July 4, 1948.

Dear Professor Wagenknecht,

Your kind, appreciative letter was received
with pleasure and some relief, for I had been a little
worried since I had received your previous one saying
that the story had not arrived.

I am glad to know that you like my contribution
and your letter to Mr. von Auw seems to cover every-
thing.

I hope, meanwhile, that everything proceeds
according to plan, and that your Anthology will be
a great success from every point of view.

Here in London we are having a somewhat gloomy
Summer, in fact the only good weather we experienced
for any space of time was for a period of two weeks
in early Spring.

With sincere good wishes,

Yours as ever,

233 Otis Street
West Newton 65 Mass.

June 24, 1948

Dear Mr. von Auw:

Your letter, and Mrs. Long's story, "A Stranger
Knocked" came this morning at a most opportune time, just as
I was putting together the copy for A FIRESIDE BOOK OF YULE-
TIDE STORIES.

Indeed, Mrs. Long and I have been in correspondence
about this story! I am very proud to tell you that it was written
specifically for my book, and I am happy indeed to have it. I en-
close two notes from Mrs. Long which will serve as evidence for
these statements, and I should like to have them returned for
my files.

You will note that Mrs. Long has submitted this story
at "the usual anthology fee." That means fifty dollars. I should
not have ventured to ask her to write a story for this fee, but
she kindly offered to do so, as she wished to be in my book.

Although the story is signed "Marjorie Bowen," you
will note that Mrs. Long suggested that unless I preferred "Mar-
jorie Bowen" I should use the Joseph Shearing by-line. I am,
therefore, putting the story is, as by Joseph Shearing.

Since the story has not been printed before, I suggest
that it be copyrighted separately in the author's name, and that
the credit-line, at the bottom of the page on which the story
begins read as follows: "Copyright, 1948, by Joseph Shearing."
It is understood that Mrs. Long retains reprint rights.

Will you let me know, as soon as possible, whether
these arrangements meet with your approval, and will you advise
me also whether the fee should be sent, upon publication, to you
or direct to Mrs. Long. I am sending a copy of this letter to her
by airmail.

1721 Chancellor Street
Evanston, Illinois

April 9, 1947

Dear Mrs. Long:

So you thought I looked like Chesterton! Well, just so long as you do not give me his voice, I will forgive you! But there must be a quality of robustness in my letter-writing that I had not suspected.

The picture on the circular is fifteen years old. I look -- well, I look fifteen years older now. I just can't drag myself to a studio to go through the agony of having another one taken!

If you don't like that picture of you that the _New York Times_ used, you will just have to break down sooner or later and send me a picture. Seriously, however, that is not the only picture of you I have ever seen. I have the idea that Athelstan looks a good deal like you. Is that right?

By this time you should have your hundred dollars from Bobbs-Merrill and also your copy of _The Fireside Book of Ghost Stories_. Do let me know what you think of it, and especially let me know if you _don't_ like any of the things in it.

Last week on Monday the ghost book was published, and on the same day I sent Creative Age Press the "copy" for the Abraham Lincoln anthology; on Wednesday I sent Bobbs-Merrill the preliminary prospectus for the _Romance_ book.

There are two stories of yours in the prospectus -- "Ann Mellor's Lover" and "The Scoured Silk." May I have these on terms somewhat like those which covered the three stories in the ghost book? If so, will you write me a separate letter again for the publisher's files? I take it you publishers are no longer involved. "Ann Mellor's Lover" is from _Seeing Life_! (Hurst & Blackett) and "The Scoured Silk" from _Crimes of Old London_ (Odhams Press). "The Scoured Silk" isn't by any chance included in _Kecksies_, which Derleth will publish for Arkham House; is it? If so, perhaps he has an interest in reprint rights. I am inquiring.

