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 |
MAY 18 1931
Filed by _____ May 14th Dear Alfred1;
Firstly; I will certainly try to supply you with some new photographs when I return to New York3 about June sixth.
Secondly; I like4 the text and style of the Publisher’s Weekly5 ad very much indeed. It seems to me very distinguished. The copy you send for the jacket6, signed by yourself, is of course very pleasing to me—if only the book7 lives up to your very strong commendation. This is the only book I’ve ever felt nervous about—perhaps that is because it has been written ⬩W⬩S⬩C⬩ under such very trying conditions. It has been a great comfort to me that you and Blanche8, and the office generally seem to feel confidence in it.
As to the summer, I shall try to go to Grand Manan9. I have to be at Princeton10 to take a degree11, you remember, the 14th, 15th & 16th of June. After that I’ll escape from New York as soon as possible.
Tomorrow I am going with my brother12 down into Western Mexico13 for a few days. I'll write you as soon as I get back.
With deep appreciation of all you are doing for this book,
yours Willa CatherInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2489.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2489
- Contents
- Document is two leaves, handwritten on recto of each leaf only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Alfred A. Knopf1
- Date letter was written
- May 14 [1931]
- Place letter was written
- Pasadena, California, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Prescott/Knopf Aquisition Uncataloged, University of Texas, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Austin, TX
Individual Annotations
On 9 May 1931, Knopf sent Cather a copy of the Publishers Weekly announcement of the planned 7 August publication of Shadows on the Rock. He also sent the text of the planned jacket copy, which had also been sent to Publishers Weekly, noting the promotional value of "carrying on in this dignified and high toned manner, making me very much the impressario and you the great star."
On the front of the dust jacket the following statement, accompanied by a reproduction of Alfred Knopf's signature, appeared: "Seldom has any novel been as widely bought and as dearly loved as Death Comes for the Archbishop. I assure Miss Cather's readers that Shadows on the Rock is of the same superb vintage." On the back jacket he noted the difference in setting but assured readers of its high quality in line with Cather's reputation as "first and foremost" of living novelists.
Cather received an honorary Doctor of Letters from Princeton University at a ceremony on 16 June 1931.
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.
Cather, Charles Fectigue (1848-1928). Cather’s father.
Charles Fectigue (possibly Fectique) Cather was born in the Back
Creek Valley of Virginia, north of Winchester. His family were sheep raisers
who were largely, but not entirely, Union supporters during the Civil War.
He married Mary Virginia Seibert Boak, daughter of Confederate supporters,
in 1872. In 1883 he and his family followed his parents, William and
Caroline Cather, and brother George to Webster County in Nebraska, where
various cousins and uncles had also settled. Initially he ran a ranch in the
county but soon moved his family into the town of Red Cloud, where he had an
insurance and real estate business. Four of his children, Willa, Roscoe,
Charles, and Jessica, were born in Virginia, while three, James, Elsie, and
John, were born in Nebraska. Cather’s relationship with her father was very
warm: she made regular visits to her parents in Red Cloud and especially
enjoyed her father’s letters expressing appreciation of her novels. A week
after she concluded a visit to her ailing father in Red Cloud, he died of
heart disease. He served as the prototype for Hillary Templeton in “Old Mrs.
Harris” (1932).
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
Publishers Weekly
Shadows on the Rock (1931) by Willa Cather
