204 Baronne Street

Telephone Main 564

New Orleans, La.

JEAN TOOMER COLLECTION

DOUBLE DEALER

A National Magazine From the South

July 5, 1922

### EDITORS

Julius Weis Friend

Basil Thompson

### MANAGING EDITOR

Walter Yust

### ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Albert Goldstein

John McClure

Louis Gilmore

Olive Boullemet Lyons

### CORRESPONDENTS

Vincent Starrett, Chicago

John V. A. Weaver, New York

Arthur Symons, England

Alfred Kreyborg, Italy

### STAFF

Gideon Townsend Stanton

Flo Field

Marguerite Samuels

Natalie Scott

Lyle Saxon

### STAFF ARTIST

Olive Leonhardt

### CONTRIBUTORS

Benjamin De Casseres

Lola Ridge

William Saphier

Haniel Long

Stephen Ta Van

Paul Eldridge

Louis Untermeyer

Herman George Scheffauer

Oscar Williams

Louise Townsend Nicholl

Carolyn Hall

Jeannette Marks

Marx Sabel

Helen Hoyt

Lafadadio Hearn

Lord Dunsany

Cale Young Rice

Ben Hecht

Padraic Colum

Darrell Figgis

Charles J. Finger

Llewellyn Jones

Babette Deutsch

Alice Corbin

Carl Van Vechten

Maxwell Armfield

Edward Sapir

Henry Bellamann

Howard Mumford Jones

Burton Rascoc

Glenn Ward Dresbach

Alice Sessums Leovy

Grace Hazard Conkling

Hart Crane

William Griffith

William Alexander Percy

Emma Veronica Sanders

Maxwell Bodenheim

### BUSINESS MANAGER

Horace Gumbel, Jr.

Dear Mr. Toomer:

We were very glad indeed to receive your cordial letter. And we are glad to learn that you have been interested in The Double Dealer. It is doubtful if you are as interested in The Double Dealer, however, as we are in you.

Your account of your descent and life confirms us in our belief that you can, if you choose to do so, become an artist of exceptional achievement. We feel a high degree of confidence in your future. The blend of races has produced remarkable literature in the past. It will do so in future, and the work which you showed us three weeks ago seems to all of us not only full of rich promise but, to a great extent, of rich fulfillment. It will afford us great pleasure to be able to print something of yours, if you will keep us in mind for other manuscripts. The thing for which we are grateful in your case is your accurate conception of literature as an art. There are so few men in America who even suspect that literature is an art. You have a firm grasp on the aesthetics of language, and, with your blend of racial strains, should produce unusual and beautiful things. The social problem, the bitter riddle of progress and "construction", has warped the genius of so many men who have had Negro blood in their veins, as you say. You see deeper than the superficial (though bitter and troubling) problems of the races. Your work has the elemental, universal human touch.

"Fern" and "Karintha" were excellent, more excellent than the other manuscripts, we felt, though all were good. We should have been glad to print them, but we were frankly afraid. The bigotry and the prejudice of the South do not permeate our subscription list to a great extent, but we undoubtedly do to a certain extent. Also there are the guarantors on whom we depend for support. There would have been hospitality which, in absolute probability, would have sent The Double Dealer on the rocks. We felt that the existence of the magazine was more important than any single manuscript.

204 Baronne Street

Telephone Main 564

New Orleans, La.

The
DOUBLE DEALER

-2-

Seldes should be willing to print "Fern" and "Karintha". Circulating in the north largely, The Dial does not need to fear the sort of hostility which we should have to face. If The Dial does not use them, it seems to me almost certain that Broom would use them, as well as much more of your work.

Meantime, please keep us in mind for anything you can spare to send to us. And please don't hold back anything because it seems to you to be something which would endanger The Double Dealer. We can go a long way in some respects, and we should like to see anything.

And we should appreciate it if you will let any of your writing acquaintances (who are seriously interested in the art of letters) know that we are eager to see anything that they have which they think might interest us.

I am glad to hear that you know Waldo Frank. He should be a stimulating fellow. He is an interesting literary figure. You have the capacity to surpass him, however, I think, as he lacks your sanity. I have seen nothing of Frank's which is as good as your "Karintha".

