4 January 1929

Dear Mr; Jewett,

Many thanks for your letter of December 18th. Bya
peculiar irony of fate your evocation of my garden reached
me only a day or two before a violent snow storm which fell
all last night. As it did not freeze the damage to my plants
was relatively small, but the weight of the snow has broken
the big branches of my two old caroub trees, which, as you
may remember, were the glory of the garden. There were none
like them on this coast, as far as I know, and the loss is
irreparable.

But this is a melancholy way of beginning a New Year
letter, and I must go on to business. Your explanation of
what you wrote in a former letter about The Reef is now quite
clear, and I will see at once what can be done in that respect,
and let you know as soon as I have found out.

I am getting back to work on 'Hudson River' now that the
hurricane of Christmas and the New Year is over.

Yours sincerely

P.S. I have never heard anything more about the film rights
of the Age of Innocence. How was this matter arranged? I
know that Mr. Sheldon got the necessary documents from you,
but this is the last information I have received.

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton asks me to say that she will send you the following chapters of "Hudson River Bracketed" up to chapter XXIII in a week or ten days.

I will, you kindly charge Mrs. Wharton's account with the 10/10 owed you, as it seems not worth while to draw a cheque for such a small sum, and she will pay it when she gives another order.

Believe me,

Mr. Blaber
c/o Messrs. D.Appleton & Co
34, Bedford Street
Covent Garden
London

8 January 1929

Dear Sirs,

Mrs. Wharton begs you to be kind enough to send her
to the above address two copies of "The Age of Innocence".

If you have no copies in your office, will you kindly transmit
the order to New York, and have the books sent here?

Yours very truly

Secretary.

Messrs.D.Appleton & Co
34, Bedford Street
London

January 9, 1928

Mr. Jewett:

We have deposited with the Bankers Trust Company of New
York, for the account of Mrs. Wharton $57,122.59 on account of the
following -

Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh
installments (including final)
on account serial rights HUDSON
RIVER BRACKETED $24,000.00
First, Second, Third and Fourth
payments of $5,000.00 each, (less
commission of 10%) on account of
the Motion Picture Rights of THE
CHILDREN 18,000.00
Book royalties to December 31, 1928
from sales of THE CHILDREN, (less
payments advanced as per detailed
statement attached) 14,029.50
On account of newspaper serial
THE CHILDREN 1,000.00
Book royalties from January 1st
to June 30, 1928 as per detailed
statement rendered November 2, 1928 98.96
$57,128.46
LESS:
Incidental charges as per detailed
statement rendered November 2, 1928 5.87
$57,122.59

EJC'MO

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

LONDON OFFICE 34 BEDFORD ST. COVENT GARDEN
CABLE ADDRESS HILANDERO

18 January 1929

Dear Mrs Wharton:

A whipping or a dose
of castor oil would have been more
agreeable to me than to be forced to
cable you as I did yesterday. I
realize that you can not be rushed,
that you are doing everything in your
power to supply the magazine with copy.
The editors of the Delineator, however,
are in a jam,--as you will see from the
enclosed letter.

I have told the editors
repeatedly that you were sending forward
the chapters as rapidly as was practical,
and that another chapter was en route.
This was chapter 23, and was rushed down
to them as soon as it arrived. Evidently
they were hoping for a longer instalment.

What complicates matters
for them is the necessity of including
illustrations in each instalment. In
order to secure satisfactory pictures
copy must be given to the illustrator
long in advance, as they set the type
months before the magazine is issued.

Regretting that I could
not crack this nut for you without sending
the cable, believe me,

January 9, 1929

Mr. Jewett:

We have deposited with the Bankers Trust
Company, for the account of Mrs. Wharton the following
sums -

January 8, 1929 our check for $57,000.00
" 9, 1929 " " 122.59
a total of $57,122.59

which is the sum due her in accordance with statements
rendered.

MC

II January 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

Mrs. Wharton asks me to enclose chapter XXIV
of "Hudson River Bracketed" for the Delineator.

Believe me,

Yours very truly

Secretary.

Rutger B. Jewett Esqr
c/o Messrs.D.Appleton & Co
35, West 32nd Street
New York

12 January 1929

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton encloses herewith chapters XVI-XVII-XVIII of "Hudson River Bracketed", and hopes to send you the following chapters next week. There are only six more that have been written so far, and Mrs. Wharton asks me to say that as the work of copying takes a great deal of time, she would be much obliged if the magazine would be able to give a definite answer after seeing these chapters, as it is rather a waste of time to go on copying without a definite object.

Yours very truly

Secretary.

Mr. Blaber
c/o Messrs.D.Appleton & Co
34, Bedford Street
**London**

January 17th, 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

Many thanks for your letter of December 31st, with its enclosure.

