Autograph Letter Signed.
This well-known Boston merchant co-owned Ives, Bellamy & Co., a shop that sold goods both retail and wholesale -- but he is remembered for a popular series of riddles in verse, all published by Houghton Mifflin: "A Century of Charades" (1895), "A Second Century of Charades" (1896), "A Third Century of Charades" (1904), "More Charades" (1909) and "Broken Words: A Fifth Century of Charades" (1911). Item #52486
Outstanding content ALS, 4pp (lettersheet), 5" X 8", Boston, MA, 5 June 1895. Very good. Lightly age toned. Shortly after the publication of his first book of riddles in verse, Bellamy here reveals the policy that drove his many readers crazy: He steadfastly refused to reveal the answers to his riddles! Which apparently is why after the first book appeared, Boston publisher Joseph Knight published Harlan H. Ballard's "Open Sesame: One Hundred Answers in Rhyme to William Bellamy’s Century of Charades" in 1896. This letter, addressed to "My dear Sir," is certainly penned to Harlan Ballard, given its contents. In part: " Houghton Mifflin do not wish to publish your verses, the only reason they allege is that there is no prospect of money in it. As they are the parties most interested, for your book would certainly help the sale of mine, it may be difficult to find another publisher willing to undertake their separate publication. I showed your manuscript to Mr. Joseph Knight, who has taken great interest in my charades, and his first impressions were favorable, but when I saw him yesterday, he had not yet finished reading it. He has promised to write you shortly...." He goes on: "I think on the whole it would be better to have your answers published separately. Those who have my book already might prefer to buy the answers alone, rather than pay more for charades and answers together. Those who have not yet purchased might prefer to buy the charades first." As for his policy about revealing the answers, he explains: "I have had quite a number of lists of correct answers sent me, besides incomplete lists with a request to complete them. I have invariably refused to furnish answers, and I am sorry that my desire to air my rhymes caused me to make an exception in your case. I can't say that I thought of Timon, but others have besides you. One gentleman who guessed it correctly, wrote to ask if I did not mean Howells instead of Shakespeare. This and the Widower's Wooing seem to have proved the most difficult...." Boldly penned in black and signed at the close. Quite bizarre and unusual.
Price: $125.00