Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
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| Textual Feature | Appearance |
|---|---|
| passage deleted with a strikethrough mark | |
| passage deleted by overwritten added letters | |
| passage added above the line | passage with added text above |
| passage added on the line | passage with added text inline |
| passage added in the margin | passage with text added in margin |
| handwritten addition to a typewritten letter | typed passage with added handwritten text |
| missing or unreadable text | missing text noted with "[illegible]" |
| uncertain transcriptions | word[?] |
| notes written by someone other than Willa Cather | Note in another's hand |
| printed letterhead text | printed text |
| text printed on postcards, envelopes, etc. | printed text |
| text of date and place stamps | stamped text |
| passage written by Cather on separate enclosure. | written text |
UNION SIGNS
DL = Day Letter
NM = Night Message
NL = Night Letter
LCO = Deferred Cable
NLT= Cable Night Letter
WLT = Week-End Letter PRESIDENT J. C. WILLEVER, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT The filing time as shown in the date line on full-rate telegrams and day letters, and the time of receipt at destination as shown on all messages, is STANDARD TIME. Received at 1414 Sixth Avenue, New York 1932 JUL 31 AM 10 32 NV3 11 NM=GRANDMANAN NB2JUL 30 ALFRED A KNOFF=1 730 FIFTH AVE=
CHANGE3 TRANSIT4 TO OCCULTATION STOP I SAW IT WHATEVER IT WAS=
WILLA CATHER. Ans'd by _____AUG 1 - 1932
Filed by _____ Corrected.
MS
8/2/32 THE QUICKEST, SUREST AND SAFEST WAY TO SEND MONEY IS BY TELEGRAPH OR CABLE 1932 JUL 31 PM 8 29 [illegible] TIME RETURNED 723
REASON Cl
MESSENGER NO. 1656
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2651.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2651
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto and verso of telegram.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Alfred A. Knopf1
- Date letter was written
- July 30, 1932
- Place letter was written
- Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada2
- Location of original letter
- Cather-Knopf Correspondence, The Dobkin Family Collection of Feminism, New York, NY
Individual Annotations
On 27 July 1932, Knopf informed Cather that Willam Lyon Phelps, who had an advance review copy of Obscure Destinies, had detected an error in "Two Friends"--the characters observe a transit of Venus in the night sky, but an occultation of Venus occurs at night, while a transit occurs during the day.
Person Annotations
Knopf, Alfred A. (1892-1984). President of New York
publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Knopf received his BA from
Columbia University in New York City in 1912 and founded Alfred Knopf, Inc.,
in 1915 with his future wife Blanche Wolf. They married in 1916, and their
son Alfred “Pat” Knopf was born in 1918. Cather chose him as her publisher
beginning with Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920) and
One of Ours (1922), partly because she was
dissatisfied with the promotion of her books by Houghton Mifflin but also
because she recognized the high quality of Knopf's books, as well as what
she regarded as his intelligent advertising. Knopf was noted for publishing
the work of leading European and South American writers in translation, as
well as original works. Knopf and Cather’s extensive correspondence
testifies to their mutual professional respect and to what also became an
important personal friendship.
Place Annotations
Grand Manan, New Brunswick, CanadaCather and Edith
Lewis frequently vacationed on Grand Manan Island during the summer and
early fall for about twenty years, beginning in 1922. For the first few
years, they stayed at the Inn at Whale Cove, a collection of cottages with a
main house operated by Sarah Jacobus. Cather and Lewis rented Orchardside
Cottage from Jacobus until they had their own cottage built. In 1926, Lewis
acquired land on Grand Manan, and construction was completed in 1928. Cather
and Lewis returned to this cottage almost every summer until
1940.
Work Annotations
"Two Friends," Obscure Destinies (1932) by Willa Cather
