Professor Wesley Milgate and John Donne

Within the Rare Books & Special Collections shelves are various individual collections donated by academic staff, some large and kept together under their donors’ names, others of smaller quantities dispersed in the general rare book categories. These can be identified through their donor bookplates and notes in catalogue records. One such donation is the books of Professor Wesley Milgate (1916-1999), a leading literary scholary at the time whose specialty was the English poet John Donne (1572-1631). 

About Professor Wesley Milgate

Milgate’s academic path led him from Leura Public School to the University of Sydney, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1935 and a Master of Arts with First Class Honours in 1943; his thesis was entitled A critical study of the thought and art of John Donne.

Milgate began working at the University of Sydney in 1948, before working on a fellowship at the University of Oxford. In 1951, he returned to the University of Sydney to become the Challis Chair of English Literature. He left in 1961, due to a period of ill health and a wish to continue his research on John Donne. Milgate spent further time at the University of Oxford and then at the Australian National University, before retiring in 1976, pursuing interests in hymnals and church organ.

Items in the Library collection

Milgate’s early editions of John Donne's work include two with intriguing provenance.

• Letters to severall persons of honour, 1654, published by Donne’s son (Wing D1865)
  This book has suffered wear and tear, but in the manner of the time the original owners have recorded intriguing family details from 1666 on the flyleaves.
• Poems & c. by John Donne, 1669 (Wing D1871)
  Inscribed “Elisabeth Gregor her Book 1690” with the added note “this read in 1691”. This is likely to be the Cornish book collector, Elisabeth Gregor (1665-1716).
• A critical study of the thought and art of John Donne
  Milgate’s Masters thesis is held in the Library's Theses Collection and can be viewed upon request.