Research Catalog

Title

[Four typed letters, signed, to William Saroyan, July 8, 1937, Aug. 2, 1938, 5 p.].

Author

Duncan, Ronald, 1914-1982.

Publication

London, 1937-1938.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Duncan, Ronald, 1914-1982.
• Saroyan, William, 1908-1981.
• Saroyan, William, 1908-1981

Description

[6] leaves; 25-26 cm

Alternative Title

Down tools.

Subject

• Authors and publishers > Great Britain > 20th century > Correspondence

Note

• Three letters signed by Saroyan; one signed by Mongtomery Butchart, Duncan's Associate Editor.
• Letters on pale green Townsman letterhead
• "Down Tools" is Ronald Duncan’s second publication-- an impassioned attack on wartime usury, possibly informed by his discussions with Ezra Pound, whom he had met earlier that year. Pound advised Duncan on establishing The Townsman magazine in 1937, and it was in Dyuncan’s capacity as its General Editor that he corresponded with the American short-story writer William Saroyan.
• July 8, 1937, 2 p. (2 leaves), Duncan solicits a contribution from Saroyan, explaining "The above magazine is non-political, with a critical function analogous to Ex-Lax without the chocolate coating. There have been many Literary Periodicals in England, and the disease will probably continue [...] Leading character #1 of the Grt Unwrtn Am Novel, Ezra Pound, appears in Vol. 1 No. 1, as also Cocteau, and a few more of ‘the boys’ of International fame [...] If you have anything which your agents find impractical (or whatever agent’s find one’s more curbish things) we should be more than glad to print it, not for the ‘name value’ on the cover, but because I at least, personally, believe your work to be worth carving on trees and writing on walls -- and that isn’t being mimeographed for the benefit of potential contributors." Saroyan has written at the head of the letter, "Sent him Another Day, Oct. 26, 1937."
• December 16, 1937, 1 p., acknowledgement of receipt of Saroyan’s story by Duncan’s Associate Director, Montgomery Butchart, and asks Saroyan for “something of yours which is really prime”; annotated in Saroyan’s hand.
• May 8, 1938, 1 p., which accompanied two more copies of the magazine (“Glad you like it”) and thanks him for “your news letter which just what I meant.”
• August 2, 1938, 1 p., requests another news letter from Saroyan for issue no. 4, in which an article on Saroyan’s work by “a gentleman of Rapallo (not Uncle Ez.)” is slated to appear. Referring to the enclosed copy of Down Tools, a holograph note from Duncan at the foot of the letter asks “And could you blow the enclosed away?”
• “Ronald Duncan (6 August 1914 – 3 June 1982) was a writer, poet and playwright, now best known for preparing the libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia, first performed in 1946.”—From Wikipedia.

With (note)

• Saroyan's copy of Duncan leaflet (single sheet, folded) comprising first editon of poem "Down Tools" (London: Printed by The Stanhope Press Led., Rochester, Kent, for The C. W. Daniel Co. Ltd. [1938?]), paper clipped and reffered to in the Aug. 2, 1938 letter; leaflet bears Duncan line drawing in white against black, with letter font by William Johnstone.

Access (note)

• Restricted access;

Call Number

Berg Coll m.b. Duncan A.L.S. to Saroyan 1937

OCLC

900666931

Author

Duncan, Ronald, 1914-1982.

Title

[Four typed letters, signed, to William Saroyan, July 8, 1937, Aug. 2, 1938, 5 p.].

Imprint

London, 1937-1938.

With:

Saroyan's copy of Duncan leaflet (single sheet, folded) comprising first editon of poem "Down Tools" (London: Printed by The Stanhope Press Led., Rochester, Kent, for The C. W. Daniel Co. Ltd. [1938?]), paper clipped and reffered to in the Aug. 2, 1938 letter; leaflet bears Duncan line drawing in white against black, with letter font by William Johnstone.

Access

Restricted access; request permission in holding division.

Connect to:

Request access to this item in the Berg Collection

Added Author

Duncan, Ronald, 1914-1982. Artist

Saroyan, William, 1908-1981. Annotator

Saroyan, William, 1908-1981, addressee.

Added Title

Down tools.

Research Call Number

Berg Coll m.b. Duncan A.L.S. to Saroyan 1937