Derek Stanford. In Memoriam

The Independent publishes the obituary of Derek Stanford (1918-2008) who died last December 18. He was the co-author of Emily Brontë: Her Life and Work (1953) with Muriel Spark and of the lesser known Anne Brontë: Her Life and Work (1959) with Ada Harrison (some extracts from this book can be read on Anne Brontë: The Scarborough Connection):

He was a poet to watch, a prolific and versatile critic, and then he met Muriel Spark. The author or editor of more than 30 books, Derek Stanford is doomed to be remembered as a hapless protagonist in the biography of the author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – and the original of the appalling Hector Bartlett in one of her late novels, the "pisseur de copie" (...)
The collaboration between Spark and Stanford in the years 1949-57 was intense. In 1949-50 they co-edited a magazine, Forum. In 1950 they co-edited a centenary Tribute to Wordsworth. A biography, Emily Brontë, followed in 1953, then editions of the letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, My Best Mary (1953), and Cardinal Newman (1957: Stanford editing the Anglican letters, Spark the Catholic). (James Fergusson)

EDIT (January 14):
The Times publishes an obituary.

Critic, poet, biographer and editor, Derek Stanford produced books on a wide variety of literary topics during his career, some on his own account, others in collaboration. These ranged from studies of individual authors — Christopher Fry, Dylan Thomas, Anne Brontë — through anthologies of verse and prose to collections of letters.
His most famous collaborator was Muriel Spark, with whom he was in harness on a series of works in the early part of his (and her) career. These included a centenary tribute to Wordsworth, which they edited together; a criticial biography of Emily Brontë and several collections of letters.

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