Special Collections & Rare Book Room

Waldo Library, #3016
Phone: 269-387-5221
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W.H. Auden Collection

The W.H. Auden Collection was donated by Edward Callan (WMU Distinguished Professor Emeritus, 1995) a bibliographer of Auden's work. The collection contains a number of first editions, critical studies, an autographed letter, and a substantial file of papers regarding Auden and his work. Some of the books in the collection were purchased independently of Edward Callan.

Auden (1907-1973) was an English poet, playwright, and lyricist. He was born in York, England and graduated from Christ Church College at Oxford University in 1928. Auden then went to Berlin where his friend Christopher Isherwood joined him and they wrote a series of stories about Isherwood's experiences that would later evolve into the Broadway musical, Cabaret.

After nine years in England and Scotland, Auden moved to New York where he continued to publish books of poetry. Auden's book Another Time (1940) was said be "Auden's single finest collection and one of the greatest books of poetry published in the 20th century." In 1948 Auden received the Pulitzer Prize for his book The Age of Anxiety . W. H. Auden was said to be, "the most closely watched, controversial, and influential young poet in Britain."