The Jabberwock was a literary journal at the University of Edinburgh in the 1940s and 1950s, at a key moment in the Scottish literary renaissance. This collection, compiled by the editor Ian Holroyd, includes manuscript work submitted by numerous literary figures and important correspondence. Purchased at auction on 28 January 2015, the collection has national significance in terms of modern Scottish literary manuscripts and is of great importance for the University of Edinburgh.
The archive includes a number of key original manuscripts and letters by or to Hugh MacDiarmid, Compton Mackenzie, Sydney Goodsir Smith, Robert Garioch, Edwin Muir, Edith Sitwell, Neil Gunn and other leading modernist writers. Ian Holroyd was the founding editor of the Jabberwock and President of Edinburgh University Scottish Renaissance Society (of which the Jabberwock was the official organ). The Jabberwock was very much more than a student poetry magazine. Its aim was to awaken student interest in the Scottish Renaissance Movement.
Overall this archive is of outstanding national interest, and complements or complete material already in the University’s custody. The Jabberwock archive has been catalogued at the top level and is available for consultation by researchers or members of the public in the Centre for Research Collections at Edinburgh University Library.