Jennifer Chirchirillo
Some books possess attributes that make them more collectible than others. It may be the cover or dust jacket art that was used in an early printing of an older novel. Perhaps it is a first edition of a classic tome or a signed copy of a current best seller. Some favorite books from the past fall out of popular favor and are no longer in print, making them quite difficult to find and valuable. While any collector can appreciate these qualities in a book, some collections contain rarer literary gems. One such collection is housed at Yale University Library. Its digital collections allow the world to view these special items while preserving their integrity. Included is the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, with many excellent examples of special literary works and related materials. A few of those will be reviewed here. Viewing these materials allows the reader to see these revered authors as the human beings they were and to explore some of their writing methods.
Sarah Orne Jewett is one of the authors whose materials are digitized at Yale. The items belonging to her are a variety of handwritten notes and letters. Some of the paper is cream-colored with blue fibers woven throughout it. It appears to be of a thicker, sturdy stationery stock with a smooth surface across which the ink pen smoothly flowed. One letter written on it, dated January 12, 1888, has rough edges, giving the appearance of being torn from a bound pad. Some pieces are written on white stationery with “South Berwick, Maine” printed at the top of the page. That paper appears to have yellowed with age and been folded in half, perhaps to be placed into an envelope. Some pages also have a faint watermark that begins with “MARO.” One letter, dated October 2, 1881, has a glittery silver symbol at the top left of the page. It appears to be a combination of her initials—SOJ—overlapping one another. The letters are written mostly in black ink, with a couple in blue ink. There are a few small stains and instances of smudged ink, but overall, these letters have been well preserved. The notes and letters are a blend of personal and professional correspondence that tell us a variety of things about the writer. We learn that Jewett read a variety of works, ordering Youth and Letters of Sir Walter Scott. She seemed to especially enjoy those set in her native New England, ordering Reminiscences of (John G.) Whittier and giving high recommendation of Five Hundred Dollars, presumably by Hemin White Chaplin. We also learn Jewett is a friend of Abby Alger, an American writer and translator. Jewett uses her place in the literary world to promote the works of other authors as well. She urges Alger to translate and help promote the works of Madame (Marie-Therese) Blanc and personally endorses Poverty Knob, presumably by Sarah Warner. Jewett is also kind and well-mannered, sending notes of appreciation to those who send her books, newspaper clippings, or notes of praise for her work. In these letters, we see Jewett as the woman she is beyond her published works.
Sarah Orne Jewett is not the only author whose letters have been preserved at Yale. Letters from F. Scott Fitzgerald are also stored there. These letters to Gerald and Sara Murphy are mostly on paper that appears old and yellowed, some with several folds and creases. There is one exception–a letter dated September 14, 1940, which is written on 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation letterhead. His sense of humor is apparent in the way he addresses one letter to the Murphys–“Honey–that goes for Sara too” (“[Letter: F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gerald and Sara Murphy]” 1). Fitzgerald also humbles himself in these letters, thanking the Murphys for their financial help when he found himself in trouble after illnesses kept him from working. Two letters are written in pencil, one in black ink, and one is typewritten. A few pages have rusty outlines of paperclips and absent staples. One undated letter includes the envelope it was mailed in, postmarked March 30, 1936. It is interesting to consider that this letter was delivered as addressed to “Mrs. Gerald Murphy, c/o Mark Cross Co., New York City” (“[Letter: 1936 March 30, F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gerald and Sara Murphy]” 3). That letter is also the saddest, telling of his wife, Zelda’s, mental illness. The letter on 20th Century Fox letterhead shares the good news that he is healthier and working again. It has a large blue checkmark across the body in what appears to be crayon. In that same medium is a note at the bottom that reads, “How well he writes! G.,” assumedly written by the recipient, Gerald Murphy (“[Letter: 1940 September 14, F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gerald and Sara Murphy]” 1). At the top of the letter, written in pencil, is the note, “(His concern regarding his health) GM” (“[Letter: 1940 September 14, F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gerald and Sara Murphy]” 1). It seems safe to assume this was also written by Murphy based on the initials. Written with the intended audience of only his friends, these letters are treasures that offer the world a snapshot of the personal life of Fitzgerald and his views on financial troubles, illnesses, family, religion, falling out of popular favor, and the value of good friends.
