Showing 2 results

The Cavafy fonds is a fairly complete fonds, free from physical decay and inconsistencies - these are traits ensuring the chronological continuity of the items contained therein, in terms of both order and frequency of appearance. These traits make the Cavafy fonds a unique literary archive.

Besides, the poet himself collected and archived his work on a systematic basis. His poems, both manuscripts and in print, in the form of homemade books or printer’s copies, the distribution lists of volumes and collections, the prose texts and the poet’s personal and literary notes, together with translations, texts and studies of the poet’s work by others, make up the section of the fonds that relates to Cavafy’s intellectual activity.

The poet’s private life is outlined in the rich collection of his personal and family letters, of diary-type texts, of the various family items and, finally, in the important collection of personal and family photographs.

In his personal notes Cavafy records his thoughts about his work, poetry and art in general, as well as his everyday life, as for example his activities in gambling or his personal and love life. During the last years of his life, when he could no longer speak as a result of his illness, such notes were the poet’s only means of communication.

Personal relations and journeys, contacts with prominent figures and intellectuals are all included in the items of the fonds and complement Cavafy’s physiognomy by integrating it in the context of the poet’s era.

The fonds includes the archival remnants of Alekos Singopoulo, heir of C. P. Cavafy, and of his wife, Rica Singopoulo, first editor of the Cavafy archive (from 1926 to 1939).
More specifically, the files of the fonds include texts by Alekos and Rica Singopoulo that shed light on Cavafy’s personality and poetic work, the correspondence between the Singopoulos and the poet as well as with others, and Singopoulo’s correspondence with a British publisher (The Hogarth Press) relating to the first collective publication of Cavafy’s work in English. It also includes items related to other activities of the Singopoulos as well as personal documents. The fonds is complemented by a collection of photographs in the possession of Alekos and Rica Singopoulo as well as by a file of sketches (or reproductions of sketches) depicting Cavafy, originally in the possession of Alekos Singopoulo.

Lastly, the Alexandrini Techni archive consists almost exclusively of manuscripts (prose works and poems) that had been sent to the journal for publication, of letters of authors and scholars addressed to the editors of the journal and of handwritten lists with the names of authors and publishers in Athens.