Digital archive of Don Paterson, with two notebooks.
Scope and Contents
Since 2000, Don Paterson has done much of his writing directly onto his Apple Mac (and subsequent models), and his digital archive appears to contain most of his work – in diverse fields - back to that point. The development of the poems are charted through multiple drafts as he hones a work down to the essence. The prose, some of which seems to form the raw material for his collections of aphorism, is occasionally written at such speed that there is no attempt to correct typos or even spell properly – his hands clearly rush to keep pace with his brain. There is also much seemingly unpublished material on the hard drive. Beyond the extensive quantities of creative writing, the digital archive includes e-mail correspondence with, and some work by, other poets, much of it evidently relating to Paterson’s work as Picador’s poetry editor. There are many files of his writing on the ‘Ars Poetica’ theme, presumably in connection to his teaching of creative writing at St Andrews University. The collection also includes a number of folders containing music: recordings of work with Don Paterson ‘Euro-jazz inflected with Celtic folk’ band Lammas, as well as more recent electronic compositions.
Dates
- Creation: 1995-2011
Conditions Governing Access
No access at present to hard drive.
Extent
0.12 Linear metres (1 removable hard drive, 2 notebooks)
Language of Materials
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Bought, 2012, Don Paterson, Dundee.5 July 2012
Appraisal
Everything is retained.
Separated Materials
Acc.12689
Subject
Genre / Form
- Title
- National Library of Scotland Catalogue of Manuscripts
- Author
- National Library of Scotland
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared Using Local Descriptive Rules
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division Repository
Archives and Manuscript Division
National Library of Scotland
George IV Bridge
Edinburgh EH1 1EJ
0131 623 3700
manuscripts@nls.uk