The Royal Historical Society is pleased to announce publication of the latest volume in its Camden Series of scholarly primary editions.
Allen Leeper’s Letters Home, 1908–1912. An Irish-Australian at Edwardian Oxford, edited by David Hayton, brings together 166 letters written by Allen Leeper, an Oxford undergraduate and future Foreign Office mandarin, to his family in Australia.
Leeper’s letters record his experiences at Balliol College, Oxford, among a ‘golden generation’ decimated by the First World War, and on his extensive travels in Europe. They also contain glimpses of an emerging modernity: from air-displays by aviation pioneers in France to the first manifestations of the Cubist movement in art.
Collectively, the letters provide a vivid picture of a continent on the eve of profound change, written by someone whose background afforded a degree of objectivity.
Allen Leeper’s Letters Home, 1908–1912 is now published online by Cambridge University Press, with the print edition to follow. David’s Introduction to the volume is also available free to read. to accompany publication, David has also written about his discovery and value of Allen Leeper’s letters for the Royal Historical Society blog.
Due to technical problems currently being faced by CUP, the hardback print edition of this volume will be published later in the year. Fellows and Members of the Society may purchase print copies of Allen Leeper’s Letters Home, 1908–1912 for £16; those wishing to do so should contact administration@royalhistsoc.org.
The Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series is one of the most prestigious and important collections of primary source material relating to British History, including the British empire and Britons’ influence overseas.
The Society (and its predecessor, the Camden Society) has since 1838 published scholarly editions of sources — making important, previously unpublished, texts available to researchers. Each volume is edited by a specialist historian who provides an expert introduction and commentary.
Today the Society publishes two new Camden volumes each year in association with Cambridge University Press. The complete Camden Series now comprises over 380 volumes of primary source material, ranging from the early medieval to late-twentieth century Britain.
HEADER IMAGE: Balliol College Freshmen, 1908. Copyright Gillman and Soame. Balliol College Library, R.G. Waddy photograph album. Allen Leeper, top row second from left.