Olive Custance Douglas: An Annotated Bibliography of Writings About Her

52 OLIVE CUSTANCE DOUGLAS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OP WRITINGS ABOUT HER By Nancy J. Hawkey (Arizona State University) Baybrook, Patrick. Lord Alfred Douglas: His Life and Work. Lond: Cecil Palmer, 1931. Pp. 98-106, 153,"3^, index. »Love at first sight" between OCD and LAD was followed by a "romantic marriage" and an interlude of "prosaic married life." Family interference brought about their separation; while LAD was battling for his son's custody, "just to prevent matters from getting dull [OCD] leaves and goes to stay with her father." Although never reunited as husband and wife, OCD and LAD remained close friends until her death. Beardsley, Aubrey. Letters, ed by Henry Maas, J. L. Duncan and W. G. Good. Lond: Cassell, 1970. Pp. 371-74, 377, Index. All letters in which OCD is mentioned have been noted elsewhere in this bibliography. Beckson, Karl. Aesthetes and Decadents of the 1890's. NY: Vintage Books, 1966. Note, p. xxx. OCD's "Candlelight" is evidence for her classification as a decadent. This poem displays "the weariness of the Decadent . . . his mark of sophistication." Benkovitz, Miriam J. "New in the Berg Collection: 1959-1961," Bulletin of the New York Public Library, LXVIII (Dec 1964), S-9. Douglas collection includes over 200 letters from LAD to OCD; a few letters from OCD to LAD and to her mother; various letters to OCD from her father, son, and admirers; "several mutilated diaries" covering, with gaps, the years between I894I940 ; a few mss, two ms poems dedicated to John Gray. ........ Ronald Flrbank: A Biography. NY: Knopf, I969. Pp. 74, 98-99, index. Flrbank met and was impressed with OCD. On receipt of a gift from him, she wrote, '"When I first saw your beautiful flowers I thought that Autumn herself had passed down the street and left them for me."' Brown, W. Sorley. The Life and Genius of T. W. H. Crosland. Lond: Cecil Palmer, T928. Pp7~T83, I92, 215, 246, Index. OCD was one of the chief contributors to I905-I906 English Review; I907-I9IO Academy. She admired Crosland's work and told him of her love for his poetry in "one of several very friendly letters." Croft-Cooke, Rupert. Bosle. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1963. Pp. I94-96, 200-6, 224-25, index. Two portraits facing p. 193. LAD was "a broken young man" when OCD wrote him in praise of his poetry six months after the death of Oscar Wilde. The attraction was mutual; both shy, romantic poets, they "saw each other as Romeo and Juliet." OCD wrote during courtship, "'I love you beyond everything in the world.*" Married in 1902, their early years together were happy; in 1907 LAD wrote the sonnet sequence "To Olive." OCD disliked some of her husband's friends; in particular she "had always distrusted [Robert] Ross.1 Douglas, Lord Alfred. The Autobiography. Lond: Martin Seeker, I93I. Pp. I88-89, 193-219, 25I-54, 259-64, index. LAD was 53 in every circumstance the wronged party in relations with the Custance family. OCD "made no secret of the fact that she adored me" from the start of the relationship; the marriage survived in spite of "the welter of mud and stones" of thirty years' duration. ........ Oscar Wilde and Myself. Lond: John Long, 1914. Pp. 181, 209. Portrait facing p. 208. "Dastardly attentions of the blackmailers, letter-sellers and information-mongers" directed at OCD never ceased. She was always distressed at hearing "something dreadful" about LAD. "Four Poetesses," Times Literary Supplement (Lond), 7 Dec 1911, p. 500. Review of The Inn of Dreams (Lond: John Lane, 1911). Only in a few poems in this volume do we "catch the old and delightful note." OCD has lost the charm and vivacity evident in her earlier poetry, but has not gained the depth and maturity that should have replaced her youthful enthusiasm. "Peacocks " is indicative of her mood, showing "the shadow of the dreamed apprehension," and the passing of youth. Freeman, William. The Life of Lord Alfred Douglas: Spoilt Child of Genius. Lond: Herbert Joseph, 1948. Pp. 159-67, 2Õ Õ o~ 227-29, 249-52, 273-74, index. OCD's attitude towards LAD is shown in early letters. "'If I were to write...