Frances Keyes Parkinson collection
Date Published: 1917 to 1966
Binding: No binding & hard cover
Frances Parkinson Keyes was a prolific American biographer and novelist whose novels were set in New England, Louisiana, and Europe. In 1904 she married Henry Wilder Keyes (1863-1938), a Republican politician who served as Governor of New Hampshire (1917-1919) and as a United States Senator (1919-1937). A convert to Roman Catholicism, she often used Catholic themes in her work.
The Frances Parkinson Keyes collection consists of 58 items dating from 1917 to 1968, specifically, 11 letters written by Frances Parkinson Keyes and 2 photos of her. In addition, there are 9 letters written by her husband, Henry (Harry) Wilder Keyes and a composite photo of him with other politicians. Also 35 books.
11 Frances Parkinson Keyes letters and 2 photos:
11 letters:
• ALS to Mrs. Bugdee, 4 March 1927, with envelope, regretting that her ignorance of Mrs. Bugdee’s change of address had prevented their meeting.
• TLS to T. Brennan, 8 August 1941, replying to his cordial note of 16 July, delighted that he enjoyed her books: “Notes such as yours are a source of great encouragement and inspiration to an author….”
• TLS to James Gallagher, 20 October 1941, with envelope, responding that she was delighted to sign the bookplates and glad that the recipient had five of her books in his library and hoping that her newest book All That Glitters which is coming out in three weeks will “be the best of them all.” • TLS to George Wolfe, 23 March 1956, apologizes for the delayed reply, lots of travel, illness, and deadlines for three books, delighted that Wolfe and his wife liked Dinner at Antoine’s and made their visit to New Orleans memorable.
• 3 TLS to Eileen Cond, 19 March 1952, 15 February 1961, and 9 March 1962: was in Europe when Cond wrote her note, “so it had to undergo several forwardings; and since my return to the United States, I have been struggling to meet the deadline of my new novel, so my correspondence is in arrears. She is enclosing “some of the autograph slips which are made especially for me to paste in your copies of JOY STREET and DINNER AT ST ANTOINES”; just returned from South America, and “Miss Hornblower” has “turned over” Cond’s letter and bookplate. She is taking “the first opportunity to speed this on its way”; writing from her winter home in New Orleans, Beauregard House, “I am delighted to know that you are enjoying THE CHESS PLAYERS, and I am also happy to autograph the bookplate you enclosed. In case you would care to have autographs in other books of mine that you own, I am enclosing several of the autograph slips that I keep on hand for this purpose.”
• TLS to Roger Harris, 5 April 1963, re enclosing autograph slips, has no photographs, “the greatest satisfaction of her career” (“the fact that I have never written about a place that I was not welcome”), her late husband who had a great political career.
• 2 TLS to Carolyn Teague, 30 March 1966 and 3 May 1966, with envelopes, thanking her for enjoying her books (The Explorer), sends autograph slips (rather than signing books and mailing them), and that I, the King will be published at the end of May.
•TLS to Charlotte Clark, 6 October 1966, re her spending the summer in Ireland, sends two recipes (not enclosed).
2 b&w photos:
• Keyes in an evening gown (photo torn at bottom right), verso noting that she will assume the presidency of the League of American Pen Women, 18 March 1922, N.E.A.;
• Publicity photo of Keyes for her publisher, Julian Messner Inc., 24 August 1934, N.E.A.
9 Henry W. Keyes letters and 1 photo:
9 letters
• TLS on State of New Hampshire letterhead to C.J. Ham, 5 April 1917, re “patriotic action of the Men’s Club of Durham”.
• 3 TLS (autopen signatures) on United States Senate letterhead addressed Dear Sir, 17 July 1919, 26 December 1919, and 7 January 1920, re Agricultural Year Book for 1918 and memorial addresses on the life and character of the late Senator Jacob H. Gallinger and the late Congressman Cyrus A. Sulloway.
• 2 TLS on United States Senate letterhead to Colonel Stephen S. Jewett, 26 July 1919 and 30 July 1919, re Congressional Directory of the 66th Congress and the Agricultural Year Book for 1917
• 3 TLS on United States Senate letterhead to Lynde Sullivan, 31 May 1924, 4 January 1926, and 15 January 1926, re the Department of Agriculture sending farmers’ bulletins to Sullivan, the appointment of Col. Horton as Quartermaster General of the Army, and Sullivan getting a glimpse of Keyes’s brother and family.
