CONTEMPORARY ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE - Alan Paton (Pietermaritzburg, 1903 - Durban, 1988) - A

Alan Paton (Pietermaritzburg, 1903 - Durban, 1988)28 typed letters signed; 2 autograph poems signed; 4 autograph quotation signed; 1 autograph excerpt; 1 completely autograph story signed; 9 photographs portrait, 8 with autograph signature and date; 6 16mm color photographic negatives stripes; 1 frontispiece with autograph signature and date.Paton was a South African anti-apartheid activist and writer. His most notable works are Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) and Too Late the Phalarope (1953). The Sunday Times set up an award for non-fictional works in his name.Nine typed letters signed 28th September, 1951, To a Rector: "I am sorry that we shall not be able to attend either the opening of the Hall or the house-warming dance". 1 p.February 9th. 1970, To writer Jon Bracker (1936): "...you asked what particular book or author influenced me in the formative period of my youth (...) I will just mention briefly: The Bible, Tennyson, Dickens, Mark Twain, R. L. Stevenson, and of course 'Alice in Wonderland'. I remember one book which made a deep impression on me and that was Knut Hamsun’s 'Growth of the Soil'". 1p, on the author’s letterhead, on aerogramme.October 10th 1974, To journalist Elliot F. Kraemer, thanking him for his "appreciation of CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY". 1 p.April 1st 1979, To Siv Lind: "It is very difficult to say which of my books I like most. I am sending you a copy of TOO LATE THE PHALAROPE in English, and one in Finnish". 1 p.August 18th 1982, To Bishop Earl Hunt: "I am certainly willing to sign the statement from the 'New York Times' for you". 1 p. On the author’s letterhead.October 10th 1984, To Elliott F. Kraemer: "I shall just mention a few of my favourite books: Huckleberry Finn (...) The Bridge of San Louis Rey (...) Death Comes for the Archbishop". 1 p. On the author’s letterhead.February 25th 1986, To collector Jane Chappell, on writing: "Yes there are certainly times when creation is a burden. I know that very well because I am struggling to finish the second volume of my autobiography (...) However the writing of a biography and autobiography is very different from the writing of fiction, because the first requires a great deal of hard work and research". 1 p. On aerogramme.February 1st 1988. To Richard A. Davison: "I am afraid I am not an authority on African novelists (...) I would certainly regard Chinua Achebe as a considerable writer. I also think very highly of the work of Wole Soyinka". 1 p. On aerogramme.No date, no addressee: "Thanks for the postal coupon, but they are not accepted in South Africa". 1 p. On the author’s letterhead.Eighteen typed letters signed. Sixteen to Rolando Pieraccini, nine of which with wife’s autograph signature Anne Hopkins Paton. Two letters are addressed to student and journalist Peter Vogel and Peter Michielsen.January 5th 1982. About an exhibition of the writer’s material: "I had no idea that you had been making a collection of my letters, manuscripts, etc., I wonder if you have been in touch with Professor Edward Callan in America, who is perhaps the greatest authority on my work". 1 p. On the author’s letterhead.February 7th 1983, About the sending of a photograph. 1 p. On aerogramme.February 19th 1983. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton: "I am enclosing three large photographs of my husband as promised in his letter of February 7th". 1 p. On the author’s letterhead.November 22nd 1983. "I am returning the two large photographs, signed and dated as you requested (...) You are very welcome to publish a limited edition of one of my short stories and DEATH OF A TSOTSI would do as well as any other". 1 p. On the author’s letterhead.February 27th 1984. Agreeing on signing books: "...a few years ago in America I signed 30.000 pages for a limited edition of 'Cry, The Beloved Country'". 1 p. On aerogramme.April 24th 1984. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton: "He is rather baffled by the question of the translation rights, and he has written back to Jonathan Cape for clarification of the situation". 1 p. On aerogramme.May 24th 1984. Notifying that his London publisher Jonathan Cape is looking into copyright in order to publish a short stories collection with Eurographica. 1 p. On aerogramme.November 30th 1984 – 1 p. On aerogramme. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton, saying that her husband is very busy and had yet not being able to start signing the frontispieces.September 13th 1984 – 1 p. On aerogramme. Notifying the arrival of title pages to be signed.January 1st. 1985 – 1 p. On aerogramme. Notifying the postage of the signed pages for the publication Debbie Go Home & Other stories (1985).January 10th 1985 – 1 p. On aerogramme. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton: "I have now had a letter from Gaye Poulton at Jonathan Cape saying that they are quite agreeable to you paying my husband direct for the signatures".January 25th 1985 – 1 p. On aerogramme. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton, notifying the arrival of a cheque.January 28th 1985 – 1p. On the author’s letterhead. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton, regarding payments: "I leave it you to get your bank to translate $ 350.00 into pounds (...) Unfortunately with the rand dropping every day, it make these transactions rather difficult. In regard to important South African writers, my husband says you have already mentioned the most important ones, but he would add Breyten Breytenbach, Douglas Livingstone, Wally Serote and Sipho Sipamla". Included: Invoice, dated January 28th 1985 for page signing of Debbie Go Home & Other stories – 1 p. Envelope included.February 18th 1985 – 1 p. On aerogramme. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton. To Peter Michielsen, to arrange an interview.May 16th 1985 – 1 p. On the author’s letterhead, on aerogramme. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton: "...will look forward to the books, and my husband has no objection to the use of the facsimile of the manuscript of Death of a Tsotsi".July 24th 1985 – 1 p. On aerogramme. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton: "Thank you for your letter and for the copy of the Finnish edition of Debbie Go Home".February 25th 1986 – 1 p. On aerogramme. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton: "This is to let you know that my husband has just received the copy of Debbe Go Home, containing hiw own manuscript of Death of a Tsotsi at the end".April 7th 1986 – 1 p. Signed by Anne Hopkins Paton. To Peter Vogel: "it is quite impossible to say how many copies of my husband’s books have been sold – it runs into millions. Also Cry, The Beloved Country has been translated into over twenty languages".Autograph quotation signed from the novel Cry, The Beloved Country: "Quietly my child, there is a lovely/valley where you were born. The water sings/over the stones, and the wind cools you" – 1 p.Autograph poem signed, consisting of seven quatrains dated London 28/9/49 with title XXXI Samuel: "The black bay rose from his bed/and came to me willingly/and Master, master, he said/Why did you call for me?" – 1 p.Autograph poem signed, consisting of four quatrains dated 1948 with title Only the Child is no more: "The sea roars as ever it did/The great green walls travel landwards/Rearing up with magnificence/their wind–blown manes" – 1 p.Autograph excerpt from Too Late the Phalarope (1953), chapter VI: "For Smith, while his wife was with child, made also with child the blank servant girl in the house. When she told him she was with child, he was filled with terror, and could think of nothing else by night or by day" – 1p.Completely autograph manuscript signed dated (circa 1950) of the short story Death of a Tsotsi. Consisting of 12 autograph pages with corrections and additions, this unique manuscript was the one provided for the Eurographica’s publication of the short story collection Debbie Go Home & Other stories.Two large photographic portraits with autograph signature and date 22 Nov 1983. Applied passepartout. Autograph note of the photographer Crown Studios/ Durban. x2 (19 x 24 cm).Seven photographs consisting of six photographic portraits with autograph signature, with date and photographer marked on the verso 27 AUG 1984, Crown Studios/Durban and a photograph depicting the Alan Paton’s exhibition in Helsinki. x4 (8.5 x 12 cm); x1 (9 x 11.5 cm); (8 x 11 cm); (10 x 13 cm).Typed letter signed dated 28 April 1983 signed by Edward Callan (1918-2011), professor of English at the Western Michigan University, providing a "signed copy of the book ALAN PATON: REVISED EDITION (Twayne’s World Author Series) for your Autumn exhibit".Three autograph dedications signed dated 29 Jan 1985.Six 16mm color photographic negatives strips, consisting of ten visible poses of the Alan Paton’s exhibition in Helsinki.Frontispiece of the book Debbie Go Home and other stories by Eurographica with autograph signature and date Dec 1984.