Tag: Charmian London

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Jack London: Two Unpublished Letters ‘Found’- Transcriptions

Jack London letter to Dan [Murphy?] concerning the "Kempton-Wace Letters." Published with permission of the Edwin Markham Archive, Horrmann Library, Wagner College.
Jack London letter to Dan [Murphy?] concerning the “Kempton-Wace Letters.” Published with permission of the Edwin Markham Archive, Horrmann Library, Wagner College. (Click to enlarge.)

Yesterday’s post introduced two letters from Jack London to his sometimes literary agent Dan Murphy. (See Jack London: Two Unpublished Letters ‘Found’.) I am adding transcriptions in this post for better search capabilities for other researchers.

 

October 4, 1901, Jack London to Dan [Murphy?] letter, transcription:

                                              Jack London

                                     56 Bayo Vista Avenue

                                            Oakland, Calif.

                                               [stamped]

 

Oct. 4/01 [typewritten]

 

[typewritten; additional spaces left between quotes and words per original]

Dear Dan:-

Yes, The Book is progressing. Anna and

I now have thirty thousand and more words done on it,

and we do not expect to add more than twenty thousand

more. So then you’ll have a double task on your hands–

—-a sketch of Anna as well as the one of me.

 

Anna reviewed the ” God of His Fathers ” in

current ” Impressions. ” Of course you will have seen

it ere this. But if you haven’t, write me and I’ll get

you a copy. I haven’t one in the house just now. It

is by far the best review the book has received. It hah

has sympathy and understanding, which is something few

reviews possess and then in only infintesiml(spl?)

quantities.

 

Please thank Mr. and Mrs. Markham for me

for their kind invitation, which in itself gives me

great happiness, though the signs for an Eastern trip

are not auspicious.

 

Mrs. London and Joan send regards,

Jack London [signature]

 

December 28, 1901 letter from Jack London to Dan [Murphy?], page 1. Published with permission of the Edwin Markham Archive, Horrmann Library, Wagner College. (Click to enlarge.)
December 28, 1901 letter from Jack London to Dan [Murphy?], page 1. Published with permission of the Edwin Markham Archive, Horrmann Library, Wagner College. (Click to enlarge.)

December 28, 1901, Jack London to Dan [Murphy?] letter, transcription:

Jack London

56 Bayo Vista Avenue

Oakland, Calif.

[stamped]

 

Dec. 28/01 [typewritten]

 

[typewritten]

 

Dear Dan:-

 

Do you know if the ATLANTIC permits

the stuff it buys to be published in England? They

are, I believe, on the eve of closing with a certain

story of mine, which is a pretty fair sort of a

story. Let me know whether McClure’s forward

duplicate copies to you mentioned in last letter.

 

Yes, I presume a fake publication was

made of the SON OF THE WOLFin England in 1899 in

order to obtain British copyright. Itwas only

curiosity prompted me to ask, anyway, for Ward,

Lock & Co., bought the copyright outright. Perhaps

they are withholding publication for twenty years

on the chance of my becoming famous.

 

I have started the Success story, which

I shall submit through your hands.

 

Could you give me a line on what prices

 

December 28, 1901 letter from Jack London to Dan [Murphy?], page 2. Published with permission of the Edwin Markham Archive, Horrmann Library, Wagner College. (Click to enlarge.)
December 28, 1901 letter from Jack London to Dan [Murphy?], page 2. Published with permission of the Edwin Markham Archive, Horrmann Library, Wagner College. (Click to enlarge.)

[page 2, cut short]

 

LIPPINCOTT’S and SMART SET usually offer for

novelettes of ?? [two letters typed over to mark out] 25,000 to 35,000 words. And

Are LIPPINCOTT’S open to adventure novelettes with

a love thread woven in?

 

The novel written long ago was accepted

by McClure, Phillips & Co., [sic] They said they would

first seek serial publication for it, and later

bring it out themselves in book form. I haven’t

much interest in the novel. It was my first.

