Collections in Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature

Richard Adams (1920-2016) was an English novelist best known for his anthropomorphic tale about rabbits Watership Down (1972). His letter to Rex Collings, dated October 8, 1970, discusses possible titles for Watership Down as well as the map that was included in the first edition. less

John Quinn (1870-1924) was a corporation lawyer in New York City who amassed an important private collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture as well as books and manuscripts of contemporary authors. The collection consists of seven condolence letters on the death of John Quinn from prominent friends; six are addressed to Quinn's sister Mrs. William V. Anderson (Julia Quinn Anderson); one letter is addressed to lawyer Thomas J. Curtin, John Quinn's assistant. Items comprise: an autograph letter signed "A. Gregory," from Irish patron of the arts Augusta, Lady Gregory, on Coole Park letterhead, to "Dear Sister of John Quinn," dated [1924] July 29 (2 pages), with typescript copy; a typed letter signed from lawyer Richard Campbell on 14 Wall Street letterhead, dated 1924 August 26 (2 pages); an autograph letter signed (1 page) from New York Times editor John H. Finley, with a separate autograph manuscript poem "In Memory of John Quinn" signed "John Quill" with ink drawing of a quill (1 page), both dated 1924 July 29, with typescript copy of the poem; an autograph letter signed from lawyer and author Richard Walden Hale on Schooner Head, Bar Harbor, Maine letterhead, dated 1924 August 26 (1 page), with envelope; an autograph letter signed from artist Walt Kahn, on Ogunquit, Maine letterhead, dated 1924 July 30 (1 page); an autograph letter signed from poet and editor Michael Monahan on New Canaan, Connecticut letterhead to "My dear Mr. Curtin," dated 1924 July 31 (1 page); and a typed letter signed from artist John Sloan as president of The Society of Independent Artists, dated 1924 December 5 (1 page). Lady Gregory, apologizing for having forgotten Anderson's name, writes of her shock and grief after receiving the news by cable, and by a telegram from W. B. Yeats less

Typescript sermon (3 pages), with holograph revisions in ink, by the Anglo-American poet and writer W. H. Auden (1907-1973). Auden delivered this sermon during the Evensong service of October 24, 1965 at Christ Church, Oxford, at the invitation of College Chaplain John Gilling. Auden used the same title for one of four lectures given in memory of T. S. Eliot at the University of Kent, Canterbury, in October 1967. The sermon explores the nature of human speech as a reflection of Divine activity. The lecture incorporates some of the themes and text present in this sermon less

Paul Auster (1947-2023) was an American writer, poet, filmmaker, and translator whose work often touched on themes of coincidence, chance, memory, and solitude. Notable works include the novels The New York Trilogy, Moon Palace, and 4 3 2 1; the memoir The Invention of Solitude; and the films Smoke and Blue in the Face. The Paul Auster papers date from 1963 to 2022 and contain all aspects of Auster's professional work, including typescript and holograph drafts, notebooks, correspondence, audio and moving image recordings, clippings, and ephemera. less

The item is a printed power of attorney form issued by The Dramatists' Guild of The Authors' League of America, Inc., signed by Harlem Renaissance poet and playwright Langston Hughes and Martin Jones for Marjones Productions, Inc., on September 2, 1935. Martin Jones (Martin B. Jones, 1902-1983) was a theatrical producer. The document appoints Joseph P. Bickerton Jr., Arbiter, as attorney-in-fact to carry out the terms of the Minimum Basic Agreement between The Dramatists' Guild, and producing managers Langston Hughes (Author) and Marjones Productions, Inc. (Manager), for the negotiation of motion picture rights. The play's title is left blank, but extant documents signed by the parties that day identify Langston Hughes's play Mulatto, which opened on Broadway in 1935 less