I hope your reference to a period of sterility was unfounded. I feel sure that it is. You seem to me to be just getting your stride.

All good wishes.

I need to warn you that The Double Dealer is hard up. It pays a low rate for manuscripts and pays slowly. We are sometimes as late as sixty days in paying up, and the rate for prose is only 2/3 of a cent a word, for verse about 20-25 cents a line.

### EDITORS

Julius Weis Friend

Basil Thompson

### MANAGING EDITOR

Walter Yust

### ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Albert Goldstein

John McClure

Louis Gilmore

Olive Boullemet Lyons

### CORRESPONDENTS

Vincent Starrett, Chicago

John V. A. Weaver, New York

Arthur Symons, England

Alfred Kreymborg, Italy

### STAFF

Gideon Townsend Stanton

Flo Field

Marguerite Samuels

Natalie Scott

Lyle Saxon

### STAFF ARTIST

Olive Leonhardt

### CONTRIBUTORS

Benjamin De Casseres

Lola Ridge

William Saphier

Haniel Long

Stephen Ta Van

Paul Eldridge

Louis Untermeyer

Herman George Scheffauer

Oscar Williams

Louise Townsend Nicholl

Carolyn Hall

Jeannette Marks

Marx Sabel

Helen Hoyt

Lafadio Hearn

Lord Dunsany

Cale Young Rice

Ben Hecht

Padraic Colum

Darrell Figgis

Charles J. Finger

Llewellyn Jones

Babette Deutsch

Alice Corbin

Carl Van Vechten

Maxwell Armfield

Edward Sapir

Henry Bellamann

Howard Mumford Jones

Burton Rascoe

Glenn Ward Dresbach

Alice Sessums Leovy

Grace Hazard Conkling

Hart Crane

William Griffith

William Alexander Percy

Emma Veronica Sanders

Maxwell Bodenheim

### BUSINESS MANAGER

Horace Gumbel, Jr.

PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPY: ORIGINAL MATERIAL RESTRICTED

1341 You Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C.,
30 June 1922.

JEAN TOOMER COLLECTION

Dear Mr McClure,

The Miss together with your letter, just in. Though I have just passed through a sleepless night (Washington in summer is torture for one passing from a creative phase to a stretch of comparative sterility) the warmth and interest of your note draws an immediate reply.

My position in America has been a curious one. As near as I can tell, there are seven race bloods within this body of mine: French, Dutch, Welsh, Negro, German, Jewish, and Indian. And they get along, if you will believe me, quite amicably! My father and his folks were Georgians. On my mother's side we hail from Georgia and New Orleans. My grandfather, P.B.S. Pinchback, was at one time lieutenant and then acting governor of Louisiana. The Double Dealer is on the spot of the old hunting grounds. One half of my family is definitely white, the other, definitely colored. For my own part, I have lived equally amid the two race groups. And, i alone, as far as I know, have striven for a spiritual fusion analagous to the fact of racial intermingling. It has been rough riding. Nor am I through. Have just begun, in fact. This, however, has neither social nor political implications. My concern is solely with art. What am I? From my own point of view, naturally and inevitably an American. Viewed from the world of race distinctions, I take the color of whatever group I at the time am MEMEK so journing in. As I become known, I shall doubtless be classed as a Negro. I shall neither fight nor resent it. There will be more truth than they know in what they say, for my writing takes much of its worth from that source. I have had a most torturous and dispersed life. The wealth which my family once had, quitted away to almost nothing. There seem to have been no shop keepers, amongst us. I have lived by turn in Washington (this is my birthplace), New York, Chicago, Sparta, Georgia, and several smaller towns. Neither the universities of Wisconsin, Chicago, or New York seemed able to give me what I wanted, so I quit them. Just how I finally found my stride in writing, is difficult to lay hold of. It has been cussing through for the last four years, though it was only after a recent trip to Georgia that my spirit seemed to fructify. And even now, of course, I am conscious of a fullness and a power which I have as yet been unable to express. I have rather a wide experience (I am twenty seven) and a rich material to draw from. I have worked in grocery stores and shipyards. I have twice hiked from Washington to New York. And my acquaintances number a fair quote of the unusual in people. The one nearest to my aims and aspirations is Waldo Frank. Two years ago I had an hour's talk with him in New York (we met at a party given by Lola Ridge), it achieved a rapport which was in fine evidence when two months ago I sent him several of my Miss for criticism. For the past two years I have been in solitude here in Washington. It may be begging hunger to say that I am staking my living on my work. So be it. The mould is cast, and I cannot turn back even if I would.