 

[Remainder of page appears to have been cut off.]

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Again, we greatly appreciate the kind assistance of Lisa Holland, Archivist, at the Horrmann Library, Wagner College, Staten Island, New York to locate these letters and other requested information. A thank you also goes out to the Dean of the college for allowing us to publish these letters in our blog and to share them at the Jack London Society 12th Biennial Symposium held on October 30-November 1, 2014, in Berkeley, California.

2) Please contact the Horrmann Library at Wagner College, Staten Island, New York, for permission to publish the letters.

3) Transcriptions by the author.

4) London, Jack. Letter, 04 Oct 1901, to Dan [Murphy?]. Edwin Markham Archives, Horrmann Library, Wagner College.

5) London, Jack. Letter, 28 Dec 1901, to Dan [Murphy?]. Edwin Markham Archives, Horrmann Library, Wagner College.

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.

Text copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and Pamela M. McMurray. Please contact the Horrmann Library at Wagner College for permission to publish these letters.

 
 
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Friday’s Faces From the Past: Edward Biron Payne

From left, Ninetta Wiley Eames Payne, Maude McMurray, Edward McMurray, Lynette Payne McMurray in front with her father, Edward B. Payne, in back.
The Payne Family. From left, Ninetta Wiley Eames Payne; little Maude McMurray & young Edward McMurray, Lynette Payne McMurray’s children; Lynette in front and her father, Edward B. Payne, in back. Taken at Wake Robin Lodge, Glen Ellen, California, c1907. (Click to enlarge.)

It is fitting to add this post today, on the anniversary of Edward B. Payne’s birthday, July 25, 1847.

Sorry that I haven’t been posting much due to real life, which sometimes interferes with genealogy. 😉

I have also recently had an article about Edward B. Payne (fondly known as EBP in our house) published in The Russian River Recorder, Spring 2014, Issue 124, which is the journal of the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society, Sonoma County, California. The article took a lot of time to write, mostly because I was supposed to distill this complex man and his long life into 1200 words. I just couldn’t do it. I was so happy that they expanded the issue and I was able to use 1500 words. I will be posting the article soon.

The Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society  currently has a wonderful exhibit called “Visionaries, Believers, Seekers, and Schemers: 19th Century Utopian Communities of Sonoma County.” The community founded by Edward B. Payne, “Altruria,” although short-lived, was “… a glorious failure” according to some writers.  The Russian River Recorder has four articles about Altruria, plus numerous articles about the other three Utopian communities founded in Sonoma in the late 1800s. They are a very interesting read.

There were no known images of Altruria, as far as my research or that of others, until I contacted the Huntington Museum a couple of years ago. In some of Charmian London’s scrapbooks, the archivist found two images of Altruria. I requested a copy of the whole page, to get the images in context, and was surprised to see that there was also one image torn from the page- I would love to know more about that missing image! (I would be matching up the torn back of any loose photos with the remains in the scrapbook, but alas, the archivist states there are no loose photos.) These images too will get posted here on the blog, but I do need to get permission from the Huntington first; they did give their kind permission to publish in the journal above. It has been exciting to email back and forth with curators, archivists, and librarians for this research. They are all unsung heroes in my mind.

Edward B. Payne lecture advertisement. Possibly c1920, October 9.
Edward B. Payne lecture advertisement. Possibly c1920, October 9. (Click to enlarge.)

When Edward B. Payne could no longer preach due to his ‘pulmonary affliction’ (he acquired tuberculosis when he lived in New England), he earned a little income from lectures he provided throughout the Bay Area of California.

Lots more to come on EBP.

 

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) The Healdsburg Museum has a wonderful exhibit of the four Sonoma County Utopian communities through Aug. 3, 2014, plus their June 2014 The Russian River Recorder details these communities. See http://www.healdsburgmuseum.org for more information. They are planning an online video tour of the exhibit, so watch for that soon.

2) Images from family photo archives.

 

Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

 
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.