Records relating to Lectures 1818–1819 on the History of Philosophy

Lectures 1818–1819 on the History of Philosophy has as its origin The Philosophical Lectures of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1949, which was edited by Kathleen Coburn. It was assigned number eight in The Collected Works series, and in 1978 its editing was undertaken by Owen Barfield, in collaboration with Coburn. In 1986 encroaching age forced both parties to discontinue the project, submitting the well advanced but incomplete manuscript to Princeton University Press. This material was appraised by the Press, and then given to James Robert de Jackson in 1990, who, with the benefit of the previous work, went on to produce a completely new version, published in two volumes in 2000.

Owen Barfield (1897–1997) was an acclaimed philosopher, author, poet and critic. Born to Arthur Edward and Elizabeth Barfield in London, he was educated at Highgate School. After graduation he served in the Royal Engineers during World War I, then went to Oxford (Wadham College, 1919–1923) on a scholarship, where he was close friends with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein. After Oxford Barfield went on to a career as a solicitor, and also became involved with the Anthroposophical movement. In 1928 Poetic Diction: a Study in Meaning was published, and this was the first of numerous publications that enhanced Barfield’s reputation as an incisive thinker and scholar.

Records were acquired by J.R. de J. Jackson from Owen Barfield, ca. 1986.