New Yorker Writers and Editors

A group of 14 typed letters signed, 3 autograph letters signed, 2 typed letters (one  incomplete), and some typed notes, from writers and editors connected with the New Yorker to S. J. Perelman over the years 1944 to 1978:



 

A group of 14 typed letters signed, 3 autograph letters signed, 2 typed letters (one incomplete), and some typed notes, from writers and editors connected with the New Yorker to S. J. Perelman over the years 1944 to 1978.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Thurber, James. Typed letter signed ("Jim"), West Cornwall, 5 July 1956. 1 p., 4to, single-spaced. Very good literary content. "People who asked me what all the shooting was for yesterday were told it was in celebration of your letter. I would rather get such a one from a colleague than from a colleen, college, comic columnist, concubine, Columbus, or and so forth...I am now trying to write a play which I hope to have ready by fall of 1957, if I'm still around and Elliott can still play a man in his late forties. Who started the old Broadway legend and law that love is for men under forty and women under twenty-five? Well, I have 'em all ages in this comedy..."

White, E. B. Two autograph letters signed and four typed letters signed (all letters signed "Andy"), New York, Maine, and elsewhere, 1954-1978. Together 8 pp., 4to, the typed letters single-spaced, one letter on New Yorker stationery, another with a holograph postscript by his wife Katharine. Interesting letters mostly dealing with their friendship, personal matters, his health (including an amusing passage about having his temperature taken rectally), Katharine's death, the appraisal and disposition of their papers, etc. 24 April, n.y.:  "...I wanted to write a casual [for the magazine] about the ties that bind a man to the Algonquin – as crumpled a set of ties as exists in midtown. But I decided that it was an impossible theme at the moment..." 10 August 1977 (shortly after his wife's death): "I have just reread Katharine's letter to you and yours to me. From the looks of the boxes of unanswered mail that lurk in every room of my house, you are not the only fellow to whom K gave solace and help when they were needed. She had her lines out in all directions and to an unbelievably mixed (and mixed-up) bunch of people. Her correspondence was fabulous, and her correspondents came in all shapes, colors, sizes, and depths of sadness and heights of joy. She had the insane notion that if she persevered she could right all wrongs, fix up all the injustices, correct all error, and bind every wound. She worked at it in a rather sneaky way, not wishing to bother me in my pursuit of the literary life..."

And letters from Katharine White (one, plus an incomplete letter), William Maxwell (one), Harold Ross (five, plus four pages of typed critical notes on Perelman writings), William Shawn (two), Gus Lobrano (one),  and Donald Malcolm (one); 1944-1970 and no date. Together 19 pages, mainly 4to, most on New Yorker letterheads. All on New Yorker affairs and/or on Perelman's writings, etc.