FRANCIS CHARLES MacDONALD - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED 11/27/1945 - HFSID 293780

FRANCIS C. MacDONALD
The Princeton scholar tells a collector, "You are the first man since Adam's day who has wanted my autograph - except on a check."
Autograph Letter signed: "F C MacDonald", 2 pages (front and verso), 5½x6½, Affixed to an 8½x11 page (3 surfaces) which also bears a typed caption and a magazine photo of MacDonald. Princeton, New Jersey, 1945 November 27. On letterhead of the Nassau Tavern to "dear Mr. Ward". In full: "You are the first man since Adam's day who has wanted my autograph - except on a check! So here goes! Your name of Ward is dear to my heart, - for my best friend for fifty years has been Ward, and my godson, Ward Branson, 'went down' with the Chicago in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The humblest of all the people you have written to, I am your debtor. I am glad that you are so nearly 'out.' Good luck to you - in what comes next. Sincerely yours". Francis C. MacDonald, a Princeton graduate in 1896, was one of the young scholars recruited by University President Woodrow Wilson to staff the new English Department (founded 1904). The Department soon gained a reputation for both scholarship and teaching excellence. MacDonald's publications included Sorcery (1920, a novel), and Devices and Desires (1922). The US cruiser Chicago was not sunk at the Battle of the Coral Sea, as MacDonald believed, but 8 months later, at the Battle of Rennell Island (January 1943), while successfully protecting a US Marine amphibious landing. From the collection of Ralph Errington Ward (1926-2009) a fighter pilot and squadron commander in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II. Ward went on to become President and CEO of Cheseborough-Ponds, Inc., transforming the cosmetics firm into a major home product conglomerate. Creased. Mailing fold through center. Otherwise, fine condition.