Description:

J.D. Salinger
n.p., September 9, 1962
J.D. Salinger TLS Re: "When The Catcher in the Rye was on the fire" Plus An Unpublished DJ Copy Draft For "Raise High The Roofbeams, Carpenters" - 360+ Typed Words With 2 Hand-Corrections!
TLS with typescript

A 1p typed letter signed by American writer J.D. Salinger (1919-2010), as "Jerry" at center right; along with its original enclosure, a 1p unpublished typed draft of Salinger's proposed dust jacket copy for his upcoming book, "Raise High The Roofbeams, Carpenters." September 9, 1962. N.p. Both the letter and typescript are typed on canary-yellow paper, totaling well over 360 words. The TLS has one manuscript edit in Salinger's hand, being the correction of the date as "9." Inscribed "Salinger" in red-colored pencil by the editorial staff at upper left. The typescript has a manuscript edit in Salinger's hand, being the cross-out and replacement of the word "wanted" with "intend" on line 14. Expected wear including flattened transmittal folds and a few extra corner wrinkles. A set of staple holes at upper left on both pages. The "Jacket Copy" draft has some tiny closed tears along the right edge. Else near fine. 8.5" x 11."

Salinger wrote this letter and directed its original enclosure to Ned Bradford, the editor-in-chief at the Boston-based publisher Little, Brown, and Company, with whom he had worked to publish his novels "The Catcher In The Rye" in July 1951, and, most recently, "Franny & Zooey" in July 1961. Portions of the letter and dust jacket copy draft have been electronically redacted to protect the privacy of the author and the letter's recipient. The material itself has no redaction and is legible in full.

In this material jampacked with terrific literary content, Salinger refers to three of his most important works, "The Catcher In The Rye," "Franny & Zooey," and "Raise High The Roofbeams, Carpenter." He also describes some of his most memorable characters, the members of the zany Glass Family. Last, Salinger picks up a perennial complaint: the exploitation of himself and the violation of his privacy, by everyone from portrait photographer Lotte Jacobi, to armchair literary critics and "boutonniered floorwalkers."

Although Salinger was preparing for the publication of his final anthology about the Glass Family, he writes a letter to his editor mentioning "The Catcher in the Rye": "When The Catcher in the Rye was on the fire, Little-Brown paid for some pictures of me taken by a woman named Lotte Jacobi..." The profile picture taken of Salinger by the German-born portrait photographer Lotte Jacobi (1896-1990) was printed large across the back cover of the first two printings of "The Catcher in the Rye." Salinger's fame exploded after publication, and he soon found he had become too recognizable to continue living in New York City with any semblance of privacy. By the third printing of "Catcher," Salinger had his image removed from the book jacket, yet he was pained by it still, even going so far as asking his publishing house to writer Jacobi a letter of protest. Even today it remains the most well-known and commonly published image of Salinger, who eventually moved to rural Cornish, New Hampshire to escape his own celebrity.

In this dust jacket copy draft for the soon-to-be published "Raise High The Roofbeams, Carpenters," Salinger writes that both stories which will be featured in the edition involve Seymour Glass, the chief character of his still-uncompleted series about a "rather average American family of Vedic Sanskrit students, vaudevillians, poets, actors, writers, avaivartakas, Sappho buffs, and widely-alleged retreaters from 'reality': the Glasses." Salinger goes on to contrast these stories with "Franny & Zooey." He mentions the impending publication of further work as well. "It seems to me that I'd better hurry up and do it [publish] if I intend to avoid undue and undesirable collision with new material."

Salinger ultimately found the process of publication too stressful and he never released any new material during his lifetime. The final dust jacket version of "Raise High The Roofbeams, Carpenters" is brief, including only Salinger's synopsis of the book and his hint at future publications to come. Therefore the majority of - and unquestionably the most interesting part of these drafts - remains unpublished and unknown except through these originals from his own typewriter. Taken together with his uncommon discussion of "The Catcher in the Rye," this set of documents covers nearly all of Salinger's published books.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.5" x 11"
  • Medium: TLS with typescript

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