LAWRENCE CLARK POWELL - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 07/29/1977 - HFSID 73570

LAWRENCE CLARK POWELL
The leading American librarian and author writes to a friend about his most recent publication, signs name in blue ink
Autograph letter signed: 'Larry" in blue ink. 2 pages, 5½x8½. Written on University of Arizona letterhead. Original mailing envelope included. Tucson, Arizona. July 29, 1977. In full: "Dear Connie - I have been away a month in seclusion, finishing a short novel for Capra - Spring '78. Thanks for your letter & enclosure - a blessing that David followed Dorothy. AZ Hiways [sic] "Desert Splendor" has a hard-bound ($6) as well as soft ($2). Their photos & my prose. 200,000 copies first printing! Fond regards, as ever". Lawrence Clark Powell (1906-2001) was an American librarian, literary critic, bibliographer and author of more than one-hundred books. Powell studied at Occidental College, later earning his doctorate from the University of Burgundy in Dijon and his Certificate of Librarianship from UC Berkley in 1937. He gained his literary reputation as the University Librarian at the UCLA Library and head librarian at the Williams Andrews Clark Memorial Library from 1944 to 1961, after which he was named the first dean of the School of Library Service at UCLA (later the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies). After retiring in 1966, Powell moved to Tucson where he worked as Professor in Residence for nearly two decades at the University of Arizona and played an instrumental role in the growth of their Graduate School of Library Science. A Lawrence Clark Powell Memorial Lectures is held in Tucson annually in his honor, and the Fay and Lawrence Clark Powell Endowment for Southwest Research continues to support Powell's interest in the geography of the southwest United States. His works include Books: West Southwest: Essays on Writers, Their Books, and Their Land (1957), The Southwest of the bookman (1974), An Orange Grove Boyhood: Growing Up in Southern California, 1910-1928 (1988), and Eucalyptus Fair: A Memoir in the Form of a Novel (1992). Normal mailing folds. Toned. Corners rounded. Light surface creases. Otherwise, fine condition.