William Hobart Royce Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Royce, William Hobart, b. 1878.
Title:	William Hobart Royce Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1901-1962
Quantity:	12.0 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the American author, bibliographer, book collector, founder of the Balzac Society of America. Correspondence (1901-1962) from Marcel Bouteron, Edwin Preston Dargan, Jean Pommier, Stefan Zweig, and others, mostly Balzac collectors and scholars; writings (1905-1962), including articles, and books on Balzac, as well as translations; and material relating to the Balzac Society of America, including its Bulletin (1940-1962) and membership files (1940-1962).
Language:	English, French
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu

Biographical History

William Hobart Royce (1878-1963) was an American author, bibliographer, book collector, and founder of the Balzac Society of America.

Born on March 20, 1878, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Royce completed his formal education by graduating from the Springfield High School in 1897. Later he would write that his "only university has been the New York Public Library."

After some bookstore experience in Springfield, Royce entered the booktrade in New York City, spending twelve years with the book department of the American News Company and seven years with the Lexington Book Shop. In 1917 he joined the Gabriel Wells rare book firm, for which he was manager for over 30 years. Wells and Royce shared a deep interest in Balzac (it was Wells who saved Balzac's house at Passy from destruction), and during this time the firm became the center of the sale of Balzaciana. Royce himself assembled a major collection of Balzac material, which was later donated to Syracuse University's Special Collections Research Center.

Royce's published works ran to over a dozen titles. His books on Balzac include Balzac, Immortal (1926), A Balzac Bibliography (1929), Indexes to A Balzac Bibliography (1930), and Balzac as He Should Be Read (1946). Royce published over a half dozen volumes of his own verse; he wrote verse also under the pen name Willie Penmore.

In 1940 Royce founded The Balzac Society of America. For over two decades he served as its president and edited its Bulletin. In recognition of his contributions to Balzac bibliography and collecting, Royce was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1935 and was made an honorary citizen of Issoudun, the French provincial town which is the setting of La Rabouilleuse.

Royce was married in 1908 to Eda Maria Wallin. They had two daughters, Eva Allen Qoyce and Abbie Anna Royce, M.D. He died on January 28, 1963.

Royce was the subject of a "Profile" article in The New Yorker, Apr 1, 1933, pp. 18-21. For further biographical and anecdotal material, see Life, Feb 24, 1947, pp. 19-20, 22; and "Brooklyn Balzac" by Stefan Zweig in Who, vol. 1, no. 3 (June 1941), p. 48.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The William Hobart Royce Papers, 1901-1962, contain correspondence, writings, and miscellany.

Correspondence, 1901-1962, is international in scope, largely with bookdealers, collectors and scholars, often Balzac specialists. The bulk of the letters date from the years 1927 to 1957. Principal correspondents include Marcel Bouteron, curator of the Lovenjoul Collection at the Chateau de Chantilly; Edwin Preston Dargan (the "Vautrin" of the correspondence, who, like other of Royce's correspondents, adopted a Balzacian pen name), professor of French literature at the University of Chicago and editor of the University of Chicago Studies in Balzac; Walter Scott Hastings (pen name "Daniel D'Arthez"), professor of modern languages at Princeton University; Jean Pommier, successor to Bouteron at Chantilly; and Stefan Zweig, Austrian writer. To these and to other of his correspondents, Royce was "Colonel Philippe Bridau." Other Balzac specialists and collectors heavily represented are Philippe Bertault, William L. Crain, Ethel Preston, Max M. Rottenberg, and Helen Elcessor Barnes Wodrada. Correspondence with Belle da Costa Greene and Herbert Cahoon of the Pierpont Morgan Library concerns the manuscript of Eugenie Grandet, which came to the Morgan through Royce. International concern over the imprisonment of Marcel Bouteron by the Nazis is reflected in correspondence of 1942. Occasional correspondents include Christian Gauss, Gordon S. Haight, William Somerset Maugham, Andre Maurois, and Henri Peyre. There are miscellaneous letters from various correspondents to Auguste Giraldi, Royce's printer and publisher of Le Messager de New York. Three undated nineteenth-century letters from Paul Lacroix to Armand Dutacq refer to Mme. Evelina Hanska, to her sister, Mme. Jules Lacroix, and to his quarrel with Balzac which interrupted his collaboration in La Revue de Paris. There is one folder of undated Royce correspondence.

Writings, 1905-ca.1962, include holograph drafts and printed matter under the headings addresses, articles, and books; translations; and miscellaneous. Holograph material includes successive drafts of A Balzac Bibliography and Indexes to a Balzac Bibliography and bibliographical notes for a projected supplement to A Balzac Bibliography. Translations from the French by Royce are subdivided into the headings Balzac's Works and Criticism of Balzac's Works. Miscellaneous writings include Royce's holograph manuscript for his contributions on Balzac to David C. Cabeen's A Critical Bibliography of French Literature, holograph notes and fragments, and a sampling of Royce's verse.

