Paul Bowles collection

The Paul Bowles collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, editorial matter, periodicals, ephemera, and miscellaneous material acquired from a variety of sources. The collection is added to periodically and complements the Paul Bowles papers (MSS 163) as well as several other manuscript collections related to Paul Bowles at the University of Delaware Library.

Series I. Correspondence, 1934-1985, consists primarily of correspondence sent by Paul Bowles to various authors, literary figures, and publishers. The series is further divided into seven subseries arranged by recipient. While the majority of the letters in this series were originally composed by Bowles, the seven letters housed in Series I.E. Mohammed Mrabet to Irving Stettner, were originally penned by Mrabet and then transcribed and translated by Bowles.

The correspondence, editorial matter, manuscripts, and other items housed within Series II. Peter Owen, Ltd., 1967-1984, pertain to Bowles's relationship with Peter Owen, Ltd., the firm that served as the primary publisher of Bowles's books in England. The series is divided into three subseries, including the following: Series II.A. Correspondence, 1976-1984, Series II.B. Points in Time , 1981-1982, and Series II.C. Miscellany, 1967-1984. The majority of the correspondence in Series II.A. was written by Bowles. Additional letters were written by employees of Peter Owen, Ltd., and are often accompanied by editorial or publicity materials relating to a specific publication. Series II.B. contains correspondence, manuscripts, editorial matter, and galley proofs pertaining to the publication of Bowles's Points in Time (London: Peter Owen, 1982). Finally, Series II.C. contains carbons of letters, lists of corrections, publicity materials, and other items related to the Peter Owen, Ltd. publications of three of Bowles's book projects, including Bowles's Pages from Cold Point (1968), and his translations of Mohammed Mrabet's The Lemon (1969) and Mụhammad Shukrī's For Bread Alone (1974).

Several of Bowles's manuscripts are housed within Series III. The series is divided into six subseries arranged by work. Five of the works represented were transcribed and translated by Bowles, while the sixth was written by Bowles. The subseries include the following: Series III.A. Mohammed Mrabet, The Big Mirror , circa 1976, Series III.B. Mohamed Choukri, For Bread Alone , circa 1972-1979, Series III.C. Things Gone and Things Still Here , 1977, Series III.D. Mohamed Choukri Tennessee Williams in Tangier , 1979, III.E. Rodrigo Rey Rosa, Xquic (Dust on Her Tongue) , 1988, and Series III.F. Rodrigo Rey Rosa, The Pelcari Project , 1990.

Series IV. Books and periodicals, 1929-2002, includes published books and periodicals by or about Paul Bowles. Notable within this series are four issues of the University of Richmond Messenger (F13A-D) from 1930 that contain four early poems and three translations by Bowles. Also housed within this series are seventeen issues of the Charles Henri Ford and Parker Tyler's surrealist magazine View (F16-32), spanning the period June 1941 through Spring 1947.

The four posters housed in Series V. Posters, circa 1990-1995, were printed to promote four different Bowles-related projects, including the release of the 1990 Vintage edition of Bowles's The Sheltering Sky , the 1990 Warner Brothers film adaptation of The Sheltering Sky directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the 1995 inaugural concert of the Eos ensemble, and the 1990 release of Un thé au Sahara, the French version of the film adaptation of The Sheltering Sky.