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Charles W. Chesnutt to Herbert Small, 26 October 1899

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  • Source Text: Charles W. Chesnutt to Herbert Small, 26 October 1899, African American History collection (1729–1970, bulk 1800–1865), William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, M-454 et al., box 5, folder 20a.
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  Chesnutt 64 Brenton St., Cleveland, O., Oct 26 / 99 My dear Mr. Small,

I received to-day first batch of proof of the Douglass Biog​ .1 It was something of a surprise—an agreeable one however—as I had scarcely expected it so soon. It is in beautiful shape and will give me very little trouble; I will return it in a day or two.2

I wrote you to-day, before receiving the proofs, and sent photograph under separate cover.3 I assure you that if I had expected the proofs so promptly I should have answered your letter sooner. I presume,   0366 from present indications that the book will be out before very long.

Sincerely yours, Chas. W. Chesnutt.

P.S. Please address further proofs and letters to 64 Brenton St., as I get them sooner at that address.4

C.W.C. Mr. Herbert Small Boston, Mass


Correspondent: Herbert Small (1869–1903) worked as a reporter for the Boston Herald, for Curtis and Cameron preparing handbooks for the Boston, MA Library and the Library of Congress, and in 1897 founded with Laurens Maynard the Boston, MA publishing firm Small, Maynard & Co. One of the firm's earliest publications was Calamus: A Series of Letters Written Duing the Years 1868–1880 by Walt Whitman to a Young Friend. In 1900, Small stepped down from the business.



1. Chesnutt's biography, Frederick Douglass, appeared in the Beacon Series of Biographies of Eminent Americans (Boston: Small, Maynard, 1899). It was the first biography after Douglass's death and the first written by an African American. [back]

2. Chesnutt returned "the last batch of the body" of the Douglass proofs with his edits to M. A. DeWolfe Howe, editor of the Beacon Biographies, on October 31, 1899. [back]

3. This is almost certainly a photograph of Frederick Douglass. With help from Douglass's son Lewis, Chesnutt procured the photo used for the frontispiece in the biography from Kent Photographer, State Street, Rochester, New York. [back]

4. At the end of September, 1899, Chesnutt closed his business as an attorney, court reporter, and stenographer in the Society for Savings building in Cleveland, OH, and set up a literary office in the family home at 64 Brenton St. [back]

  • Cite (Chicago style): Charles W. Chesnutt, "Charles W. Chesnutt to Herbert Small, 26 October 1899," The Charles W. Chesnutt Archive, Gen. Ed. Stephanie P. Browner, Matt Cohen, and Kenneth M. Price, accessed November 21, 2024. https://chesnuttarchive.org/item/ccda.corr00122.
  • Source File: ccda.corr00122.xml
  • Document ID: ccda.corr00122
  • Nature of source text: autograph letter signed
  • Rights information: The base text of the original item is in the public domain. The text encoding and editorial notes were created and/or prepared by the Charles W. Chesnutt Archive and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Any reuse of the material should credit the Charles W. Chesnutt Archive. [License]
  • Contributors to the digital file: Kevin McMullen | Samantha Gilmore | Matheis, Caitlin S. | Swift, Bianca | Weakly, Laura K. | Barney, Brett
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