William Addison Dwiggins (November 23 [1936])

#2845: Willa Cather to William Addison Dwiggins, November 23 [1936]

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Textual Feature	Appearance
passage deleted with a strikethrough mark	~~deleted passage~~
passage deleted by overwritten added letters	~~overwritten passage~~
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

⬩W⬩S⬩C⬩ Dear Mr. Dwiggins¹;

I knew the left-wing people would have their guns out for this particular book³, but I never thought to draw this fire on you⁴! Myself, I think the book is a beauty—as far as books go.

Sincerely yours Willa Cather November 23^d

Information about this letter:

Source File:: cat.let2845.xml
Letter identifier: 2845
Contents: Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto only.
Person to whom letter was written: William Addison Dwiggins ¹
Date letter was written: November 23 [1936]
Explanation of conjectured date: The year of this letter is established by Cather's implied reference to Not Under Forty, which was published on November 23, 1936, and for which Dwiggins was the designer.
Place letter was written: New York, New York, United States²
Location of original letter: William A. Dwiggins Collection, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA

Individual Annotations

Cather may be referring to William Soskin's review of Not Under Forty in the New York Times Book Review (22 November 1936), the end of which criticizes Dwiggins's design choices.

Person Annotations

1317

Dwiggins, William Addison (1880-1956) (“W.A.”). Book and type designer. Born in Massachusetts, W. A. Dwiggins began his career as a commercial artist in Chicago, IL, where he worked with designer Frederick Goudy. After returning to Massachusetts, he published an attack on contemporary book design, An Investigation into the Physical Properties of Books (1919), which brought him to the attention of Alfred A. Knopf. Knopf had Dwiggins design several of Willa Cather’s books, including My Mortal Enemy (1926), which Dwiggins also illustrated, Lucy Gayheart (1935), and Not Under Forty (1936). Cather liked his work, recommending to Houghton Mifflin that he design the Autograph Edition of her works.

Place Annotations

New York, New York, United States

Work Annotations

Not Under Forty (1936) by Willa Cather