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 |
I’d like to oblige the Joseph Horne people3, but if I once began that kind of thing4, there’d be no end to it. One has to do that sort of thing thoroughly, as Edna Ferber5 does it, or not do it at all. In these days, NOT doing it is a kind of publicity in itself,—though that’s not the reason I refrain.
Please tell them that I will be in Canada6 then, finishing my new novel7, and that as the serialization of that novel begins in December, I can’t interrupt my work so near to publication date; The Forum8 has to have the copy for the first two installments9 November 1st.
That is all true, except, possibly. Canada10, and is certainly a plausible escape. Please tell them I’d love to make an exception in their case, as I have old friends in Pittsburgh11.
Please ask your secretary to have a
copyone
copiey of “A
Lost Lady”12 mailed to me at Jaffrey13, whither I go in a few days, and to send me a copytwo copies of the new book14
as soon as it’s out. But ask your mailing department to hold the ten complimentary copies that come to me
in
the
office until my return.
My warmest welcome to Blanche15 and Alfred16.
Yours Willa CatherInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2568.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2568
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Samuel Knopf1
- Date letter was written
- September 8 [1926]
- Place letter was written
- Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Cather-Knopf Correspondence, The Dobkin Family Collection of Feminism, New York, NY
Individual Annotations
The Joseph Horne Company, often referred to as Joseph Horne's or Horne's, was a regional department store chain based in Pittsburgh, PA. The chain was founded by Joseph Horne in 1849.
On 4 September 1926, Samuel Knopf wrote to ask Cather if she would appear at a book fair for the Joseph Horne Company in Pittsburgh during the week of 25 October.
The first two installments of Death Comes for the Archbishop were published in the January and Februrary 1927 issues of Forum.
Cather traveled to Jaffrey, NH, in the middle of September and remained there until returning to New York at the beginning of November (#0858).
Person Annotations
Knopf, Samuel (1862-1932). Treasurer of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Born in Poland, Samuel Knopf’s family brought him to the U.S. as a child. He headed his own advertising agency until 1921, when his son Alfred’s publishing firm incorporated as Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and he invested in the company and became its treasurer. Active in the company’s affairs, especially management of its London office, he occasionally assumed responsibility for Cather’s affairs in the absence of Alfred and Blanche Knopf, and Cather came to know him personally during her frequent visits to the Knopf offices. When he died, she wrote to his son about the “absolute confidence” he inspired in her (#1672).
Ferber, Edna (1885-1968). American novelist and playwright.
Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Jewish parents, Edna Ferber’s family
moved to Ottumwa, IA, where she and her family endured anti-Semitism, before
moving to Appleton, WI, where Ferber attended high school and worked as a
reporter for the Appleton Daily Crescent. Ferber then
worked for the Milwaukee Journal before writing her
first short story, “The Homely Heroine” (1910), and her first novel, Dawn O’Hara (1911). In 1912 she moved to New York
City to focus on her career, writing the bestselling novel So Big (1924), which was awarded the Pulitzer prize in fiction,
and the novel Show Boat (1925), which was adapted by
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein into a musical of the same name. Many of
Ferber’s novels were turned into films, including Cimarron (1929), Giant (1952), and Ice Palace (1958).
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.
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.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) by Willa Cather
Forum
A Lost Lady (1923) by Willa Cather
My Mortal Enemy (1926) by Willa Cather
