An exceptional offering of Don Blanding memorabilia from Dorothy Wright of Flushing, New York with his flamboyantly signed presentation of Vagabond's House and thirteen ca 1923-1946 ephemeral items, six boldly signed, some with original art by Blanding Don

Offering: An exceptional offering of Don Blanding memorabilia from Dorothy Wright of Flushing, New York, (fondly called Heartzee or Dot Heartzee) with his flamboyantly signed presentation of Vagabond's House, (the poetry collection that made him famous) and thirteen ca 1923-1946 ephemeral items - six boldly signed - with letters and cards, some with original art, and brochures, leaflets, prospectuses and an early very scarce, candid portrait photograph print in sepia. Condition: Acceptable with a range of acceptable to nearly fine. Ephemeral Items: some with additional folds from being laid-in book: they are now in archival sleeves protected by archival handmade paper. (See condition detail at bottom.) Book: Title: Vagabond's House / Author and Artist: Don Blanding / Edition: Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, third printing, February 1929, (first printed October 1928), printed by Vail-Ballou Press, Binghamton, NY / Presentation: Full-page signed presentation on flyleaf / Bookseller Label: foot of flyleaf with pasted label of Chas. E. Lauriat Co. Importers & Booksellers, 385 Wash'n St., Boston. Hand Written Letter: 19 lines, regarding names for Dorothy Wright's twins with a fine, original comic line drawing, showing Don Blanding taking two small children for a walk, the girl with a doll, the boy with a dog, the description including, Don't children have to be aired sometimes? Stationary Card with Trademark Centaur: 3-panel foldout opens to 17.6 inches, one exterior panel illustrated with b/w print of his centaur, with a signed hand writtten note regarding names for the twins and an original comic line drawing showing a stork carrying two children with descriptive sound blurbs, prose and art executed in brown ink with a medium point pen, exterior filled, interior blank. Typed Signed Letter on NY Stationary: 7 lines with excellent content, undated but ca. 1929, the illustration is a reproduction of a variation of his famous reef and angelfish design, stationary sheet in narrow format with heading of Vagabond House, New York. The letter asks for understanding, because of his focus on his presently stalled writing and mentions Earl (Cohan-Challenger). Photograph Portrait Print: A fine and very scarce, ca. 1914-1922 portrait photograph print in sepia, similar to another portrait photo taken by Grady, Seattle, but without their stamp. The unusual candid shot shows Blanding directly facing the camera. Greeting Card: signed, verso with stamped seal of the Carmel Post Office, dated December 20, 1938, addressed to Bob A. Wright Jr., Roosevelt Ave., Flushing, NY. Card is illustrated with a photograph of Don Blanding's study at Vagabond's House, his one story cottage in Carmel, California. Promotion Card for Vagabond's House: regarding available autographed copies from Dodd Mead and Company, signed presentation (in green ink), addressed to Heartzee Dot, printed with first stanza from, Some Lines Scrawled on the Door of Vagabond's House, illustrated with woodcuts and a reproduction of a portrait photo by Ella McBride, unfolded, it opens to seven inches. First Prospectus for Hula Moons: Flamboyantly signed with a hand written price correction by Don Blanding, the profusely illustrated three panel foldout brochure from Dodd Mead and Company opens to 13.5 inches and is printed on both sides, each side with three illustrations. The prospectus also advertises the 8th printing of Vagabond's House, confirming there were eight printings between 1928 and 1930. Later Prospectus for Hula Moons: printed for Dodd Mead and Company on an illustrated card, post card size, verso with an excellent reproduction of a b/w portrait photo of the author at work on a sketch. Prospectus for Stowaways in Paradise: An elegantly printed and profusely illustrated foldout brochure on heavy paper from Farrar & Rinehart: The prospectus opens to 12.375 inches and the rear has an order form (this one never used). Illustrations include a different b/w portrait of the author at work on a sketch. In author notes, he says he has been in the Islands for 14 years. Music Score: First printing of song, Be With