Should you mind if I printed "The Scoured Silk" as by Joseph Shearing rather than as by Marjorie Bowen? I shall already have the Bowen by-line on "Ann Mellor's Lover." Also, since "The Scoured Silk" is a crime story, it would be suitable for Shearing. Let me know about this too, please.

-2-

How wonderful it is that you should have four film produc-
tions! I rejoice with you in this good fortune.

It is good that Harpers are doing the new Shearing book. I
am taking up a relationship as a kind of literary adviser to Bobbs-
Merrill, and I am planning to write to Harold Ober to see if we
cannot get B-M interested in your books. If you have any ideas
from time to time concerning British books that ought to be pub-
lished in America, do let me have them.

I am happy about the sales of *Nightcap and Plume* -- and surprised too, for I should have thought it would have been less widely read than some of your less solid, more sensational books.

I have just received a copy of *Dr. Chaos*; and *The Devil Snar'd*.
Both these stories are good, and the latter seems to me quite extra-
ordinary. Frank Baker handles a somewhat similar problem in his new
novel, *Before I Go Hence*, but you do it much more successfully.

Last night I saw Katherine Hepburn in *Undercurrent*, a tense melodrama, with a sinister mystery in the background, and a good deal of atmosphere which made me think the author might have been reading Joseph Shearing.

From your remark "Forrest Reid is a real loss," I assume that
he must have died. The news reaches me first through you, and I am
very sorry. It must have been a great loss to de la Mare. Charles
Williams I do not know, but will look him up.

Did I tell you that I was trying a juvenile biography of
Mark Twain for Houghton's Lynd Ward series? I did a first draft
and submitted it. Much to my surprise, since this is a completely
new field for me, it was not rejected, though they do want con-
siderable rewriting. I think they are right in all their sugges-
tions, and I think I can do it, though not perhaps with complete
success. I imagine I will have done what I can do at least by the
time you get this. Then I must try at once and see whether I can
do the stories about Jesus.

I am seriously considering buying a farm in New England. If
my writing continues to do well, I hope to be able to cut my teach-
ing down to one semester each year, which would mean that I could
live in New England, in the country, the other week eight
months, all this, of course, with a view to easing out of teaching
altogether when and if it becomes possible. (I don't like to burn
my bridges behind me.) The farm would have to be worked for me, and
I don't imagine it would do much more than pay the taxes -- it
might reduce my income tax -- but if it gave us a country home,
that in itself would be well worth while. I'm scared to death of
this senseless new American imperialism -- how can a man want to
be president of the United States when he does not possess one
single discernible brain? -- and I seriously feel that if things
come to the worst it might not be a bad idea to have some land
to hold on to. What a time you have been having! We shuddered at
the possibility last year when the coal strike was on, for we
too are an "all electric" house.

With affectionate regards, as ever,

Edward Wagenknecht

October 26, 1946

Dear Mrs. Long:

I have your letters and also the four books which your husband sent, for all of which my gratitude. The books are "The State of English at the Peace of Ryswick," two copies of "The Story of the Temple," and "Ethics in Modern Art." I had this fine essay before in the paper-covered edition, but I am glad to have the bound copy, especially since it is such a charmingly-made little book.

The manuscript of *The Fireside Book of Ghost Stories* is now in the hands of my publisher and glad I am to be rid of it at last. All three of your stories are in it. But I think the fees you asked me for them are too low. I have, therefore, put you down for $100 for the three stories; I am very glad to have them at that rate.

The anthology which contains *Moss Rose* is due for publication in January or February, but it may be delayed. The title is *Murder By Gaslight*. The other items are *Lady Audley's Secret*, *The Dead Alive*, by Wilkie Collins, *The Lodger*, by Mrs. Belloc-Lowndes, and two plays -- *Angel Street* and *Ladies in Retirement*. You will receive $300 for *Moss Rose*, and if the sale goes above 30,000 copies you will receive more in proportion. Also, this book is pretty sure to go into a popular edition, and you will be paid further for that.

