Autographs & Letters from The Manhattan Rare Book Company

Baltimore, MD: np, 1934. First edition. Framed. Very Good. IMPORTANT AND REVEALING LETTER BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD ON HIS LITERARY INFLUENCES AND GROWTH AS A WRITER. It is rare that we get to read first hand about a writer's influences, especially during the formative years, but in answer to a letter from the scholar Egbert S. Oliver, Fitzgerald… Read more about this item

Cambridge University: np, 1955. first edition. custom folder. Very Good. WONDERFUL C.S. LEWIS LETTER RESPONDING TO A YOUNG FAN ABOUT THE NARNIA SERIES. Dated October 26, 1955, and written on Lewis's Magdalene College stationery, the letter reads in full: Dear -- Thank you for your nice letter. I am so glad you like the books. There… Read more about this item

Oxford: np, 1954. First edition. custom folder. Very Good. A REMARKABLY REVEALING LETTER: TOLKIEN DISCUSSES HIS SPECIFIC FEARS ABOUT THE TWO TOWERS AND DEFINES "THE FOUNDATION" OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS AND CONNECTS IT TO HIS LIFE'S WORK. The Fellowship of the Ring (the first volume of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) was published on July… Read more about this item

Oxford: np, 1953. First edition. custom folder. Very Good. EIGHT MONTHS BEFORE PUBLICATION, TOLKIEN ANXIOUSLY INTRODUCES HIS MASTERPIECE, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, TO A FAN OF THE HOBBIT. Tolkien had begun work on The Lord of the Rings in December of 1937 and by early 1950, after over twelve years of labor, the writing was essentially complete.… Read more about this item

np: np, 1861. First edition. Original leather covers. Good. A REMARKABLY EXTENSIVE ARCHIVE OF A UNION SOLIDER, INCLUDING DIARIES FROM 1861-1865 SPANNING HIS ENTIRE CIVIL WAR CAREER. THE SOLDIER, CHARLES E. SMITH, PARTICIPATED IN SOME OF THE MOST CRITICAL CAMPAIGNS OF THE WAR, INCLUDING THE SEIGE OF VICKSBURG, THE FALL OF ATLANTA, AND SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE… Read more about this item

New York: Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1942. First edition. Very Good. CATALOG FOR THE LANDMARK ARTISTS IN EXILE EXHIBITION, SIGNED BY ALL 14 ARTISTS, INCLUDING ANDRÉ BRETON, MARC CHAGALL, MAX ERNST, AND PIET MONDRIAN. On March 3, 1942, an historic exhibition of fourteen émigré artists opened at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City. Pierre Matisse, distinguished modern… Read more about this item

Washington, D.C.: np, 1869. First edition. custom folder. Very Good. A LOVE LETTER FROM "FATHER WHITMAN" TO A CIVIL WAR SOLDIER. A rare and significant letter to one of the young soldiers Whitman aided at a military hospital during the Civil War. Whitman corresponded with Pratt for some 8 years, beginning after Pratt's hospitalization in 1865. Whitman's… Read more about this item

Camden, NJ: np, 1888. First edition. Fine. WHITMAN AS A BOOKSELLER, TRYING TO SELL LEAVES OF GRASS. In this letter, Whitman has written to New York publishers Dick & Fitzgerald mentioning Leaves of Grass. He offers the book to them at a 33% discount and signs the letter with his full signature "Walt Whitman". Framed alongside the letter… Read more about this item

New York: np, 1966. First edition. Very Good. FEYNMAN GIVES ADVICE TO LECTURE SERIES COMMITTEE CHAIR OFFERING REVEALING AND QUINTESSENTIALLY FEYNMAN ADVICE: "A good man interested in his work, and not a quack trying to sound important is what you need." Background: "No one can do anything alone, and all the influences of parents, teachers, and friends… Read more about this item

New York: np, 1956. First Edition. Very Good. A DETAILED, IMPASSIONED LETTER ILLUSTRATING ROOSEVELT'S PROMINENCE IN PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS AND HER POSITION ON BANNING NUCLEAR TESTING. An important, lengthy letter signed by Eleanor Roosevelt, with numerous autograph corrections, written to an important political figure eleven days before the 1956 presidential election in which she campaigned for Adlai Stevenson, expressing… Read more about this item