Us, Lord, In Times Of Peace (licensed 1945, copyright 1946), song lyrics by Don Blanding, music by Norman S. Wright. Unidentified: the first printing of the 1946 poem, presentation addressed For Heartzee (in blue ink), signed (in black ink), dated (in blue ink) May 3, 1946, done on a folded leaflet illustrated on the verso with a b/w Don Blanding woodcut showing a cross on a burial mound. The poem is an ode to the unidentified American soldiers buried overseas. Angelfish Cutting (3 parts): two full color variations of Don Blanding's famous angelfish and reef design, one with two fish, one with three and a short descriptive cutting with heading, Showy Inhabitants of the Hawaiian Coral Reefs by Don Blanding and Earl Cohan and description beginning, Two decorative panels painted by a pair of New York artists… Biography Cutting (3 parts): an excellent illustrated 1935 biographical sketch from Oklahoma Biographs. Book Detail: Pagination: Complete, 114 pages with 69 poems, profusely illustrated in black & white, includes 10 full-page illustrations, six with titles. Format: Blue hardcover, sides decorated with shorebird feet pattern, upper side also decorated with a palm and plumeria design, the spine lettered in gilt with the Vagabond's House logo. Size: 7.9 inches (200 mm) Dedication (6 lines): To the restless ones / To all the gallant frantic fools / Who follow the path of the sun / Across blue waters / To distant mountains / I dedicate my book. Don Blanding [1894-1957] Artist by nature, actor by instinct, poet by accident, and vagabond by choice. [DB] Born and raised in Oklahoma, after high school he attended classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. During World War I, he received officer training and served in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant on the Western Front, before being discharged shortly after the Armistice. Enamored with Hawaii, he first visited the Big Island in 1915, returning to Honolulu in 1921. In Honolulu he worked as a commercial artist and as a copywriter for an advertising agency. He became well known in the Islands for a daily short verse advertising Aji-no-moto, the original MSG. They were published in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin each weekday for two years and were noticed for their wit and flair, becoming popular for incorporating local people and events in the Islands. Don Blanding has a permanent place in Hawaiian culture, independent from his verse and art, for first recommending in a public forum an annual holiday to honor the tradition of the lei, then in decline. (See notes.) First celebrated May 1, 1928, it is now Hawaii's official May Day celebration. Blanding's poem, Lei's for Remembrance was reprinted in Vagabond's House. After being rejected by three Hawaiian publishers, his first poetry collection was privately published in 1923 and quickly sold out. Vagabond's House with his evocative b/w illustrations was his fifth collection and the first published by a major publishing house in New York. A mix of his best published poems and new work, it was favorably reviewed by the New York Times and sold extraordinarily well, going through eight printings by 1930. Vagabond's House remained in print for decades and sold an average of 7,500 copies a year until 1948. Poems from the book continued to be recited on late night radio for many years, including on Between the Bookends with Ted Malone, CBS Radio and the influential All Night Showcase on WGN Chicago with Franklyn MacCormack. In November 1949 Don Blanding made a record for Tempo Records, performing poems from Vagabond's House, "Don Blanding: Twelve Great Poems from Vagabond's House", accompanied by the pioneering jazz violinist, Joe Venuti. With the freedom offered by the financial success of Vagabond's House, Don Blanding left Hawaii and established a studio in New York. With his friend, the artist Earl Cohan-Challenger, he painted screens and murals, primarily for wealthy New York patrons. Once the Depression took hold, their commissions stopped. In 1930, he visited Dorothy Binney Putnam [1888-1982], the philanthropist and garden designer, heiress to the Crayola crayon fortune, a longtime friend. Subsequently, he accepted a commission to paint two murals, one using his celebrated undersea design with angelfish, and another with a design of Florida live oaks and Spanish moss, on