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 |
and Annex
ACCOMMODATIONS FOR
200 GUESTS ALL MODERN
CONVENIENCES AT THE FOOT OF MONADOCK MOUNTAIN
JAFFREY, N.H. AMERICAN PLAN
OPEN ALL YEAR Dear Mr. Conklin1;
"Coming, Eden Bower"4 is included5 in my volume6 of short stories published by Knopf, and "Her Boss"7 is soon to appear in another volume8. I am sorry, but I cannot give you permission to use9 either story.
Sincerely yours Willa CatherInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let0751.xml
- Letter identifier
- 0751
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Edward Groff Conklin 1
- Date letter was written
- [October 1933]
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
The conjectured date range is established by Cather's presence in Jaffrey, NH, in October of 1933, and the publication of The Smart Set Anthology, edited by Burton Rascoe and Groff Conklin, in October 1934. Although Cather was also in Jaffrey in October 1934, the editors would not have still been seeking permission to anthologize stories when publication was imminent.
- Place letter was written
- Jaffrey, New Hampshire, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Willa Cather Papers, 1899-1949, in the Clifton Waller Barrett Library (6494), University of Virginia, Special Collections, Charlottesville, VA
Individual Annotations
Shattuck Inn (Jaffrey, NH): Hotel built in 1910 in Jaffrey, N,H owned and operated by E. C. Shattuck until his death in February 1933, when operation was taken over by his daughter, Eleanor Shattuck Austermann, and her husband George Austermann. Cather stayed at the Shattuck Inn many times, often with Edith Lewis, finding it a useful place to work. In 1947, Cather wrote of the Shattuck Inn: “I have never found any place where I could work in such peace and happiness as in the little rooms up in the top of the Shattuck Inn” (#1748).
"Her Boss" was not anthologized during Cather's lifetime.
Person Annotations
Conklin, Edward Groff (1904-1968). American anthologist. Born in New Jersey, Edward Groff Conklin graduated from Columbia University in 1927. In the 1930s and 1940s he did some editing and advertising work and held a variety of jobs in governmental agencies. He co-edited with Burton Rascoe the Smart Set Anthology (1934), featuring works first published in H. L. Mencken’s magazine. Cather refused permission to include “Coming, Aphrodite!” (1920) or “Her Boss” (1919). Conklin later became famous for his anthologies of science fiction short stories.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
"Coming, Eden Bower!," Smart Set (1920), by Willa Cather
"Coming, Aphrodite!," Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920), by Willa Cather
Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920), by Willa Cather
"Her Boss," Smart Set (October 1919), by Willa Cather
The Smart Set Anthology of World Famous Authors (1934), edited by Burton Rascoe and Groff Conklin
