Jane Hohfeld Galante Archive of Material Related to "The Singings and Sayings of Patty Jane", Privately Printed by Lawton Kennedy

San Francisco, California: Lawton Kennedy, 1960. Very good. Minor flaws including toning, unobtrusive short tears, dust soiling, wear to extremities.. A remarkable archive of material created and collected by Jane Hohfeld Galante of the prominent San Francisco Hohfield family, including two original manuscripts and a scarce children's book privately printed for her by Lawton Kennedy. The privately printed book appears to be loosely based off of the manuscripts, illustrated by Alice Wilkins Neilson c.1960. Both the manuscripts and the book include short sayings and rhymes coined by Jane when she was young girl several decades before in the 1920s; they were previously written down by the girl's mother. There is also a small grouping of correspondence and a list tracking the dozens of presentation copies gifted from Jane to her friends from as far away as France and Japan. As a whole, the archive paints a charming picture of a young child's whimsical world view, brought forth into the world by her as an adult years later in partnership with an accomplished printer and illustrator.

The items in this archive include:

Galante, Jane Hohfeld. "The Singings and Sayings of Patty Jane Two to Six Years Old. Said and Sung by Jane Hohfeld Galante Written Down by Her Mother Lillian Devendorf Hohfeld Drawn and Hand Colored by Alice Wilkins Neilson". San Francisco: [Lawton Kennedy], 1960. 8vo (10" by 6.75"), pp. [52], illustrated, bound in original plain tan cloth. Extremities rubbed with some minor points of wear, binding sunned, minor dust soiling. Scarce institutionally, with only five (5) copies on OCLC as of April 2023, only 1 outside California (Brown). This appears to be the author's personal copy.

[Galante, Jane Hohfeld, and Alice Wilkins Neilson (illus.)] Patty Jane Hohfeld. Age 3 [and Age 4]. [San Francisco, c.1960]. Two vols, each 8vo (9.5" by 6.75"), ff. 20 and ff. 26, ink manuscript with original ink and colored pencil illustrations by Neilson. Both volumes bound in original textured paper wrappers bound in cord hand-lettered in ink and colored pencil on upper covers. Minor toning, dust soiling, one or two stains, sunned. One text block loose, lacking cord. Chipping, short tears to wrappers.

Single leaf of personal letterhead (10.5" by 7.25") with ink manuscript recording the approx. 65 presentation copies sent by Jane Hohfeld Galante to her friends and colleagues. Lists number 1 as the "Galante copy", which is presumably the copy listed above.

Ten (10) handwritten letters addressed to Jane Hohfeld Galante c.1961-1962, thanking her for sending presentation copies of her book. Includes one letter from the wife of the printer.

Small group of miscellaneous ephemera including: one modern (1990s?) reproduction of original photograph of what appears to be Hohfeld posing by the beach in the 1960s; Two handwritten notes by Hohfeld; One typewritten transcript of "The Fool's Prayer"; Two newspaper clippings, including one with biological feature on Lawton Kennedy. Lawton Kennedy (1900-1980) was an accomplished printer who apprenticed under the Bay Area printers John Henry Nash, Johnck and Seeger, Jane Grabhorn's Colt Press and Albert Sperisen's Black Vine Press; he founded his own print shop in 1952 (Book Club of California).

Jane Hohfeld Galante (1924-2010) was a chamber musician and prominent San Franciscan known for her patronage of music education, and in particular, of the Morrison Chamber Music Center at San Francisco State University. The Hohfeld family was a well established California family; her maternal grandfather was one of the founders of Carmel-by-the-Sea.