Ann Honeycutt's Copy of Credos and Curios by James Thurber

Credos and Curios (1962) is a posthumous collection of profiles by James Thurber. On AbeBooks, Johnson Rare Books and Archives of Covina describes a "Presentation copy, inscribed by the author's widow, Helen Thurber, to his mistress, Ann Honeycutt, on the front flyleaf." Really? The inscription reads, "For Honey, with love/There are so few of us left./Helen/November, 1962." Would Helen Thurber really write so affectionately to Thurber's mistress? Probably not. But Ann Honeycutt was not actually Thurber's mistress; she was the recipient of his attention during an eight year flirtation while his first marriage was breaking up. His passion for her was unrequited, and their affair was, apparently, unconsummated.

James Thurber
AbeBooks listing accessed October 26, 2022

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31265451986&searchurl=ds%3D20%26kn%3DCredos%2Band%2BCurios%26sortby%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1

Note:  My thanks to Thurber expert Michael Maslin for answering my query—did they or didn't they?—to the best of his or anyone's ability.

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Ariane Allen's Copy of Here at The New Yorker by Brendan Gill

"And how hard I was on Ross as well!"

Brendan Gill

Here at The New Yorker (1975), p. 368

Brendan Gill published Here at The New Yorker in 1975 to coincide with the venerable publication's fiftieth anniversary. For me and for a generation of readers it was an immersive look at five decades of storied New Yorker lore. It wasn't perfect, of course. There were a few errors and many omissions. The anecdotes were highly selective and some were simply too good to be true. To this day, though, when I write about the early days of the magazine, I feel as if I know the personalities who worked there. So, credit Brendan Gill. 

Six weeks after its publication on February 21, the date of the first 1925 issue, he must have sent a copy of the book to Ariane Allen. The actress had become, in 1940, the third wife of Harold Ross (1892-1951), the magazine's founding editor. Gill inscribed the volume handsomely and included a  typewritten letter.

Gill's note begins with the end of the book, recounting his memorable reassessment of Ross. The reticent William Shawn, the magazine's second editor, went on to write an appreciation of Ross that Gill believes was the first piece of which he, Shawn, publicly acknowledged authorship. 

Not too shockingly (to any who have read the book), Gill seems to have burned a few bridges along the way: "Helen Thurber is furious with me," he writes, referring, of course, to the widow of James Thurber. Similarly enraged, he hears, is Elena Wilson, the widow of Edmund Wilson. Maybe that's the price of giving the world a fascinating history.

Brendan Gill
AbeBooks listing accessed October 25, 2022

AbeBooks listing accessed October 26, 2022

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31328952802&searchurl=kn%3Dsigned%2BYorker%26sgnd%3Don%26sortby%3D0&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image16

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A James Thurber Letter to Mary Petty

In the summer of 1951, James Thurber was prompted to write to fellow cartoonist Mary Petty. He had been listening to the radio and heard an interview conducted by Cholly Knickerbocker (Igor Cassini) with British cartoonist Rowland Emett, who praised Petty as his "great favorite." Thurber, of course, couldn't agree more. I don't think this is mere flattery, although doubtless there's some of that. The anecdote also allows Thurber to note that he himself is in Emett's trio of favorite American cartoonists along with Saul Steinberg and Petty. Yet I think Thurber's regard for Petty is genuine—after all, whose wouldn't be?

James Thurber TLS
Alexander Historical Auctions LLC listing accessed January 23, 2021

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/JAMES-THURBER-1297-c-4584D9B98F?utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inv_kwalert&utm_term=2

James Thurber TLS
Alexander Historical Auctions LLC item description

A previous sale nine years ago, outcome unknown:

James Thurber TLS
RR Auctions

https://www.icollector.com/James-Thurber_i12107891

Note:  Just the other day on Ink Spill, Michael Maslin wrote about James Thurber and Mary Petty. Coincidence? Read it here.

Uncollected letters from New Yorker luminaries such as James Thurber make for welcome posts here on Attempted Bloggery. Scans welcome.