The collection of items related to Jean Toomer offers insight into his life that is equally as personal as Fitzgerald’s. Toomer’s collection includes some personal documents, such as his passport and marriage certificate. His passport is a thin booklet with a textured, brown cover bound with threaded stitches every inch or so. The pages are printed with a blue repeating United States Passport safety seal pattern on a white background. The details, such as the glue that seems to seep out from under the right side of his black and white photo, may seem unimportant to some. It is also interesting to note that his height was six feet, one inch. American men born at that time averaged five feet, six inches, making him taller than most. For a reader who enjoys Toomer, these details bring him to life. These physical details make it possible to imagine him standing before you. The tidiness of his signature gives the impression that he is neat in all aspects of his life. This leads one to wonder if the photo was affixed in haste and the escaping glue was an annoyance to Toomer. Whatever the case, he is no longer a faceless name committing words to paper. It is also interesting to learn from the marriage certificate that he and his wife were both writers. This copy is stamped TRIPLICATE at the top, so it was most likely the one given to the couple. It has a combination of handwriting in blue ink and typewriting, and the paper appears to have been folded twice as if to fit in an envelope or a pocket. Besides these documents, there are two letters—one personal and one professional. The personal one tells the heartbreaking story of losing his wife after giving birth to their daughter. It is addressed to “Dear . . .” as if he planned to share the news by sending multiple copies of this letter to several people. There are three corrections made–one strikeout, one misspelled word with letters transposed, and one word with an extra character. Given that he was likely grieving her passing, his choice to make these corrections instead of starting over is reasonable. There is a watermark that appears to read “Howard Permalife” on this photocopy of what was likely a white paper. The professional letter, also typewritten, is addressed to Mr. Liveright and is dated September 5, 1923. In it, Toomer reprimands his publishers for wishing to emphasize his racial background to promote Cane. The son of a mixed-race father and black mother, Toomer has given his publisher permission to share that information. He does not, however, want that to be the sole selling point for his work. He states his wishes clearly, saying, “Feature Negro if you wish, but do not expect me to feature it in advertisement for you . . .Whatever statements I give will inevitably come from a synthetic human and art point of view; not from a racial one” (Boni and Liveright, Inc. 1). The letter is signed by the author and has a few corrections made to the text. It is written on what appears to be average white office paper that has a few tears, missing parts on one corner and edges, and the outline of a now missing rusty paperclip. There is also some brown discoloration along the right margin. The letter is stamped to indicate it is part of a Jean Toomer Collection. In addition to the documents and letters, there is a drawing on a page of lined notebook paper, which the author titled “My Language Tree.” This wide-ruled paper is spiral-bound, features blue lines, and is thin enough to see through to the writing on the backside of it. It appears to be the first page in the notebook, and the paper has begun to yellow with age, especially in the center. Toomer uses what he labels as “General English” as the root of his writing, adding “My Rhythm” and “My Structure” as the tree grows (“‘Terms of My Language’” 1). The branches represent ways Toomer can expand upon the basics of the English language. He uses these methods to fine-tune the dialect that he uses in Cane. He can use idiomatic English or American slang to indicate a setting. It is interesting that the very top branch of this illustrated tree is one named “Mine.” This is an imaginative illustration of his creative process that fans of his writing will surely appreciate.
This collection also contains some original, handwritten work from William Faulkner. The copy of “That Evening Sun” appears to have been last stored in the included manila folders with the same title and a note that reads, “Originals (Use Xerox)” (“‘That Evening Sun,’ Handwritten Draft and Photostats, Typescript Transcript and Photocopies” 1). The first page is a typewritten letter written January 24, 1955, from Saxe Commins at Random House, explaining to Norman Holmes Peterson at Yale the reasoning behind the character name-change from Jesus to Judah. The paper has vertical lines for a watermark and has Peterson’s information on the back in a professional font, perhaps from a stamp. The pages the story is written on are in rough shape. The paper appears to be an aged onion skin, with some pages being browner than others. Corners and chunks from other areas are missing. There are a couple of spots that are either stains or the remnants of Scotch tape. The text is written in blue ink, and Faulkner’s handwriting is interesting in that it is printed rather than written in cursive. The print on the unlined paper is very linear, written in nearly perfect straight lines. Faulkner leaves a large left margin for notes and corrections to be inserted later. This, along with the damaged areas of the papers, makes it seem that this was an early draft of the story that was handled frequently. Such drafts are not often seen by the public, making this a rare and special piece of literary history.
