Search Results: Authors starting with L from Stuart Lutz Historic Documents, Inc.

HENRY LOUIS “H.L.” MENCKEN (1880-1956). Mencken was an American writer, journalist, and scholar who is sometimes called “The Sage of Baltimore”. TLS. 1pg. 8 ½” x 5 ½”. June 13 [no year]. Baltimore. A typed letter signed “H.L. Mencken”. Mencken turns away poetry submitted to one of the Baltimore newspapers he worked for throughout his career – The Baltimore Sun or one of its offshoots. “Dear Mr. Carmer:- I am sorry indeed, but at the moment I can’t take any verse. I am using very little, and there is a great deal in type. Have you any ideas for prose articles? If so, I’ll be delighted to hear them. My best thanks for the chance to see this very interesting stuff. Sincerely yours, H.L. Mencken”. The letter, on Mencken’s personal letterhead, is in good condition, though a bit wrinkled.

HENRY LOUIS “H.L.” MENCKEN (1880-1956). Mencken was an American writer, journalist, and scholar who is sometimes called “The Sage of Baltimore”. SB. 31pg. 1946. No place. A first edition of Christmas Story inscribed “Dr. Lay Martin with veneration H.L. Mencken”. The interior pages are illustrated in both color and black and white. The dust jacket is in fine condition with light faults, and the interior pages are in very good condition also. Dr. Martin was a Baltimore-area physician who attended Princeton University.

MIRABEAU LAMAR (1798-1859). Lamar served as the Second President of the Republic of Texas from 1838-1841. A protégé of Sam Houston, Lamar later served in the Texas Senate and as U.S. ambassadors to Costa Rica and Nicaragua under President James Buchanan. ALS.1 pg. 8” x 10”. March 5, 1847. Laredo, Texas. An autograph letter signed “Mirabeau B. Lamar Commanding at Laredo” and initialed “MBL”. The letter grants the following: “The bearer, Jesus Barrera, is employed on public service…and has permission to carry arms for his protection; he will be respected accordingly, and allowed to pass without interference Mirabeau B. Lamar Commanding at Laredo”. The letter includes a postscript: “Will the Quartermaster please dispatch the bearer with as little delay as possible, and if necessary, to furnish him with a horse to return upon, should his own give out”. Volume VI of the Lamar Papers within the Texas History Trust describe a Jesus Barrera who was captured in 1840 fighting on… Read More

TLS. 1pg. January 22, 1923. Washington, DC. A typed letter signed “Emory Land” to Senator J. S. Frelinghuysen from New Jersey (1869-1948): “Referring to your note of 19 January, 1923, I take pleasure in advising you that the day after our delightful dinner at the Davidges. I took the matter of the battleship model up with Admiral Beuret, Chief Constructor, U.S. Navy, who has the matter under investigation at the present time. As I have been laid up with the grippe for the last five days, I don’t know what has developed, but am again taking the matter up with the Admiral Beuret. I shall again advise you relative to this matter as soon as I can get any definite information on the subject.” Typed on U.S. Navy Department letterhead, the letter is in fine condition.

(FORT LARAMIE, WYOMING). This archive consists of two letters written from Henry Blanchard Freeman to General John Gibbon. a) ALS. 5 pg. 7” x 10”. November 17. 1886. Fort Laramie, Wyo. An autograph letter signed “H.B. Freeman” to “Genl John Gibbon Esq”: “I returned from the La Bonte a few days since having closed operations on the 3rd last. We turned the water into the ditch and it ran through into full head…It is seen that its united and one and a half in defaults and will carry water, of which there is an ample supply for these thousand acres and as there is considerable land outside of our claims, which can only have water for us. I think we will before long have our water without cost…” b) ALS. 3 pg. 7” x 10”. January 31, 1887. Fort Laramie. An autograph letter signed “H.B. Freeman” to “My dear General”: “…I organized the ‘Darlington Ditch Co’ in which my name does not appear…and the D.D. Co. is the sole owner of the ditch, as bult by myself…”… Read More

