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 |
1934 JULY 30 AM July 27th My Dear Alfred1;
I must seem very inconsistant
to you3—wanting big plain type for the
“Archbishop”4 and not wanting it for “Lucy.”5 But you see I wanted the “Archbishop” to look
as if it were printed on a country press, for old people to read. I don’t of
course, want “Lucy” to look like that. I do wish you could repeat the “Lost Lady”6 type, with it’s sharp “W”s and “M”s.
Perhaps a smaller size of this Caslon would do, but I honestly think this page you
send me looks like a child’s First Reading Book—It starer stares at me with open eyes and open mouth until it’s actually
hard to read. I can’t see any 3 text; I see only letters that
look unnaturally large and commonplace on a page of this size.
If you will repeat the page of “A Lost Lady” exactly for me, I’ll write you another romantic story, and a better one than Lucy! Now that’s a fair offer, isn’t it7?
So far, glorious weather on the island2, and I’ve 4 never before enjoyed getting back to it so much. Today is the first rain and heavy fog. I love being on this mere pin-point in the North Atlantic8, drowned in oceans of fog with the rain beating down, and no sound but the water and the bell-buoy. The Brittish Government sends out buoys with a lovely tone; this one is the G below middle C, I think, and the fog makes it deep and full and very soft—it seems to call from a great distance.
With love to you both9. W. S. C.Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2486.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2486
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto and verso.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Alfred A. Knopf1
- Date letter was written
- July 27 [1934]
- Place letter was written
- Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada2
- Location of original letter
- Prescott/Knopf Acquisition Uncataloged, University of Texas, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Austin, TX
Individual Annotations
On 20 July 1934, Knopf sent Cather a sample page of Lucy Gayheart in the same type she had approved (Caslon) but a larger size because the novel was shorter than Knopf expected. He also enclosed the page from A Lost Lady representing what she had approved. Cather's initial telegraphed response is #1229.
On 31 July 1934, Knopf assured Cather they would follow her wishes exactly even though the trade might object to the book appearing to be so short in her desired type, although he thought pricing it at $2 rather than $2.50 would remove the objection.
Person Annotations
Knopf, Alfred A. (1892-1984). President of New York
publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Knopf received his BA from
Columbia University in New York City in 1912 and founded Alfred Knopf, Inc.,
in 1915 with his future wife Blanche Wolf. They married in 1916, and their
son Alfred “Pat” Knopf was born in 1918. Cather chose him as her publisher
beginning with Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920) and
One of Ours (1922), partly because she was
dissatisfied with the promotion of her books by Houghton Mifflin but also
because she recognized the high quality of Knopf's books, as well as what
she regarded as his intelligent advertising. Knopf was noted for publishing
the work of leading European and South American writers in translation, as
well as original works. Knopf and Cather’s extensive correspondence
testifies to their mutual professional respect and to what also became an
important personal friendship.
Knopf, Blanche Wolf (1894-1966). Vice President of New York
publisher Alfred Knopf, Inc. Blanche Wolf founded Alfred Knopf,
Inc., in 1915 with her future husband Alfred Knopf. They married in 1916 and
their son Alfred “Pat” Knopf was born in 1918. Active in the business
throughout her life, Blanche Knopf recruited a number of prominent European
and Latin American writers to the Knopf list (in translation) by traveling
to meet them. In recognition of her work with writers such as Jean-Paul
Sartre and Albert Camus, she was inducted into the French Legion of Honor in
1949. She became president of Alfred Knopf, Inc., in 1957 when her husband
became chairman. Through her work in the publishing house she also promoted
writers of the Harlem Renaissance such as Langston Hughes. Cather’s letters
to Knopf focus primarily on business but the two also became friends.
Place Annotations
Grand Manan, New Brunswick, CanadaCather and Edith
Lewis frequently vacationed on Grand Manan Island during the summer and
early fall for about twenty years, beginning in 1922. For the first few
years, they stayed at the Inn at Whale Cove, a collection of cottages with a
main house operated by Sarah Jacobus. Cather and Lewis rented Orchardside
Cottage from Jacobus until they had their own cottage built. In 1926, Lewis
acquired land on Grand Manan, and construction was completed in 1928. Cather
and Lewis returned to this cottage almost every summer until
1940.
Work Annotations
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) by Willa Cather
Lucy Gayheart (1935) by Willa Cather
A Lost Lady (1923) by Willa Cather
