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Emily Dickinson. Autograph letter signed ("Emily and Vinnie"), to Mary Adelaide Hills ("Mrs. Henry Hills," in pencil, addres...
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Description
A very rare Dickinson letter to her Amherst neighbor following a disaster
Emily Dickinson. Autograph letter signed ("Emily and
Vinnie"), to Mary Adelaide Hills ("Mrs. Henry Hills," in pencil,
addressed in holograph on address panel on verso of second page
"Mrs H. Hills." [Amherst, MA, Late April, 1880].2 pages, 8vo (202 x 124 mm), on a bifolium, watermarked "Weston's." Housed in a cloth folder in a quarter morocco slipcase.
In full: "We are ignorant of the dear friends, and eager to know how they are, and assure them that we are near them in these grieved hours. / Emily and Vinnie."
This letter was written to Mrs. Henry (Adelaide Spencer) Hills, a former Amherst neighbor living in New York. The April 23 fire that destroyed the Fearing factory also destroyed Mr. Hills' straw hat factory. The letter written following the loss is signed by Emily on behalf of herself and her younger sister Lavinia ("Vinnie"). Very rare. A fine, charming letter in good condition.
Henry F. Hills married Mary Adelaide Spencer of South Manchester, Connecticut in 1863. Their home, fondly referred to as "The Homestead," on Main Street in Amherst, first served as a summer home before becoming a permanent residence. They lived in New York City during the winter. Henry and Adelaide had five children: Leonard, Mary, Emily, Caroline and Susan. Leonard, and Mary's husband, Frank Whitman, joined the Hills Company.
Condition: Creased at horizontal folds, with slight discoloration on verso along folds.
References: The Letters of Emily Dickinson, ed. by Johnson (1958) 614; The Letters of Emily Dickinson, ed. by Mabel Loomis Todd (1894) 399; The Letters of Emily Dickinson, New & enlarged edition, ed. by Mabel Loomis Todd (1931), 388; The Letters of Emily Dickinson, ed. by Cristanne Miller and Domhnall Mitchell (2024), 860.
Provenance: The letter was first published in 1894, in the two-volume The Letters of Emily Dickinson edited by Mabel Loomis Todd. After the death of Adelaide Hills in 1910, the letter passed into the hands of her children, specifically her daughter Susan Clapp Hills Skillings. According to Dickinson scholar Thomas H. Johnson, a transcript of the text of this letter, and others in Mrs. Skillings' possession, was made by George Frisbie Whicher. In Johnson's The Letters of Emily Dickinson (1958), this letter, listed as "letter 614," is given a possible date of 1879, and the original is listed as missing. The original letter remained with Mrs. Hills' heirs, until it was obtained by Seven Gables Bookshop from Mr. Hills Skillings. Purchased from Seven Gables Bookshop, New York. From the William A. Strutz Library.
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Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 5
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