After viewing Faulkner’s rough draft, it seems fitting to view a final draft of Mark Twain. A copy of Twain’s A Connecticut Knight in King Arthur’s Court is included in the Yale collection. There are only four images included in the digital collection, but those alone tell a lot about the book. The first is an image of the front pastedown. There is a sticker at the top indicating that it is from the library of Estelle Doheny. The background print of the entire sheet is a light blue color with connected brown-gold geometric shapes that look somewhat like flower blooms and are arranged in diagonal rows. It is inscribed, signed in black ink, “Truly Yours, Mark Twain” with the flourish of an extra swipe of the pen below it (“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court / by Mark Twain” 1). This is especially interesting because what appears to be the original inscription does not include his name. Instead, it is signed simply from “the Author” (“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court / by Mark Twain” 3). The front pastedown is attached to a textured, olive green book board cover. This appears to be a much-loved copy as the front book board is detaching from the center binding along the hinge and the front pastedown is torn and exposes the super webbing and adhesive once used to hold it together. There is also an image of the front free endpaper, which is inscribed with “Since the owner failed to keep it, this book is now claimed by Jean L. Clemens, August 1909” (“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court / by Mark Twain” 2). On the inscription page is written, “Miss Susan Corey with the compliments of The Author, Xmas, 1889” (“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court / by Mark Twain” 3). Also included on page 331 of the book is an illustration drawn in black ink of a newspaper boy extending one of his papers for sale. The banner beneath it reads, “Latest Eruptions, only two cents” (“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court / by Mark Twain” 4). On the banner is a black spade with “1889” beneath it, possibly a signature mark of the artist. This book is a unique treasure, with direct connections to both the author and Jean, his daughter.
Viewing these letters, notes, books, and personal documents provides insight into the lives and writing methods of these authors. These treasures allow us to see these authors, revered and honored as they may be, as the human beings they were in other facets of their lives. The personal notes of Jewett reveal her personable side and her willingness to help other authors achieve success. Fitzgerald’s letters to his friends show his sense of humor as well as his struggles with his poor health, his financial troubles, and the mental health issues of his loved ones. Toomer’s personal documents shed light on his struggle to be judged based on his work alone and not his race. Twain’s message to the reader of his book hints at a possible humility, while he proudly signs his name at another time on another page. Methods are shared by some, too. Toomer’s illustrated “Terms of My Language” tree shows us how he developed the dialect in his works. Fitzgerald’s draft of “That Evening Sun” teaches other writers not to be afraid of making changes. A peek at how he drafted his initial thoughts, then made the decision to strike some of those thoughts and/or add others, is a useful reminder that even great authors do not capture their thoughts perfectly on the first attempt. These books and documents create a unique and prized collection that offers insight into the people these authors were and the ways in which they crafted their works. These should be treasured and honored as they are pieces of encouragement for today’s aspiring writers. We may think of them merely as respected authors without giving their personal lives a moment’s contemplation, but it is not just in studying their works that today’s writers can improve their skills. The people behind these works have much to teach us as well.
Works Cited
“Boni and Liveright, Inc.” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/10267786. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“Certificates and Diplomas.” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/11061553. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court / by Mark Twain.” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/16550166. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“JEWETT, SARAH ORNE, 1849-1909.” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/17426352. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“[Letter: 1936 March 30, F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gerald and Sara Murphy].” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/11859158. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“[Letter: 1939 September, F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gerald and Sara Murphy].” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/11859303. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“[Letter: 1940 September 14, F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gerald and Sara Murphy].” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/11859344. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“[Letter: F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gerald and Sara Murphy].” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/11859343. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“Passports.” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2065818. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“‘Terms of My Language.’” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2054490. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“‘That Evening Sun,’ Handwritten Draft and Photostats, Typescript Transcript and Photocopies.” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/17218176. Accessed 15 July 2025.
“Toomer, Margery Latimer.” Yale University Library, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/10267781. Accessed 15 July 2025.