STAN LAUREL (1890-1965). Laurel was an English actor, director, and writer best known as one half of the legendary comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He and his partner, Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), appeared in 107 productions together between 1927 and 1955, pioneering slapstick comedy and embodying the transition from silent films to talkies. TLS. 1 pg. 8” x 10”. May 23, 1961. Oceana Apartment Hotel, Santa Monica, California. A typed letter signed “Stan Laurel” to Walter Krawczyk: “Many thanks for your kind congratulations on my Oscar Award. I appreciate very much your kind sentiments so graciously expressed. I feel gratefully happy to receive this wonderful tribute, only wish my dear late partner had been here to share the honor he helped make possible. Again my sincere thanks. My kindest regards & every good wish. Sincerely always: Stan Laurel”. At the 33rd Academy Awards in March 1961, Laurel received an Honorary Academy Award “for his creative pioneering in the field of cinema comedy.”… Read More

The son of a New Hampshire Governor, Badger fought in the Civil War. After that war, he was commissioned a lieutenant, assigned to the 6th Regiment of U.S. Infantry. Often stationed in Indian territory, he was later brevetted a captain for "gallant and meritorious services during the war." DS. 1pg. 11" x 16". 1883. Fort Leavenworth, KS. A partly printed document signed "Wm. Badger", the great military officer. It reads: "ABSTRACT OF FUNDS received from sales of Fuel, Forage, Straw, and other articles authorized by the War Department to be sold to officers of the U.S. Army, at Fort Leavenworth Mil. Prison, KS by Capt. Wm. Badge, 6th Inf. AA, Quartermaster... U.S. Army, during the month of July, 1883." The document goes on to list the various amounts of many paid by the different military officers for fuel, totaling $13.50. The document is in fine condition, with some toning and folds separations

EDGAR LEE MASTERS (1869-1950). An American poet and novelist, he is best known for the Spoon River Anthology (1915). In it, Masters tells the story of a small town through a series of free-verse monologue epitaphs. He also wrote Mitch Miller, The Nuptial Flight and a biography of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln the Man. ANS. 1pp. 8 ½” x 4”. Feb 6 [1924]. Great Neck, New York. An autograph note signed “E.L.M.” mentioning his most famous work, The Spoon River Anthology: “Dear Mr. Mayfield: Cut out the above and paste it in your Spoon River. That will save you mailing the book to me. Truly E.L.M.” The note is in very fine condition with dark ink and the usual folds that affect little. It is accompanied by the original mailing envelope.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CUSTIS LEE (1832-1913). Lee was the oldest son of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He was an aide-de-camp to Confederate President Jefferson Davis during the Civil War and then succeeded his father as President of Washington & Lee University. FITZHUGH LEE (1835-1905). Lee was the son of Sydney Lee, a naval veteran, and nephew of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. After the war, he served as the 40th Governor of Virginia between 1886-1890. ALS. 7pg. 8” x 10”. February 11, 1896. Lexington, Virginia. A lengthy autograph letter signed “G.W.C. Lee”, the son of General Robert E. Lee, to his cousin Fitzhugh Lee. The letter discusses a recent court of inquiry into their father’s conduct during the Battle of Gettysburg: “I know nothing of the Court of Inquiry after the battle of Gettysburg, to which you refer, except what I have seen in the newspapers…in fact, I do not recollect to have every heard my father say anything about the battle of Gettysburg and its… Read More

Archive. Moon was a famous journalist, writer and NAACP executive. He attended Howard University and got his masters from Ohio State University before becoming the Director of Public Relations at Tuskegee Institute. He briefly worked at New York's The Amsterdam News before becoming the NAACP's director of public relations in 1948. He wrote the classic Balance of Power: The Negro Vote and his writing also appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, The London Tribune, and The Chicago Defender. He served as The Crisis magazine's editor from 1966 to 1974. THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS. Founded in 1909 in Harlem, NY, it is a news publication geared toward the black community of New York City. At its height in the 1940s, its circulation reached 100,000 and was the fourth largest African-American newspaper in the United States. It published the works of such notables as W.E.B. Du Bois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and Malcolm X. a) TLS. 1pg. 8 ½" x 11". March 17, 1932. New York, NY. A typed letter… Read More

