Ruthven Todd
Encyclopedia
Ruthven Campbell Todd (14 June 1914 – 1978) was a Scottish poet, artist and novelist, best known as an editor of the works of William Blake
. He wrote also under the pseudonym R. T. Campbell.
, Todd was educated at Fettes College
and Edinburgh School of Art. After a time in the office of his father, an architect, he worked for two years as an agricultural labourer on Mull
. He then started a career in copy-writing and journalism, while writing poetry and novels, living in Edinburgh, London, and later Tilty Mill near Dunmow
in Essex
(later rented to poet and novelist Elizabeth Smart
).
He was involved with the surrealists at the time of the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition. During the 1930s, he was friendly with Wyndham Lewis
, contributing to the Lewis issue of Julian Symons
's Twentieth Century Verse, and recruited him to keep the dozing Ezra Pound
, whose portrait Lewis was painting. A character based on Todd was included in Symons' first detective story, The Immaterial Murder Case.) During World War II
he was a conscientious objector
. He moved to America in 1947, where he held a position at a university in New York, and ran the Weekend Press during the 1950s. He contributed to children's literature, with the fifties Space Cat series.
He was married to sculptor Joellen Hall Rapée (1921-2006). In 1958, he settled in Majorca, Spain. He spent the remainder of his life there until his death in 1978.
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
. He wrote also under the pseudonym R. T. Campbell.
Background
Born in EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Todd was educated at Fettes College
Fettes College
Fettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus...
and Edinburgh School of Art. After a time in the office of his father, an architect, he worked for two years as an agricultural labourer on Mull
Isle of Mull
The Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....
. He then started a career in copy-writing and journalism, while writing poetry and novels, living in Edinburgh, London, and later Tilty Mill near Dunmow
Dunmow
Dunmow may refer to:*Great Dunmow, a town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England*Little Dunmow, a village located about 3 miles outside the town of Great Dunmow...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
(later rented to poet and novelist Elizabeth Smart
Elizabeth Smart (author)
Elizabeth Smart was a Canadian poet and novelist. Her book, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, detailed her romance with the poet George Barker...
).
He was involved with the surrealists at the time of the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition. During the 1930s, he was friendly with Wyndham Lewis
Wyndham Lewis
Percy Wyndham Lewis was an English painter and author . He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art, and edited the literary magazine of the Vorticists, BLAST...
, contributing to the Lewis issue of Julian Symons
Julian Symons
Julian Gustave Symons 1912 - 1994) was a British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature.-Life and work:...
's Twentieth Century Verse, and recruited him to keep the dozing Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
, whose portrait Lewis was painting. A character based on Todd was included in Symons' first detective story, The Immaterial Murder Case.) During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was a conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
. He moved to America in 1947, where he held a position at a university in New York, and ran the Weekend Press during the 1950s. He contributed to children's literature, with the fifties Space Cat series.
He was married to sculptor Joellen Hall Rapée (1921-2006). In 1958, he settled in Majorca, Spain. He spent the remainder of his life there until his death in 1978.
Volumes
- Poems (1938)
- The Laughing Mulatto (1939)
- Over the Mountain (1939)
- Poets of Tomorrow (1939)
- Ten Poems (1940)
- Until Now (1942) Fortune Press, poems
- Life of William Blake by Alexander GilchristAlexander GilchristAlexander Gilchrist was the biographer of William Blake. Gilchrist's biography is still a standard reference work on the poet....
(1942) editor - Poems for a Penny (1942)
- The Acreage of the Heart (1943) poems
- The Lost Traveller (1943)
- The Planet in my Hand (1944, Grey Walls Press) poems
- Tracks in the Snow (Grey Walls Press) (1946) criticism of William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, Fuseli and John MartinJohn Martin (painter)John Martin was an English Romantic painter, engraver and illustrator.-Biography:Martin was born in July 1789, in a one-room family cottage, at Haydon Bridge, near Hexham in Northumberland, the 4th son of Fenwick Martin, a one time fencing master... - Unholy Dying (1945) as R. T. Campbell
- First Animal Book (1946) Thomas BewickThomas BewickThomas Bewick was an English wood engraver and ornithologist.- Early life and apprenticeship :Bewick was born at Cherryburn House in the village of Mickley, in the parish of Ovingham, Northumberland, England, near Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 August 1753...
engravings - Take thee a Sharp Knife (1946) as R. T. Campbell
- Adventure with a Goat (1946) as R. T. Campbell
- Bodies in a Bookshop (1946) as R. T. Campbell
- Death for Madame (1946) as R. T. Campbell
- The Death Cup (1946) as R. T. Campbell
- Swing Low Sweet Death (1946) as R. T. Campbell
- William Blake: America, a prophecy (1947) editor
- William Blake: Poems (1947) editor
- A Century of British Painters (1947) editor, original authors Richard RedgraveRichard RedgraveRichard Redgrave RA was an English artist.-Early life:Redgrave was born on 30 April 1804 in Pimlico, at 2 Belgrave Terrace, the second son of William Redgrave, and younger brother of Samuel Redgrave. While was employed in his father's manufacturing firm, he visited the British Museum to make...
and Samuel RedgraveSamuel Redgrave-Life:He was eldest son of William Redgrave, and brother of Richard Redgrave, and was born at 9 Upper Eaton Street, Pimlico, London, on 3 October 1802. When about 14 years old he obtained a clerkship at the Home Office, and in his leisure time studied French, German, and Spanish, and practised... - Christopher Smart: A Song to David (1947) editor
- In Other Worlds (1951)
- Love Poems for the New Year (1951)
- Space Cat (1952)
- Loser's Choice (1953) as R. T. Campbell
- The Tropical Fish Book (1953)
- Indian Spring (1954)
- A Mantelpiece of Shells (1954)
- Trucks, Tractors, and Trailers (1954)
- Indian Pipe (1955)
- Space Cat Visits Venus (1955)
- Space Cat Meets Mars (1957)
- Space Cat and the Kittens (1958)
- Tan's Fish (1958)
- Selected Poems of William Blake (1960) editor
- Funeral of a Child (1962)
- Garland for the Winter Solstice (1961) selected poems
- The Geography of Faces (1964)
- Blake's Dante Plates (1968) editor
- William Blake: The Artist (1971)
- John BerrymanJohn BerrymanJohn Allyn Berryman was an American poet and scholar, born in McAlester, Oklahoma. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and was considered a key figure in the Confessional school of poetry...
1914-1972 (1972) broadsheet - Lament of the Cats of Rapallo (1973)
- McGonagall Remembers Fitzrovia in the 1930s (1973)