the doors to the guest quarters of her newly built Mediterranean Revival home, Immokolee. He began to live part of the year in Fort Pierce and became a weekly columnist for the Fort Pierce News Tribune. In 1938, he began to work at a studio in the Arcade Building in downtown Fort Pierce, which he shared with his friend, the future celebrated Florida landscape artist, A. E. ('Bean') Backus who he had met through Dorothy. Some of the artwork he did there was used in his book with poems and art inspired by Florida, Floridays, published in 1941. Continuing to work as a commercial artist, he accepted a commission to produce ten tropical tableware designs inspired by Hawaii for the well-known California ceramics company, Vernon Kilns (done 1936-42). These beautiful pieces are collector items today. When he later married Dorothy Binney Putnam in 1940 (his only marriage), he joined her at Immokolee. The couple started out happy and she arranged for a studio to be built so he could work at the estate but their union proved incompatible and after a lengthy separation, they divorced in 1945. Two other works are represented by ephemera in the collection, Hula Moons, which followed Vagabond's House and was published in 1930, and Stowaways in Paradise, published in 1931. In 1938 the RKO movie, Hawaii Calls with Bobby Breen, adopted from Stowaways in Paradise was released. After 1942, Don Blanding principally lived in Carmel, California, although he continued to travel frequently and was a much sought after speaker. Branching further into business, he bought out Skipper Kent, preserving his two famous Tiki restaurants. But Hawaii always remained in his heart and he continued to write a column for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin's Saturday magazine, Hawaiian Life. After Pearl Harbor, he became preoccupied with the Japanese threat to the Hawaiian Islands and after the fall of Bataan, he re-enlisted (age 47) and served in the U.S. Army, for nearly a year in the 1208th Service Corps, leaving with rank of corporal. In 1943, his song, Soldier, What Did You See? was printed in Pilot Bails Out. The song with music by Norman S. Wright had its premiere October 24, 1943 on the Westinghouse Hour on NBC (sung by John Charles Thomas). Another song from this time relating to WWII with his lyrics and music by Wright was, Be With Us, Lord, In Times Of Peace, registered April 27, 1945 (the music score among the offered ephemeral items). Don Blanding died of sudden heart failure June 9, 1957 at Citizen's Emergency Hospital, Los Angeles, after being stricken in bed at his Los Angeles home at age 62. In accord with his wishes, his body was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Pacific off Honolulu, his estate distributed by the Friends of the Library of Hawaii. Archives of his papers and memorabilia are divided, with parts at Syracuse University, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, and The Musuem of the Great Plains, Lawton, Oklahoma. Several exhibitions dedicated to his memory have been held including, A Grand Time Living: The Art of Don Blanding (Museum of the Great Plains). Don Blanding lived much of his life in the 'public eye' and left an epitaph: Do not carve on stone or wood, / "He was honest" or "He was good". / Write in smoke on a passing breeze / Seven words… and the words are these, / Telling all that a volume could, / "He lived, he laughed and… he understood." Reference: Chapman, Sally Putnam, Whistled Like a Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam. Kuzmanovic, Natasha, Tropical light: The Art of A. E. Backus. Kirsten, Sven A., Tiki Pop: America Conjures Up Its Own Polynesian Paradise. Maloney, Mildred M., The Poetry of Don Blanding. Don Blanding Collector's Society website, including posts by Tom Markle and Keith Emmons. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, City of Kingfisher. Museum of the Great Plains, A Grand Time Living: The Art of Don Blanding, and photographs of his life from their archives. Notes (4): 1) Don Blanding talks of the origins of Lei Day in Hula Moons. He proposed the holiday in his column in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin February 13, 1928. Two days later, the paper printed a letter from Honolulu Star-Bulletin columnist, Grace Tower Warren who suggested May Day as ideal and crafted the slogan, May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii. 2) Don Blanding first met Dorothy Binney Putnam in Bend Oregon ca. 1913. His first cousin, Charles S. Hudson lived and worked in Bend and had invited him to stay : he found employment at a local bank. Dorothy Binney Putnam and her first husband, publisher George Palmer Putnam had their primary residence in Bend and he owned and operated the local newspaper. She gave birth to her first son later in the year. In recognition, Don Blanding brought her a gift of purple violets, which customarily means the giver has loving feelings for the recipient. In 1923, she visited him for the first time in Hawaii and in 1930 he visited her at her home, Immokolee, now on the National Register of Historic Places for St. Lucie County. In 1937, she visited him again in Hawaii, in the summertime and they had intense intimate conversations about the arc of their lives. In 1940, now living primarily on the West Coast, he was invited by Dorothy to visit her in Fort Pierce. Their longstanding friendship quickly grew into an amour and then a desire to share their lives. Much taken with each other, they married in the third week of his visit. Two years later (in 1943), he replaced the dedication in Vagabond's House with a dedication to Dorothy, calling her an inspiration for many of the poems in the collection; The Lady of Vagabond's House Who Was the Inspiration for the Dream That Made Itself Come True. In 1945 they divorced though financial matters were not resolved until 1947. 3) Don Blanding was an engaging man and much admired. Among his many longtime woman friends was the great dancer, Ruth St. Denis and the celebrated movie actress, Joan Crawford, whom he knew from childhood in Lawton, Oklahoma. 4) Other songs with lyrics by Don Blanding include: The Elephant Song, Dreamer, Four Roads, Vagabond's Heart, Ylang Ylang Flowers, and I am a Vagabond : a song. Book Condition: Acceptable / lacks dust jacket. Pages: Illustrations are excellent, except pages 68-69 with toning from laid-in material, some other pages with minor edge toning, many pages with slight top corner bend, rear endpaper with slight fore-edge tear / Boards: corner wear and edge wear; overall rubs with fading to decorations and gilt / Binding: Reliable with front hinge splitting, some gatherings with gutter separation; does need to be handled with care. Itemized Condition of the Ephemeral Items: Handwritten Letter: Acceptable, some toning, fold lines from being lain-in book, center fold margin tears. Personal Stationary with Centaur: Near Very Good, minor toning and light soiling. Typed Letter on Personal Stationary: Acceptable because of neat center slit, otherwise very good. Photograph Portrait Print: Acceptable, bowed, some bottom corner wear, some dye fade at scalp, verso soiled. Greeting Card: Very Good, light soiling. Promotion Card for Vagabond's House: Near Good, exterior sides with substantial soiling, slight handling marks. First Prospectus for Hula Moons: Acceptable, handling wear, fold lines from being laid-in book. Later Prospectus for Hula Moons: Nearly Fine. Prospectus for Stowaways in Paradise: Acceptable, substantial wear and soiling but quite presentable. Music Score: Good, slight toning to top edge, more substantial toning at bottom edge, otherwise excellent. The Poem, Unidentified: About acceptable, top corner bump with crease, blank interior filled with handwritten name of Dorothy's son (as Bob Wright 3rd or Robert Andrews Charles Wright 3rd). Angelfish Cuttings: Excellent and neatly slit. Biography Cutting: Acceptable, customary toning and folds. Size of the Ephemeral Items: Handwritten Letter: 11 x 8.5 inches / Personal Stationary with Centaur: 149 x 119 mm, opens to 447 mm (17.6 inches) / Typed Letter on Personal Stationary: 245 x 137 mm, the b/w angelfish illustration is 185 mm / Photograph Portrait Print: 6.25 x 4.375 inches / Greeting Card: 138 x 82 mm / Promotion Card for Vagabond's House: 5.5 x 3.5 inches, opens to 7 inches / First Prospectus for Hula Moons: 6.5 x 4.5 inches, opens to 13.5 inches / Later Prospectus for Hula Moons: 5.0625 x 3.5625 inches / Prospectus for Stowaways in Paradise: 7 x 6.1875 inches, opens to 12.375 inches / Music Score: 7.5625 x 4.375 inches / Unidentified (1946 Poem Leaflet): 6.75 x 4.875 inches / Angelfish Cuttings / Three Fish: 169 x 128 mm / Two Fish: 167 x 127 mm. Additional Images: by request.