MADELEINE L’ENGLE (1918-2007). L’Engle was the author of young adult fiction, and she is best remembered for A Wrinkle In Time. SB. 211pg. A Wrinkle In Time inscribed “for Arlean Lambert, with best wishes for happy tessering Madeleine l’Engle” on the yellow endpage. This is the tenth printing done in 1965 and the dust jacket has the Newberry Medal on it. The interior pages are in fine condition. The dust jacket has some chipping and wear, including the lower inch missing from the spine.

WALTER HOUGH (1859-1935). Hough was an American ethnologist and a curator at the United States National Museum in Washington D.C., which is now The Smithsonian Institution. SOPHUS MÜLLER (1846-1934). Müller was a Danish archaeologist and director of the National Museum of Denmark. LS. 1pg. February 17, 1897. Copenhagen. A letter signed “Sophus Müller” as Director of Denmark’s National Museum, on museum letterhead. Müller writes to Walter Hough, who was then an assistant curator of ethnology at the United States National Museum. The letter concerns a stone lamp from Greenland owned by the U.S. National Museum. To reply to your favored of January 17, I very much regret not being able to furnish any exact information respecting the locality of the Eskimo stone lamps in your museum. That they are from the west coast of Greenland is quite certain, but a more precise indication of the spot, where they have been collected, does not exist in our catalogues. These lamps are common in West… Read More

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(EARLY INDIANA). AL. 2pgs. Mishanaka, Indiana. March 18, 1839. An autograph letter from a settler living in Mishanaka, an Indiana town founded on iron mining and production in the early 1830s. Writing to a group of friends or family, the author laments a lack of reliable correspondence and gives an account of the diverse settlers who inhabited the region. “Dear Robert, Maria, Rosetta, etc. It is so long since I’ve received a scratch of a pen from any of you that I don’t know who I am indebted to or who is indebted to us, so I will write to you all and if one or all of your will answer me will square accounts and balance our books. But if so be that you don’t forthwith, there upon, whenever and at whatsoever time you receive this, cancel pay, discharge, and return all dues up to the date herein described you shall be called insolvent hereforth and forever until said debt has been fully and entirely and satisfactorily paid. Oh! I cant go any further in the bargain. I hope you are by this time… Read More

(JEWISH LETTER). ALS. 5pg. 6” x 8”. September 1932. Dallas, Texas. An autograph letter signed “Max” to the Fleischman family in Plainfield, New Jersey. Writing to his mother during the Jewish High Holidays, he discusses his time as a traveling salesman: “Dear Mother, I hope you and the family are all feeling fine & enjoying some nice restful weather. It has been raining out here in Texas, all day Thursday & on and off since then. The farmers need the rain for their wheat, cotton & cattle, so it does some one good…I reached Dallas Saturday afternoon & our weekending here, as I meet many salesmen that I know here. Also theres a good Jewish restaurant here & I’ve had gefilte fish – borst – noodle soup and other good things since I came here. I will leave here Monday & will work some houses in East Texas & then Ft. Smith & Fayetteville in Arkansas, and reach Kansas City (Hotel Phillips) Oct. 1st. So I’ll be among Jews for the holiday. I haven’t a route list as yet from there… Read More

