| AdminHistory | Born in London, 1886; sent to Uppingham (but owing to ill-health stayed only two terms), 1900; privately taught in England, France and Spain, 1901-1906; his first book was published, 1905; Trinity Hall Cambridge, 1906-1909; took no examinations; received into the Catholic Church, 1907; went to Rome, where he hoped, but failed, to join the Guardia Nobile, 1909; returned to England following his father's death and assumed control of the family's finances, 1910; followed a nomadic way of life, c1910-c1914; visited southern Europe and North Africa; when in London, attended the theatre, the Ballets Russes, the Caf Royal, and the bohemian restaurant La Tour Eiffel; styled himself Ronald Firbank on the appearance of his novel 'Vainglory', 1915; its experimental modernist nature meant that it was not well received; unfit for service, and lived in Oxford, 1915-1919; although he was isolated and unhappy, this was a creative period for Firbank, but much of his work met with critical indifference; published his earlier works at his own expense; resumed his nomadism, and his travels influenced the settings of his books; the American writer Carl Van Vechten promoted Firbank's work in the USA, and 'Prancing Nigger' met with success in New York; his work following his mother's death in 1924 showed a new candour in its treatment of homosexuality; died in Rome, 1926; subsequently emerged as an important influence on other writers. Publications: 'Odette' (1905); 'Vainglory' (1915); 'Inclinations' (1916); 'Caprice' (1917); 'Valmouth' (1919); 'The Princess Zoubaroff' (his only play, published in 1920); 'Santal' (1921); 'The Flower Beneath the Foot' (1923); 'Prancing Nigger' (New York, 1924), subsequently published in London as 'Sorrow in Sunlight'; 'Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli' (1926); 'The Artificial Princess' (his earliest work, but published posthumously, 1934); 'The New Rythum' (fragments of his final work, published in 1962). Grant Richards was Firbank's publisher. |
| CustodialHistory | Part of the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), linguistic psychologist, founder of the Orthological Institute and originator of the language system Basic English, whose interests in language systems are reflected in the subject matter of his collection, which comprised individual manuscripts and manuscript collections dating from the 14th to the 20th century. |