Henry Arthur Jones Collection

The Library has a small collection of works by Henry Arthur Jones (1851-1929), playwright and author. The collection consists largely of Jones' plays, but also some of his other writings on theatre and politics; there are first and fine editions, including some privately 'Printed at the Chiswick Press'. Many items were formerly owned by M.H Spielmann, whose bookplate they bear, and contain inscriptions and handwritten letters from Jones. A number of manuscript letters are also held, acquired from the same source. Records for the books in the collection are to be found in the Online Card Catalogue.

Originally a commercial traveller, Jones became fascinated by the theatre, studied the techniques and structures of drama and began writing plays. The first of his plays to be publicly performed was It's Only Round the Corner (subsequently performed under other titles), which opened at the Theatre Royal in Exeter in 1878. Commercial success came with the melodrama The Silver King in 1882, which he wrote in collaboration with Henry Herman.

Jones went on to write many plays over the next forty years or so, becoming a major figure in the theatre of his day, and is considered to have been partly responsible, along with Arthur Pinero, for the revival of English drama. Jones had a great belief in drama as an art form and, despite the ultimately conventional morality displayed in his plays, was regarded as an advanced playwright. He wrote against censorship in the theatre and supported the foundation of a national theatre. The articles he published in periodicals were collected in two volumes: The Renascence of English Drama (1895) and The Foundations of a National Drama (1913).

In theatrical and technical terms Jones has become recognised as a good dramatist, but one who failed to achieve the literary quality that he sought: his skills lay in comedy, melodrama and romance. Jones' major works were largely written by around 1900, including plays such as The Liars (1897) and Mrs Dane's Defence (1900), although he continued to write and publish plays until 1917. Jones' popularity lasted longer in the United States, and he was also appreciated in France. Some of his comedies were successfully revived in the late twentieth century. In later years he became a political polemicist, arguing from the right against H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw, in works such as My Dear Wells: a Manual for Haters of England (1921).

A biography of H.A. Jones was written by his daughter. In addition to the copy in the collection there is a loan copy in the Main Library:

Doris Arthur Jones. The life and letters of Henry Arthur Jones. London: Gollancz, 1930.

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