I am so glad you like the new water-colour; I thought it would harmonize well with your cypress. This winter, however, you would hardly recognize Sainte-Claire as you know it. After the heavy snow fall of which I think I wrote you not long ago, we have had continuous cold weather — a very rare thing in this part of the world — and all the shrubs and flowers are wizened and unhappy. Indeed, last night it was so cold that the water in the pigeons' bath was frozen. Our only consolation is that the sun shines, whereas in the north of Europe we heard of bad skies.

I enclose herewith pages 260 to 268, being the revised and enlarged version of chapter XXV, which I sent you last week. Will you be kind enough to transmit this new copy to the Delineator, and suppress the first version?

And now to answer your question about the probable length of the book. I still find it difficult to make a definite answer though I hope to do so after I have written two more chapters; but meanwhile, roughly speaking, I should say that there would be forty chapters in all, which means approximately another 45.000 words. As you know I warned you some time ago that I found the subject too big to be treated on the scale of my other novels, which average, I think, about to 110.000 words. I hope this one will not go beyond 140.000, but at the same time I feel that it must follow its normal curve, and that it would be fatal to try to shorten it.

The subject is a very big one and requires to be treated in a more leisurely way than of my other novels. I am sorry this is the case, but you must remember that it was understood between us from the beginning, that I was not to be hurried, and also that the novel was began in the Delineator without my knowledge or authorization. When I remind you that I did not finish "The Children" until less than a year ago, and that since then I have written about 95.000 words on "Hudson River Bracketed" you will agree that if I had tried to do more my work would

L.C.D.

HILANDERO

NEW YORK

Chapter twenty-four sent last week twenty-five next week greater haste impossible

Wharton

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS:
"HILANDERO, WESTRAND, LONDON"
TELEPHONE:
GERRARD 6283.

34, Bedford Street,
Covent Garden, London, W.C. 2.

Friday 18th January 1929

MRS J. FRIDERICH
Sainte-Claire Le Chateau,
Hyeres (Var)
France.

Dear Madam,

We are obliged to you for chapters
16, 17 and 18 in typescript of HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED.

In accordance with Mrs Wharton's wishes
we are now submitting this story to "The Evening Standard"
who have expressed an interest in it, with a request that
they give us a decision on the copy in hand, if possible.

If this effort is not successful, we think
we had better abandon our attempt to serialise the story in
England as we will have exhausted most of the likely
sources.

Very truly yours,

19 January 1929

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton requests me to send back the two copies
of "The Age of Innocence", as she wishes to have them handsomely
bound to give away, and the printing is so bad that she prefers
to write to New York in the hope of getting copies of an earlier
printing, as these are really disgraceful.

Yours very truly

Secretary.

Mr.Blaber
c/o Messrs.D.Appleton & Co
London.

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

26 January 1929

Dear Mrs Wharton:

X Chapter 24 arrived and was rushed
down to the Delineator. This sounds as though I
were tossing a loaf of bread to a trained seal who
was suffering from hunger.

In your letter of January 4th you
ask about the film rights of THE AGE OF INNOCENCE.
As you know, this was sold to the Warner Brothers in
1922. When the dramatic version was planned, Sheldon
tells me, Miss Cornell wished to see the moving picture
contract merely to make sure it did not permit Warner
Brothers to make a talking version of the movie, as this
would hinder her production.

As the Warner contract did not inter-
fere with the dramatic version there was no controversy.
This was probably why neither Miss Cornell or Sheldon
wrote you about the matter.

Here is a letter from someone who
wishes to interview you.

Yours very sincerely,

Mrs Wharton

January 31st, 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

I am much in arrears in acknowledging your two letters of
January 10th and 18th, for I have been struggling against a tire-
some grippe of which the after-effects were much worse than the
malady, and trying at the same time to continue my writing.

Royalty statement and receipt of deposit. - My best thanks for this. I have not even been able to examine the statement yet, but will do so as soon as I am stronger.

The Delineator. - I have been as much upset by your letter of the 18th enclosing Mr. Graeve's, as if I had been in anyway to blame, which I am not, as you know. You must have a long series of letters from me all repeating that I cannot be bound by a definite date for the delivery of a novel. Moreover I knew nothing of Mr. Graeve's intention of starting "Hudson River Bracketed" before it was finished until I received the September number of the Delineator and saw that he had done so to my dismay. His cable and letter have had the result of making me so nervous that my work has gone less quickly than it would have otherwise, and I have just sent him the letter of which I enclose a copy.

I hope to send you another chapter next week, and to keep
up at this rate till the book is finished; but more than this I
cannot promise. I am sure you must have been annoyed about it too,
but the fault is entirely with Mr. Graeve, who took the foolish
risk of beginning to bring out the book without making me in
advance whether it was safe to do so.

Yours ever sincerely

Rutger B. Jewette Esqr
c/o Messrs. Appleton & Co
35, West 32nd Street
New York.

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

7 February 1929

Dear Mrs Wharton:

Chapter 25 arrived
this morning and has been sent to Delineator.

