C.K. OGDEN PAPERS

Add.MS8309: First draft of The Meaning Of Meaning.

Add.MS8310/I: Correspondence with Psyche authors.

Add.MS8310/II: Miscellaneous correspondence concerning Psyche.

Add.MS8310/III: Miscellaneous papers concerning Psyche.

Add.MS8311: Letters from James Wood.

Add.MS8312/I: Correspondence between Ogden and Ivy Litvinov.

Add.MS8312/II: Other items relating to Basic English in Russia.

Add.MS8312/III: Newspaper cuttings relating to Ivy Litvinov.

Add.MS8313: Letters from E.B.F.Wareing.

Add.MS8313: Other items.

Add.MS8314: Miscellaneous letters to Ogden.

Add.MSS. 8309-8314 comprise papers of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957). Ogden was a linguistic psychologist, author, the inventor of Basic English, founder of the Orthological Institute and the Cambridge Magazine, and editor of the journal Psyche. Biographical information on him can be found in W. Terrence Gordon, C.K. Ogden: a bio-bibliographic study (London, 1990) and J.R.L. Anderson et al., K.Ogden: a collective memoir (London, 1977).

They include: the first draft of The Meaning of Meaning, the work Ogden co-authored with the literary critic I.A. Richards; material relating to Psyche, including correspondence with the authors of Ogden's series of Psyche Monographs and Psyche Miniatures; letters from Ogden's friend, the artist James Wood; material relating to the attempts of Ogden and Ivy Litvinov, the British-born wife of the Soviet Foreign Minister, to introduce Basic English into Russia; and letters from E.B.F. Wareing, many dating from his time in Germany with the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission between 1918 and 1929.

In the present cataloguing operation, divisions between the correspondence of different authors of Psyche Monographs have been maintained, but the papers have been arranged chronologically within each section. All persons are referred to on their first appearance in a section or sub-section by their full name, where known, and thereafter by their surname alone. Persons, who are either well represented in these papers or who are particularly well known, have their dates of birth and death and brief description given on their first appearance in the catalogue. Any letters to or from the authors of Psyche Monographs elsewhere in the catalogue are cross-referenced at the end of the author's entry under Add.MS8310/I.

<p>Other Ogden papers are held at University College Manuscripts Room, London (14th to 20th century manuscripts from his library; papers relating to legal affairs and the Basic English Foundation, 1910-87, reference A547) and at McMaster University Library, Hamilton, Canada (correspondence c.1932-63).</p>

These papers were purchased by the Library on 12 Feb. 1981 at the sale of Lawrence, Crewkerne.