Lot 122
Steinbeck, John -- TLS Making His Opinion of a Book-Signing Party Clear to Owner of Holman's Dept Store, 1938 - Immensely Entertaining (1902-1968) Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning American author who authored 33 books and is considered one of the greatest novelists of the 20th Century. Some of his best-known works are "The Grapes of Wrath", "Tortilla Flats", "Cannery Row", "Of Mice and Men" and "East of Eden."
Typed letter signed in very sharp pencil, 2pp. 11 x 8½", Mar. 14, 1838. With original, transmittal envelope. To Mrs. W. R. Holman (Zena Holman wife of Wilfred Rensselar Holman of the historic Holman's Department Store in Pacific Grove, CA), thanking her sincerely for writing him and hiring his close friend, artist and illustrator Ritchie Lovejoy (the letter of recommendation also offered in this auction). He invites her to come visit and to telephone for directions prior as it is "difficult to find." In the letter Holman sent to him thanking him for the recommendation of Ritchie Lovejoy, she clearly must have asked Steinbeck whether he would consider an "autograph party" at Holmon's Department Store. What follows is his hilarious distaste for such events:
"You know if I ever had an autograph party, I would have to leave the country. I have never done it, have refused everyone from Brentano's on, on the ground that the proper work of a writer was to write…………….People who don't at all want to read books, want to listen to speeches. It's awful." Steinbeck then tears into the idea of signing autographs. "I shall never forget a terrible picture of Mr. Woolcott [clearly referencing Alexander Woolcott] with a fat pen in a chubby hand standing in back of a pile of books. There was a sweet social smile on his face (and knowing Mr. Woolcott) a string of black curses in his heart. And there he stood signing books with little phrases he had made up the night before. You know, I would rather sell fewer books."
Steinbeck continues for another paragraph saying fans of an author might resent seeing a "writer of their liking who will jump through little literary hoops." He concludes on the second page, "It is a sore point, this tendency to make of writers little trick dogs. I think a book should do its own work without the writer acting as a ring master." He closes with another invitation to come visit and says that he is "sick" of two months of rain. Fine condition. Estimated Value $2,500 - UP
The W. R. Holman Collection, Pacific Grove.
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| Realized $1,200 |