AGE OF INNOCENCE-- The
copies which we sent Mrs Jones, although
better than the copies sent you from England,
contained plates which were imperfect.
I agreed with Mrs Jones that they would not
please you, therefore, just as soon as
plates have been repaired, we shall go to
press and send you within a fortnight
copies of the new edition.

It will be better for your
binder to work with sheets folded and
gathered rather than books that have been
bound, so we shall send you the books in
this form.

THE CHILDREN -- The film
producers have made their final payment
for screen version of "The Children". Check
was deposited and cable sent notifying you
of this payment.

Yours very sincerely,

Mrs Wharton

February 11th, 1929

Rutger B. Jewett Esqr
c/o Messrs. D. Appleton & Co
35, West 32nd Street
New York

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton asks me to enclose chapter XXVII of "Hudson River Bracketed". Preceding it is a revised version of the last four pages of chapter XXVI, which Mrs. Wharton requests you to be kind enough to hand to the Delineator with chapter XXVII.

Yours very truly

Secretary.

February 14th 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

Many thanks for your letter of January 26th, enclosing
the request of the lady who wishes to interview me. I never give
interviews, and this kind of letter is not worth answering.

You must excuse my stupid mistake in asking you about the
film rights of "The Age of Innocence". Of course I knew perfectly
well (and had substantial reasons for knowing) that thei had been
sold in 1922; but when I wrote to you the other day I remembered
that Miss Cornell had made some inquiry about them, and that thought
crowded the other in my grippe-ridden brain. My excuses are that
I have had the grippe three times since October, and not until the
last attack, which I am now enjoying, have I been able to take it
seriously and stay in bed.

I am so glad you like chapter XXIV of "Hudson". I hope
it goes on warming up more and more, thoughtdoubtless Mr. Graeve
would prefer a quicker fire. However, he will be in possession of
three more chapters before this reached you, and another will go
to him this week, I hope.

I know you will be sorry to hear that the thermometer
went down to 18 Fahrenheit last night. We thought the cold was
over, but now realize that it has only just begun. I have probably
lost all my oranges, lemons and mandarins and half-hardy flowering
shrubs; in short no one will ever see this garden again as you
last saw it.

Hoping the year has begun more favourably for you, in
horticulture and other ways,

Yours very sincerely

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

14 February 1929

Dear Mrs Wharton:

Chapter 26 arrived yesterday and was sent immediately to Mr Graeve.

Thank you for sending me the copy of your letter to him. Your position is unassailable. He probably realizes even better than we his mistake in beginning serialization without consulting you or me. Having embarked on a perilous adventure he has found himself in a state of anxiety. I have told him repeatedly that you could not and would not be hurried, the quality of your work was the main thing to be considered. I am sorry for him but his troubles were caused by his own initial mistake.

You covered the ground perfectly in your letter to him.

Mrs Wharton

le Chateau

21 February 1929

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton has revised the last pages
of chapter XXVIII, of "Hudson River Bracketed",
and begs you to be kind enough to deliver them
to the Delineator, to replace the ones already
sent.

Rutger B. Jewett Esqr

le Chateau

February 25th 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

Many thanks for your friendly letter of February 14th.

I cannot tell you the harm that Mr. Graeve's inexcusable
action has done to me and, I fear, to my novel. Though I know
that I was not in the least to blame, the sense of failing to keep
an obligation (which was not one, really) made me so nervous that
the work has gone much more slowly than it would have otherwise.
But I have now decided to put the whole question of the Delineator
out of my mind, and go on as best I can without worrying about it.

Unfortunately I have had a very fatiguing form of grippe;
a mild attack with endless after effects in the shape of physical
exhaustion, and I am still so poorly that I am going off toward the
end of March for a month's holiday.

The total destruction of my garden has not helped on my
convalescence, and if I had not carried the novel so far that I am
in complete command of it, I do not believe I should be able to
finish it.

I hope by the time this reaches you you will have received
chapters XXVII and XXVIII.

Yours ever sincerely

P.S. Will you transmit the following requests to Mr. Graeve:

I- Change the Pulsifer Prize from $1.000 to $2.000.

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

26 February 1929

Dear Mrs Wharton:

Two sets of sheets folded and gathered
of "The Age of Innocence" have been sent Mrs Jones for you.
She wished to forward them herself. We had the plates
corrected and a new edition printed, so I trust the copies
prove satisfactory. Your binder will prefer to have the
sheets in this form as he can make a much better job if he
is not obliged to rip off cloth covers from books which
have been bound.

Chapter 27 with the last four pages of
Chapter 26 revised have arrived and been sent to Delineator.

I am just back from Washington where
everyone - except the old Gave Dwellers - is excited over
the Inauguration ceremonies of March 4th.

Since Hoover has come out strongly for
this fool Prohibition law, candidates for political plums
are hurrying to unfurl banners of allegiance to the arid
cause. Men who in the past have bought freely from the
bootleggers to secure wine and whiskey for dinners now
see the error of their ways and have joined the Prohibition
sisters. A new group has therefore been added to our
social life -- the *nouveau sec*.

