Question in the Grail Stories" (typed and handwritten MSS).

Box 2    Folder 19

"The High History of the Grail" (typed MS; paper delivered to the General Meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1937; General Meeting program included).

Box 2    Folder 20

"On the Chronology of the Grail Romances" (notes and handwritten MS; published: The Manly Anniversary Studies in Language and Literature, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1923, pp. 300-314.

Box 2    Folder 21

The History of French Literature from the Earliest Times to the Great War (typed MS; published: Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1922, 1927 revised edition, 1938 third edition).

Box 3    Folder 1-2

The History of French Literature.... (typed MS, continued).

Box 3    Folder 3

"Horizons" (fragmentary handwritten MS; presidential address to the Modern Languages Association of America, 1929; published: Proceedings of the Modern Languages Association 44 (1929) pp. iii-xi.

Subseries 5: Topical Notes, Studies and Reference Materials

Box 3    Folder 4

"The Date of the Probably Spurious Charter of Henry II to Glastonbury" (typed and handwritten MS).

Box 3    Folder 5

"Hugh of Avalon and Glastonbury" (handwritten MS).

Box 3    Folder 6

"Glastonbury and Joseph's Coming to Britain" (typed MS).

Box 3    Folder 7

Massimila Wilczynski, untitled typed note on numerical symmetry and the addition of Arthur to the catalogue of heroes.

Box 3    Folder 8

"Indications in the Perlesvaus of a further source and comparisons, when possible, with Gerbert's continuation" (handwritten MS).

Box 3    Folder 9

Note on J. B. Bury, "A Life of St. Patrick (Colgan's Tertia Vita), "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy 32 (1903) sect. C, p. 216 (on a forgery in a manuscript of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica by Glastonbury monks in an effort to enhance the antiquity of Glastonbury Abbey.

Box 3    Folder 10

Kilweh and Olwen, the search for Mabon (handwritten note).

Box 3    Folder 11

"Salutations in the Perlesvaus," and "Formulae of Address in the Perlesvaus" (typed MSS).

Box 3    Folder 12

The white Stagg episode (handwritten note).

Box 3    Folder 13

Sildes in the Art Department (of the University of Chicago; typed list).

Box 3    Folder 14

"Conference on the Study of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Rerum Britanniae, Chicago, January 1 and 2, 1933" (memorandum of conference's conclusions) with a list of photostats of MSS in the United States compiled for use of members of the conference.

Box 3    Folder 15

"Black Letter editions of the Arthurian Romances in Harvard College Library" (a typed list); Dr. Eduardo de Laiglesia, "Biblioteca de Libros de Caballerias" (catalogue of Laiglesia Collection); two copies of another catalogue of the Laiglesia Collection of Arthuriana; portion of an annual report of the Newberry Library pertaining to the acquisition of the Laiglesia Collection of Arthuriana (cf. William A. Nitze, "The Newberry Collection of Arthuriana," Modern Philology 30 (1932-33) pp. 1-4.

Subseries 6: Transcriptions of Texts and Manuscript Descriptions

Box 3    Folder 16-18

Transcription of Perlesvaus MS O (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Hatton 82) by John Thomas Lister (typed)

Box 3    Folder 19-20

Transcription of Perlesvaus MS O (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Hatton 82) from edition by J. T. Lister (typed).

Box 4    Folder 1-3

Transcription of Perlesvaus MS O from edition by J. T. Lister, continued.

Box 4    Folder 4-9

Transcription of Perlesvaus MS P (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds francaise 1428 (ancien fonds 7526); typed).

Box 5    Folder 1

Description of Perlesvaus MS P (typed).

Box 5    Folder 2

Transcription of several Perlesvaus MSS for lines 3626-3647, including: Perlesvaus MS P; MS Br (Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale des Ducs de Bourgogne, MS 11145); MS C (Chantilly, France, Institut de France, MS 626 of the Collection of the Duc d'Aumale); BL (black letter printed editions, Paris, 1516 and Paris, 1523).

Box 5    Folder 3

Description and transcription of Perlesvaus MS W (Wales, National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, Peniarth MS 11.

Box 5    Folder 4

"Perlesvaus Concordance of Manuscripts" (giving folio references for lines as cited in Nitze, Jenkins et al., Perlesvaus Le Haut Livre du Graal).

