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Lot #296
James Branch Cabell (5) Typed Letters Signed

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Estimate: $200+
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Description

Five TLSs, each one page on personal letterhead, dated from 1921 to 1931. The first is to author Ethel May Kelley, in part: "But Beauty and Mary Blair is very delightful indeed! I don't know that I quite believe your final implication that they all lived happily ever afterward; but that is your fault, in that you have made your characters so real that one must, willy nilly, regard them as amenable to the grayer restrictions of real life. And meanwhile, too, you have made them such agreeable people that one rather wants to concede them beatification."

Another is to "Mr. Loveman," in part: "The Sphinx has been held for a day or two until I might find time wherein to read it, which I have now done with lively interest. By rights I should have returned it forthwith, since from the firsts I knew that the pressure of my other engagements would not permit me to supply you with a preface; but I yielded, even so, to the self-indulgence of first enjoying your text."

The two other letters are to future tattoo artist and pornographer Sam M. Steward, then a student at Ohio State University. The first, in full: "I am most sincerely sorry that I have been plagiarizing from you also, yet I really do not see how this theft could well have been avoided. That lingham post was obviously in the air last April." The second, in full: "After a brief trip from home, I have found awaiting me Pan and the Fire Bird. You have all my thanks for this most interesting looking volume, and all my heartiest good wishes too for its success." Includes a third typed letter to Steward, with the signature clipped off. The fifth TLS, to an unnamed correspondent, in part: "Kindly send books on the enclosed list, with bill to cover postage, to me at the address above." In overall very good to fine condition. Accompanied by four of the original mailing envelopes.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autograph and Artifacts Featuring Animation
  • Dates: #688 - Ended March 13, 2024