Yours very sincerely,

Mrs Wharton

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

1 March 1929

Dear Mrs Wharton:

18° Fahrenheit deserves a cable of
condolence. I feel like writing an article on "A Garden
Tragedy." Lord, how much more devastating this is than the
death notices in the daily paper! If we could get behind
the curtain and know the truth, I'll wager that many of these
records indicate a blessed relief, not only for the dear-de-
parted but also for a suffering family. I often feel like
telegraphing congratulations instead of words of sympathy when
I hear of the passing of some selfish old tyrant who has made
life one long hell for his or her family. I am wearing crepe
for your orange trees.

Last year when in Cannes I saw many trees
pruned back to bare trunks without branches. They had been
wrecked by winter frosts. What must their condition be this
year? I fear for the roots.

It is human to attempt to outwit Mother
Nature but of course you have on the Riviera palms and fruits
transplanted from the tropics. In this climate such experiments
are impossible, so we are spared your special agony. Our deep
snows come every year. At present my garden is covered with its
white blanket. But years ago I abandoned hope of carrying
forward from year to year anything except native stock, although
something tells me I shall fall again to the lure of catalogues
and waste time and money on crysanthemums which will not survive
the winter on my bleak hill.

Yes, THE CHILDREN was chosen as the Book-
of-the-Month. We postponed publication of the regular edition
in order to secure the adoption as they had already selected
another book for the month which we had selected originally for
the publication date of THE CHILDREN.

On January 9th we sent you a complete
royalty statement including this item. To refresh your memory,
in the detailed statement you will find this entry, I think the
second item on the list, namely, 47,500 copies sold at 75 cents,
carrying a royalty of 20 percent on the price received, making a
net credit to your account for this particular item of $7,1250.00.

I trust you have strangled demon grippe
at last and are feeling stronger.

Yours very sincerely,

Mrs Wharton

II March 1929

Dear Sir,

Mrs Wharton has received your letter of Feb. 26th.
Unfortunately she has had a rather serious attack of heart failure,
and will have to remain very quiet for some weeks. She therefore
cannot write herself.

She asks me to send back the letter enclosed by you, and
would be much obliged if you would let her know if you advise
her allowing one of her early long short-stories to be used for
the purpose?

Rutger B. Jewett Esqr
c/o Messrs.D.Appleton & Co
35, West 32nd Street
<u>New York</u>

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

15 March 1929

Dear Mrs Wharton:

Yes, Chapters 27 and 28 arrived safely
and were sent down to the Delineator, also the corrected
pages came and have been sent down for substitution.

Mr Graeve has instructions to change
the amount of money involved in the Pulsifer Prize Contest
from $1,000 to $2,000.

I am distressed to know that you have
not been feeling well and wish I knew how to erase from
your mind all memory connected with magazine serialization.
Please try to forget the Delineator. This pressure has
developed into a mental and moral hazard. You are like a
golfer, faced with a pond in the middle of the course.
You probably realize all this far better than I do, nevertheless, I venture to suggest once more, forget the
magazine editors.

I am still heartsick over the fate of your
marvelous garden.

Mrs Wharton

April 30th 1929

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton is growing steadily better but is not yet able to answer letters herself. She asks me therefore to send you the enclosed revised version of chapter XXIX of Hudson River. She was already ill when she finished this chapter, and on re-reading it lately, before taking up her work again, she found it so incomplete that she has re-written it almost entirely.

She still hopes to send a new chapter in another ten days, but she has been so very ill that everything in the way of intellectual work is still a great effort, and she can make no promises.

I have shown her your letter of March 27th, concerning an offer from Mr. Caplan, of The Scriptorum Press. In this connection you ask Mrs. Wharton if she has a long-short story which has never been published in a volume. She has one which appeared years ago in an American Magazine, was never included in any of her volumes of short stories, rather through an oversight than for any particular reason. It is called "The Introducers", and Mrs. Wharton has it among her papers at Saint-Brice. With regard to other short stories, as you probably remember, Mrs. Wharton has the following ready for publication in a volume:

"Mr. Jones"

"A Bottle of Perrier"

"After Holbein"

"Dieu d'Amour"

"Atrophy".

Mrs. Wharton would like to know when you think it would be advisable to bring these out in a volume. "The Introducers" might be added, but it is more in the note of a farce, and would not fit in very well with the others. So she would rather if you approve dispose of it in some other way.

Mrs. Wharton hopes to be able to go by slow stages from here to Saint-Brice, leaving towards the end of May. She sends you her best remembrances.

October 1st 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

Many thanks for your letter of Sept. 13th, enclosing the
report on the sales of "The Children", and the amusing little
panorama of fashions. I note that there will be a special
edition of "The Children" out next year.

