Item 11.4 - Manuscript of an essay by William Kingdon Clifford, Cosmic Emotion

1 vol., c. 294 x 235 mm. Letter (2 single sheets) tipped in; essay bound in, foliated [1]-61. 4 blank ff,. at front of vol., 1 between letter and essay, 3 at end.
1 small card inside front cover

Sent to the Master of Trinity, J. J. Thomson, by Clifford's widow Lucy in Oct. 1923

'W. K. Clifford' stamped in gold on front cover, with a small oval containing the words 'Trin. Coll. Camb.' at the foot. Stamped 'John P. Gray & Son Ltd', the binders, at the top of the inside front cover; bookplate giving provenance pasted below.

Letter, 8 Oct. 1923, from Lucy Clifford to J. J. Thomson tipped in at front, on headed notepaper for 7 Chilworth Street, W.2. Sir Frederick Pollock thinks Trinity 'would care to possess this MS'; she would be very proud if this were the case, and believes her husband would have been too. Believes it was written in 1877 and published in the Fortnightly Review [in fact, it appeared in the Oct. 1977 of the Nineteenth Century; it later appeared in the collected works edited by Pollock and Leslie Stephen. This is the 'first & only copy'. Describes her husband's usual habits when writing a paper, working through the night with a few breaks to exercise with 'the Indian clubs' and always finishing 'at the last possible moment for publication'. Wishes 'his other MSS. had been saved; but I have no knowledge of them, & even his autograph is very scare owing to the fact that he seldom signed it in full. Hopes Thomson remembers their meeting last year at a dinner given by Mrs Roy Batty [Thomson's sister in law] before a Royal Institution Lecture, and their discussion of Mrs Oliphant's novels.

'XIXth Century' written in blue crayon on first sheet of the essay, perhaps relating to Pollock & Stephen's edition of Clifford's papers, published in 1879; 'R. Young' written in pencil at the top right. 'One of W. K. Clifford's MSS' written in pencil on the back of f. 2. Clifford's name and address (26 Colville Road, Bayswater) on the back of the last sheet.

CLIFF: Papers of W. K. Clifford, including correspondence, manuscript drafts, proofs and offprints.
Add. MS c 93/73: Letter, 25 Nov. 1977, in which he discusses Sidgwick's use of the phrase 'cosmic emotion' at breakfast in his rooms 'some time before /71'.

First published in The Nineteenth Century vol. 2, pp. 411-445 (Oct. 1877); republished in Clifford, W. K., Pollock, F., & Stephen, L. (1879). Lectures and essays by the late William Kingdon Clifford, vol 2. Macmillan.