LOT RR Auction  /  RR Auction Quality Autograph Auction 358  / 

681

Henry Miller

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Henry Miller

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2010 Jun 16 @ 10:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Bid online at www.rrauction.com. Auction closes June 16.

Sexually frank partial ALS signed “Henry,” one page both sides, 8.5 x 11, stamped personal letterhead, no date. Letter to Brenda Venus. In full: “A little later–after dinner. While eating dinner Charles, who had been watching T.V. Calls–Brenda’s on FM–come quick. I ran to the set, caught a glimpse of raw flesh at an angle at first and a guy in a chair like a doctor, either questioning you or examining you. Couldn’t make out what it was all about–was over in 3 minutes, it seemed. But you seemed to be in white trousers or drawers, naked to the waist. You were holding your hands out for a time to look at. Strange. The flesh gain. Sometimes I think–why not give it to ‘em, the whole works! And be done with it. Ever feel that way?

One little items about June I forgot to mention. When at home she always undressed and got into what I called ‘her shift’–a one piece Jap silk thing which reached a couple inches above her knees. When she sat down and crossed her legs you could like wight up her crotch. She seemed to enjoy the exposure, but never admitted it. The way she showed her legs and thighs reminds me a bit of you. Come summer and you will be in flimsy dresses, pulling your shirt above your knees as you shift gears. Sometimes it’s maddening. I just want to lean a little your way and run my hand up your leg and into the sacred hole, the ‘snatch,’ as we used to call it in Brooklyn. Or maybe not all the way, but just up and down that marvelous patch of thigh– 'le gigot’ comme on dit en francais. And why the ‘gigot d’agneau’ instead of just a ‘leg of lamb,’ because as Mme Armand explained to me, the inside of the thigh is so very tender. All of you, my darling Brenda, is tender to the touch. Tender but not untouchable. What complications! All because of a little crack between the legs, which drives men crazy and makes angels unattainable.” Miller closes with several lines in French before his signature.

Along the left edge, written vertically, is an unsigned postscript which reads: “Just the same, I could fuck you to death. This way, that way, upside down, backwards, forwards, standing or crouching–any way and every way and again and again and again. Fuck me back some time in your dreams!!” In fine condition, with scattered mild staining and some minor edge creases.

This racy letter may have been intended for Brenda Venus, his paramour during a four-year period, but it’s clear that Miller’s thoughts still rested with his second wife, June, the seemingly ideal woman to whom all other companions would be compared. “When at home she always undressed and got into what I called ‘her shift’...which reached a couple inches above her knees... She seemed to enjoy the exposure, but never admitted it,” Miller recalls in vivid detail, even years later. Henry and June met in 1923, when he was 31 and she was 21; oddly enough that was about the same age as Brenda at the time of this letter, and Miller would at times mistake this latest companion for his ex-wife, calling her “June” when they were first introduced. At the time June was a dancer, and Henry was a married man—but he would soon leave his first wife and dedicate himself to his pursuit of June, as her affection remained evasive but his infatuation grew. Miller’s marriage and general relationship with June was, not surprisingly, atypical, with June Miller eventually embarking on a relationship—both of inspiration and perhaps more—with Anais Nin. Henry and June Miller divorced in 1934, but it is clear by the passage contained in this letter that the woman who was his original Venus would still reside—fondly—in his memory forever.
Sign In to Bookmark Lot