JAMES G. THURBER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 10/15/1940 - HFSID 728

JAMES THURBER
James Thurber sends a typed letter about his next round of being in the hospital.
Typed Letter Signed: "James Thurber", 1p, 8½x7½. Selleck Hill Road, Salisbury, Connecticut, 1940 October 15. To Mr. Everitt. In full: "I go into the Eye Institute at Medical Center on October 22 and will be there two weeks. Then I will be in town for another two weeks. I hope this may coincide with your time in New York". In 1955, American writer and cartoonist James Thurber (1894-1961) published Thurber's Dogs, a compilation of 30 canine stories and illustrations he had created over the course of his career. Included in Thurber's Dogs is his first published short story, a tale about a bull terrier entitled, "Josephine Has Her Day" (1923). Thurber's writings as well as his illustrations stand alone in their originality. His cartoon drawings accentuate Thurber's endearingly innocent and eccentric characterizations within his wonderfully humorous stories. The domineering Thurber Woman versus the oppressed, cowering male, complete with his famous depictions of dogs, is a rampant theme of his work. From a childhood replete with family dogs, "man's best friend" played an integral role in Thurber's life and especially his art. At the author's request, his obituary in "The New Yorker", of which he was once managing editor and writer (1927-1933), included a drawing of a Thurber dog. Thurber's first published drawing had appeared in 1931 in "The New Yorker". After Thurber left the magazine, he remained a contributor while working on such humorous urban classics as "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"from My World and Welcome To It(1942), The Thurber Carnival(1945), the autobiographical The Thurber Album(1952 by which time he was nearly blind), The Years With Ross (1959), a biography of his former "The New Yorker" boss,and Credos and Curios(1962, posthumously). Several of his works were produced in film and on Broadway including a 1960 stage version of The Thurber Carnival(with Thurber playing himself). Fragile. Yellowed. Torn right edge. ¾x¼-inch hole above signature. 1½-inch separation at blank right margin at fold.