Autograph Letter Signed (“O. W. Holmes”) to his publisher Henry Oscar Houghton (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), regarding two poems for The Atlantic. Beverly Farms, Mass., July 4, 1885.

Item Details

[American Literary Autograph — The Atlantic Monthly]

Holmes, Oliver Wendell (Sr.). Autograph Letter Signed (“O. W. Holmes”) to his publisher Henry Oscar Houghton (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), regarding two poems for The Atlantic. Beverly Farms, Mass., July 4, 1885.

Two pages, approx. 107 words, in ink, signed “Very truly yours, O. W. Holmes.” Holmes asks that “my two poem[s] be in the next Atlantic,” noting that one, “being addressed to Mr. Lowell, it would be well to give it the publicity which belongs to such a welcome”—a timely nod to James Russell Lowell’s return from diplomatic service. Fine condition, clean and legible. Henry Oscar Houghton was Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.'s publisher and worked with him for decades.

With: contemporary photogravure portrait of Holmes, captioned “Specially engraved for the Ridpath Library,” tissue guard present; old cellophane tape attaching the tissue to the verso of the print.

A bright, content-rich Holmes letter touching his close circle (Atlantic / Lowell / Houghton) and publication timing.

Search terms: Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.; Henry Oscar Houghton; Houghton, Mifflin; The Atlantic Monthly; James Russell Lowell; American poets; ALS; 19th-century American literature; Beverly Farms; literary publishing correspondence.