B&w photo:
• Of the Senate Finance Committee hearing on 18 April 1935, Keyes seated a table with Senators William King, Pat Harrison, James Couzens, and Robert LaFollette, N.E.A. ACME News Pictures.
35 Books Collection:
• Christian Marlowe’s Daughter. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1935. Reprint 1943. Light green cloth in poor cloth in poor jacket.
• Senator Marlowe’s Daughter and The Great Tradition. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1933 and 1939. Light grey cloth. With a bookmark of the book.
• Honor Bright. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1936. Reprint 1940. Bluish green cloth.
• The Ambassadress. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1938. Reprint 1958, 66th thousand. Blue cloth in good jacket.
• Fielding’s Folly. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1940. 4th printing, March 1946.Grey cloth.
• All That Glitters. New York: The Book League of America, 1942. Dull blue cloth.
• Also the Hills. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1943. 4th printing, March 1944.Green cloth.
• If I Ever Cease to Love You. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1943. First English ed. Rose cloth, some separation of the text block.
• Crescent Carnival. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1942. 11th printing, 1944. Blue cloth.
• Parts Unknown. New York: Triangle Books, 1943. Reprint. Grey cloth in torn jacket.
• The River Road. New York: Julian Messner Inc., 1945. Purple cloth on poor jacket. Keyes’s signature on a slip affixed to the bottom of the contents’ page. With a page from Grosset & Dunlap advertising Keyes’s books.
• Came a Cavalier. New York: Julian Messner Inc., 1947. Book Club ed. Green turquoise cloth in good jacket.
• Once on Esplanade: A Cycle Between Two Creole Weddings. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1947. First American ed. Brownish orange cloth in very good jacket.
• Vail d’Alvery. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1947. First English ed. Forest green cloth, spine sunned.
• Dinner at Antoine’s. New York: Julian Messner Inc., 1948. Book Club ed. Dark blue cloth in good jacket. 2 jackets.
• Joy Street. New York: Julian Messner Inc., 1950. Book Club ed. Dark blue cloth in very good jacket.
• The Old Grey Homestead and The Career of David Noble. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1951. Book Club ed. Black cloth in good jacket. Several pages from paperback of Sylvia Cary (originally entitled The Old Gray Homestead).
• Lady Blanche Farm and Queen Anne’s Lace. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1952. Book Club ed. Dark green cloth in good jacket.
• Steamboat Gothic. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1952. American first ed. Green cloth in good jacket.
• Larry Vincent. London: The Companion Book Club, [1954]. Light yellow cloth.
• The Royal Box. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1954. Book Club ed. Red paper boards in good jacket.
• The Safe Bridge. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1955. 6th impression. Dark blue cloth in very good jacket. Title leaf and several pp. enclosed from the Avon paperback ed., 10th printing, 1965.
• Blue Camillia. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1957. Book Club ed. Dark turquoise cloth in very good jacket.
• The Gold Slippers. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1958. First English ed. Dark blue cloth in very good jacket.
• Victorine. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1958. First American ed. Green cloth in very good jacket. Signed by Keyes on the front free endpaper, but a large part the endpaper is lacking.
• Station Wagon in Spain. New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1959. Book Club ed. Light blue cloth in good jacket.
• The Chess Players. New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1960. First American ed. Blue cloth in very good jacket. With printed dinner menu signed by five people, including Keyes, who assisted “in supplying or localizing source material” for the book.
• Roses in December. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1960. Book Club ed. Black and pink paper boards in good jacket.
• The Rose and the Lily: The Lives and Times of Two South American Saints. New York: Hawthorn, Inc., 1961. American first ed. Brown cloth in very good jacket.
• Madame Castel’s Lodger. New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1962. Book Club ed. Greyish cream cloth in very good jacket.
• The Restless Lady and Other Stories. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1963. Ex- library copy. Blue cloth.
• Three Ways of Love. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1957. Greenish grey cloth.
• The Explorer. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1964. Book Club ed. Light blue paper boards in good jacket.
• I, the King. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966. First American ed. Grey paper boards, blue spine, in very good jacket.
• The Heritage. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1968. Book Club ed. Green paper boards in very good jacket.
Collection on consignment with LDRB.
Good. Item #8411
$1,125.00 USD
$1,538.37 CAD