Harold Mason (May 21, 1933) | Willa Cather Archive

#1179: Willa Cather to Harold Mason, May 21, 1933

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⬩W⬩S⬩C⬩ May 21, 1933. My dear Mr. Mason¹:

Months ago³ I informed Mr. Taylor⁴ that I haven't the slightest interest in bibliographies. I declined to give him any assistance or information. I hoped that he would give up the idea of making a bibliography of my books. I haven't time enough to attend to the things I am intensely interested in, and I refuse to squander my time on things that do not interest me in the least. I am sure, if Mr. Taylor had shown you my letter, you would not have written me about this matter; you would have understood that it is not quite fair to urge busy people to give their attention to things that are utterly foreign to their interests and inclinations.

Very sincerely yours, Willa Cather

Information about this letter:

Source File:: cat.let1179.xml
Letter identifier: 1179
Contents: Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only.
Person to whom letter was written: Harold Mason ¹
Date letter was written: May 21, 1933
Place letter was written: New York, New York, United States²
Location of original letter: Willa Cather Papers, 1899-1940, in the Clifton Waller Barrett Library (#6494-6494-i), University of Virginia, Special Collections, Charlottesville, VA

Individual Annotations

See #1154 to Harvey Taylor declining to assist him with a bibliography of her works.

Person Annotations

0935

Mason, Harold Trump (1893-1983). American bookseller and publisher. Born in Philadelphia, PA, Harold Mason graduated from Germantown Academy in 1911. He and his wife Ann Brakeley Sharps had a daughter, Barrie Gamble Mason. Mason owned the Centaur Bookshop at 1224 Chancellor Street in Philadelphia, PA, which served as a cultural salon where intellectual elites gathered. Mason also developed the Centaur Press out of his shop. He solicited bibliographic information from Cather about her publications in 1922. Mason’s press published limited edition fine press volumes, beginning with Walt Whitman’s “Song of the BroadAxe” in 1924. The press also published Edward McDonald’s A Bibliography of the Writings of D. H. Lawrence (1925).

1817

Taylor, William Harvey (1907-1979) (“Harvey”). American bibliographer and literary agent. Born in Livermore, CA, Harvey Taylor grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. In his early twenties he published bibliographies of Frank Norris (1930) and Sinclair Lewis (1931), which Carl Van Doren included in his Sinclair Lewis: A Biographical Sketch (1933). For a brief time, Taylor worked as a literary agent with the estate of Jack London and perhaps other authors. In late 1932 or early 1933, Taylor wrote to Cather and apparently offered to compile a bibliography of her works.

Place Annotations

New York, New York, United States