A Guide to the William Cullen Bryant Collection , April, 1862 #6244-x

A Guide to the William Cullen Bryant Collection April, 1862

A Collection in
the Clifton Waller Barrett Library
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 6244-x

Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
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Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed by: Special Collections Department

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

William Cullen Bryant Collection, Accession # 6244-x, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This holding was acquired by purchase on January 10, 1991.

Scope and Content Information

In a letter 1862 April 21, William Cullen Bryant writes to James Lawson, agent for South Carolina author William Gilmore Simms, about an indirect attack by the Charleston Mercury on Lawson for robbing Simms of his earnings.

With the letter are a clipped letter to the editor of"The New York Times" 1862 April 26 from Park Benjamin denying charges against Lawson and a second undated clipping quoting the original Mercury statement.

Contents List

Letter

William Cullen Bryant to J[ames] Lawson April 21, 1862

ALS, 1 p.

Bryant writes on the stationery of his paper the New York Evening Post about one of two newsclippings (present) concerning the South Carolina author, William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870), "The enclosed is all I can find this morning relating to Mr. Simms's misfortune. If anything more appears in the papers that come to our office I will preserve it for you." Apparently Park Benjamin is defending the literary agen James Lawson whose honesty was attacked in a clipping from the Charleston Mercury , stating that "[Simms was] robbed of the hard-earned fruits of a long life of authorship by Northern publishers."

A clipping of a letter to the editor of The New York Times from Park Benjamin April 26, 1862

newsclipping

The letter agrees that it would be proper to raise money to help the author William Gilmore Simms financially but disputes the veracity of the Charleston Mercury when it accuses Northern publishers of robbing Simms of his earnings from a long lifetime of publication based on his personal acquaintance with Simms' agent in New York, presumably James Lawson.
A clipping from an unidentified paper [April, 1862?]

newsclipping

The clipping quotes the statement of the Charleston Mercury concerning the "propriety of getting up a testimonial to W. Gilmore Sims."