26. [Literary critics and historians]. Complete with 23 letters and photographs, this collection includes correspondences by famed critics and historians. Highlights include:

Cowley, Malcom. Typed letter signed, 1 page, Sherman, Connecticut, 21 March 1969 on personal stationery; with original envelope. He writes in part: To answer your question, I was a great reader in my early teens, but the books I read are not those to be recommended to boys and girls today. I consumed trashy romances by the armload, borrowed from the circulating library in a local stationery store; once I read five of them in a single day. He mentions historical novels because they filled his mind with dreams of becoming a bold cavalier whom the ladies would admire (as the little girls in pigtails showed no signs of admiring me). But there’s this to say for reading even of an idle sort: it teaches one new words that echo in one’s mind and gives one the ability to handle them.

Manchester, William. Autograph letter signed, 1 page, Middletown, Connecticut, 7 March 1968 on Wesleyan University stationery; with original envelope. He writes in part: My adolescent years were largely devoted to the reading and rereading of Shakespeare. I remember buying his collected works in 40 volumes for $4 in Johnson’s second-hand bookstore, Springfield, Mass; I was then about 13, and $4 was all I had. Manchester notes Shakespeare’s gift of language taught him how extraordinary English can be.

Rodman, Selden. Typed letter signed, 1 page, New Jersey, 2 April 1969 on personal stationery; with original envelope. In an honest account, Rodman says, in part: Mostly, I guess, I was concerned about not reading. Around 12 or so I became enthralled with Conan Doyle and all of Edgar Rice Borroughs, including the Mars series, and disliked Dickens which was read to me by my mother whenever I was sick enough to be a captive audience—a dislike I’ve never gotten over. He goes on to say in his teen years, he discovered Wuthering Heights and popular poetry.

Toynbee, Arnold. Two autograph letters signed, 2 pages, Tokyo and England, 1 December 1967 and 7 February 1968 on blue airmail stationery. It’s no coincidence that the historian listed The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Historical Atlas as most influential works. This is mixed with famous poet, Robert Browning and Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, which he studied in Greed. “suffering is the key to learning” seemed to me the most profound saying in his play. The two Greek words pathei mathos have meant much to me ever since. I think Americans need to take them to heart.

Also included are 1-page correspondences from Brooks Atkinson, Bosley Crowther, Barbara Tuchman, Edmund Wilson, Bertrand Russell, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and Will Durant. $1,000 - $1,500