I am sorry that there has been another delay in my
work, but unluckily I have had the grippe, and have had to
keep very quiet, as I do whenever this old enemy returns.
However, I am better now and shall send off at least one
chapter at the end of the week.

Yours very sincerely

Rutger B.Jewett Esqr
c/o Messrs.D.Appleton & Co
35, West 32nd Street
New York

October 1st 1929

P.S.- I am sending by this post enlarged photographs of the miniatures of two of my great-grandmother's, Mrs. Rhinelander, and Mrs. Stevens. These photographs were done a good many years ago, and they are of course too much enlarged, but perhaps this will not be a drawback for reproduction.

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

October 4,
1929.

Dear Mrs. Wharton:

**CHAPTER XXXVII** - The new pages have been sent to The Delineator with instructions to return to us the original pages.

**FIRST CHAPTERS** - The revised version of the first 30 pages has been substituted in our manuscript which now goes forward for composition. I am returning to you the original 32 pages which duplicates the revised section.

**BOOK MANUSCRIPT**- We have on hand manuscript for books 1,II and III. IV has not been received. You do not mention it in your letter of September 23, but as you deal with books V and VI, I am hoping that book IV is on the water. I shall see that pagination for books V and VI (when they come) is checked and corrected to conform to the earlier books.

Galley proofs will be sent you within a few days. As we had received but a small section for book composition I waited until the revised version of the opening chapters had come. The type-setters will eat up the section which we have on hand in a day or two. I still have a fluttering hope (a feeble one, I admit) that it may be possible to issue the book this year and thus save the big orders which have been secured through our summer and fall campaign. Unless the book can be issued by November 10 the booksellers will automatically cancel the bulk of their orders. By that time they have used up their appropriation and are concentrating on selling the books deliv- ered by the publishers. Strict instructions are given not to buy anything after this date and to cancel unfilled orders. This is a trade custom which is impossible to combat. If your story moves along as rapidly for the next few weeks as it does at present there is a chance that we will receive from you the final installment before the end of October. If so, we can just squeeze in 'under the rope' and issue the book this year which will be a great benefit to you as well as to us. That is why I am still keeping my feeble flame of hope alive. It will not be possible to issue the novel this year and to send you proofs of chapters not already in our hands. Will you not, how- ever, trust the proof-reading of these sections to Mrs. Jones

October 7th 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

Many thanks for your letter of September 24th.

I am sending chapter XLII herewith and hope to get off
another in two or three days. You say nothing of sending proofs
and I am very anxious to see at any rate the first set of proofs,
on account of the numerous misprints in former books.

I have now reached the point when it has been necessary
to decide on the end of Hudson River Bracketed. As you know,
my first plan was to follow my hero through his short life of
27 or 28 years; but the interest of situating the creative
artist has been so great that I realized some time since that
this was more than could be packed into one book. I shall there-
fore end at a turning of his life, and perhaps after I have
finished my Reminiscences, I may take up the sequel. But it will
be a complete book as it stands, and the sequel would be almost
like a new novel, if ever it should be written. I hope that
four chapters more will finish the book, and give me the opport-
unity for a long rest.

Yours sincerely

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

October 11,
1929.

Dear Mrs. Wharton:

Galley proofs of the opening section of HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED goes forward to you this week.

Here are proofs of title page and minor title page. It seems to me advisable to separate your two quotations, putting the Downing paragraph on the minor title page which coming before the main title explains to the reader the inner meaning of the name of the book. The Anchester quotation I have put on the title page. Please let me know by return mail if this arrangement is satisfactory to you. It is impossible to place both on the title page without over-crowding.

**BOOK COMPOSITION:** Additional manuscript pages 169 to 257 inclusive have been received and sent to the compositor.

**CHAPTER XL1:** The new version for this chapter received and has been sent to the magazine editors.

I am sending you a fragment of a Mexican bean. Please put it on your writing pad, exercise your patience, and see what happens.

Mrs. Wharton,
Pavillon Colombe,
St brice sous Foret
France

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

Oct. 18, 1929.

Dear Mrs. Wharton:

Manuscript for book composition has been received, up to and including Chapter XL. They are being rushed into type, and will be sent to Mrs. Jones for proof reading.

Chapter XLI, in both the original and the revised versions arrived safely. The original version has been returned to us, by the Delineator, and I am sending it to you.

From your letter of October first, I judge that another chapter for the magazine is now on the water. Also enlarged photographs of the miniatures. These have not arrived yet.

Since we received your cable, we have been rushing everything into type, in the hope that we may be able to publish the book this year. I have notified the Delineator that you expect to send the remaining chapters by the end of October. I take it for granted that at the same time, you will send us for book publication the remaining section of the manuscript.

I am praying that your old enemy, the Grippe, will not get you in its clutches until the novel is finished.