About the Dial: yes, I have sent them one or two things, Becky" and a twenty page Ms. Mr Seldes wrote me that they were pressed for space to the extent that they were excenting very little new material, and that, while my Is interested them, it did not persuade them to

2

increase the number of ms on hand. Either "Fern" or "Marintha" should be more acceptable to them. But the proposition is a hard one. Fortunately, I have been gifted with patience, and, really, a note from those who trully appreciate and deeply understand, more than compensates for a wider publicity. I was almost certain of a genuine response from you; I have not been disappointed. Several of my ms are with Broom. I suppose that they, printing in Italy, are my best chance.

Of course I have quite a bit of stuff about the house here. Poems, sketches, and sketch plays. But I am not certain what it is you can use. I know conditions generally, but not specifically. Tell me definitely what you want, and if I have it, I'll be glad to send it in.

I think that the Double Dealer is doing a wonderful piece of work, miraculous alomst to one who knows the south that stretches away in all directions from the borders of New Orleans. The names of Sherwood Anderson, Padraic Colum, and Alfred Kreyberg alone testify to this. And your attitude towards the "almighty higger" is fine. You can do much in this line. Granting that such a thing is necessary and desirable, it will be some years before Negro contributors will rise to the level and abundance of filling a genuine literary magazine. The great majority of them are so entangled in "progress" that when one does emerge, he invariably bears the ear marks of the enasculated social machine. The real thing, when it comes, may stutter for lack of adequate guidance and means of expression. You are awake to the possibilities. Several colored people with literary interests, if not achievements, are following you, somewhat skeptically to be sure, but, in so far as they are able, earnestly, sincerely, here in Washington. The review of René Maran's Batouala was hailed as a miracle coming from the south.

This past Christmas I was in New Orleans. Came down with my grandfather's body. I dropped in the Paul Worthy Book Shop, chatted with someone there a while, thought I'd run around to the Double Dealer office, then changed my mind. The contrast between the old foggies who clung to the memory of the governor of the seventies and the charged atmosphere of your place seemed too violent. Some displacement must have occurred, something disastrous happened! I contented myself with several back numbers of the magazine which I read on my way back north.

Again let me tell you how I appreciate your note.

JEAN TOOMER COLLECTION
FISK UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
SE

1341 You Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
22 July 1922.

Dear John McClure

that was a fine letter from you. Very fine. It sets one more solid
pillar beneath me. I managed to get away to Harpers Ferry for two weeks.
Most of my mail was forwarded. Yours, however, I just received a day or
so ago.

I am sending a batch of Mrs. and hope that a few at last will meet
your needs. I have more on hand, of course, but these sent are among the
ones which I will include in my book. If things go well it should come
out some time this coming Spring. I think that I shall call it CANE.
Having as sub-heads Cane Stalks and Choruses (Karintha, Fern, etc. and two
longer pieces), Leaves (poems), and Leaf Traciers in Washington, under
which I shall group such things as "For M.W., and other sharp, brief vig-
nettes of which I have any number. I do not wish to force myself, and
haven't. But I feel that a precipitant is urgently needed just at this
time. The concentrated force of a volume will do a great deal more than
isolated pieces possibly could. And then, of course, more than anything
else, I have the impulse to its creation. After all, whatever my mind
says, I can only go things when I have a deep "feel" for them.

I do conceive of literature as an art. It is innate in me. The
other sort of stuff I cannot write, as easy as many of my friends think it
should be for me. Then are a world apart, like the third is to the
second dimension.

JEAN TOOMER COLLECTION
FISK UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
No. 8528

204 Baronne Street

JEAN TOOMER "COLLECTION"

Telephone No. 561

New Orleans, La.

