Group lot of material from publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, consisting of three pages of handwritten notes and a carbon copy of an eight-page letter from Hearst to noted New York lawyer Clarence J. Shearn. The unsigned notes, written in pencil on yellow sheets ranging in size from 7.5 x 3.5 to 5. X 8.5, are individually stamp-numbered in the upper left corner as "754," "764," and "769."
The notes on the "754" sheet, with typed caption, "Please indicate matters to be checked," read as follows: "I don't think I ran for mayor twice. I ran for mayor once and for governor once." Hearst did indeed run for Mayor of New York City twice; in 1905 and 1909. He ran for Governor of New York in 1906.
The notes on the "764" sheet, which features a set of three typed guest departure lists, reads: "They must go Monday night. We will go Monday night too or else fly down Wednesday morning." Among the names listed include: his alleged daughter Patricia Lake, her husband Arthur Lake, and gossip columnist Princess Conchita Pignatelli.
The third sheet, numbered "769," reads: "Tell Randolph Apperson that the trails are bad from the Pear Orchard over the hills to the Burnett. I personally think that we should have a man at the Burnett who could keep the trails in shape. They are absolutely difficult in some places. There is one dangerous place on the trail from the sea to the Pear Orchard just before you cross the creek for the last time and…"
The lengthy carbon copy letter to Shearn, eight pages, 8.5 x 11, dated May 28, 1939, concerns a recent board meeting and also rejects Shearn's proposed candidate for the president of Hearst's Consolidated, a businessman named John St. Clair Brookes, Jr. In part: "The impression I had from the meeting was that the free expression and authoritative action of such a collection of able and experienced men was much better than concentrated individual authority either in myself or in anybody else…I realized that I am primarily an editor, and that my business record is far from perfect; but at least I had enough business ability to build up the greatest publishing institution in the world, and to make it pay a profit of twelve million dollars a year." Includes two off-white 6.5 x 8.5 sheets of personal stationery, marked "W. R. Hearst" in the upper left corner. In overall very good to fine condition, with some creasing and tears.