ALS. 2pgs. May 29, 1820. New York. An autograph letter signed “Eliza Thompson” to her cousin Matilda Crawford. Along with family news and pleas for a return letter, Thompson describes the recent destruction of the famous Park Street Theatre, which had burned down the prior week. “…You will probably hear before you receive this, that our large and elegant Theatre was entirely destroyed by fire, last Wednesday night, it made a formidable appearance indeed, the night being cloudy the light was much more apparent, fortunately the wind changed during the fire or our Church would probably have been injured. The Theatre was said to be the largest in the Union. Some of our good folks would rejoice at this, if they were sure that another would not be erected, but it is more probable it will be rebuild in the course of a year or two; most part of the walls are standing. You will present my kindest love to your Father and Mother, brother and sisters, and I should mention a umber of others, but fear it… Read More

(TEMPERANCE). ALS. 3pgs. N.d. N.p. An autograph letter signed “N. G. Townsley” two times. In this fiery letter, Townsley argues that intemperance is worse than slavery. The author is unidentified but may have been related to a Gad Townsley, who published a temperance-related book entitled The Temperance Family Almanac in 1835: “Resolved That the evil of intemperance is greater than that of slavery Mr. President I think that the evil of intemperance, is greater than that of slavery, because it induces the whole human race from a state of respectability, and honor, to that of sorrow and suffering, and finally to an untimely grace. The evil of intemperance has seized men, and ushered them into eternity, men who might have been ornaments to society, and benefited the world by their existence, and example but this cause of intemperance goes about mutilating, destroying, and preparing victims for the asylum and the gallows, rendering wives to become widows, and children orphans, and making homes… Read More

(WORLD WAR II LETTER). TLS. 2pg. 8 ½” x 11”. July 7, 1945. No place [likely the Philippines]. A typed letter signed by Boris Clarke during the closing days of World War II. He wrote to his uncle Alfred Lane of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was a Harvard professor. Clarke wrote “I have neglected my letter writing for the last few days because there have been a number of things to be done. One of these was a trip to Manila. I went there on the second and returned on the 4th. It takes from 7 to 8 hours a day to get there. The time I make on the highway, which is cement covered most of the way, depends on the traffic and the M.P.s. Today Col Patrick sent me up your last letter. I am quite interested in your stand about universal military training. I do not know whether because of my origin from a country with compulsory military training or from the anxiety we all lived thru in the beginning of this war when our inductees had to train in some camps with wooden guns and other field… Read More

(WORLD WAR I). ALS. 3pgs. November 13, 1914. Vienna. An autograph letter signed “Libbie Tappan” by an American living in Vienna at the start of World War One. Tappan writes home to her sister in America concerning wartime conditions in Vienna. She mentions lies of the media and the fear that her letter will be censored: “My Dear Sister: I wrote you a letter, sent 21 by a lady who was going home to America. She would amil it in New York. Irene sent one to her Mother, she has received an answer to hers. SO I am wondering why I don’t hear from you At that time every thing was excitement. All mails from here was stopped and now we have to leave our letters open. Irene’s Mother wrote her to come home at once but we thought it was to big a risk to run. We had no idea that they were writing all lies until we got hold of an American paper. War was first declared here on account of the to be next king and his wife were killed by the Serbians. There is such a lot to tell but for fear it will never… Read More

(WORLD WAR II IN INDIA). AL. 4pgs. N.d. [1941-2] N.p. An unsigned, handwritten letter to Mrs. Pollard in America, from an Indian servant who survived a 1941 Japanese attack in Burma during World War II. He details his family’s flight from Burma back to their native Madras, India. “Most Respected Madam Having thanked you for your kind letter and asked me to describe about my tedious & dangerous journey from Burma to my native place Madras after cursed Japs. Horrible Bombardment in Rangoon & other places in Burma. The first Bombardment which took placed on 23rd December 1941 at 10:30 A.M. at mail time…I did not leave the Bungalow like other servants did they gave some false excuses dishonest to master & cared their lifes more than master’s. Thank God he who encouraged me & strengthened me to be honest & faithful to my master till my death…merciful master paid my wages in addition to any pay master paid Rs 100 hundred for my way expenses & ordered me to go to Calcutta by walk…We had none… Read More