In honor of the centennial of T.S. Eliot’s landmark poem, The Waste Land, here are ten Waste Land highlights from the Beinecke’s collections.
1. The Waste Land: Typescript
YCAL MSS 34, Series III, Box: 20, Folder: 412
2. First Publication: The Criterion
Za Zc96, Folder: Za.Zc96.1:1
3. First American Publication: The Dial
Za Zd5, Folder: Za.Zd5.73:5 copy 3
4. First Editions
Za EL466 922W; Tanselle B53 0206; Gallup Eliot A6a
The Beinecke has ten options to choose from. To start, you might try the copy containing notes from Donald Gallup (Gallup Eliot A6a, Copy: 2), or the copy belonging to William Carlos Williams (Za EL466 922W, Copy: 4).
5. First English Edition
Gallup Eliot A6c, Copy: 1
6. Correspondence Between T.S. Eliot and Scofield Thayer
YCAL MSS 34, Series IV, Box: 31, Folders: 808-811
7. Correspondence Between Scofield Thayer and Ezra Pound
YCAL MSS 34, Series IV, Box: 38, Folders: 1070-1072
8. Correspondence Between Gilbert Seldes and James Sibley Watson
YCAL MSS 34, Series I, Box: 7, Folder: 261
9. Advertisement for The Waste Land
YCAL MSS 34, Series II, Box: 14, Folders: 339-340
10. Newspaper Clippings
YCAL MSS 838, accession 14, Box 78
This research was compiled by Isabel Prioleau, a student research assistant in the Beinecke’s Yale Collection of American Literature, and a member of Yale College ‘25.