The
DOUBLE DEALER

No. 436

August 14, 1922

Dear Jean Toomer:

Will you give us an alternative
title on "Calling Jesus"? There is objection to
it on the staff here---though why, I can't quite
see--- and we should like very much to print the
sketch. I hope you will agree to change it and
let me know by return mail. We also want to print
"Storm Ending". One or both we wish to run in
the September issue. But the title of "Calling
Jesus" will have to be changed to conform with the
scruples of some of our staff.

I will report on the other man-
uscripts as quickly as possible. We are certain only
of these two, but wish to read the others carefully
again.

If you wish to add anything to
the information you have already given us, for use
in our notes on contributors, I wish you would
write it in at once. Our September issue will
be closed about the 22nd and we will need the notes
before then.

EDITORS

Julius Weis Friend

Basil Thompson

MANAGING EDITOR

Walter Yust

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Albert Goldstein

John McClure

Louis Gilmore

Olive Boullemet Lyons

CORRESPONDENTS

Vincent Starrett, Chicago

John V. A. Weaver, New York

Arthur Symons, England

Alfred Kreymborg, Italy

STAFF

Gideon Townsend Stanton

Flo Field

Marguerite Samuels

Natalie Scott

Lyle Saxon

STAFF ARTIST

Olive Leonhardt

CONTRIBUTORS

Benjamin De Casseres

Lola Ridge

William Saphier

Haniel Long

Stephen Ta Van

Paul Eldridge

Louis Untermeyer

Herman George Scheffauer

Oscar Williams

Louise Townsend Nicholl

Carolyn Hall

Jeannette Marks

Marx Sabel

Helen Hoyt

Lafcadio Hearn

Lord Dunsany

Cale Young Rice

Ben Hecht

Padraic Colum

Darrell Figgis

Charles J. Finger

Llewellyn Jones

Babette Deutsch

Alice Corbin

Carl Van Vechten

Maxwell Armfield

Edward Sapir

Henry Bellamann

Howard Mumford Jones

Burton Rascoe

Glenn Ward Dresbach

Alice Sessums Leovy

Grace Hazard Conkling

Hart Crane

William Griffith

William Alexander Percy

Emma Veronica Sanders

Maxwell Bodenheim

BUSINESS MANAGER

Horace Gumbel, Jr.

JEAN TOOMER COLLECTION
The
DOUBLE DEALER

204 Baronne Street
New Orleans

Editors

JULIUS WEIS FRIEND
BASIL THOMPSON

Managing Editor
JOHN MCCLURE

October 2nd, 1922

My dear Jean Toomer:

I was glad to get your note and am sincerely sorry that a crush of work has kept me from writing to you sooner, as I have been trying for two weeks to send you a report on the manuscripts which we held over after accepting "Nora" and "Storm Ending". We hope sincerely that the printing of the two poems in The Double Dealer will prove of advantage to you. We were glad to have them and we are eager to get more.

Mrs. Georgia Douglas Johnson has written to me, yesterday, calling my attention to her book of poems, "Bronze". Are the poems good? I know that when "Cane" (that's the name of your book, isn't it?) comes out, I shall want to review it. I am not sure that "Bronze" will command a review. I am going to ask Mrs. Johnson for a copy. I hope the stuff is good. But there is so much poor or mediocre verse written these days (I have written a lot of it myself) that I am afraid of all new books. Mrs. Johnson can be sure that I will boost the book if I believe it to be sound.

I am sending back the enclosed manuscripts because after a number of readings all three of us decided they were not, in our opinion, so good as the two we have printed and not so good as you can send us. We are eager to see more. I believe that if these had come in before we saw Fern, Karintha and Calling Jesus and Storm Ending, we should have been glad to have some of them. But we are anxious for your next thing in The Double Dealer to be at least as good as the last, or better.

We are in hard straits and I am working in a rush to settle office routine so we can enter a new arrangement next week. I shall put in only part time on The Double Dealer thereafter, but will still be managing editor!

Please send us something else as soon as you can---a few things by return mail if you can. We should like to have something for next issue, if we can agree on it.

