Cauveren, Sydney 1947-

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Cauveren, Sydney 1947-

(Sydney Raymond Cauveren)

PERSONAL: Born October 3, 1947, in Amsterdam, Netherlands; immigrated to Australia, 1959; son of Freddy Theodor and Johanna Cauveren; companion of John R. Walde (a book collector). Education: Attended English Literature Institute, London, England, 1976-77, and University of Sydney. Politics: “Labor, with overall disillusionment.” Religion: “Deep faith within, and in oneself.” Hobbies and other interests: Collecting rare and interesting autographs, documents, and manuscripts, books, classical music, opera, theater.

ADDRESSES: Home—Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Qantas (airline), senior crew member, 1969-90; freelance writer and researcher.

MEMBER: Manuscript Society (life member), Universal Autograph Collectors Club, Friends of the National Library of Australia.

WRITINGS:

A.L. Rowse: A Bibliophile’s Extensive Bibliography, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 2000. Work represented in anthologies, including 1987 Anthology of Australian Poetry, edited by Stephen Dando-Collins, William Cobbett Books (Sydney, Australia), 1987. Contributor of articles and reviews to journals and newspapers, including Manuscripts, Pen and Quill, Biblio, Australian Antique Collector, Australian, Contemporary Review, Cornish Banner, and Adelaide Review.

SIDELIGHTS: Sydney Cauveren once told CA: “A.L. Rowse was my mentor, and the deep admiration I held for his writing and research resulted in a friendship of over twenty years, a friendship that ultimately yielded my bibliography to honor his work. I learned from Rowse that it is the personal element that makes a book live and keeps it alive. So, I was determined to introduce this for his bibliography. And, I think I have succeeded, creating a literary biographical bibliography for my subject that is also new to the genre, so accustomed to strict adherence to conformity, stifling any creativity. I think Rowse’s bibliography sets a new innovative standard—precise research and scholarship blended with the human touch in which one can reach the personality of the writer as well. Importantly, this is representative of (and complementary to) the vast canon of Rowse’s own works.”

Cauveren later added: “Since the publication of my book, my intensity of interest in my subject has continued unabated, with particular emphasis now on research into Rowse’s massive supply of unpublished letters, scattered worldwide. Since his death in 1997, Rowse’s reputation has been on the ascendancy, with the republication of major works, including The England of Elizabeth and The Expansion of Elizabethan England. Both of these works were reprinted in 2003 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, and in further recognition that A.L. Rowse was a pioneer of the new British historiography that recognizes the cultural differences of the constituent parts of the British Isles. All of this excitement has already yielded several articles from my pen, with momentum continuing.”