AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) by WILDER, Thornton - 6 October 1974

June 10, 1930, 1930 Handwritten letter signed by Thornton Wilder on Alpha Delta Phi Club stationery commenting on his disapproval of the sale of an author's manuscripts to a bookseller: "June 10, 1930/ My dear Mr. Greene: In my opinion manuscripts are not a thing that should be sold during an author's lifetime. And Galsworthy' gesture may prove - with the lapse of time - to have been ill-judged. Indeed I had hoped to see your bookshop, but the routine of campus duties made inroads into many of my good intentions and into almost all that centered downtown. Sincerely yours, Thornton Wilder".. Signed by Author(s). No Binding. Very Good.

Davis House, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, 1928. 20 lines (approx. 150 words), on Wilder's personal letterhead, with conjugate blank and mailing envelope addressed in Wilder's hand. 1 vols. Square 12mo. Fine. 20 lines (approx. 150 words), on Wilder's personal letterhead, with conjugate blank and mailing envelope addressed in Wilder's hand. 1 vols. Square 12mo. Wilder writes young Miss Anderson (in part): "Many things in your letter interested me very much. And your distrust of what the movies might do The Bridge [of San Luis Rey] is perhaps well founded [...] It is not impossible that some gifted character actress 'with a homely face' might surprise you agreeably with the Abbess' part! Hope, with me, for the best.". Provenance: Mary Anderson (niece of John Quinn), and by descent in the family

Hamden, CT. Letter. Some light wrinkling, otherwise Fine with exceptional content. A two-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) to Signor Cameramer on both sides of a 6" x 3-3/4" Deepwood Drive index card with two holes punched in the left margin. In full: "Many thanks for your letter, for your generous invitation, and for the copies of the Quaderni. These last few years I have delivered many lectures -- especially last year at Harvard. The result has been that I have now taken a 'vow' not to speak in public for a number of years. My many visits to Italy have been a constant joy. I hope to make many more, and soon. I particularly wish--for the first time--to visit Turin. I hope then to have the pleasure of calling on and hearing more from you about the work of the A.C.I. I have been reading the Quaderni with much interest. I particularly appreciated the paper on the sonnets of Belli, and the pages of Mario Praz -- always so largely master of his theme. Many thanks again for your letter, and much regret… Read More

Hamden, CT, 6 October 1974. Letter. Some light wrinkling, otherwise Fine with exceptional content. A two-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) to Mr. [Dave] Gwinn, a retired TWA pilot and writer on aviation topics. On both sides of his 6" x 6-7/8" Deepwood Drive stationery. In full: "I have a built-in respect approaching awe for air pilots. I once spent a week-end among a group of them in their 'rest hotel' at Bod Hamburg outside Frankfurt-am-Main-- what fun and good talk and that intimidating authority you have arising from your life of expertise and responsibility. Your letter gave me great pleasure. I'm still writing at 77 1/2 and your kind words have given me a lively boost. Many thanks. All cordial best wishes to you and yours. Sincerely yours, Thornton Wilder." In red ink at the top of the letter, Wilder has written, "Last day on Martha's Vineyard" and the date.

"University of Chicago," February 8, 1935. 8vo. 2 pages (recto and verso); together with a holograph addressed envelope (front only), bearing 2 canceled stamps and a Chicago postmark. To Estelle B. Schneider, in Kansas City, Missouri, responding to her letter and reaction to his recently published novel "Heaven's My Destination": "You exaggerate. I didn't cut each episode to match a scene in the gospels. It never occurred to me: that about the money changers in the temple; of the casting-out devils; nor the adoption of the child. Now you've found it [and] I rather like it. Perhaps you know the Old Subconscious that does so much work for us. The brothel episode, in fact, rather grew from an episode at the beginning of Don Q. What you have got hold of however is that all Unworldlys are apt to clash with the Worldys on about the same spots: Money, Sacred and Profane Love, and so on."; Wilder goes on to defend the novel's depiction of Kansas City and… Read More

on 50 Deepwood Drive letterhead, Hamden, CT, May 26, 1953. To Dr. Max Gruenthal in New York City: "Dexter Masters has passed on to me your interest in seeing me relative to Monty [Montgomery Clift]. I can guess why though I have only known for two weeks that it is reported that Monty has become an uncontrollable drinker. This came as a very great surprise. About a week ago I called him up and told him that we were expecting a visit from him here, and he assured us he would come. It is reassuring that you have been informed of Monty's problem and I shall report to you as soon as I have something to report!." 7" x 6". 2 pages (recto and verso), together with stamped and postmarked envelope.

Hamden, CT, 31 July 1972. Letter. Crease from folding, otherwise Fine in a Near Fine envelope. A charming two-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) to William J. Sarno on both sides of his 6" x 6-7/8" Deepwood Drive stationery thanking him for his letter and generous words. In part: "You may be amused to learn that when you saw me at Cortina I was under a shadow. I discovered only on the bus from Venice to Cortina that my passport was several weeks invalid.... We crossed the border to Innsbruck by waving our passports boldly in the air.... So we crossed the border of Lichtenstein and Switzerland (said to be very rigorous in such matters) by sheer bluff and got the new passport in Zurich.... A friend of mine now 101 -- long a professor of Latin at the Univ. of Pennsylvania -- has kept young by his passion for collecting fossil shells. He has found (in quarries, railway cuttings, excavating for wells, etc.) several unknown to science-- They are recorded in the Smithsonian and named 'in perpetuity' after… Read More

New Haven, 1938. unbound. 2 1/2 octavo pages, with envelope which is pasted on a the flyleaf of a first edition of "Our Town". Addressed to "Dear Cousin", Rev. Henry Evertson Cobb, Wilder explains how he is too busy to meet, as "Now I'm in that gypsy world of the theatre I have found out that one is never sure of an appointment in the future....I was told that the meeting was preceded by a dinner which is practically obligatory for us performers...a play of mine opens in New York about then, and may involve radio appearances ...." Nevertheless he hopes that we "can steal away for a good talk...Like all Wilder and Nivens I love 'relations' and family." The letter is written on the stationery of The Graduates Club, New Haven, January 29, 1938. The copy of "Our Town" is faded & skewed.<br/> <br/>