Box 5    Folder 5

"A Brief Outline, by folios, of the Pseudo-Wauchier and Wauchier portions of MS B(ibliothèque) N(ationale) f. fr. 12577" (Chrétien de Troyes and continuators, Roman de Perceval le Gallois) plus a concordance to other MSS containing the same text.

Box 5    Folder 6

Outline, by Caleb Bevans, of the Manecier continuation of Chrétien de Troyes, Roman de Perceval le Gallois plus transcriptions of (Potvin edition) lines 16756-16770 in severalMSS including: MS S (Paris, Bibliotheque National f. fr. 1453); MS L (London, British Museum Add. MS 36614); MS V (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale nouv. acq. 6614); MS M (Montpellier, France, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Médicine, MS H. 249); MS T (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale f. fr. 12576); MS E (Edinbourg, National Library of Scotland, MS 19.9.5); MS Q (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale f. fr. 1429); MS U (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale f. fr. 12577).

Box 5    Folder 7

Transcription of Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale fonds française 12577, Chrétien de Troyes and Continuators, Roman de Perceval le Gallois, fol. 92r, col. 2-92v, col. 2, "The Carados Episode."

Box 5    Folder 8

Transcription of London, British Museum Add. MS 36614, Chrétien de Troyes and Continuators, Roman de Perceval le Gallois or the Conte du Graal, fols. 102v, col. 2-103v, col. 1 (new foliation: 105v-106v), "The Carados Episode."

Box 5    Folder 9

Transcription of London, British Museum, Cotton MS Cleopatra C. X., Miracles of the Virgin, folios 101r-v.

Box 5    Folder 10

Notes (MS descriptions; transcriptions, handwritten) pertaining to Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale fonds française 120 and 747, Robert de Boron, L'Histoire du Saint Graal and Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana MS 2759, Libre dau Sangraal e Liber Merlini.

Box 5    Folder 11

Notes (MS descriptions; transcriptions, handwritten) pertaining to Spanish MSS of the Merlin.

Box 5    Folder 12

Notes (MS description; handwritten) pertaining to Devon, Pennsylvania, Boies Penrose Collection, Wace, Roman de Brut.

Box 5    Folder 13

"Jean de Nestle-Account of Reconciliation with Thomas of Savoy, Count of Flanders, in 1238. Philippe Mousket vv. 30280 ff., ed. Reiffenberg, II, p. 657; ed. RHF, vol. XXII, p. 70." (typed copy of text, from Reiffenberg edition).

Subseries 7: The Perlesvaus Edition, Volume II, Part I: Commentary

Box 5    Folder 14

Henry L. Robinson's materials on the language of Perlesvaus MS O (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 82; cf. Henry L. Robinson, The Language of the Scribes of MS Hatton 82 (Perlesvaus) (University of Chicago unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, 1933).

Box 5    Folder 15-16

Henry L. Robinson's materials on the language of other Perlesvaus MSS (used by T. Atkinson Jenkins in writing "Commentary," chapter 1: "Language of the Manuscripts."

Box 5    Folder 17-19

Successive early drafts of "Commentary," chapter one, pt. 1, "Language of the Manuscripts" (Perlesvaus edition, vol. 2, pp. 3-24).

Box 5    Folder 20-22

Successive drafts and revisions of "Commentary," chapter one, pt. 2, "Relationship of the Manuscripts" (Perlesvaus edition, vol. 2, pp. 24-42).

Box 6    Folder 1-7

Successive drafts and revisions of "Commentary," chapter one, pt. 2, "Relationship of the Manuscripts," continued.

Box 6    Folder 8-13

Successive drafts and revisions of "Commentary," the entire chapter one (folder 12 contains an "Alternate treatment of the Language of MS O" (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 82) utilized in the final draft of chapter one).

Box 6    Folder 14

T. Atkinson Jenkins' draft of "Commentary," chapter two, "Glastonbury and the Perlesvaus."

Box 6    Folder 15-18

Successive drafts and revisions of "Commentary," chapter two, "Glastonbury and the Perlesvaus."

Box 7    Folder 1-4

Successive drafts and revisions of "Commentary," chapter three, "The Date of the Perlesvaus," first version.

Box 7    Folder 5

J. Neale Carman's comments on the first version of chapter three, "The Date of the Perlesvaus."

Box 7    Folder 6-7

Revised version of "Commentary," chapter three, "The Date of the Perlesvaus (carbon copies of typed MSS sent to William Roach and J. Neale Carman for criticism).

Box 7    Folder 8-12

Successive drafts of "Commentary," chapter four, "Sources of the Perlesvaus.

