Charles W. Chesnutt to The Warren Book Company [Archibald Poole], 16 May 1932
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May 16, 1932
The Warren Book Company,
222 West 135th Street,
New York, N. Y.
Gentlemen:
Please send me one copy of "Veiled Aristocrats", by Julia Sanborn, which is quoted in the catalog you sent me at $1.50.1 I presume that includes postage.
Yours very truly, CWC:MKCorrespondent: The Warren Book Company, a bookstore dedicated to Black authors, was initially located in Staten Island and later in New York City, a block from the New York Public Library's Harlem Branch. It was owned and run by Archibald O. Poole (1885—1963), a Black printer, publisher, and photographer. In the 1920s and 1930s, he sent advertising circulars to individuals and organizations; his personal responses to Chesnutt were written on two of those circulars. Poole lived on Staten Island and along with his wife Drusilla (1888—1972) was active in many local civil rights organizations.
1. The 1923 novel Veiled Aristocrats by the White American journalist and fiction writer Gertrude Sanborn (1881–1928) dealt with "passing" and interracial romance. It was published by Associated Publishers, the publishing company founded by Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950) in 1921, and advertised in his Journal of Negro History, to which Chesnutt subscribed. Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951) used the book's title and theme for his remake of The House Behind the Cedars, but adhered to Chesnutt's character names, setting, and plot (albeit loosley). [back]
