Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
Some of these features are only visible when "plain text" is off.
| 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 |
How good you were to send me a copy of the book4! I
found it awaiting me here2 when I got back
from the country5, where I went to
recuperate after “having my tonsils out” as the current phrase goes. I am proud to
be in the pages6 of this volume, and
prouder still of the word you wrote of “Antonia”7 on
the fly-leaf. But wait for the new one8—I’m in the middle of the page proofs now.—If I fail there, go down
into deep wells for contempt black enough and cold enough to pour upon my head. I
have never cared or tried for a book like this before. It’s my measure. It’s given
me three lovely, tormented, delightful years. It’s been a world in itself. I wish
I
could be sure of another three years like those. If my character does not walk into
my your study and compel you to care for him,
make you want to go off across the world with him—then ridicule me, sneer at me, don’t let me off easily. I shall want to be punished—I
shall want to be really hurt!
