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Book and Manuscript Collections

Though the mules plod in a steady and unflagging hypnosis, the vehicle does not seem to progress. It seems to hang suspended in the middle distance forever and forever, so infinitesimal is its progress, like a shabby bead upon the mild red string of road.

The University of Virginia:

 

One of William Faulkner’s elementary school report cards is today part of the library special collections at the University of Virginia

Faulkner at the University of Virginia

The library at the University of Virginia has had William Faulkner’s jacket for a while, but to see it and other Faulknerian fashions, you'll have to visit the "Most Faulknerian" exhibit, a small part of the library's "The Most of Special Collections" exhibit—among the items you can see are Faulkner’s report card, typewriter, and a brick from the post office where he (briefly) "worked"    ...  

But more significant, probably, are Faulkner’s personal papers, most of which he bequeathed to the University of Virginia, and today The William Faulkner Collections at UVa represent the largest single holding of Faulkner papers, manuscripts, typescripts, letters, photographs, documents, books, and other items.

The University of Mississippi

 

This photograph of Faulkner ca. 1936 is owned by Special Collections at the University of Mississippi Libraries

Drawing by William Faulkner for Red and Blue Club, Ole Miss 1917-1918

Another noted collection of Faulkner-related materials can be found in Archives and Special Collections at the University of Mississippi Libraries. Located in Oxford, just a few blocks from Faulkner’s home, the library's collections include the Mississippi Collection, one of the largest collections of books concerning Mississippi and Mississippians, which features a wide variety of foreign-edition and rare Faulkner books, and the so-called "Rowan Oak Papers," so named because they were discovered by accident in a closet at Faulkner’s home ten years after his death. One of the most important manuscript finds of this century, the Rowan Oak Papers contain over 1800 pages of early William Faulkner literary manuscripts. The library web site features a brief history of the Faulkner collections at Ole Miss. The library also features selected exhibits from "A Faulkner 100: The Centennial Exhibition," including a cover of a German edition of Pylon published just three years after Hitler came into power, and its most recent exhibit, "Facets of Faulkner" (Fall 1999), which features several rare or exotic Faulkner publications, such as a Georgian edition of As I Lay Dying published in Batuni in 1989. Another important source for Faulkner-related materials at Ole Miss is the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, which owns the Southern Media Archive, home for both the Cofield Collection and the Martin J. Dain collection. The Cofield studio in Oxford took numerous portraits of Faulkner and his family throughout his life; many of these, along with a large number by other photographers, were published in a book, The Cofield Collection. Professional photographer Martin Dain visited Faulkner in the early 1960s and took numerous photographs of Faulkner and Lafayette County; many of these photographs were collected in a book as well, which was recently re-released in a special Faulkner Centennial edition. Samples from both collections are featured on the Center's web site.

Other Universities

The University of Texas in Austin's Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center also features a collection of Faulkner materials held in the collection; there should be more information at the center's web site about the Faulkner collection, but as of April 30, 1997, there wasn't, so to find out more about the Ransom Center's Faulkner holdings, check out this page which used to be available at the Ransom Center site. To find out more about steps taken to preserve the Ransom Center Faulkner papers, check out this article, "Treating Manuscripts from the William Faulkner Collection", from The Book and Paper Group Annual, Volume 13, 1994.

The Special Collections department at Tulane University's Howard-Tilton Library includes 20 Faulkner items dating from 1926 to 1951 among its Literary Holdings   ...  The University of Michigan hosted a special exhibition during the celebration of Faulkner’s 100th birthday: "William Faulkner: The First 100 Years." The exhibit is also featured online and covers the entire range of Faulkner’s life and career, including his "Southern Roots" and "Family and and Early Life" to "Translations" and "Faulkner Studies and Miscellany." The exhibit items are from the Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman William Faulkner Collection at the University of Michigan, one of the most extensive Faulkner collections in the country. It consists of some 1800 items by and about Faulkner. Most notable are approximately 450 volumes of editions and translations of Faulkner’s own works, showing the breadth and depth of his influence around the world. In addition, the collection includes issues of magazines with articles by Faulkner, literary criticism, screenplays and movie posters, video and audio recordings, photographs, and newspaper clippings     ...   

Other Faulkner collections include the sizeable Brodsky Faulkner collection at Southeast Missouri State University's Kent Library, a copy of Faulkner’s first book, The Marble Faun, at the University of Delaware Library, and several items at the University of Maryland Libraries and at the Yale University Library, which back in 1942, when most of Faulkner’s books were out of print, was one of the first libraries to exhibit Faulkner’s work

Looking for Faulkner books or collectibles?

Faulkner’s first two novels, long out of print, have been reissued under their original publisher's imprint by W.W. Norton

Faulkner’s first two novels, Soldiers' Pay and Mosquitoes are now back in print. Both feature new introductions by Faulkner scholar and biographer Frederick R. Karl and are released under their original publisher, Liveright Publishing Corporation (now an imprint of W.W. Norton)   ...  Other titles with information available online include William Faulkner: The Contemporary Reviews, edited by M. Thomas Inge; The Novels of William Faulkner, by Olga Vickery; The Cambridge Companion to William Faulkner and Faulkner’s Subject: A Cosmos No One Owns, both by Philip M. Weinstein; William Faulkner and Southern History, by Joel Williamson; and Faulkner in the University, compiled by Fred Gwynn and Joseph Blotner from class conferences Faulkner held when he was writer in resident at the University of Virginia     ...    Randall House has a list of rare Faulkner books for sale    ...