Toole-Stott, Raymond.

English freelance writer and bibliographer.

From the description of Letter, 1952 June 27 : Godalming, Surrey [England] to Mrs. James G. Newlands, New York. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34364289

Raymond Toole-Stott (1910-1982), was a British author, journalist, civil servant and bibliographer of circuses and W. Somerset Maugham. He was author of "Maughamiana"; "The Writings of W. Somerset Maugham ... ";"A Bibliography of the Works of W. Somerset Maugham; several works on the circus, etc.

From the description of The Raymond Toole-Stott/W. Somerset Maugham Collection, 1904-1974. (University of California, Santa Barbara). WorldCat record id: 50766270

Raymond Toole-Stott (1910-1982) was a British author, journalist, civil servant, and bibliographer of circuses and W. Somerset Maugham. He was author of Maughamiana, the Writings of W. Somerset Maugham: Being a Handlist of Works by William Somerset Maugham and of His Contributions to Certain Selected Periodicals... (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1950) [Spec PR6025.A86 Z99 1950], The Writings of William Somerset Maugham, a Bibliography (London: Sole distributors: B. Rota, 1956) [Spec PR6025.A86 Z99 1956], and A Bibliography of the Works of W. Somerset Maugham (London: Kaye & Ward <1973>) [Spec PR6025.A86 Z99 1973]. He also was author of several works on the circus, including the multi-volume Circus and Allied Arts: A World Bibliography (1958-1992) [Spec Z7514.C6 T6].

From the guide to the Raymond Toole-Stott / W. Somerset Maugham Collection, 1904-1974, (University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections)

Biography

This collection was assembled by Raymond Toole-Stott (1910-1982), British author, journalist and compiler of the multi-volume Circus and Allied Arts: A World Bibliography, as well as other writings on the circus, conjuring, and Somerset Maugham. Toole-Stott also worked as a free-lance journalist for twenty years, eight of which he spent as the Chief Feature writer to Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia. During a few seasons in the 1930s, he managed a circus on his own.

Among his other credits, Toole-Stott was the founder and original editor of the Sawdust Review, a precursor to the British circus journal King Pole. Recognized as the pre-eminent historian/bibliographer on the circus, he spent the later part of his life collecting numerous books related to the circus, while compiling and writing his four-volume bibliography. Toole-Stott's accomplishments as a scholar and circus aficionado are particularly notable, considering that he worked full time in the Treasury Solicitor's office as a civil servant. Prior to his death in 1982, he had started to write the fifth volume in Circus and Allied Arts series, which has since been published posthumously.

From the guide to the Toole-Stott Circus Collection, ca. 1886-1970, (University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections)