LOT #45110 |
Buy Now: $375.00
James Michener. Typed letter draft signed....
Click the image to load the highest resolution version.
Post-Auction Buys
for Direct Sale
We are accepting offers until 8:00 AM CT Thursday, September 25, 2025 on this item that didn't sell in the recent
2025 September 10 - 11 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part III, Rare Books Signature® Auction.
for Direct Sale
Ties go to the first offer received and there is no guarantee any offer will be accepted. You will be contacted by 8:00 AM CT Thursday, September 25, 2025 via e-mail to let you know which offers are accepted. You will then be invoiced and your lot(s) will be shipped as if you had won them in the auction.
Purchasing means that you agree to our
Terms and Conditions, and return policy.
Track Item Printable Auction Results
Terms and Conditions, and return policy.
Track Item Printable Auction Results
Share this lot
Description
James Michener. Typed letter draft signed. Three pages on Random House letterhead, 8 1/2 x 11 inches, [New York]; November 13, 1978. A lengthy draft of a letter to an unnamed recipient (likely the Poetry Consultant for the Library of Congress), in which Michener discusses the importance of poetry and the difficulties of publishing it. Signed "James Michener" in blue ink on page three.In part: "I thought it deplorable that in a situation in which I could find a publisher for my prose, and in an era when I could be rewarded or writing prose, the port was at such a disadvantage, and it occurred to me that in my education the study of poetry was of at least as much significance as the study of prose. And in the conduct of my present life I found myself reading rather more poetry than I did prose...
[Poetry] was an essential part of my inheritance and I would feel impoverished without it, and without constant renewal. But I also suspected that while I was writing my long books of prose, there might be some gifted young woman at the University of Michigan who was saying it all in some eight-line verse, and saying it much better. There was a real chance that her verse might live a hell of a lot longer than my eight hundred pages, and I deemed it deplorable that I could get published while she could not...
I summed it up as best I could: 'I would not like to be party of any publishing system which was unable to publish prose but not able to publish poetry, because our nation probably needed poets a lot more than it needed novelists."
With several deletions and one holographic correction.
Condition: Lightly age-toned with a touch of edgewear.
Provenance: From the William A. Strutz Library.
View all of [The William A. Strutz Library ]
Auction Info
2025 September 10 - 11 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part III, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6321 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
September
10th-11th
Wednesday-Thursday
Post-Auction Buys Period Ends
8 Days
21h 58m
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: N/A
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 81
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
25% of the successful bid per lot.
Shipping, Taxes, Terms and Bidding
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms
Important information concerning Sales Tax and Resale Certificates. Learn More
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms
** Lots bearing estimates and without Consignor Reserve shall open at Heritage Auctions' discretion (usually 25% to 60% of the low estimate).