The Jesus-anthology and *When I Was a Child* -- with the section from your autobiography -- will both be out in November, and you will receive your copies. I go to New York November 15 for a party to launch the Jesus-anthology.

Don't worry about my not liking your pot-boilers." You speak scornfully of *The Veil'd Delight*, yet I enjoyed it immensely.

By the way, I have meant to tell you for some time that I have found two other stories which have the same plot as "The Prescription." I found both of them in a single morning, when I was reading for the ghost-book -- an amazing experience. Both are American. One is in *The Shape of Fear*, by Ella Peattie; the other is "The Night Call," in *The Unknown Quantity*, by Henry van Dyke. Though both are earlier than "The Prescription," I doubt very much that you ever saw either of them. Neither one comes within hailing-distance of your story. The Peattie is very slight; the van Dyke has a pleasant literary flavor, but is defective as a ghost-story. After all, the basic situation might well occur to a hundred writers: the physician called to attend a ghostly patient. And if you want to authenticate his visit, the easiest way to do it would be to have him leave something behind. And what would a physician leave -- obviously, his prescription! The sinister atmosphere of "The Prescription" is completely your own, and the fine build-up involving the medium, the tomb in the church, etc.

-2-

One thing more: are you still looking for suggestions for crime novels? I have found three in Ferris Greenslet's new book, *The Lowells and Their Seven Worlds*. One of them is a famous early American crime, the Jason Fairbanks case. I know you don't want to write a story with an American setting, but I should think if the idea appealed to you, you might move the thing over to England. The book is published by Houghton Mifflin Company. Let me know if you are interested.

These crimes get into a book about the Lowells because the Lowells were involved in them as lawyers.

Were you edified by the pictures of the hanged Nazis in the newspapers? And by the picture of the American hangman, evidently an even lower type of life than any of his victims, drinking whisky with a "buddy" afterwards to celebrate his achievement? No such horrors would have been permitted in any British or American newspaper twenty-five years ago; it shows how the public mind has been brutalized that they should be tolerated now. I am really surprised that they did not make motion pictures of the thing. It seems to me there is a good deal of sound sense in the enclosed editorial from yesterday's *Tribune*.

I hope all is going well with you and your family. Men of all kinds -- good and bad -- and of all brands of political and religious faith seem to be able to die bravely, even in a bad cause. Do you suppose they will ever learn how to live decently? The Catholics would say that it is all due to the downfall of the Church. But there was a little institution called the Inquisition, if I remember rightly, and even Goering could have learned something from Torquemada.

September 1, 1946

Dear Mrs. Long:

It was so nice to have your letter. And I am delighted to hear that you'll face the prospect of having three novels filmed. That will let you in on some money that has long been overdue. Let's all keep our fingers crossed!

I am delighted to hear that *Nightcap and Plume* has sold well, for it is one of your easiest novels to read; it's pretty solid historical stuff. Have you anything but the New Shearing coming out this year?

In the back of *Exchange Royal*, which I recently acquired, I find listed a novel by you called *The Great Intrigue*. Did this ever come out? Or was the title changed? I never heard of it. If it exists, I must add it to my list.

Speaking of British films, I suppose you have seen *Henry V*? I remain unshaken in my opinion that Laurence Olivier is a mediocre actor. But he is a far from medicore producer, and the film is certainly an eye-satisfying piece of craftsmanship. Not a creative piece of cinema art, of course, as *The Birth of a Nation* and *Potemkin* and *The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari* and *The Passion of Joan of Arc* were cinema art, but that kind of thing does not exist any more. It is too bad that all this money and care had to be lavished on Shakespeare's worst play, a vicious piece of jingoism. But one understands why it would be chosen in wartime.

