Letters of E. B. White, Revised Edition

E. B. White

• Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780061374593
• eBook ISBN: 9780062309600
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History of Art
• Index: History

Originally edited by Dorothy Lobrano Guth, and revised and updated by Martha White. With a foreword by John Updike.

These letters are, of course, beautifully written but above all personal, precise, and honest. They evoke E.B. White’s life in New York and in Maine at every stage of his life. They are full of memorable characters: White’s family, the New Yorker staff and contributors, literary types and show business people, farmers from Maine and sophisticates from New York-Katherine S. White, Harold Ross, James Thurber, Alexander Woolcott, Groucho Marx, John Updike, and many, many more.

Each decade has its own look and taste and feel. Places, too-from Belgrade (Maine) to Turtle Bay (NYC) to the S.S. Buford, Alaska-bound in 1923-are brought to life in White’s descriptions. There is no other book of letters to compare with this; it is a book to treasure and savor at one’s leisure.

As White wrote in this book, “A man who publishes his letters becomes nudist—nothing shields him from the world’s gaze except his bare skin....a man who has written a letter is stuck with it for all time.”

INDEX

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“The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.”

Names in SMALL CAPITALS are recipients of letters. Titles without author’s name pertain to works by E. B. White. The following abbreviations are used:

“The ABC of Security,” 347, 347n.

“About Myself,” 242, 242n.

Acheson, Dean, 273, 273n.

Ackerly, C. E. (Bugs), 21, 22

ADAMS, BRISTOW (B.A.), as Cornell Plantations editor, 398n.; Cornell president and, 316; death of, 410–411; EBW’s friendship with, 18; as host to students, 27, 32, 65, 143; sports officiating by, 74. Letters: 357, 398

Adams, Bristow, Jr. (Tote), 65, 65n.

Adams, Burke Dowling (Bob), 69, 73, 74, 106, 106n.

Adams, Everett, 65, 65n.

Adams, Franklin P., biography of, 576, 659–661; Conning Tower, 18, 69, 502

Adams, Gertrude. See Turner, Gertrude Adams

ADAMS, J. DONALD. Letter: 391

ADAMS, LUELLA, 27, 65. Letters: 27–29, 409–411

Addams, Charles, 402

The Adelphi (magazine), 77n., 97

ADOLF, ARLYN S., 629. Letter: 629

Advertising, arts and, 115; for automobiles, 198; for Camel cigarettes, 133; editorial content and, 612–614; for New Yorker, 107; in New Yorker, 477; in New York Times, 507; for “OMM” column, 169–170; testimonial, 136–140

“Afternoon of an American Boy,” 359

Aging, 578, 582, 624, 628, 637, 684

AIKEN, J. H. Letter: 320

Air mail, 162, 235, 277

Alaska, 63–64, 118, 343, 435

Alastor (yawl), 116, 116n.

Alcott, Louisa May, 618, 619

Aleph Samach (Cornell Junior Honor Society), 18

Algonquin Hotel, EBW at, 173, 275, 424, 625, 630; EBW’s bed from, 639, 642, 684; fire at, 431; KSW at, 276–277; literary role of, 528

ALLEN, COLSON HENRY, with bad back, 682; cutting wood, 586; daughter Marianne, 550; driving EBW home, 620; ducklings and, 626; EBW making wheelbarrow for, 602; fixing flat tire, 396; flu bout, 433; hired by EBW, 338;

KSW’s greenhouse and, 611; tomatoes grown by, 636–637. Letters: about brooder pen, 339–340; about flat tire, 396–398

Allen, Forrest, 404, 404n.

ALLEN, FREDERICK LEWIS, as Harper’s editor, 141; “OMM” column and, 198, 198n., 209, 357. Letters: on automobiles, 199–200; on Bromfield and Saxton, 233; EBW’s resignation from “OMM,” 227–229

Allen, John, 114, 151

Allen, Marianne, 550

ALLEN, REGINALD, Trumpet concert and, 560, 581; as Whites’ neighbor, 494; wood duck eggs from, 591. Letters: on killdeer’s nest, 509; on praying mantises, 494; on Trumpet concert, 560–562; on wood duck eggs, 591–592

Allen, Virginia, 530

Alligators, and beer bottles, 487; as pets, 5

“The Almost Perfect State” (Marquis), 160

Alsop, Joe, 483

American Academy of Arts and Letters, 427n., 428n., 606

American Boy’s Handybook, 669

American Cancer Society, 622

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 536, 631

American Legion News Service, 29–30, 32

American Spiders (Gertsch), 325

AMES, ELIZABETH. Letter: 354–355

Anarchists, 436

The Anatomy of Peace (Reves), 682–683

Andania (ship), 70, 73

ANDERSON, DAVID AND KATHY. Letter: 659

Angell, Alice, 474n., 617

ANGELL, CAROLINE S. (CALLIE), 272, 272n., 333, 474n., 513. Letter: 506

ANGELL, CAROL ROGGE, 474n., 555, 616, 620n. Letters: for birthday, 549–550; from Florida, 497–499; on misspelled word, 536; from North Brooklin, 512–513; on saililng, 530–531

Angell, Ernest, 81

Angell, Evelyn Baker, divorce from Roger, 459; dog owned by, 246n.; job hunting, 246; marriage to Roger, 209, 222, 224; as mother, 272; visit to EBW, 238

Angell, John Henry, 573, 588

Angell, Katharine Sergeant. See White, Katharine S.

Angell, Nancy. See Stableford, Nancy Angell

ANGELL, ROGER, in Army Air Force, 234, 238; baseball writing by, 493, 587, 587n, 615, 620n.; birth of, 81; in childhood, 87, 99, 103, 118, 120; Christmas presents for, 178; divorce of, 459; at EBW’s death, 685; as editor, 209; as father, 272, 272n.; graduation of, 166, 221; at KSW’s death, 616; marriages of, 209, 222, 223n., 224, 474n.; in North Brooklin, 132, 149, 573. Letters: on baseball, 493, 615; on “A Day in the Life of Roger Angell,” 555–556; from Florida, 452, 497–499; from North Brooklin, 474–475, 512–513; on “The Summer Game,” 587–588

Animals, as amoral, 562; care of, 176, 412; community among, 563; influence on writing, 142, 419, 582; at North...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Illustrations
• Foreword
• Author’s Note
• Editor’s Note
• I. Mount Vernon, 1908–1917
• II. Cornell and the Open Road, 1917–1925
• III. The New Yorker—Early Days, 1926–1928
• IV. “The Most Beautiful Decision,” 1929–1930
• V. 16 East 8th Street, 1931–1936
• VI. One Man’s Meat, 1937–1941
• VII. The War Years, 1942–1945
• VIII. A Party of One, 1946–1949
• IX. Turtle Bay, 1950–1951
• X. Charlotte’s Web, 1952–1954
• XI. Will Strunk’s Little Book, 1955–1959
• XII. Letters from the East, 1960–1965
• XIII. The Trumpet of the Swan, 1966–1970
• XIV. In the Lee of the Barn, 1971–1976
• XV. Good-Bye to Katharine, 1977–1981
• XVI. E.B. White, A Biography, 1982–1985
• Photo section
• Index
• About the Author
• About the Editor
• Praise
• Also by E. B. White
• Copyright
• About the Publisher