Lot 416
Hammett, Dashiell (1894-1961) Author of hard-boiled detective fiction. Typed letter signed ("SDH"), 1 page, 10½ x 8 in., Aleutians, April 3, 1945. An affectionate letter to Prudence Whitfield, who was married to Hammett's friend and hard-boiled writing colleague, Raoul Whitfield. With pencil and pen marks in the margin. Hammett writes: "A small shower of four letters from you makes me feel very opulent today and also as if God does indeed reward those who live right." He remarks about his injured foot and his fear that he could have "a touch of rheumatism or arthritis or one of the other curses of age which I was hoping to avoid till I was, say, a hundred and four or five years old…. " He writes about the novel he's planning: "Since the novel--if I stay here and do it instead of flitting off elsewhere--will deal with a painter in Alaska I'm filling my spare time with whatever books on painters and painting I can scrape up, which are not as few as you'd think, probably because there are a great many hopeful artists in the army. Anyhow I'm having a good time … with [Robert] Henri's THE ART SPIRIT. He was a dialectical materialist at heart….I must find out if his book has ever been translated into Russian. They'd like it. Did I tell you our cartoonists are bring (sic) out a booklet of reprints from the paper worked up a little with wash?… I'm writing a foreword and will send the ensemble on as soon as it's printed and bound and shipped."
Hammett (1894-1961) had served in World War I in the Motor Ambulance Corps until he contacted Spanish influenza. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the Army, even though he was in his late 40s. He wound up on Adak, editing the camp newspaper, The Adakian.
Not in Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett, ed. Layman.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,500.
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