Wolfe, Thomas

Selected Letters of Thomas Wolfe

Kingswood, Surrey: Heinemann, 1958. First British Edition, First Printing. “The American edition of The Letters of Thomas Wolfe, edited by Elizabeth Nowell, is a volume of over 800 pages. It contains so much extraneous matter of little interest to readers in this country or requiring such extensive annotation that a careful selection of the letters seemed desirable. The omissions consist mainly of business details relating to a lawsuit in which he had involved Scribners, letters concerning his changes of publishers, small family matters and repetitions of descriptions or opinions. Wolfe was an indefatigable letter-writer. If to his various correspondents he did not always give the same version of an incident, the differences are unimportant except perhaps to an over-scrupulous biographer or psychologist. The reader can be assured that he has here the essence of Wolfe’s epistolary outpourings and that it tells as far as possible the life story of this erratic genius.” (Publisher’s note) Offered here are the letters of Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938), a direct precursor to the writers of the Beat Generation and an early influence on Jack Kerouac, in particular his first novel, The Town and the City. “From his youth, Wolfe had the habit of pouring out on paper all his thoughts, emotions and experiences, and the dividing line between these outpourings and his actual creative work was often very thin. This gives to his letters an extraordinary immediacy and fullness. In fact the record of his life in them is so complete that they could almost be termed ‘The Autobiography of Thomas Wolfe.’” (From front flap) As noted by the publisher, this is the 1958 British revision to the original 1956 publication of Wolfe’s letters and retains the introduction by Elizabeth Nowell, Wolfe’s literary agent. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first British Edition as indicated on the copyright page. Book is in Fine condition with minor rubbing along the spine and very minor spotting along the top text block. Interior fine with pages xviii and xix of the introduction stained from an undated purchase slip from the renowned Marga Schoeller Buecherstube in Berlin, the nearly 100-year-old store which was the first after the Second World War to be licensed to sell English books; page leaves are otherwise in relatively fine condition, with only very minor pencil markings, light age-toning & tiny bumps, chips at corners of a few leaves. Dust jacket relatively fine with mild rubbing, age-toning & faint scratching to front, back covers, spine & flaps; some tears and creasing along the spine and creases along the inside flaps. Fine / Fine. [Item #7894]

Price: $50.00