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 |
SEP 18 1931
Filed by _____ September 14th Dear Alfred1;
Certainly3, if the picture wrapper4 seems to be popular, use it. I don’t dislike it.
Speaking of jackets, will you please have some one in the office make a polite reply to the enclosed letter from Professor O’Ryan5? There might be something good for a jacket from among his brother’s sketches of Quebec6,- something from which a poster drawing could be made.
I am delighted that you like7 the two stories8. You must be thinking about a title for that volume9 for me.
I shall be here2 until the first of October, and will let you know the exact date of my departure later. I rush this note off to catch our seldom-going boat.
FaithfullyWilla CatherInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2642.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2642
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Alfred A. Knopf1
- Date letter was written
- September 14 [1931]
- 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
On 9 September 1931, Knopf wrote that everything about the changes to the wrapper for Shadows on the Rock was "all straight" but that he thought they should retain the "picture wrapper" (see #2638).
On 9 September 1931, Knopf wrote that he found both stories "superb" but preferred "Old Mrs. Harris."
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.
O'Ryan, Professor. No further information is available about this person.
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
Shadows on the Rock (1931) by Willa Cather
"Old Mrs. Harris," Obscure Destinies (1932) by Willa Cather
"Two Friends," Obscure Destinies (1932) by Willa Cather
Obscure Destinies (1932) by Willa Cather