Miscellany, 1885, 1926-1962, is subdivided into the headings Baizac Society of America, Balzaciana, and Royce. There are files of the Bulletin, membership files, and memorabilia of the Baizac Society of America, and eight folders of Balzaciana, mostly printed matter, virtually all dating from the twentieth century. A group of materials relating to Royce includes a folder of legal and financial documents and seven folders of memorabilia (inscribed charts, drawings, and photographs; printed matter; and the transcript of a Voice of America radio interview with Royce). There are also two framed oil portraits of Royce and his wife, Eda Maria (Wallin) Royce.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Correspondence is arranged chronologically, with undated material and a small amount to Auguste Giraldi at the end. Writings are subdivided alphabetically by type and within each type arranged alphabetically by title. Miscellany is arranged alphabetically.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this material.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

William Hobart Royce Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library

Acquisition Information

Gift of Abbie A. Royce, M.D., and Eva A. Royce, 1973.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: EL
Date: Mar 1974
Revision history: 28 May 2009 - converted to EAD (MRC)

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Inventory

	Correspondence
Box 1		1901-1931 (25 folders)
Box 2		1932-1934 (12 folders)
Box 3		1935-1945 (20 folders)
Box 4		1946-1951 (19 folders)
Box 5		1952-1962 (16 folders)
		Undated
Box 5			Nineteenth century
Box 5			Royce, William Hobart
Box 5		Letters to Auguste Giraldi from various correspondents 1938, 1939 (2 folders)

	Writings
		Addresses
Box 5			Balzac and the College Girl; the College Girl and Balzac undated - holograph
Box 5			Old Book Table dinner December 12, 1935 - holograph
		Articles
Box 5			"Balzac," in The American Society Legion of Honor Magazine Summer 1940 - printed material
Box 5			"Balzac: an Appreciation," in The Houstonian Aug 5, 1905 - holograph, printed material
Box 5			"Balzac Bibliography with a Purpose," in The Romanic Review Apr 1937 - holograph, printed material
Box 5			"Balzac in Bay Ridge," series in the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Spectator 1936-1937 - holograph, tsc
Box 5			"Balzac Receives an Envoy," in The American Collector Oct 1927 - printed material
		Books
			A Balzac Bibliography
Box 6				Draft A, holograph, rev.
Box 7				Draft B, holograph
			Indexes to A Balzac Bibliography
Box 8				Notes, holograph - typescript, typescript copy
Box 5				Draft A, holograph
Box 5				Draft B, holograph
Box 5				Galley proofs
			Supplement to A Balzac Bibliography
Box 9				Notes - holograph (5 folders)
Box 9				Topical index - holograph
		Translations
			Balzac's Works
Box 9				Le Comte de Sallenauve
Box 9				La Famille Beauvisage
Box 10				L'Héritière de Biraque
Box 10				Les Journaux de la Mer
Box 10				Le Père Goriot
Box 10			Criticism of Balzac's Works (3 folders)
		Miscellaneous
Box 10			Balzac bibliographic citations for David C. Cabeen's A Critical Bibliogrully of French Literature, - holograph manuscript
Box 10			Notes - holograph (3 folders)
Box 10			Verse - printed material

	Miscellany
		Balzac Society of America
			Bulletin 1940-1962
Box 11				Printer's copy (2 folders)
Box 11				Proof sheets
			Membership files 1940-1962
Box 11				Applications (4 folders)
Box 11				File card index
Box 11				Mailing lists
			Memorabilia 1936-1946
Box 11				Dinner attendance lists
Box 11				Dinner programs
Box 11				Miscellaneous printed material
		Balzaciana
Box 12			Chart, "Map of Balzac's Human Comedy," undated - unsigned, 7-1/2 by 18 inches
Box 12			Clippings relating to Balzac (2 folders)
Box 12			Le Cure de Village, version de 1839 by Balzac, Bruxelles, Editions Henriquez 1960 - proof sheets
Box 12			"Honore de Balzac and His Time," by L. Weiner - typescript copy
Box 12			Playbill, printed on satin, of A Night Off: or, a Page from Balzac, performance of Mar 13, 1885 (at New York?)
Box 12			Portrait of Balzac - oval frame, 3-1/2 inches high
Box 12			Printed material relating to Balzac
Box 12			Theater programs
		Portraits
Oversize 1			Eda Maria (Wallin) - oil, 25 by 32 inches, signed "Dan Stone 1946," framed
Oversize 1			William Hobart Royce - oil, 25 by 32 inches, signed "Dan Stone 1946," framed
Box 12			Unidentified woman
		Royce, William Hobart
Box 12			Legal and financial
			Memorabilia
Box 12				Catalog of the exhibition "Balzac et son Temps" assembled by Royce and shown at the French Embassy, New York Oct 8-26, 1947
Box 12				Charts, inscribed to Royce by M. Bouteron (2 items)
Box 12				Clippings relating to Royce
Box 12				Drawings, in pencil, signed "M. Bouteron" Apr 3, 1930; undated (2 items)
Box 12				Photographs, inscribed, of Marcel Bouteron and friends, inscribed with a greeting from M. Bouteron to Gabriel Wells; of Paul Ritti, Paris bookdealer, and Mme. Ritti Sep 27, 1926; 1932 (2 items)
Box 12				Printed material relating to Royce (3 folders)
Box 12				Radio broadcast transcript, Voice of America broadcast May 22, 1949

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