Description

Description: In this playful typed letter signed, Theodore Pratt seeks advice from editor/writer Henry Hart, “the single enthusiast” of his unpublished book, Dark Ecstasy, that he wrote eleven years prior. After Pratt rereads his work, he becomes the second enthusiast and “want[s] to get it published.” In preparing a “fresh manuscript,” Pratt is “going to put it in the past tense, in the regulation manner, as [he thinks] that present tense probably threw editors off.” He wonders if Hart was “still connected with publishing,” if he should “publish it under another name,” and wants to know if Prentice-Hall would be a suitable publisher if his present publisher Duell was not interested. He concludes, “At any rate, my belated thanks for my single enthusiast. Sincerely/ Theordore Pratt”

Typed and signed on an 11” x  8½” sheet of ivory paper dated Feb. 19, 1946. Included with this letter is a one-page promotional review of Pratt’s book Valley Boy published by Duell, Sloan & Pearce, Inc. Item #A01918

Theodore Pratt (1901-1969) published more than 30 novels, as well as mysteries, plays, non-fiction and short stories. Some film adaptations of his books are– Mercy Island, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Mr. Winkle Goes to War, The Barefoot Mailman.

Henry Hart was an American writer (Dr. Barnes of Merion, 1963) and publisher who worked as Publicity Director for Scribner’s Sons, Editor-in-chief of Putnam’s Sons, an Associate Editor of Time and Fortune, the founding member and first editor of Films in Review and a founding member of Equinox Cooperative Press.

Condition: Mailing fold lines, lightly toned and wrinkled at left blank margin, generally good condition.