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James Thurber: Dear Harold

It seems an unforgivable lapse, but History for Sale somehow has just sold on eBay a two-page typed letter, signed, from literary and cartooning giant James Thurber without realizing the recipient is Harold Ross, the New Yorker's famous founding editor. The letter, dated January 20th (alas, there is no year), opens with "Dear Harold"—I had always assumed Thurber would just call him Ross. Thurber quotes a Mrs. Robert Sterling who refers to him as H. W. Ross. The letter reads, in part:

"Dear Harold,  

     This is a brief but moving bread-and-butter, rum-brandy-and-champagne letter, to begin with. I told you on the phone how much fun we had at your all-night party, but you probably forgot to tell Ariane, so you can show her this letter. It seems sad that we won't be able to keep you up till four o'clock for another year, but it will give us something to look forward to.

     I also mentioned on the phone how two friends of mine, Mr. and Mrs. Aristide Mian, of Nyack, discovered old Henri Mouquin living up there...

     If you want to have one of the boys interview Mouquin, at least for a Talk story, it could easily be arranged through Mrs. Mian...

     A few weeks ago, one Mrs. Robert Sterling, of Boulder, Colorado, wrote me a fan letter which was one of the most interesting I have gotten. She described herself as an old lady, but her mind is young and acute enough to have detected that I used the same device in 'The Catbird Seat' that I had used in the fable about the Unicorn. Nobody else but me had found this out. It really doesn't make any difference, however, or at least no more than the similarity between Hemingway and Ambrose Bierce which I read about in a piece called 'Is Hemingway the Lost Ambrose Bierce?' It was written by a man named H. W. Ross in some ponderous literary review or other. Fellow is a scholar...

     In case you didn't get the allusion, you are the last word in intellectual sophistication. I had always kind of thought it was Woollcott."

Ariane is Ross's third wife, Ariane Allen, whom he married in late 1940 when he was 48 and she was 25 (according to Kunkel). That would date this letter to 1941 or later, but probably not much later than the mid-1940s. 

"Talk" here refers to "The Talk of the Town" section of the magazine and Woollcott, of course, is critic Alexander Woollcott. 

Along the way, mention is also made of Gus Lobrano, the New Yorker's fiction editor. Henri Mouquin, may have been the owner of Mouquin's, in its day a well-known Manhattan speakeasy and restaurant, but he could not be the Henri Mouquin who died in 1933. (A. J. Liebling was to reminisce about the cafe in the December 8, 1956 issue of the magazine.)

The letter, priced uncommonly reasonably at $480, ended up going for even less when a Best Offer was accepted. One hopes the new owner realized the importance of this item; the seller obviously didn't.

James Thurber
TLS, January 20, 194?, page 1

James Thurber
TLS, January 20, 194?, page 2

James Thurber
eBay Listing Ended October 29, 2018

https://www.ebay.com/itm/JAMES-G-THURBER-TYPED-LETTER-SIGNED-1-20-/302811139421?hash=item4680f34d5d%3Ag%3AkQsAAOSwvQRbUOcH&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The wedding announcement of Harold Ross and Ariane Allen from the Times is not available in digital form.

The New York Times
November 11, 1940, page 21

https://www.nytimes.com/1940/11/11/archives/harold-ross-weds-miss-ariane-allen-editor-of-the-new-yorker-and.html

Note:  I am unfamiliar with Harold Ross's "Is Hemingway the Lost Ambrose Bierce?" To what exactly is James Thurber referring?

I would like to hear from anyone who can pinpoint the year of this letter better than I can.

The letter was typed by Helen Thurber. 

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

James Thurber

Harold Ross

Alexander Woollcott

Gus Lobrano

Typed Letters, Signed

Attempted Bloggery's May-December Index

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Thurber's Passport

James Thurber, the celebrated American author and cartoonist, is shown here in a 1955 passport photo at age 60. Thurber lost an eye in a boyhood accident in which his brother shot him with an arrow. His wife Helen describes his condition in this document with the words "left eye missing." At this point, he was virtually blind and no longer able to draw. Even his familiar signature is barely recognizable.

With this passport, James Thurber travelled to the Netherlands, France, and England. The question is, did he ever leave Thurber Country?

James Thurber's 1955 U.S. Passport

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19427/lot/5212/

James Thurber, Thurber Country, 1953

http://www.ebay.com/itm/THURBER-COUNTRY-James-Thurber-1st-Printing-HC-DJ-VG-VG-/190900006696?pt=Antiquarian_Collectible&hash=item2c7286ef28

Note:  There is more on this great man of letters here.

See a passport that once belonged to Groucho Marx here.  Now, does anyone have a real passport that belonged to Saul Steinberg? That might be interesting....

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