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 |
REFERRED TO _____
AUG 21 1922
ANSWERED BY _____
FILED BY _____ August 18th Dear Mr. Spier1:
Will you please send the enclosed note and check to Romeike3? I have asked him to send poem cuttings4 in care of your office for the present, as second class mail is not forwarded.
Will you please see that they are sent on to me, as you will always have my latest address? As they come in file them away in your desk somewhere, and when you have a dozen or so, send them along to me in one envelope.
Did you get the snap shots5 I sent you? I will soon have more, if you want them.
You have a nice lot of blue stationary, like your office paper, put away for me somewhere, haven't you? I don't want it now, but I shall need it when I get back to town6, and this is to remind you in case you've not had it stamped yet.
Cordially yours Willa CatherInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2532.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2532
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Franklin Spier1
- Date letter was written
- August 18 [1922]
- Place letter was written
- Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada2
- Location of original letter
- Cather-Knopf Correspondence, The Dobkin Family Collection of Feminism, New York, NY
Individual Annotations
Henry Romeike, Inc., a newspaper clipping service, was founded in 1887. In 1904 the business split into Henry Romeike, Inc. and Albert Romeike Co. because of a family dispute. It is unclear to which firm Cather refers.
Cather perhaps asked Romeike to search periodical back issues for her poetry in preparation for Knopf's edition of April Twilights (1903, new edition 1923).
Likely for publicity purposes related to the publication of One of Ours (1922) (see #2533).
Person Annotations
Spier, Franklin (1896-1973). American publishing and advertising executive. Born and raised in New York City, Franklin Spier received a BA from Columbia University in 1917. In the 1920s, he worked at Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., coordinating book reviewing and other promotion activities. In the 1930s he founded Franklin Spier, Inc. an advertising agency specializing in book promotion.
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.