Mrs. Wharton
Pavillon Colombe
St. Brice-Sous-Foret (S&O)
France

October 22nd 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

I have your letter of October 11th, and return herewith
the title page and the minor title page. I see that readers of
your generation are too young to know the once famous novel from
which I took my quotation: Charles Auchester. I suggest tentatively
that the words "Hudson River Bracketed" in the little paragraph on
the title page should be printed in Roman letters to make them stand
out more. What do you think?

I also enclose the last pages of the novel. You will see
that I have added two or three pages to chapter XLV. I intended to
begin the last chapter with these pages, but I think the present
division is better.

Unfortunately the galleys did not come till this morning,
and it is materially impossible for me to get them off by this
afternoon post. They will go by the next steamer.

Yours sincerely

Rutger B. Jewett Esqr
c/o Messrs.D.Appleton & Co
35, West 32nd Street
New York.

October 25th 1929

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton asks me to enclose the proofs. She has had
a slight break-down from fatigue since finishing the book, and
has not been able to do the proofs very carefully; but if
you will send them to Mrs. Jones, she will be able to judge
from the corrections already made what precedent to follow in
doubtful cases.

Mrs. Wharton takes it for granted that no further
proofs will come, as these will give sufficient indications
to Mrs. Jones.

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

October 26, 1929

Dear Madam:

This morning, in two successive posts, there
arrived of HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED:

1. Book copy, pages 460-510

2. Magazine copy, pages 489-511.

The latter section has been dispatched at once
to the magazine. Book copy has been turned over
to our Manufacturing Department.

It would seem that this last consignment of copy
supplies complete copy for both book and magazine
as far as the last chapter of HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED.

Mrs. Wharton
Pavillon Colombe
St. Brice-sous-Foret
FRANCE

October 28th 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

I have received your letter of October 14th, in which you suggest that I should make my hero walk out at Rockaway and walk through the town to the beach, but you will have seen by this time that in the revised version of chapter XXXVII I mention no names of towns any more than I do when Vance goes to Long Island on his honeymoon. The only reference I make to a locality is in chapter XV (page 162), where I make the manager of "Friendship House" say to Vance:

"We have a camp of our own down on Long Island, not far from Rockaway".

How would it do to change this and make him say simply: "on the south side of Long Island", suppressing the words "not far from Rockaway"? It seems to me that this would solve the difficulty.

Yours sincerely

THE CENTURY CO.
353 FOURTH AVENUE
NEW YORK

THE CENTURY
*A Popular Quarterly*
HEWITT H. HOWLAND, EDITOR

Nov. 1, 1929.

My dear Mr. Jewett:

Mr. Howland is very anxious for
Mrs. Wharton to receive the enclosed letter
and copy of the Century Quarterly which we
are sending her today in your care. Will
you please do us the favor of seeing that
it is forwarded.

Mr. R.B. Jewett,
D. Appleton and Co.,
35 West 32nd Street,
New York City.

NYC CIRCULATION
OF THE NEW YORK
DAILY NEWSPAPER

The
of New York City
Serving New York City and the United States

Sep. 1, 1947.

To my dear Walter:

I am sending you a copy of the first number of the New Century Quarterly, for if nothing else I am sure you will be interested in the essay on "Mrs. Tharson." aside from the fine critical estimates of Mrs. Tharson's work, the essay will appeal to you as a beautiful piece of writing.

With fraternal good wishes,

Yours sincerely,
Walter H. Tharson

Mr. Walter Blackwell,
D. Appleton and Co.,
28 East 22nd Street,
New York City.

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

November 2, 1929

Dear Madam:

For Mr. Jewett, who is not in the office today,
I wish to acknowledge the arrival of the con-
cluding chapters of HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED.

The chapters for the magazine have been at once
sent there and the pages for use in book compo-
sition have been forwarded to the printer.

Mrs. Wharton
Pavillon Colombe
St. Brice-sous-Forêt
FRANCE

November 13th 1929

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton has just heard that her new novel is appearing in New York on November 15th. She would be glad to know at once when it is appearing in London, and she sends you herewith a list of copies to be sent to friends in England. Mrs. Wharton begs that you will put a card in each volume "With the author's compliments".

Yours very truly

P. S. Will you kindly answer by return of post as Mrs. Wharton is leaving on Monday. She is at present

Hotel de Crillon
Place de la Concorde
Paris.

November 13th 1929

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton has just heard that her new novel, "Hudson River Bracketed" is appearing in New York on November 15th. She would be glad to know at once when it is appearing in London, and she sends you herewith a list of copies to be addressed to friends in England. Mrs. Wharton begs that you will put a card in each volume "With the author's compliments".

P.S. Will you kindly answer by return of post as Mrs. Wharton is leaving on Monday?

Mr. Blaber

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

November 13,

1929.

Dear Mrs. Wharton:

Congratulations upon bringing HUDSON RIVER
BRACKETED to its triumphant conclusion. The final chap-
ters came while I was in the hospital. I was banished
for several weeks and forced to undergo an operation.
Thank the Lord, that tiresome experience is a thing of
the past.