Box 7    Folder 13

Draft of "Commentary," chapter four, section on "P(erlesvaus) and the Manessier Continuation." (Perlesvaus edition, pp. 124-33; handwritten MS by William A. Nitze and carbon of a typed MS).

Box 7    Folder 14-19

Successive drafts of "Commentary," chapter four, section on "P(erlesvaus) and the Gerbert Continuation" (Perlesvaus edition, pp. 133-151; typed MSS).

Box 7    Folder 20-22

Draft of "Commentary," the entire chapter four, "Sources of the Perlesvaus" (typed MS).

Box 7    Folder 23

Revisions of preceding draft of the entire chapter four, "Sources of the Perlesvaus."

Box 7    Folder 24-25

Successive drafts of "Commentary," chapter five, "Structure and Style of the Perlesvaus."

Subseries 8: The Perlesvaus Edition, Volume II, Part II: Notes

Box 8   Folder 1

Collection of notes labeled "Miscellaneous Material for Notes."

Box 8   Folder 2

Collection of notes labelled "Miscellaneous Texts."

Box 8   Folder 3-4

First draft of Notes by William A. Nitze.

Box 8   Folder 5

Notes: first typed draft (prior to 1933; lines 3-7300). (original folder label: "Line Notes Final Draft Second Carbon").

Box 8   Folder 6

Revision of first typed draft of Notes for lines 488, 597.

Box 8   Folder 7

"Perlesvaus Notes (carbon copy of set made for Mr. Nitze, April, 1933)" (Notes for lines 3-2194).

Box 8   Folder 8

Carbon copy, annotated by William A. Nitze, of Notes typed for Mr. Nitze, April, 1933.

Box 8   Folder 9

"Perlesvaus Queries" (Sept. 1933)' (questions by Nitze (?) based on the Notes as typed in April, 1933.

Box 8   Folder 10

Arthurian Seminar proceedings, Winter Quarter, 1934, based on Notes as typed April, 1933

Box 8   Folder 11

T. Atkinson Jenkins' Linguistic Notes.

Box 9    Folder 1

Revised draft of Notes subsequent to 1933.

Box 9    Folder 2

Annotated typed MS of Notes (sections later rewritten or eliminated).

Box 9    Folder 3

Revised draft of Notes subsequent to 1933.

Box 9    Folder 4-7

Annotated typed MS of Notes (sections later rewritten or eliminated).

  • BOX 10

Subseries 9: The Perlesvaus Edition, Volume II, Printer's Copy, Proofs and Miscellaneous

Box 9    Folder 1-8

Printer's Copy, Perlesvaus edition, volume 2, complete.

Box 11    Folder 1

Galley Proof Corrections (typed list of corrections).

Box 11    Folder 2-10

Galley Proofs of Perlesvaus edition, volume 2.

Box 11    Folder 11-13

Galley Proofs of Perlesvaus edition, volume 2, illustrations.

Box 11    Folder 14-20

Collection of photographs and maps related to the Perlesvaus and especially to Glastonbury history.

Box 11    Folder 21

Miscellaneous notes, clippings and memorabilia pertaining to the Perlesvaus and to Glastonbury (the Glastonbury charter from HenryII; Henry of Sully).

Box 12   Folder 1

"Errata" (card file of errors in manuscript readings in Perlesvaus edition, volume one; note: the file is much more thorough than the "Errata" list published in volume two of the Perlesvaus edition).

Box 12   Folder 2

Manuscripts collation file (card file of textual variants among the Perlesvaus manuscripts).

Subseries 10: Offprints and Publications by Nitze and His Colleagues

Box 13   Folder 1

Nitze, "The Fisher King in the Grail Romances," Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 24 (1909) pp. 365-418 (Professor Manly's copy).

Box 13   Folder 2

Nitze, "The Fountain Defended," Modern Philology 7 (1909) pp. 145-164 (annotated).

Box 13   Folder 3

Nitze, "The Glastonbury Passages in the Perlesvaus," Studies in Philology 15 (1918) pp. 7-13. (to Professor Todd)

Box 13   Folder 4

Nitze, "On the Chronology of the Grail Romances," Modern Philology 17 (1919-1920) pp. 151-166, 605-618 (newspaper clipping attached by Nitze).

Box 13   Folder 5

Nitze, Robert de Boron, Le Roman de l'Estoire du Graal (Classiques français du moyen âge, no. 57; Paris, Champion, 1927).

