Papers relating to Ada Cambridge
- F3674
- File
- 1887-1911.
Material copied from the originals held in the Huntington Library. Included in this file is the photocopy of holograph inscriptions in Ada Cambridge works, formerly part of the library of James Carleton Young:
- Photocopy of cover, library catalogue card and title page for A Happy marriage, London : Hurst and Blackett, 1906, with the inscription on the title page: Not, of course, ones ideal happy marriage - far from it - but representing, as I think, the general type of happy marriage that we actually see & know. Ada Cross ("Ada Cambridge"), March 1907.
- Photocopy of cover, library catalogue card and title page for Fidelis : a novel, 4th ed., London : Hutchinson, n.d., with an inscription on the half title page: An illustration of a theory which a long study of human nature seems to have confirmed - that a conspicuous lack of physical attractions is (to the healthy-minded in aspiring) more helpful to character and success in life than beauty. Ada Cambridge. March 16th 1907.
- Photocopy of cover, library catalogue card and title page for Path and Goal, London : Methuen, 1900, with an inscription on the half title page: That what is perhaps my favourite novel (of my own creation) should find its permanent home in the United States - where I have long believed that the standards of literary culture, workmanship and taste are the highest and most stable of any in the world - is to me the greatest public honour as well as personal gratification that my profession as a writer has brought me. Ada Cross ("Ada Cambridge") Williamstown, Victoria, Australia, 1907.
- Photocopy of cover, library catalogue card and title page for Not all in vain, Melbourne : Melville, Mullen & Slade, 1892, with the inscription on the title page: The Australian edition of this book is substituted for the unwieldy 3 volumes of the original English issue. The work belongs to the full and happy earlier years of my literary life, and marks the period at which I was definitely received into the ranks of British novelists - Ada Cambridge. March 17th 1907.
- Photocopy of cover, library catalogue card and title page for A marked man : some episodes in his life, Popular edition, London : William Heinemann, 1894, with inscription on half title page: This book laid the foundation of such literary reputation as I have enjoyed since its publication in 1891, it being my first to attract public attention in England. I think it can also claim the [indecipherable] of being amongst the first of British works to obtain copyright in the United States. The "Queenslanborougher" [? indecipherable] of the story is reminiscent of a villager - afterwards this villages, one a [?] watering-place - on the east of [?] (my native country0, where many happy summers of my childhood were spent. The "Camp" existed as described and [?] me many years ago. Its 'site' is new thickly built [?], included in the spreading [?] of suburban Sydney. Ada Cross ("Ada Cambridge") Williamstown, Victoria, Australia. March 15th 1907.
- Photocopy of cover, library catalogue card and title page for The Three Miss Kings, London : William Heinemann, 1899, with inscription on half title page: This novel, although not my first to appear in book form, was the first written of the series published in London and New York, beginning with "A Marked Man" in 1891. It immediately followed the latter book, having been a serial in 'The Australasian' so long before [?] 1883. I considered it, by reason of its [?] ineligible for an honour. I should not myself have and might for it, but it had passed from my possession and control before "A Marked Man" established me as a British author, and I believe, it has had a larger circulation and been more generally read than any of its successors. Ada Cross ("Ada Cambridge") Williamstown, Victoria, Australia April 5th 1907.
- Photocopy of cover, library catalogue card and title page for Unspoken thoughts, London : Kegan, Paul, Trench & Co., 1887, with inscription on fly leaf: This little work may be described as an ebullition of untempered grath [?]. Twenty years ago I published it at my own expense - merely as a relief to a brooding mind, grown morbid, apparently, from physical ill health and too much solitary meditation not intending that the [?] be [?] home to me. Of course, the carefully planned ambiguity could not be maintained, and the [?], from a professional point of view, was a failure - the absence of a [?] meant the absence of public notice and when in 1891 the bulk of the tiny edition "remained", and it was proposed to me to sell it for what it would fetch, I exercised my right as owner to have every copy destroyed. The book therefore has the merit - wh in my riper and calmer years I highly appreciate - of being extremely rare. Ada Cambridge. The Vicarage, Williamstown, Victoria. Australia. April 5th 1907.
- Photocopy of a manuscript volume of poems, titled 'Poems by Ada Cambridge', 66 leaves, versos blank, with title page, two-page inscription to James Carleton Young, index listing poems. Poems: The souls' sanctuary, A prayer, Cui Bono, Sic vos mon vobis, Evening on the Broads, The Virgin Martyr, Mates, The winged mariners, Tomorrow, Nightfall on Australian hills, What of the Night?, Sonnets: - Influence, Despair, Faith, Peace.
Cambridge, Ada, 1844-1926