Sale 2530 - Fine Books & Manuscripts, February 20, 2020

139 c   FERBER, EDNA. Typed Letter Signed, to Duane Garrison, complaining that she herself could not get tickets to the premiere of the 1966 production of Show Boat while someone undeserving was given tickets, and apologizing for the typos due to her being unaccustomed to a new typewriter. 2 pages, small 8vo, personal stationery, written on the first and third pages of a folded sheet; horizontal fold. With the original envelope. Mount Vernon, VT, 20 July 1966 [300/400] “. . . I was shocked to learn from Y.B. Garden that she had been given house seats for the opening night performance of SHOW Boat [sic] and that my check for two seats had been returned. “. . . Perhaps my check was made out incorrectly. In any case, Miss Garden was not in any way entitled to opening nights seats, though it was characteristically kind of Mr. Rodgers to think of a courtesy so unexpected. . . . “. . . As for Miss Garden’s seats, I cannot and will not have these paid for by Mr. Rodgers or anyone else. She showed poor taste in accepting an extraordinary favor such as this . . . .” The postscript: “This typewriter—a rented one— is one of the new models and I, an old-timers, am baffled by its intricacies. It does everything— makes sandwiches, delivers messages, sews hems, adds and subtracts, but I can’t get the knack of making it write. Hence all the errors.” The 1966 production of Show Boat opened on July 19 at the New York State Theater (today, the David H. Koch Theater). 140 c   FIELD, EUGENE. Autograph Letter Signed, to Mrs. Elgin H. Ray, presenting his usual terms for a reading engagement but declining to speak due to illness. 1 page, 12mo, with integral blank; moderate marginal discoloration from prior matting, minor loss to lower edge of blank. With original envelope. Chicago, 30 October 1894 [100/200] “My terms call for one hundred and fifty dollars a reading. But my health is so uncertain that I do not care to make any engagements for this winter. . . .” 141 c   GUESDE, JULES. Autograph Letter Signed, to “Dear citizen and friend,” in French, reporting the travel plans of himself and mutual friends, and requesting that he send his manual to a temporary address. 1 page, 8vo, with integral blank; few small holes repaired verso with tissue, faint scattered staining, folds. Brussels, 28 October no year [150/250] “The [Arthur?] Arnould family came and went. Knialer[?], with his wife and two children, is still in Lugano, where misery is holding him back, and I, in desperation, unable to embark for lack of money and unable to stay here for want of health and work, I will return next week to Rome, at the risk of further expulsion. “This is the address for my friend Mr. Hector Amadou, general delivery, at which I will ask you to send me your manual in due course. . . .” Jules Guesde [Mathieu Basile] (1845-1922) was a French social reformer and editor who led a socialist faction that rejected any compromise with capitalist governments. 139