I am delighted with the novel from start to
finish.

In your letter of November 1, which arrived
this morning, you suggest a new arrangement for the dedi-
cation page. Some of the books have been printed already
but there is time to make this alteration before the balance
go to press. We followed your request and put your dedi-
cation on the minor title page although we always give a
special extra page for this material. I have now added a
second minor title page to provide for both the quotation
and the dedication. Books will be sent you probably
next week and I trust that you will find comparatively few
errors and will be pleased with the format of the volume.

PHOTOGRAPHS. The photographs you sent have
been received. I shall experiment and see what results
can be obtained, sending you proofs of the half-tone re-
productions. How interesting they are! What a delicious
picture of yourself at eighteen.

Instructions have been given the Treasurer not
to make further payments for your account until 1930.

In reading letters which came while I was away
I am sorry to learn that you have paid the penalty for in-
tensive work in finishing the novel. I hope from the bottom
of my heart you are resting and feeling better now.

Here is a clipping showing that Sam Merwin
mixed up railroad stations in his recent book.

Columbia University
in the City of New York

SECRETARY OF THE UNIVERSITY

November 22, 1929

Mr. Rutger Bleecker Jewett
D. Appleton and Company
35 West 32 Street
New York City

Dear Mr. Jewett

I have received the three copies of "Hudson River Brac-keted" by Edith Wharton which you nominate for the Pulitzer Prize.

VS

November 25th 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

I must begin by telling you how glad I am to know
that your hospital ordeal is well behind you by this time, and
that you are back at work. I did not write before, although my
sister-in-law had told me of your illness, because I know from
experience that the truest kindness consists in not writing to
invalids, however one's silence may be misunderstood.

Now I must thank you for your letter of November 13,
with all its news about "Hudson River Bracketed". I am sure
it is my best book, but I have little hope that the public
will think so, and as for the reviewers I have long since lost
interest in them. The only intelligent review of my work which
I have ever read is Mrs. Gilbertson's article in the New Century.
She sent me the manuscript of it some time ago and I thought it
so remarkable as a piece of literary criticism, quite apart from
its reference to my books, that I wrote her at once that she
ought to publish it. Needless to say it was turned down by
several reviews! My own belief is that a real literary critic
has at last arisen in America, for since Mr. Brownell's essays,
I have read nothing so serious and sustained as this article.

I am dreawfully sorry that a few copies of my book
have not reached me, for one of the Times Literary Supplement
critics is here. He has read part of the manuscript of "Hudson"
and is enthusiastic, and I am very anxious to give him the
book. I cannot understand why I have not received my copies,
as my sister-in-law gave one to a friend of mine who sailed
from New York on November 12th; and in your letter, dated Nov.
13th, you speak of sending "probably next week", and as your
letter is addressed to St-Brice, that will mean another delay.
All right about the quotation — I am sorry my suggestion came
too late for the first copies to be corrected.

Yours ever sincerely

V-100M-7-29

NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR GOODS LOST OR DAMAGED IN TRANSIT, SENT OR RECEIVED FOR ENCLOSURE, OR SENT BY MAIL. CLAIMS FOR ALLOWANCE MUST BE MADE UPON RECEIPT OF GOODS. ADDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO D. APPLETON & CO., NEW YORK. ADDRESS ALL PACKAGES TO 44 HEWES ST., BROOKLYN, N. Y.

NEW YORK: 29-35 WEST 32D ST.

LONDON: 34 BEDFORD ST.

ED NEW YORK, NOV 26 19 29

GEN ACCT AUTHOR

NO. 34168

TERMS NET

MRS EDITN WHARTON

SAINTE CLAIRE LE CHATEAU
HYERES /VAR/

CONVEYANCE PARCEL POST

FRANCE

D. APPLETON & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>EDUCATIONAL</th><th>TRADE</th><th>TOTAL</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>3</td><td>WHARTON HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED 2 50 1/3<br/>ONE COPY SENT TO EACH OF THE FOLLOWING<br/>MRS F G GRISWOLD 783 PARK AVE<br/>NEW YORK CITY POSTAGE</td><td>5 00</td><td></td><td>5 00</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>THE HON ROBERT GRANT 211 BAY STATE ROAD<br/>BOSTON MASS POSTAGE</td><td></td><td></td><td>08</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>MRS WINTHROP CHANLER SWEET BRIAR FARM<br/>GENESEO N Y POSTAGE</td><td></td><td></td><td>08</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>CARDS ENCLOSED</td><td></td><td></td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>5 26</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">"CHARGED TO YOUR ACCOUNT"</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

29 November 1939

Dear Mr. Jewett,

I enclose a letter from Curtis Brown. I have told him that he must apply to you to authorize this translation, which I suppose means that I must pay a double fee. I do not consider this quite fair, as all my best offers for translations and for the re-publication of stories and novels in English magazines have come to me from Curtis Brown. Mr. Blaber has never, as far as I can remember, succeeded in any of his attempted transactions, or at most only in one case.