Sincerely,

Assistant Editors

ALBERT GOLDSTEIN
LOUIS GILMORE
WALTER YUST

Contributors

RICHARD ALDINGTON
SHERWOOD ANDERSON
MARY AUSTIN
DJUNA BARNES

KATHERINE LEE BATES
MAXWELL BODENHEIM
WITTER BYNNER
JOSEPH CAMPBELL
PADRAIC COLUM
BENJAMIN DE CASSERES
GRACE HAZARD CONKLING
HART CRANE
BABETTE DEUTSCH
GLENN WARD DRESBACH

LORD DUNSANY
PAUL ELDRIDGE
CHARLES J. FINGER
JOHN GOULD FLETCHER
WILLIAM GRIFFITH
BEN HECHT
ALICE COBBIN HENDERSON
HELEN HOYT
HOWARD MUMFORD JONES
MATTHEW JOSEPHSON

ALFRED KREYMBORG
MUNA LEE
HANIEL LONG
WILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY
EZRA POUND
BURTON RASCOR
LOLA RIDGE
EDWARD SAPIR
WILLIAM SAPHIR
HERMAN G. SCHEFFAUER

GILBERT SELDES
VINCENT STARRETT
ARTHUR SYMONS
KATHARINE TYNAN
LOUIS UNTERMEYER
CARL VAN VECHTEN
JOHN V. A. WEAVER
EDMUND WILSON, JR.
OSCAR WILLIAMS
CUTHBERT WRIGHT

1341 U
Washington DC

6 Oct 22

JEAN TOOMER COLLECTION

Dear John McClure,

I feel about those returned MSS as you do- with the exception of Rhobert. I like that piece. Of course it's not in my deeper rhythm, but of its kind... The ones I am sending come nearer me.

About Mrs Johnson- I mentioned her when you asked if I knew of anyone around here who was doing work that might interest you. Even the best of her things are never wholly good, never individualized. Too much poetic jargon, too many inhibitions check the flow of what I think to be a real (if slender) lyric gift. But every now and then a line, or half a line breaks through. I don't remember "Bronze." That is, as a book. I've seen so much of her's that just what the contents are, I don't remember. She is not aesthetically selective. She is likely to jumble things together. But I think that the volume will interest you as a social document, even if it does not command a review.

Yes, "Cane" is what I shall call it. Though it looks as though I'll have another volume ready by the time I get that rounded out. Things like Fern, Karintha, and Avey only come to me at intervals. Usually, after I have sketched or written a longer piece. And it is of these, together with some selected poems, that I'm going to make "Cane."

I'm mighty glad that you'll still be managing editor. I feel you in the Double Dealer, in its scope and wider tendencies, in its pruning of what is false and imitative in art, in its struggle to sink roots into deep American soil. In its organic functioning to date. And then there's the personal...

I'm trying to make New York for a few months at least this season. I need its solitude, its freedom, its few real contacts. Something big and sustained should come to life in me this year. And I'm sure it will, if only I can give it half a chance.

1341 U

Washington DC

6 Oct 22

Dear John McClure,

I feel about those returned Mes as you do- with the exception of Rhobert.
I like that piece. Of course it's not in my deeper rhythm, but of its kind...
The ones I am sending come nearer me.

About Mrs Johnson- I mentioned her when you asked if I knew of anyone
around here who was doing work that might interest you. Even the best
of her things are never wholly good, never individualized. Too much
poetic jargon, too many inhibitions check the flow of what I think to be
a real (if slender) lyric gift. But every now and then a line, or half
a line breaks through. I don't remember "Bronze." That it, as a book.
I've seen so much of her's that just what the contents are, I don't
remember. She is not aesthetically selective. She is likely to jumble
things together. But I think that the volume will interest you as a social
document, even if it does not command a review.

I'm mighty glad that you'll still be managing editor. I feel you in
the Double Dealer, in its scope and wider tendencies, in its pruning of
what is false and imitative in art, in its struggle to sink roots into
deep American soil. In its organic functioning to date. And then there's
the personal.....

