Description
“IT GRIEVES ME TO THINK THAT YOU DID NOT LIKE AMERICAN EARTH, GOD’S LITTLE ACRE, & YOU HAVE SEEN THEIR FACES ENOUGH TO SEND THEM”: SCARCE PRESENTATION COPY OF CALDWELL’S TOBACCO ROAD GENEROUSLY INSCRIBED BY HIM, WITH TWO LAID-IN LETTERS DATED THE SAME YEAR AS HIS INSCRIPTION, ONE FROM HIS EX-WIFE HELEN CALDWELL
CALDWELL, Erskine. Tobacco Road. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1932. Octavo, original gilt-stamped russet cloth, original dust jacket.
\First edition of Caldwell’s breakthrough novel, inscribed by him on the half title, “To Henry Tatnall Brown Jr., I herewith inscribe this book. But after signing here, it grieves me to think that you did not like American Earth, God’s Little Acre, & You Have Seen Their Faces enough to send them with the others. After this, I shall certainly make it a policy to sign all of the books—or none! Erskine Caldwell, May 22, 1939.” With two laid-in typed letters to Brown regarding his efforts to contact Caldwell, one signed by Helen Caldwell and dated February 22, 1939, and the other on Caldwell’s letterhead stationary, signed by his secretary and dated “May 2nd, 1939.”
Written in a tiny room “on the fourth floor of a condemned New York City brownstone,” Erskine Caldwell’s third novel is “a continuation of a long tradition of Southern writing,” yet joins the work of peers such as Thomas Wolfe and Faulkner in offering a “damning dissection” of rural life that also proves “shockingly forthright in its depiction” of sexuality and violence. After Caldwell submitted it to Scribner’s famed editor Maxwell Perkins in 1931, these controversial aspects caused the firm to become “embroiled in an acrimonious debate about whether to publish Tobacco Road,” and when it was finally released, only a “small printing of 1500 copies rolled off the press in early 1932” (Miller, 128-37). This scarce first edition of Caldwell’s most famous novel also features a generous inscription to Henry Tatnall Brown, Jr., then Dean of Students at Haverford College, accompanied by two laid-in typed letters: one from Helen Caldwell, who had divorced the writer in April 1938, and the other from Erskine Caldwell’s secretary at the Connecticut home he shared with his new companion, the photographer Margaret Bourke-White. With Scribner’s “A” on copyright page. Bruccoli & Clark, 87. Helen Caldwell’s letter reads: “Greentrees, Mount Vernon, Maine. February 22, 1939. Dear Mr. Brown, Mr. Caldwell has just left on a trip to Hawaii. I expect that he will be at home in about six weeks. If you will write to him again, I am sure that he will inscribe your books for you. His home address is now Point’s Woods Road, Darien, Conn. With best wishes, I am, Very Sincerely, [signed] Helen Caldwell [typed] Helen Caldwell.” The second letter, typed on Erskine Caldwell’s printed stationary and written by his secretary, reads “Point of Woods Road, Darien, Connecticut. May 2nd, 1939. Mr. H. Tatman [sic] Brown, Jr., Haverford College, Haverford, Pa. Dear Mr. Brown: Mr. Caldwell has asked me to write a note and tell you that he will be glad to autograph any copies of his books that you may care to send him to add to your personal collection. Sincerely yours, [signed] Margaret Salter [typed] Secretary to Mr. Caldwell. MS.” Bookplate of Henry Tatnall Brown, Jr.
Text fine; slight chipping with one small bit of tape reinforcement to verso of dust jacket. An exceptional presentation copy in near-fine condition.