If I should ever write another book I should ask you to let me make the same arrangement which I formerly had with Scribners, namely to retain the right of disposing of all translations of my books.

I am more and more surprised each day at the non-arrival of my copies of "Hudson River Bracketed". It is a new experience to me to have my friends writing to me about the book, and sending me reviews of it, while I am still without a copy!

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

December 3, 1929

Mrs. Wharton
Sainte Claire le Chateau
Hyeres, (Var)
France

Dear Mrs. Wharton:

Here is a statement giving a sales report of HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED on the day of publication. Following your instructions, the treasurer will deposit this check to your account early in January.

Your next statement, which is due sixty days after the date of publication, will be rendered January 8, 1930. At that time we will deposit to your account royalties for the amount earned to date of publication plus additional royalties earned from that date, November 8, 1929 to January 8, 1930.

Under separate cover I have sent you a reproduction in half-tone of one of the pictures you sent me. You will see from this what results can be obtained from these pictures. I consider the half-tone excellent and trust you will be pleased with it.

Are you still resting or have you taken up work again on the volume of memoirs?

Yesterday we had our first snow storm of the season, and I am wondering what the coming winter will be at Hyeres. I hope from the bottom of my heart that the past summer repaired much of the damage done in your garden last winter.

Sainte-Claire le Chateau

HYERES

(Var)

December 9th 1929

Dear Mr. Jewett,

The books have come at last, after many reproachful
inquiries from friends and neighbours. I will not conceal from
you that the misprints make me as mad as ever, especially those
which figure in the galleys that I revised myself. Nor do I like
your blue binding; not so much because of the colour as of the
texture, which I think very ugly. I suppose it was an experiment
and I daresay you agree with me that it is not a successful one.
I am glad to hear that the book is selling well, and certainly
the first reviews have been very favourable.

Will you kindly have copies sent from me "With the
Author's Compliments" to Royal Cortissoz Esqr., and to: Mrs.

Mrs. Winthrop Chanler
Bellevue Hotel
BOSTON

Thank you very much for sending me Mr. Whitlock's book
on La Fayette. I have glanced through it already and it seems to
me very well done and full of interesting material. What a pity
he did not let some one revise his English! A book of that sort
should be written in a language worthy of the subject, and not
mixed up with expressions like "she has her mother's spunk".

The weather here is so beautiful that my poor garden
is having every chance to recover, and I am working hard to re-
plant it.

With best Christmas wishes,

Yours sincerely

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

35 WEST 32ND STREET
NEW YORK

December 13, 1929

Dear Mrs. Wharton:

Byrd's flight over the South Pole gave
me a real thrill, perhaps because the news was sent by
radio while he was still over that snow-covered plateau.
I sent you a copy of the New York Times containing his
radio message.

The editor of a literary column is eager
to secure from you a short statement of what you consider
the most important quality which makes for personality and
charm. I pass the request on to you in case you have the
strength and inclination to grant her request.

Your cable has just come. The twelve
copies of HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED have been sent to Hyeres.
I am terribly distressed at the annoyance caused you through
the delay. I wrote last week explaining why we had waited
to send you copies of the revised corrected edition. I
am sorry now that we waited for the corrected copies.

This morning comes your letter in reference
to the Swedish edition and I have written to Blaber in reference
to the matter. I believe that he has already submitted the
book for translation in Scandinavian countries, including
Sweden. I shall let you know as soon as I receive his reply.

If you did not authorize Curtis Brown to
place the book for you, he can not possibly charge a commission.
Please do not worry about this problem how. We shall have
time to straighten this matter out latter on; I will let
you know, just how matters stand. In any case, I will see
that you are not penalized with double commissions.

Yours faithfully,

26 December 1929

Dear Sir,

Mrs. Wharton begs you to send her two copies of "Hudson River Bracketed" to the above address. As she has ordered some copies of this book from America, she asks you to cancel the list of names she sent you some time ago; these volumes were addressed from here.

Yours very truly

Secretary.

Mr. Blaber

D. APPLETON & COMPANY

TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS:
"HILANDERO, WESTRAND, LONDON."

TELEPHONE:
TEMPLE BAR 6283.

34, Bedford Street,
Covent Garden, London, W.C.2.

Tuesday, 31st December, 1929.

MRS. WHARTON,
Sainte-Claire Le Chateau,
Hyeres (Var), France.

Dear Madam,

In accordance with the letter from your secretary we have sent you two copies of HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED, and trust these copies will reach you in good order.

Three copies of HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED were forwarded to some foreign addresses before Christmas. This was in accordance with your request; but we have cancelled your instructions to send copies to the names remaining on your list, which you sent us some time ago. Enclosed is a note showing the addresses to which the three copies were forwarded. We are sorry your secretary's letter did not reach us in time to stop these three copies.