ALS, 12 pages, The Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, London, to George W. McCoy of the Asheville Citizen, November 8, 1924.
The letter, written on The Imperial Hotel’s illustrated letterhead, is smudged in places, with light soiling at the margins. Enclosed in a folding cloth chemise. Published in The Letters of Thomas Wolfe. Edited with an Introduction by Elizabeth Nowell. (N. Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1956), pp. 71-73. A magnificent letter concerning an essay which he was drafting entitled “A Passage to England” that he hoped McCoy would publish in the Asheville Citizen Times. Wolfe was twenty-four at the time and he writes with all of the youthful, omnivorous enthusiasm that was so characteristic of him: “I arrived in London on Wednesday after an amazing voyage, and I am now lost in the beauty and mystery and fascination of this ancient and magnificent city. . . . George – I put it all on paper from day to day. I let nothing escape me, and even when the sea made me feel a bit sorry for myself I put it down. . . . Since coming to London I have walked the queer, blind, narrow, incredible, crooked streets of the city, looking at the people, hearing them talk, getting them. Late at night, early in the morning, when the streets are deserted, I traverse great sections of the city, going down narrow alleys, stopping at small refreshment wagons, at pubs, taxi stands, anywhere, listening to them talk. And all the time I am making notes – London and New York, England and America. I was twenty-four a month ago, George. I would to God I might be twenty-four forever. This is a magnificent adventure and the world is opening like an oyster.” Wolfe’s essay, which he intended to send to McCoy the next day, was never sent; only a “prologue” to it, which was never published. George William McCoy [1901-1962] joined the staff of the Asheville Citizen Times in 1924 and became its editor in 1951. Wolfe had met McCoy when they were both students at UNC Chapel Hill and the two men became fast friends. Wolfe submitted his important essay “Return” to McCoy who published it in the Asheville Citizen Times in 1932.
Price: $12,500.00