Malcolm Cowley collection
Date Published: 1930 to 1980
Binding: No binding & hard cover
Malcolm Cowley was an American literary critic, poet, editor and a social historian who went on to become a representative of the America’s ‘Lost Generation’ after the World War I. In 1939, he received the ‘Harriet Monroe Memorial Prize’ for his poetry. In 1980, he was honored with the ‘National Book Award for Biography’ for his exceptional work, ‘And I Worked at the Writer’s Trade’.
The collection contains 23 items dating from 1930 to 1980, specifically 12 letters, 3 poems, 7 books, 1 photo and 1 signed newspaper article.
3 Typescript Signed Poems (TSS)
• 3 signed tss. of poems, n.d.:
“Stone Horse Shoals”, 1 p. (for Mrs. Searle);
“Winter Tenement”, 1 p.;
“Kelly’s Barroom”, 1 p.
2 Autographed Letters Signed (ALS):
• ALS to Danny Rentz, n.d., “It’s hard work and a simple mind.”
• ALS to Tobin, 21 May ?, proofing a piece to be published in Saturday Night.
10 Typed Letters Signed (TLS):
• TLS on letterhead of World Congress of War, 29 August 1932, addressed “Dear Friend” (tears at left side), soliciting funds for delegates (Sherwood Anderson, W.L. Dana, Scott Nearing, Dorothy Detzer, and Elisabeth Gilman).
• 3 TLS on letterhead of the New Republic, 3 September 1935, 3 September 1936, and 8 February 1937, to Henry Lee Moon, New York Amsterdam News, re assignment of books for review.
• TLS on letterhead of The Viking Press to Toni Strassman, 27 November 1956, re James Purdy’s short stories.
• TLS to Richard Tobin, 7 August 1967, re his piece on the career of S. Foster Damon.
• TLS to Harmon McDaniel, 16 May 1970, with envelope, re McDaniel’s poem (he likes the poem but suggests replacing “With tobacco” at the beginning of the sixth line),
• TLS to Joseph Kover, 21 February 1974, re his not being a scout but his admiration for the organization.
• TLS with envelope to Ben B. Braude, 20 April 1977, re Diane U. Eisenberg’s Malcolm Cowley: A Checklist of His Writings 1916-1973.
• TLS to Lewis [Mumford], 7 December 1977, re his Conrad Aiken tribute, Mumford’s tribute to Naum Gabo, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and his infirmities and old age.
1 B&W Photo:
• B&w photo of Cowley marked on verso “Malcolm Cowley Return to Russell Brantley 1×3” neg Sunday Box 9533 Hollins College VA. 24020”.
7 Books (4 signed by Crowly):
• The Literary Situation (New York: The Viking Press, 1954), blue and grey cloth in very good jacket, inscribed by Cowley to WHR, William H. Resnick, a Stanford professor who is thanked by the author in his foreword.
• A Second Flowering: Works and Days of the Lost Generation (New York: The Viking Press, 1973), green cloth in jacket, fine condition, with a nice inscription from Cowley to Gladys Van Wyck Brooks, the American literary critic, biographer and historian. Van Wyck Brooks is mentioned in the book and index.
• And I Worked at the Writer’s Trade: Chapters of Literary History, 1918-1978 (New York: The Viking Press, 1978), brown paper boards, quarter bound in dark red cloth, in jacket, fine condition.
• And I Worked at the Writer’s Trade: Chapters of Literary History, 1918-1978 (New York: Penguin Books, 1978), paperback, some rubbing and bumping, and some minor barely visible water damage, inscribed by Cowley to Rose and Burrill Bernard Crohn, the famous doctor who described the disease named for him.
• The Dream of the Golden Mountains: Remembering the 1930s (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), black paper boards, quarter bound black cloth, in jacket, fine condition, with an inscription from Cowley on the 13 March 1980 to Doris Fuss.
• The View from 80 (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), cream cloth, quarter bound in black cloth, in jacket, fine condition.
• Scott Donaldson, Poet in America: Winfield Townley Scott (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972), green cloth in slightly chipped rubbed jacket, warmly inscribed by Donaldson on 18 April 1973 to Cowley: For Malcolm Cowley | who understands what it means | to be an American artist.” Cowley's letters are mentioned throughout the book. The book has a water stain at the bottom of the text block. Nice Cowley provenance.
1 signed newspaper article:
• Newspaper article photocopy by Theodore M. Leary on Malcolm Cowley’s book, “The Dream of the Golden Mountains” and signed by Crowley on his photo in the article.
Collection on consignment with LDRB.
Item #7901
$1,500.00 USD
$2,049.83 CAD