Box 13   Folder 6

Nitze, "Two Virgilian Commonplaces in Twelfth Century Literature," Melanges de linguistique et de littératur offerts à M. Alfred Jeanroy par ses élèves et ses amis (Paris, E. Droz, 1928) pp. 439-446 (annotated).

Box 13   Folder 7

Nitze, "An Ex-libris medieval," Melange de littérature, d'histoire et de philologie offerts à Paul Laumonier, professeur à la Faculté des lettres de Bordeaux, par ses élèves et ses amis (Paris, E. Droz, 1934) pp. 51-55.

Box 13   Folder 8

Nitze, "Bedier's Epic Theory and the Arthuriana of Nennius," Modern Philology 39 (1941) pp. 1-14.

Box 13   Folder 8.5

  • "Horizons," 1929
  • "Is the Green Knight Story a Vegetation Myth?" 1936
  • "Some Recent Arthurian Studies," 1939
  • "Pascal and the Medieval Definition of God," 1942
  • "The Pacific Coast and the American Council of Learned Societies," 1944
  • "Some Remarkes on the Origin of French Montjoie," 1955
  • "A Midsummer Night's Dream, v, i, 4-17," 1955
Box 13   Folder 9

Nitze, offprints of various scholarly book reviews.

Box 13   Folder 10

Joseph Bédier, "L'Esprit de nos plus anciens romans de chevalerie," Revue de France 1 (1921) pp. 88-108.

Box 13   Folder 11

Arthur C. L. Brown, "On the Independent Characters of the Welsh Owain," Romanic Review 3 (1912) pp. 143-172 (annotated by Nitze).

Box 13   Folder 12

Charles Bowie Millican, "Studies in Spenser's Historical Allegory" (review) Review of English Studies 10 (1934) pp. 350-353.

Box 13   Folder 13

Robert A. Hall, Jr., "G. B. Vico and Linguistic Theory," Italica 18 (1941) pp. 145-154.

Box 13   Folder 14

Howard Mumford Jones, "The Relation of the Humanities to General Education," General Education 7 (1934) pp. 39-58 (typed note attached).

Box 13   Folder 15

Henry Dexter Learned, "The Eulalia MS. at Line 15 reads Aduret, not 'Adunet'" Speculum 16 (1941) pp. 334-335 and plates.

Box 13   Folder 16

John J. Parry, A Bibliography of Critical Arthurian Literature for the Years 1922-1929 (New York, N. Y.: The Modern Language Association, 1931).

Box 13   Folder 17

James F. Royster, "The Chaucer Concordance," Studies in Philology 25 (1928) pp. 62-69.

Box 13   Folder 18

Louis B. Wright, "The Retreat of the Humanities," The English Journal 28 (1939) pp. 121-132 and "Teaching and Research," Association of American Colleges Bulletin 27 (1941) pp. 75-82.

Series II: Correspondence

Box 13   Folder 19

Professional correspondence

  • L'Alliance francaise, January, 1928
  • Ernst Brugger, May 7, 1934; July 8, 1934.
  • J. Neale Carman, Dec. 1, 1932; April 1, 1933; Feb. 19, 1936.
  • Ralph Adams Cram, April 3, 1933.
  • C. Brunil, École Nationale des Chartes, Paris, May 11, 1934; May 17, 1934.
  • Darin (?), Conservateur en Chef, Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique, 1926.
  • William D. Davies, librarian, The National Library of Wales, Aug. 14, 1930.
  • Lucien Foulet, Dec. 6, 1932; July 13, 1933; May 10, 1934; May 19, 1934.
  • Foster E. Guyer, Madrid, July 17 (no year).
  • Ernest Hoepffner, June 25, 1936.
  • Urban T. Holmes, Nov. 7, 1932; March 6, 1935.
  • T. Atkinson Jenkins, Nov. 22, 1934.
  • Einar Joranson, Dec. 11, 1941.
  • H. P. Judson, Oct. 11, 1917.
  • H. R. Lang, August 2, 1907.
  • Roger S. Loomis, Feb. 27, ca. 1931 (response to Clark H. Slover,
  • "Avalon," Modern Philology 28 (1930-31); April 11, ca. 1933 (re RA Cram correspondence on architecture of Glastonbury Abbey).
  • W. Meyer Lübke, no date.
  • Helaine Newstead, May 9, 1934.
  • G. T. Northup, 23 Linden Lane, Princeton, N. J. (no date).
  • John Jay Parry, Dec. 26, 1936.
  • A. Kingsley Porter, March 28, 1933; April 3, 1933.
  • Léone Quéva, mayor of Cambrin, France, Feb. 22, 1933.
  • William Roach, Dec. 1, 1935; April 11, 1936; May 8, 1939.
  • Clark H. Slover, two letters, no dates.
  • Amida Stanton, Oct. 16, 1934.
  • J. S. P. Tatlock, May 1, 1934; June 13, 1934.
  • James Westfall Thompson, Aug. 6, 1932; April 14, 1934; five undated memos.
  • Bernard Weinberg, May 24, 1937.
  • Mary Williams, April 9, 1931; enclosure in Amida Stanton
  • correspondence, above.
  • Robert H. Wilson, May 4, 1935.
  • Without signature, 538 Church Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 16, 1905.
  • Without signature, Kotzschenbroda in Sachsen, July 26, 1933.
Box 13   Folder 20

