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 |
I do not mean to be ungracious, but I am not the least bit in the world interested in bibliographies - not in bibliographies of my own books, or of the books of anyone else. So I cannot help you at all, because I am not interested. Dozens of things come up every week to take a writer's time away from his work. Every kind of cataloguer and thesis writer and text book writer in the world asks for just a few hours of one's time. For a long while I let well intentioned research people eat up my time, but I simply cannot do it any more.
I do not in the least want a bibliography of my books made, and so why should I
neglect something I do want to do in order to help you make one.? I'd like to
oblige you, but I simply have to protect my working time a little.
