595

Thomas Wolfe

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Thomas Wolfe

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Auction Date:2016 May 11 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, 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
Influential American writer (1900–1938) known for his poetic autobiographical fiction, best remembered for the 1929 novel Look Homeward, Angel. Wonderful ALS signed “Tom,” three pages on two sheets, 5 x 7.75, Harvard Club letterhead, October 27, 1929. Letter to Edith Simpson, in full: “Thanks very much for your telegram which I found here tonight. I am of course very much pleased with the review in the Times. It is quietly written but it says some tremendous things and I think it will help the book, as The Times has a tremendous Sunday circulation through the country.

I believe there will be a review in the book section of The Herald–Tribune next Sunday—if not, the week after—but probably next. If you get a chance read it, and if it’s good pass the news around. We all feel at Scribner’s now that the book has an excellent chance of success. The first edition is almost exhausted, and in Scribner’s bookstore on Fifth Avenue it is now selling as well as Hemingway’s new book. The remarkable thing about this is that it happened without advertising, and without reviews. Now that we have some good reviews, I think they will begin to advertise. They are quite happy and excited about it—& so am I! Of course, it is too early predict yet, but the outlook is good.

North Carolina is quite stirred up over the book—most of them are reading it not as a novel should be read, but as an almanac of gossip. I have had several reviews & a good many letters—most of them highly favorable, although one letter from an old woman said I ought to be lynched! Sweet, isn’t it?

Do all the talking you can—that helps the book more than anything else. Thanks again for your generous interest. I’ll let you know of any developments.” In fine condition, with slight staining to a few words on the first page. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Wolfe’s own hand, adding his name and address in the upper right corner, “From Thomas Wolfe, The Harvard Club, New York City.”

The novel in question is Wolfe’s semi-autobiographical 1929 debut novel Look Homeward, Angel, which had been released on October 18th—three weeks after the publication of Hemingway’s masterpiece A Farewell to Arms. Set in the fictional town and state of Altamont, Catawba, a fictionalization of Wolfe’s hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, the classic Bildungsroman follows the life and upbringing of the restless Eugene Gant as he seeks to leave his small town and explore the outside world. Despite earning rave reviews upon its release, the book’s thinly disguised cast of characters angered many of the residents of Asheville, and it would be eight years before Wolfe feel comfortable returning home. A remarkable letter written nine days after the publication of Wolfe’s classic novel.