Miller, Henry

Comprising nine autograph letters signed, one letter signed and three letters with both text and signature typed (one with two autograph postscripts), together with typescripts of Miller's 'articles "Benno the Wild Man of Borneo" and "Chez Benno" (both apparently sent by Miller to Benno and both inscribed by the latter), a copy of E. L. T. Mesens's magazine London Bulletin, issue 3, June 1938, containing Miller's 'Chez Benno', and a Curriculum Vitae of Benno, the letters 21 pages, quarto and octavo, 28 East 31st Street, New York (other addresses, if any, not given), undated except by day or month, the articles 11 pages of text, quarto [?1936-1938]

Benjamin Benno was born in England in 1901, studied under Robert Henri and George Bellows at the Modern School, New York, resided in Paris between 1926 and 1930, later became a U.S. citizen, and died in New York in 1979. Apart from the New York address on two of these letters, the main clue to the dates on which they were written are Miller's references to his books, "T of C" (Cancer not Capricorn), Black Spring, of which he promised Benno a copy published 1938, and the article "Chez Benno." References to Anais Nin also abound, as well as to mutual friends, to whom Miller wishes to be remembered, including Marcel Duchamp and Gertrude Stein (who in turn refers to Benno in Everybody's Autobiography). It appears that Benno's illustrations for Cancer, which he intended for an American edition of the book (something Miller thought unlikely), were never published: while admiring their qualities, Miller thought that they did not reflect the character of the book (a quality he tries to describe in these letters). His articles on Benno appear from the covering letter to have been intended for Studio. "Benno the Wild Man of Borneo" is essentially a reworking of 'Chez Benno' in a more fantastic vein. Miller himself writes in his letter that "I did both of them over, as you will see, and the fantastic one I rather like."