Brussels: n.p., 1921. First edition. Custom box. Fine. EARLY CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MAGRITTE AND HIS GOOD FRIEND, PAINTER AND POET PIERRE-LOUIS FLOUQUET, WITH PERSONAL COMMENTS ON LIFE AND ART. WITH ORIGINAL PENCIL DRAWING BY MAGRITTE. Having met at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, René Magritte (1898-1967) and Pierre-Louis Flouquet (1900-1967) shared a studio on the Rue de Alexiens… Read more about this item

Northport, NY: n.p., 1963. First edition. Custom cloth folder. Fine. SIGNED LETTER FROM KEROUAC FEATURING RARE DRAWING AND DISCUSSIONS OF FELLOW WRITERS. Dating from the final decade of Kerouac's life, the present letter is an unpublished insight into how the writer's relationships, attitudes and motivations developed in his later years. On the back of the second leaf… Read more about this item

Vancouver, CA: np, 1895. First edition. Matted and framed. Very Good. LONG HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT SIGNED LETTER WRITTEN BY S.L. CLEMENS (A.K.A. MARK TWAIN). The impact of the Paige typesetting machine on Mark Twain's life cannot be overstated. Awed by the prospect of the biggest revolution in textual history since the Gutenburg Press, Twain held faith in the machine's… Read more about this item

np: np, 1930. First edition. Custom box. Very Good. RARE AND REVEALING COLLECTION OF FAMILY LETTERS WRITTEN BY KURT VONNEGUT. This collection of 12 letters, most of which are addressed to Vonnegut's father, brother (Bernard), sister-in-law (Bow), and family as a whole, chronicle the life, rise, and development of one of America's most beloved writers. Taken together, these… Read more about this item

np: np, 1983. First edition. custom folder. Very Good. FEYNMAN OFFERS ADVICE AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR A SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVOR. An exceedingly rare two-page autograph letter from Richard Feynman from 1983, signed once in full cursive, once with a printed last name, once with his initials, and once with a printed "alias" "DR. -". Background: The recipient… Read more about this item

New York: np, 1915. First edition. nb. Very Good. IMPASSIONED LETTER BY ROOSEVELT STRONGLY SUPPORTING NON-SECTARIAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Theodore Roosevelt writes to Michael Schaap, a progressive member of the New York legislature with whom the former president shared multiple correspondences, opposing "making compulsory the reading of the Bible in Public Schools." While a devout Christian himself who often… Read more about this item

Croisset: np, 1847. First edition. Letter; custom case. Very Good. A LONG, EARLY, AUTOGRAPH LETTER BY FLAUBERT TO HIS MUSE LOUISE COLET, WITH REVEALING REFLECTIONS ON LIFE AND ART. On Louise Colet: "Louise Colet was truly Flaubert's muse and a midwife for his Emma Bovary. It is to her that the hermit of Croisset chronicled, in over… Read more about this item

San Francisco: np, 1959. First edition. custom folder. Very Good. A LONG LETTER TO A FELLOW PHOTOGRAPHER WITH REVEALING TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESS. Written by Adams to fellow photographer Nicholas Dean, this letter engages many topics: first listing off a variety of impressive engagements and exhibits the two were involved with at the time, then settling… Read more about this item

Princeton, NJ: np, 1943. First edition. nb. Fine. EINSTEIN OFFERS STRONG AND PRESCIENT WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE LEADER OF THE NAACP IN THE FIGHT AGAINST RACIAL SEGREGATION AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Background: Einstein's fight against racial discrimination in the United States: The imperative "to protect the rights of the individual... was Einstein's most fundamental… Read more about this item

np: np, 1930. First edition. Fine. EINSTEIN ON THE CONCEPT OF PEACE: A POWERFUL AUTOGRAPH STATEMENT IN EXCEPTIONALLY LARGE FORMAT. 
. Translated from the original German: "No person has the moral right to call himself a Christian or Jew so long as he is prepared to engage in systematic murder at the command of an authority, or… Read more about this item