Typed Letters Signed (2).
This American novelist and popular historian is best remembered for "Country Lawyer" (1939), a memoir of his attorney father's practice in rural New York, and its sequel, "The Big Family" (1941). Two Typed Letters Signed, 7¼" X 10½" and 8½" X 11", Bridgeport, CT, 1948 January 30 and 1948 March 24. Addressed to Mrs. Madlener -- Elaine Madlener, noted Chicago collector and office of The Manuscript Society. First letter is very good, with mild age toning and small paper clip impression; second letter is slightly less, with minor wrinkles and paper clip stain. Good content to this admirer who wanted some books signed. "I always feel highly complimented when readers want their books autographed," he remarks in the first letter, "especially if the request comes after reading." Nice discussion of his current project: "I am in the throes of finishing a novel of old New York. It is the story of the Fabulous Forties when the Croton Aqueduct was being built. I have been reading the newspapers of the day through the microfilm until my eyes are quite ready for a vacation. Papers of that particular period were printed on stock which has become so brittle that they break all to pieces when handled, and the microfilm has really saved them from extinction. The Aqueduct was under construction for ten years and I have been fortunate enough to get hold of diaries kept by an old fellow who was curator of a museum there during the time, and who was also an enthusiastic member of the Aqueduct family -- which was fought tooth and nail by the well water enthusiasts...." In the second letter he editorializes about... well, editors: "...I had my editor here and we were polishing off the new copy. My work is pretty messy when it is first finished and it is full of erasures and interlineations. If the editor wants any changes (and there was never an editor who didn't want some little change made) I like to have it done before the final copy is typed. The printers are very bossy nowadays and they demand the most perfect copy. Then if there is to be serial consideration there has to be a copy for the magazines, and another for the moving pictures...." Insightful commentary from this noted author. Both letters bear bold full signatures. Item #22672
Price: $75.00