TYPED LETTER TO THE POND LECTURE BUREAU SIGNED BY EDUCATOR AND THEATRE HISTORIAN ASHLEY H. THORNDIKE.

- 22 words typed on a cream-colored, 8 inch high by 5-1/8 inch wide sheet of his personalized letterhead with his name and "Columbia University / New York" printed at the top. Signed "A H. Thorndike". A hole is punched in the top left corner of the letterhead. A penciled "Ans" below the signature indicates that the letter has been answered. Folded twice for mailing. Very good. In December 1919 tour manager James B. Pond of the Pond Lecture Bureau wrote to a number of distinguished citizens inviting them to be named as members of a committee to welcome Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck to America and to attend his first lecture at Carnegie Hall on January 2nd, 1920. Thorndike replies: "I shall be glad to serve on the honorary reception committee to meet M. Maeterlinck."Ashley H. Thorndike [1871-1933] was an American educator and expert on William Shakespeare who taught at Columbia University. He wrote several notable textbooks including "Facts about Shakespeare, "Tragedy" and "English Comedy". In 1900 he introduced the term "revenge tragedy" to label a class of plays written in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods.…