JOSEPH "JOSKA" SZIGETI - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 11/16/1945 - HFSID 49507

JOSEPH SZIGETI
Writing to friend Frances Winwar praising him on his book and catching him up on developments of his memoirs With Strings Attached
Autograph Letter Signed: "Joska", 3p. 5¼x7¼ conjoined. On a train from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, Canada. 1945 November 16. On letterhead of Great Northern Railway to "Dear Frances [Winwar]". In full: "just a line to thank you for your note and for the pleasure I am getting out of the much too slow reading of your so intensely, alive and fascinating book. It is really wonderful how you force your reader to recreate for himself these so remote milieus and personages! You just prod and bully the reader into living your book! I am so hand-driven that I can barely read a few pages at night so it'll be quite a long time before I'll be able to collect my thoughts and write a few lines of appreciation. In addition to all my current correspondence which pursues me on my tour I have many additions to make for my book (and corrections too!) for I spent a week-end with Ernest Block at Agate Beach & must now utilize at least a little of what he told me (an avalanche of talk!) Donc vous voyez ca d'ici!!.... Both Blanche and the ,,stylist" Mrs. Elizabeth Moore (who is to tidy up my MS) (do you happen to know her?0 were lavish in their praise of my MS. Blanche called it ,,an enchanting book" and Mrs M was very enthusiastic Barret tells me. How sad that I'll be missing you end of Dec.! But we'll meet early in Feb. won't we? Au revoir then, and here's to a huge sale and many reprintings! Love from Nov 23-27 Olympic Hotel Seattle Wash. Am on my way to Br. Columbia : 3 concerts in a row." Hungarian virtuoso violinist Joseph Szigeti (1892-1973) debuted as a child prodigy, touring and recording until his retirement in 1960. Known as "the scholarly violinist," he championed works by contemporary composers, including his lifelong friend Bela Bartok. Szigeti and his wife Wanda (Ostrowska) Szigeti lived mostly in the US from 1939 to 1960, returning thereafter to Switzerland. Szigeti's memoirs, With Strings Attached, were published in 1947. Szigeti on the Violin appeared in 1969.Normal mailing folds. Slightly creased at corners. Otherwise, fine condition.