Correspondence between T. Atkinson Jenkins, William A. Nitze, and Henry Leon Robinson, pertaining to Jenkins' writing of the chapter on the linguistic character of the manuscripts of the Perlesvaus (Perlesvaus edition, vol. 2, Part 1, chapter 1, section 2), June-October, 1934.

Box 13   Folder 21

Correspondence between William A. Nitze, William Roach and Gweneth Hutchings pertaining to MS O of the Perlesvaus (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 82), June-July, 1935.

Box 13   Folder 22

Correspondence pertaining to La Maison Française, 1918-1922.

Series III: Photostats of Manuscripts

Box 14    Folder 1

Chantilly, France, Institut de France, MS 626 of the Collection of the Duc d'Aumale, folios 213v-243v; 88v (Perlesvaus MS C; negative photostat).

Box 14    Folder 2-5

Chantilly, France, Institut de France, MS 626 of the Collection of the Duc d'Aumale (positive photostat enlarged from the above negative photostat; note: enlargement of folio 243v was never made).

Box 14    Folder 6-7

Aberystwth, Wales, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 11, entire MS (folios 110-end=Perlesvaus MS W; positive photostat).

Box 15

Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale des Ducs de Bourgogne, MS 11145, entire MS (Perlesvaus MS Br; negative photostat).

Box 16

Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale des Ducs de Bourgogne, MS 11145, entire MS (Perlesvaus MS Br; negative photostat).

Box 17    Folder 1-9

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale MS fonds française 1428 entire MS (Perlesvaus MS P; negative photostat).

Box 18    Folder 1-3

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale MS fonds française 1428, entire MS (Perlesvaus MS P; negative photostat), continued.

Box 18    Folder 4

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 82, entire MS (Perlesvaus MS O; negative photostat).

Box 18    Folder 5

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS fonds française 120, folios 520r-522v (Perlesvaus MS OAc; positive photostat).

Box 18    Folder 6

Bern, Switzerland, Stadtbibliothek MS 113, folios 283v-290v (Perlesvaus MS Be; negative photostat).

Box 18    Folder 7-8

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale fonds française 12603, folios 1r-72v, Mériadeuc ou le Chevalier aux deux épées.

Box 19    Folder 1

Paris, Bibliothèque-Nationale fonds française 2699, Recueil de traités, négociations, lettres patentes...de 1355 à 1418, folios 104-128: Copie des demandes faictes par le conseil du roy d'Angleterre et des responces faictes par les gens du roy sur le fait de paix final (negative photostat).

Box 19    Folder 2

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale fonds française 20047, Robert de Boron, Le Roman de l'estoire dou graal (folios 1r-62v plus inside back cover and verso of folio preceeding folio 1r; note: photostat does not include the preceeding Image du Monde on 84 folios numbered independently as described by Nitze in his edition of Robert de Boron (Paris, Champion, 1927) p. v,; negative photostat).

Box 19    Folder 3

1523 printed edition of the Perlesvaus, folios 123-212 (Perlesvaus MS BL; positive photostat).

Box 19    Folder 4

London, British Museum, Cotton MS Cleopatra C. X., Miracula virginis, folios 101r-145r (negative photostat).

Box 19    Folder 5-6

Devon, Pennsylvania, Boies Penrose Collection, Wace, Roman de Brut.

Box 19    Folder 7

London, British Museum, Cotton MSS Caligula A.IX, folios 117a-118b and Otho C.XIII, folios 95b-97a, Layamon (fl. 1200), Brut.