*Caesar and Cleopatra* is running here, but I have not seen it yet. Vivien Leigh is being advertised as "the most seductive beauty the world has ever seen"! I tried to see it, *one Monday afternoon*, but even with the prices at ninety-cents per head, there were no seats available in the theater. *Henry V* is being shown in legitimate theaters, at prices which, for a film, are scandalous -- $1.20 and $1.80 in the afternoon, $1.80 and $2.40 at night. It was booked for two weeks in Chicago, but has settled down for a "run." For that matter, theater-prices, like everything else, are swandalous now -- legitimate plays in Chicago are now $4.20 for main floor seats and even $4.80. I can assure you my theater-going will be widely spaced. I don't see how people on moderate incomes can go on living with things as they are; if I hadn't happened to make extra money with my books of late years -- the first real money I have ever made out of them -- I really don't know what we would do.

August 26, 1946

Dear Mrs. Long:

It seems like a long time since I have heard from
you. Since I last wrote, I have made a trip to New York and
back, where I received -- and rejected -- an offer from Queens
College. It would have been very agreeable to get into a liberal
arts school again, but I don't think this is the liberal arts
school I want. The atmosphere is too teachers-college-like, with
too much stress on pedagogy. Also I was sure that more would be
expected of me than here at Illinois Tech and that consequently
I should have less time for writing. I have friends -- President
Eliot's grandson and his wife -- who are trying to get me into
Smith, which is exactly the kind of place where I ought to be,
and which would have for me the added inducement of permitting
me to live in New England. However, that is only hope so far.
By the way, Mrs. Eliot, who has written both novels and juveniles,
is a tremendous admirer of your work.

The ghost book has at last reached the preliminary pro-
spectus stage. I cut it down from 1,100,000 words to 300,000, and
I am going to have to cut 50,000 words more before it goes to the
printer. However I am covering everything listed in applications
for permissions, thinking there will be some pieces that I shall
not be able to get and others on which the price will be too high.
But you can well understand how I feel, having slashed the book as
I have. Some sections have been eliminated entirely and each of
those which remain is only the ghost of its former self! I thought
you might like to see the prospectus. I have sent one to Walter de
la Mare and asked him to mail it to you instead of sending it back
to me when he is through with it.

You will find two of your stories in it -- "The Crown
Derby Plate" and "The Avenging of Ann Leete" -- both from _The Last
Bouquet_. You told me that you wanted me to apply direct to you for
these, rather than to John Lane; will you, therefore, write me how
much you want for them? This should be in a separate letter, which
I can turn over to the publishers for their files. Be sure to mention
the fact that you are giving permission for the United States and
Canada.

Though my collection of your books is now approaching the
hundred mark, I have never seen a copy of Shearing's _Orange Blossoms_.
At the last minute, I heard that this collection contains a ghost
story, "They Found My Grave." I am now trying to locate a copy; the
Library of Congress copy, unfortunately, is out. It would be nice
to have the Shearing name, as well as the Bowen name, in the book;
if I use the Shearing story, I may (or may not) have to drop "The

EDWARD WAGENKNECHT

1721 CHANCELLOR STREET

EVANSTON, ILLINOIS

August 31, 1945

Dear Mrs. Long:

I have had several most interesting letters from you since my return to San Diego; and the other day I received two books -- The Haunted Vintage and I Dwelt in High Places. I have delayed sending these to Mr. Derleth because your letter mentioned some other items that I thought you might be sending, and I was waiting for these. (Black Magic, for example, has not appeared.) However, I must not delay any longer, and I am getting these books ready to go to him now. I have passed on to him all the relevant information you sent me in your letters, and I earnestly hope something may come of it. I understand that if Mr. Derleth decides to reprint either or both of these books, he may retain the printed copy/copies to use as printer's copy, and that otherwise they are to be returned to you. I have instructed him accordingly.

My *Fireside Book of Christmas Stories* will be out in September, the childhood book next year. And I am just on the verge of signing a contract with Prentice-Hall to do them an anthology of novels of crime and mystery. I have not yet heard from them as to the contents, but if I do not get a Joseph Shearing in, it will not be my fault!

