MS 737

Reference code

MS 737

Title

Wyndham Lloyd postcard collection

Level

Sub-fonds

Administrative / Biographical history

Lloyd, Wyndham (1901-1980)

Wyndham Lloyd, physician, was a friend of Anthony and Violet Powell and collector of postcards. Educated at Winchester College and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, he published 'A Hundred Years of Medicine' in 1943. He had a brother, John 'The Widow' Lloyd, who also moved in the same circles as Wyndham and Powell. Lloyd was the best man at Anthony and Violet Powell's wedding. Powell writes in his journal that Lloyd formed a 'lifelong menage' with Tony Wood (1902-1986).

Date

1901-1980

Extent & medium

8 boxes and 7 volumes

Content description

This collection contains approximately 1000 postcards written to Wyndham Lloyd including, most significantly, 87 picture postcards sent by Anthony and Violet Powell from all parts of the world between 1931 and 1978. Also included is a presentation copy of 'Venusberg' and other material including a previously unseen photograph of Powell as a child and a TLS about his father's death. The remaining postcards are written by a variety of people, and often mention those in the same circle as Powell. The writers include Frederick Ashton, Patrick Balfour, Edward Burra, Lennox Berkeley, John Betjeman, Maurice Bowra, William Chappell, Eve Disher, Roger Hinks, David Horner, Gerald Reitlinger, John Steegman, Francis Watson, Tony Wood and Dorothy Varda.

Postcards were clearly a particular delight for Wyndham Lloyd; his correspondents often refer to having selected with care the cards they sent and Lloyd retained many hundreds of them. Powell shared this pleasure and there are many postcard albums at Powell's home, The Chantry, some with Powell's collage covers.

This collection provides invaluable first hand evidence of the strong friendship between Wyndham Lloyd and the Powells. The web of correspondence between other members of their circle also provides illuminating context for the study of Powell, his acquaintances and the general group of 'Bright Young Things' in the 1930s. Lastly, the sheer amount and variety of the postcards in the collection alone would make a fascinating study of writing and correspondence techniques throughout the decades.

Provenance

Purchased by Eton College Library in 2014.

Arrangement

The original arrangement had already been lost by the time Eton College Library acquired the collection. Therefore, the postcards are listed alphabetically by correspondent with those that remain unidentified forming an individual series.