Lot 522: James M. Cain

Lot 522: Two TLSs, three total pages, both 8.5 x 11, personal letterhead, dated August 14 and November 22, 1967. Both letters are addressed to Evelyn Byrne. The first, in part: "When I was young I read endlessly, particularly novels, and some of those that I enjoyed were The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Count of Monte Christo, The Last of the Mohicans, The Dee[r]slayer, The Virginians, Vanity Fair, Treasure Island, and The Jungle Books…The one that has remained with me, to be a part of my life and be reread at least once a year since, is Alice in Wonderland, with of course it's back-to-back companion-piece, Through the Looking Glass. It enchanted me at the age of ten, and continues to enchant me now." The second, in part: "Including me in your anthology is fine, but I make one small cut on your Xerox—an allusion to a story about a tiger I had in works when I wrote you. I have had to shelve it in favor of something more pressing, and may not get to it soon." Cain makes a few handwritten emendations to the earlier letter. In overall fine condition, with intersecting folds to the August letter, (one vertical fold passing through a single letter of the first name), and trivial creasing to the November letter. Accompanied by both original mailing envelopes, and a pair of carbon copies of the letters Byrne sent to Cain. Byrne ran a program at New York City's Elizabeth Barrett Browning Junior High School where she asked major literary and artistic figures for recollections of what books inspired them; some responses were published in the 1971 book Attacks of Taste. RR Auction's Fine Autographs and Artifacts Auction 467 Wednesday, 13th January 2016 Estimate: $400-600