Cather Colloquium

Drew University
September 30 - October 1, 2005

 
 

Exploring the Willa Cather Collections at Drew University

Curated by Lucy Marks, Special Collections Cataloger, and Masato Okinaka, Library Conservator
September 26-October 16, 2005
Library Gallery

Colloquium Program (in PDF format)

Cather Monogram CASE 1: ADAMS COLLECTION

My Ántonia . Boston ; New York : Houghton Mifflin, 1918. [1st ed., 1st printing, 1st state] Shown with a letter from Cather to Gorham Munson, May 22, 1934 . ADAMS 153 1

Frederick B. Adams, Jr. Spiral-bound notebook with Adams 's very detailed notes on Cather's books and letters, both in his own collection and elsewhere. Shown here is Adams's transcription of the preliminary leaves of My Ántonia . ADAMS 167 50

The Professor's House . New York : A.A. Knopf, 1925. [1st ed., 2 nd printing]
Presentation copy "For the American poet Robert Frost." ADAMS 157

"Cécile." [between 1928 and 1931] [4] p. Penciled autograph draft, headed "Cécile", of a projected final chapter of Shadows on the Rock . ADAMS 159

The Sombrero . 1894. Yearbook of the University of Nebraska . ADAMS 138 8

Interview. ca.1925. [3] leaves. Untitled, unsigned, undated typescript with Cather's autograph revisions in black ink, with a seven-line penciled addendum in an unidentified hand. ADAMS 158

December Night : A Scene from Willa Cather's Novel "Death Comes for the Archbishop." New York : A.A. Knopf, 1933. Illustrated by Harold von Schmidt. [1st ed. in this format] ADAMS 167 29a

Death Comes for the Archbishop . New York : Council of Books in Wartime, [1943], c1929. [4th ed.] Armed Services Editions, D-97. ADAMS 155 7c

Cather Monogram CASE 2: CASPERSEN COLLECTION

Carroll, Lewis. The Hunting of the Snark . New York : Macmillan, 1891.
Presentation copy from Cather to her sister: "Elsie Margaret Cather. Christmas 1907. Willie." CASPERSEN 45

"Sapphira and the Slave Girl." [1938 or 1939?] [204 leaves] Typescript with Cather's penciled autograph revisions. CATHER 10

O Pioneers ! Boston ; New York : Houghton Mifflin, 1913. [1st ed., 1st printing, 1st binding variant] Presentation copy "to Mme. Olive Fremstad, the Voice of those voiceless pioneers." CASPERSEN 30

The Troll Garden . New York : McClure, Phillips & Co., 1905. [1st ed., 1st issue]
Presentation copy "to Mrs. McClung from Willa." Bookplate of H. Bradley Martin. CASPERSEN 43

Willa Cather to Mrs. Grippen. Jan. 14, 1931 . CASPERSEN 53

Willa Cather to Trixie Florance. Oct. 30, [1945]. CASPERSEN 54

Willa Cather to Trixie Florance. Dec. 18, [1945]. CASPERSEN 54

Willa Cather to Trixie Florance. June 12, 1946 . CASPERSEN 54

Cather MonogramCASE 3: BREWSTER COLLECTION

April Twilights . New York : A.A. Knopf, 1923. [2nd ed., 1st printing, trade issue]
Presentation copy to Earl and Achsah Brewster. Shown with a letter from Achsah Brewster to her daughter, Harwood, dated Feb. 14, 1942 . BREWSTER 1 and 24

Photograph of a painting by Earl H. Brewster. Achsah, Earl and Harwood.
Courtesy of ACA Galleries , New York .

Brewster, Earl and Achsah . L'ouvre de E.H. Brewster et Achsah Barlow Brewster: 32 reproductions et phototypie precedes d'essais autobiographiques . Rome : Par les Soins de "Valori Plastici," [1923]. BREWSTER 23

Photograph of a painting by Achsah Barlow Brewster. Woman by the Sea.
Thought to be a portrait of Edith Lewis. Courtesy of ACA Galleries , New York .

My Ántonia . Boston ; New York : Houghton Mifflin, 1918. [1st ed., 1st printing, 2nd state] Presentation copy from Edith Lewis to Achsah Brewster, dated Nov. 11, 1918 , "fin de la guerre." BREWSTER 9

One of Ours . New York : A.A. Knopf, 1922. [1st ed., 2nd printing] Presentation copy to Earl and Achsah Brewster, dated Whale Cove, Grand Manan N.B., August 29 th , 1922 . BREWSTER 5

Willa Cather to Earl and Achsah Brewster. Feb. 21, [1923], on stationery headed "Number Five Bank Street." BREWSTER 24

Obscure Destinies . New York : A.A. Knopf, 1932. [1st. ed., 1st printing, trade issue] Signature of Achsah Brewster. Taped to the front flyleaf are several dried sprigs of wild flowers, with penciled note: "From the cemetery, at Jaffrey , N.H. where Willa Cather and Edith Lewis are buried. 5/22/1983 ." BREWSTER 18

Earl Brewster to Harwood Brewster Picard. May 30, 1947 . BREWSTER 24

Cather Monogram CASE 4: MENUHIN COLLECTION

A Lost Lady . "Part I." Published in The Golden Book Magazine , vol. XIV, no. 81, Sept. 1931. p. 97-110. MENUHIN 21

Knopf, Alfred A. Sixty Photographs . New York : A.A. Knopf, 1975. Presentation copy from Knopf to Yehudi Menuhin. MENUHIN 10

Brown, Marion Marsh and Ruth Crone. Willa Cather, the Woman and Her Works . New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970. Presentation copy from the authors to Yehudi Menuhin. With [9] p. of Menuhin's ms. notes. MENUHIN 8

Mérimée, Prosper. Carmen-Arsène Guillot-L'abbé Aubain-La dame de pique-Les bohémians-Le hussard-Nicolas Gogol . Paris: Calman-Lâevy, 1925. Presentation copy from Willa Cather to Yehudi Menuhin. MENUHIN 17

Mérimée, Prosper. Colomba-La Vénus d'Ille-Les ames du purgatoire . Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1925. Presentation copy from Willa Cather to Yehudi Menuhin. MENUHIN 18

Schubert, Franz. Franz Schubert's Letters and Other Writings . New York : A.A. Knopf, 1928. Presentation copy from Willa Cather to Yehudi Menuhin, dated Jan. 22, 1938 . With accompanying letter, signed "Aunt Willa," also dated Jan. 22. MENUHIN 19

Woodress, James. Willa Cather, Her Life and Art . New York : Pegasus, 1970. With Menuhin's ms. notes and underlinings, and draft of a letter to his father on verso of back flyleaf. MENUHIN 11

Cather Monogram ON WALL:

Willa Cather to Miss Ruth N. James. August 23, [1931]. Framed, with reproduction photograph of Cather. "I can always tell, of course, when the fans writing me have really got something out of my books, and when they merely think they have! I'm awfully glad you got something real out of them."

Willa Cather to Dr. A.L. Garbat. July 25, [1944]. On paper headed " Asticou Inn Northeast Harbor Maine ." Framed, with original addressed envelope. Cather writes to Dr. Garbat that the liver capsules he prescribed have been beneficial, and the weather in Maine changeable. "As for me, I enjoyed the cold days. They seemed to untwist my nerves as a sea voyage used to do. I was able to do a great deal of nothing."

Original photograph with inscription: "To my old friend William Ramsay from Willa Cather."