You are characteristically generous when you say you do not want any money for possible reprints of your early novels, but I think you should be paid, whether the works are protected by copyright or not. I imagine Mr. Derleth will feel the same way, though I have, of course, no control over what he does. I have no second collection of supernatural stories lined up yet, though I hope to be able to arrange for one. This was the collection in which I hoped to be able to reprint Black Magic -- which I have never read -- but when Mr. Derleth expressed interest, I at once affixed a tax on him, thinking that you would get more if he published the book by itself on a royalty basis than you would if I did it, for an outright fee, as part of a larger collection. But if it does fall to me, I think you should be paid a price which bears some relationship to what I pay for other similar material in the same volume.

I told you in my last letter that if you were interested I would try to get copies of Mary Johnston's *Foes* and *Michael Forth* for you. I took a turn through the second-hand stores one day -- both books are out of print -- and found a *Foes*, which I send you under separate cover. I couldn't, on that occasion, find a *Michael Forth*, but I shall have one for you sooner or later; it is not a very hard book to find.

Bowes & Bowes in Cambridge have proved far more efficient in finding your out of print books for me than anybody else. I have tried so far; they found nine at one fell swoop. Between them and what I picked up in Los Angeles and San Diego this summer (where I toured the second-hand shops looking for you!) I have just acquired: Kings at Arms, Mr. Misfortunate, God's Playthings, Because of These Things, A Knight of Spain, The Veil'd Delight, The Carnival of Florence, The Quest of Glory, The Sword Decides, The Gentleman from Virginia, Tumult in the North, and The Burning Glass.

I was much interested in what you wrote about Gaslight -- the name of the play was Angel Street -- and also in the possibility of several of your novels being filmed. That is a profitable business. Re-reading Blanche Fury the other day, it struck me that that would be a fine part for Bette Davis; I have accordingly sent her a line to suggest it to her.

Of course I was much interested also in what you wrote about the war, whose sudden ending must be an even greater joy to you than it is to most of us. I wonder have you as yet heard from Athelstan? I devoutly hope so. I can't say that I feel any more comfortable living with the atomic bomb, nor that it increases me store of pride to feel that my country made this delightful little contribution to the liveableness of life. The immediate result undoubtedly was to shorten the war, and perhaps even to save life, but what of the future? I fear none of us have any occasion now for a feeling of moral superiority. As for the future, it is clear that we must now choose between total peace and total annihilation.

San Diego State College

San Diego, California

August 1, 1945

Dear Mrs. Long:

It was characteristically charming of you to write as you did about "The Prescription." The book is going into page proof, and I am ordering the acknowledgement to be made both to you and to John Lane. However, the fee will not be paid before publication, and if the publishers have made a mistake it seems to me there will still be time to get it cleared up before then. Surely I don't want to pay them any money that I can pay to you! Though with the British and American income tax what it is, heaven knows you would get little enough on any count.

Do you want me to tell John Lane what you say; or would you prefer to take it up with them? Please let me know.

What do you think of the British election? I can't honestly say that I think Churchill the man who ought to make the peace, but if a Labor government will be more subservient to Stalin than a Conservative government would be, I fear I view the change with some alarm.

I found a copy of one of your books in San Diego -- *The Burning Glass* -- and I had a letter the other day from Bowes & Bowes in Cambridge, who have located no fewer than nine for me! If only somebody else doesn't grab them before my letter gets back to them!

I leave for Chicago Sunday; so all further correspondence goes to Evanston, as usual. I've had a lonely six weeks here without my family, and shall be glad to get back.

Every good wish, and renewed thanks!

I had dinner the other night with Lillian Gish, who told me what a wonderful woman you were and how much she admired you!

May 5, 1945

Dear Mrs. Long,

Your letter of April 9 -- which arrived this morning -- is the first I have had from you in a long time. In fact I had not heard at all that *Six Novels of the Supernatural* had arrived, and I intended to write you shortly and inquire. I don't understand why your letters should have miscarried now that ships are not being sunk, and I am greatly distressed to have missed them.

