Lewis Thompson (1909-1949) was a British poet who spent much of his adult life in India, where he wandered the country living off what others could provide him in the form of food and lodging. After his death, Edith Sitwell published some of his poetry in an anthology.
Richard Lannoy was a British painter, photographer, and author who had a particular interest in India. During his lifetime, he made significant efforts to have Lewis Thompson’s works published and made more widely known.
This collection consists of materials by and about Lewis Thompson as collected by British painter, photographer, and author Richard Lannoy. Materials include poems by Lewis Thompson, Thompson’s annotated and reconstructed copy of the Oeuvres de Arthur Rimbaud, Richard Lannoy’s draft of the Journal of an Integral Poet: Volume One: 1932-1944 about Lewis Thompson, an unpublished draft of Lannoy’s introduction to Richard Stodart’s The Sheer Holdless Precipice: Portrait of Lewis Thompson, and Lannoy’s correspondence and other materials regarding Thompson and his works. Correspondents include Professor Fritz Blackwell of the Washington State University History department, Ella Maillart, Lawrence Durrell, Kathleen Raine, and various publishers and media outlets.
This is an unprocessed collection. Any arrangement reflects either a pre-existing order from the records’ creator or preliminary sorting performed by staff.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions apply.
[Item description]
Preliminary Guide to the Richard Lannoy Collection on Lewis Thompson, 1939-1997 (MS 2022.23)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Joseph Geraci donated this collection to the Washington State University Libraries in 2022. (MS.2022.23).
The repository expects to receive additions to this collection.
Lewis Thompson Papers, 1933-1984
Edith Sitwell Letter and Telegram to Ella Maillart, 1949 December 17
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.