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 |
44-60 EAST TWENTY-THIRD STREET,
NEW YORK. December 28, 1908 My Dear Mr. Ferrero1;
Would it be possible for me to see you at your hotel this week, to discuss with you a plan for illustrating the two articles3 on Julius Caesar4 and to ascertain from you when you will be able to send us the articles? I can come to the hotel at any time after four oclock on Tuesday, or at any time on Wednesday or Thursday. I am presuming that it would be more convenient for you to see me at your hotel, but if you would prefer to call at the office of the magazine5 (at the corner of 23d street and Fourth avenue) I can meet you there at any hour you designate.
Very cordially yours Willa Sibert Cather.82 Washington Place6 New York2. Miss Cather
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let0146.xml
- Letter identifier
- 0146
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto and verso.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Guglielmo Ferrero1
- Date letter was written
- December 28, 1908
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Guglielmo Ferrero Papers (MICROFLM F d 8304), Columbia University, Butler Library, New York, NY
Individual Annotations
See #0143 for her request for these articles. No articles on Julius Caesar appeared in McClure's.
82 Washington Place (New York City): Cather's second apartment in New York City and the first one she shared with Edith Lewis, located in Greenwich Village in the Manhattan borough. Cather and Lewis lived here from 1908 to 1911.
Person Annotations
Ferrero, Guglielmo (1871-1942). Italian historian and writer.
Born near Naples, Italy, Ferrero studied law but was drawn to
political and classical studies. In 1901 he married Gina Lombroso, daughter
of Cesare Lombroso, a well-known psychiatrist and criminologist with whom
Ferrero collaborated on some early works. Ferrero’s five-volume history of
Rome was translated into English from 1907 to 1909 and made his reputation
in the English-speaking world. On a 1908 visit to the U.S., Theodore
Roosevelt invited him to the White House. Cather corresponded with him while
she was an editor at McClure’s Magazine, soliciting
articles from him which were published in April and May of 1909. The fascist
regime in Italy placed him under house arrest in 1925, but in 1930 he and
his family escaped to Switzerland.
Julius Caesar (c. 102 BCE-44 BCE). Roman statesman and general. In the 58-49 Gallic Wars (58 BCE-49 BCE) Caesar brought all of Gaul under Roman control, establishing his reputation as a military leader. At the time of his assassination by C. Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, he was dictator for life of Rome. In a number of Willa Cather’s works, most notably The Song of the Lark (1915) and The Professor’s House (1925), characters read Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
McClure's Magazine
