Description:

Sandburg Carl

1pp TLS signed by American poet Carl Sandburg as “Carl Sandburg” in black fountain on “The Chicago Daily News, Editorial Rooms” letterhead. The poet’s March 1, 1925 letter was in response to an inquiry from Sharpless Dodson Green, a high school teacher from Philadelphia, who had requested life lesson advice for his graduating seniors. In very good to near fine condition. Expected paper folds including one vertical line separating “Carl” from “Sandburg”. A .5” long tear at top and minor edge creases do not affect the thoughtful message. The half sheet measures 8.5" x 5.5".

 

The text in full reads:

 

“Dear Mr. Green –

Your kind and interesting letter is at hand. After writing six books there isn’t anything very special one could add for your graduates. If I were there commencement day as a ghost I might put into their hearts some of the softer of the Rootabaga stories, and the piece titled ‘For You’ which ends ‘Smoke and Steel’.

Faithfully, Carl Sandburg”.

 

Over his long and distinguished literary career, Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) wrote poetry, historical biographies, children’s books, and essays exploring the American, and specifically the midwestern, experience. This letter dates from the author’s years in Elmhurst, Illinois, where the author relocated in 1919. During this period, and while he was still establishing his literary reputation, Sandburg earned much of his income as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News. Sandburg had burst onto the literary scene after the 1914 publication of “Chicago”, in which he compares the city to a muscle-bound day laborer.

 

Sandburg published his "Rootabaga Stories" in 1922 to offer American children their own fairy tales with recognizable characters, situations, and locations. The fanciful stories were originally written for his daughters Janet, Helga, and Margaret. “For You” may refer to the twelve-stanza poem that appeared in Sandburg’s 1920 poetry collection "Smoke and Steel", which is in the form of an invocation or blessing.

 

A warm note from wholesome American poet Carl Sandburg the year before he published "Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years"!

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