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Each letter 4 pages, with Received stamp of Quinn s office on first page. 8vo. Substantial letters from Arthur Symons to New York lawyer John Quinn, the great collector and patron of literature. Symons (1865-1945), was editor of the Savoy magazine and then the influential interpreter of the French Symbolists for the Anglo-American literary world. In the first letter, Symons acknowledges receipt of "£80.0.0 and your most interesting letter. Putnam s cabled last week to stop the American publication of my Confessions … I shall send you some of my best MSS with typed copies; and destroy most of the rest, as there is no market here for such things. … Before I start on my expedition to Spain I want to arrange for the publication of my finished book: A Study of Charles Baudelaire, here and in America; the greater part having been printed in American magazines. Today the 29th, a signed and unprinted letter of Baudelaire reached me dated Novembre 29, 1859! It is written to de Broise, Poulet Malassis partner as publisher, and it ends in queries: "Et Gautier, qui se plaint? Et moi? He refers to his book on Gautier that came out in January 1850. Yours ever, Arthur Symons" The second letter, almost a year later, Symons again writes his patron, "I send you all my thanks for your liberality in sending me a cheque for £74 and for your delightful letter." He goes on to discuss books, "as for first editions, I have the whole of Rossetti s, of Swinburne s, and all but two of the whole of Meredith s works: Farina (1857) and Poems (1851) … The revised proofs of Baudelaire are here … I am having the title-page printed in red and black ink as in Malassis editions of Baudelaire. I am not surprised to hear of [Augustus] John not keeping his agreements with you. He is as difficult to deal with as the Devil whom he certainly resembles." With three receipts for Quinn s drafts on the National Bank of Commerce for sterling payments to Symons, in the amounts of £14/8, £20, and £74, 1914-1922. After a mental breakdown in 1908, Symons "many articles and books, which usually consisted of revised articles previously published, too often revealed incoherence. Inevitably, his reputation as a noted critic and poet declined" (ODNB). The first letter alludes to his account of his madness, Confessions, A Study in Pathology, which was ultimately published by the Fountain Press in 1930. Provenance: John Quinn; his sister Julia Anderson; and by descent Each letter 4 pages, with Received stamp of Quinn s office on first page. 8vo. Seller Inventory # 323079
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Bibliographic Details
Title: Two Autograph Letters, signed ("Arthur ...
Publisher: Queen s Gardens, Hyde Park, London
Publication Date: 1920
Condition: Old folds. Fine
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