I am so glad that you enjoyed the anthology. The illustrious Miss Eudora Welty condemned it at great length in the *New York Times Book Review* on the ground that the stories were *religious* rather than *supernatural* and that only *The Terror* frightened her greatly! Which seems to me a curious basis on which to judge a supernatural story!

I have just sent Bobbs-Merrill the copy for a 250,000 word anthology, *The Fireside Book of Christmas Stories*, and Dutton the copy for a 170,000 word anthology of memories of childhood, chosen from autobiographical writings, as yet unpublished. The former may be out this fall -- I hope so -- the other the exigencies of the paper situation will probably keep off the market until the fall of 1946. You are in both books -- "The Prescription" from *The Last Bouquet* in the Christmas book and Chapter I of *The Debate Continues* as far as p. 24 in the other one. They will both be better to me for having you in them. Arrangements for "The Prescription" were made through John Lane; Heinemann referred my letter about *The Debate Continues* to Harold Ober.

Viking will not do any more novel-anthologies because Mr. Covici and I could not agree on selections for the adventure story omnibus; however my agent hopes to place them elsewhere. Viking were not very satisfactory people to deal with anyway. I have not yet been able to find a copy of *Black Magic* to consider for a second supernatural collection.

I have found a few more of your books during the past year-- Idler's *Gate*, for one -- but not nearly so many as I should have thought would have turned up by this time.

I am very grateful to you for *The Abode of Love*, and very proud of my copy. It came earlier in the week, and I at once put aside everything else to read it. (Incidentally, Messrs. Hutchinson have put it up in a form which almost makes it necessary to choose between one's eyes and it!)

I do not need to tell you that I have enjoyed it very much, and I am greatly distressed to hear that you have not found an American publisher for it. I have long since given up any idea I may once have entertained that there is any sense to what publishers do, but if I might hazard a guess it would be this. They have Joseph Shearing all comfortably pigeon-holed as a novelist of crime. This time he has not written of crime; therefore they are afraid of him!

I suppose we must admit also that religious fanaticism is not a popular subject. You say you don't think the book contains anything that could offend anyone. Neither do I, unless perhaps the publisher might have been afraid that Mrs. Glascott's views on the subject of religion, when the cult finally breaks up, would be taken as the views of the author. Certainly there is nothing else.

Did I tell you that I had read George Preedy's *The Fourth Chamber*, and enjoyed it?

What are you working on now? Hasn't there been a Marjorie Bowen since *Force Makes a Way*?

You mention *God and the Wedding Dress*. This is one of my favorites among your novels. I am almost equally fond of Mr. Tyler's *Saints*, which seems to me to have much of the quality of *John Ingelsant* without being in any sense derivative of it.

Now to a more important matter. You say you are losing the translation rights of the William III novels because you cannot get a copy of *God and the King*. I have one, and if you still want it, I will send it to you. Needless to say, I shall not be happy about losing it, but with so much at stake, I surely do not wish to hold on to it. Say the word, then, and I shall mail it at once. (This is the reason why I am sending this letter airmail.)

I am sorry to hear that you still are not hearing about your sons. I expect the war in Europe will be over today, but that will not help you with Athelstan. Tremendous events crowd so upon each other's heels nowadays that one savors none of them -- Roosevelt. . . Mussolini. . . Hitler. . . . I don't see how you endured the robots. Did you have to remain in London? The worst thing about it all is that I think we are going to have to build for the future much more sensibly and much more magnanimously than most of show any indication of wishing to build before we can be sure that the terrible sacrifice has not been in vain! Strange that the people who gloated imaginatively over the horrible sight at Milan should not have been able to realize that they were enslaved to the same blood-lust that enthralled the man whose body was abused there!

I'm teaching summer term at San Diego State College, California.