I'm trying to make New York for a few months at least this season.
I need this solitude, its freedom, its few real contacts. Something big
and sustained should come to life in me this year. And I'm sure it
will, if only I can give it half a chance.

JEAN TOOMER COLLECTION

December 12, 1922

Editors
JULIUS WEIS FRIEND
BASIL THOMPSON
Managing Editor
JOHN McCLURE

Dear Jean Toomer:

The only one of the last manuscripts you
sent us which we could agree on was "Harvest Song". There
is strength in Avey, but we felt somehow it was not as com-
pact as your best work, not so precise. I have meant to
write to you for weeks but have fallen miserably behind on
everything.
we are featuring 'Harvest Song' - December,
no one'.

Sherwood Anderson was here a short time ago and was much impressed by your work which we had printed in the Double Dealer, and by these manuscripts which we had on hand. I was glad I had been so long in returning them, because in that way he got to see them. He liked "Nora" tremendously, also "Storm Ending" and "Harvest Song" and was impressed as we were with "Avey", although agreeing with us. I believe, that it was not so thoroughly successful as you could make it.

We gave Anderson your address and he said if
he got near Washington he was going to look you up. He agrees
with me, and my colleagues. I am sure, in our confidence that
you can do fine things. He spoke very highly indeed of your
accomplishment to date.

I hope that you have things easy this winter,
easy in the sense of getting opportunity to work on your
writing. You should accomplish a great deal in the next few
months.

Contributors

KATHERINE LEE BATES
MAXWELL BODENHEIM
WITTER BYNNER
JOSEPH CAMPBELL
PADRAIC COLUM
BENJAMIN DE CASSERES
GRACE HAZARD CONKLING
HART CRANE
HABETTE DEUTSCH
GLENN WARD DRESBACH

LORD DUNSANY
PAUL ELDRIDGE
CHARLES J. FINGER
JOHN GOULD FLETCHER
WILLIAM GRIFFITH
BEN HECHT
ALICE CORBIN HENDERSON
HELEN HOYT
HOWARD MUMFORD JONES
MATTHEW JOSEPHSON

ALFRED KREYMBORG
MUNA LEE
HANIEL LONG
WILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY
EZRA POUND
BURTON RASCOE
LOLA RIDGE
EDWARD SAPIE
WILLIAM SAPHIER
HERMAN G. SCHEFFAUER

GILBERT SELDES
VINCENT STARRETT
ARTHUR SYMONS
KATHARINE TYNAN
LOUIS UNTERMeyer
CARL VAN VECHTEN
JOHN V. A. WEAVER
EDMUND WILSON, JR.
OSCAR WILLIAMS
CUTHBERT WRIGHT

Editors

March 27, 1923.

Mr. Jean Toomer,
Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir:-

As retiring president of The Double Dealer Publishing Co. Incorporated, I am addressing you, believing that you are entitled to know something of our affairs. In a word, the magazine is on a basis which enables it to run from month to month but does not allow it any surplus to take up back indebtedness, even gradually. The present active management has consented to go on with the publication provided that back debts are squared. We have been able out of private subscription to obtain a very limited amount of money for this purpose. We have no wealthy backer and the amount raised to pay off old obligations is insufficient to go around on the basis of the magazine's original promises.

We are therefore appealing to you to state the lowest possible figure that you are willing to accept to cancel our obligation towards you. We are asking you if you can afford it and feel so inclined to accept subscriptions to The Double Dealer as payment for your manuscripts or to allow the indebtedness to go toward purchasing stock in the company at twenty-five dollars a share, par value.

In writing the above I hope that I am not conveying the idea that we are begging. We simply seek your cooperation towards the continuance of what we trust you consider a worth while artistic project; one into which we have sunk considerable time and money with no thought of financial reward.

The Double Dealer further hopes that you will continue giving it a chance to publish your manuscripts without a guaranteed payment. In any event we assure you of our interest in your work.

Assistant Editors

Contributors

ALFRED KREYMBORG
MUNA LEE
HANDEL LONG
WILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY
EZRA POUND
BURTON RASCOE
LOLA RIDGE
EDWARD SAPIR
WILLIAM SAPHIKE
HERMAN G. SCHEFFAUER