Unusual collection of over 60 custom-printed cartoons and letters filled out by celebrities and notable figures from a wide variety of fields, all responding on the subject of ‘If I had to do it again…’ Represented within the collection are noteworthy writers, athletes, politicians, religious figures, and more. This collection was compiled by Paul Rifkin, who edited a compilation of letters responding to the question, ‘Do you believe in God?,’ entitled The God Letters, published by Warner Books in 1986. In overall fine condition. Due to the large quantity a few other secretarial and/or printed signatures may be included. Interested parties are encouraged to view the collection in person at our offices or call us with specific inquiries, as this collection is sold as is and no returns will be accepted. A complete collection of images is available online.
A small sampling of these letters:
Arthur Ashe: “If I had it to do over again I would learn a foreign language at an early age and learn to play the piano.”
Isaac Asmiov: “Things have worked out so well of me, that I wouldn’t change anything, lest that prove to make matters worse.”
Arthur C. Clarke: “My only regret is that I never learned to play the piano…I did start receiving lessons five years ago, but then the house was invaded by computers.”
Allen Ginsberg: “Existence contains suffering; Suffering’s caused by ignorance; There’s an end to ignorance.”
John Glenn: “I have said that I always use pencils with erasers, because I might want to change something…if things had gone differently, I might have had a career as a medical doctor.”
Marcel Marceau: “I think I was born to be a mime artist. I think I was already one in my mother’s belly.”
James Earl Ray: “When I was swabbing the deck in the Memphis jail back in 1968 and the Texas Tiger, Percy Foreman the Houston attorney, elbowed his way into the jail beseeching me to dismiss my attorney and let him represent me in the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. homicide…Today I would be down in old Mexico sipping a tequila.”
Herve Villecheze: “I would be a gardener of souls, Watering with my tears, The beautiful hearts in pain.”
Some other names include: Sherman Adams, Johnny Bench, Bill Blass, Erskine Caldwell, Alastair Cooke, Norman Cousins, Michael Crichton, Bette Davis, James Dickey, Phyllis Diller, Mike Ditka, Robert Drinan, Larry Flynt, Tennessee Ernie Ford, John Gielgud, Bud Greenspan, Marvin Hagler, Don Knotts, Elmore Leonard, Sol Linowitz, Loretta Lynn, Walter Matthau, Ed McMahon, Dudley Moore, Claude Pepper, George Plimpton, Phyllis Schlafly, Erich Segal, Martin Sheen, Roger Staubach, John Travolta, Fred Willard, and Keenan Wynn. In overall fine condition.
