AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED (ALSs)

Hamden, CT, 1930 & 1935. Letter. Creases from folding, otherwise Fine. Two early AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED (ALSs) to Henzie Browne, the wife of British theater director E. Martin Browne on 5 total pages, 5-3/4" x 8-1/2" and 6" x 8", dated 20 June 1930 and 11 June 1935. The earlier handwritten letter, in full: "Indeed I am very happy that you did write me your generous and encouraging letter. And I’m very glad that you were not disappointed in the book at that particular time: I’ve taken potluck at ship’s libraries many times and only once had a real deck-chair treat = Thomas Mann’s BUDDENBROOKS. I shall think of you two often again this summer, for I shall be at Peterboro from July 10 - Aug 10. Trying to write some plays. I hope some summer we can all meet again (with Christopher too) on that hill. Please give my regards to Mr. Brown and again accept my sincere thanks. Sincerely yours Thornton Wilder." In the second letter, Wilder comments on T. S. Eliot’s plays and the impoverishment of commercial theatre. In full: "Indeed I remember you very well, and it was a great pleasure to receive your generous word about my book. It was a pleasure to know also that you have so large a part in a venture of such importance as the production of Mr. Eliot’s plays. I should like to think that those plays will some day be seen to have had a large part in the renaissance of a theatre with real subject-matter. The commercial theatre grows more and more impoverished in vitality and it is just such works as Mr. Eliot’s and yours that may save it. Please give my regards to Mr. Browne, and accept my thanks again for the kind impulse that led you to write me. Sincerely yours Thornton Wilder." E. Martin Browne collaborated for many years with T. S. Eliot and was the first producer of many of Eliot’s plays, including MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL.