Charles W. Chesnutt to Harry J. Warwick, 24 October 1932
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October 24, 1932.
Mr. Harry Warwick,
Room 153, Hotel Bristol,
129-135 West 48th Street,
New York.1
My Dear Mr. Warwick:
I have yours of October 17th, suggesting that I send the autographed books to you at the above address.
I received and have inscribed the three books. There was nothing from which to tell to whom they belonged, so I could not make my inscription personal. I think I did in one instance and probably got it wrong, but you will see that when you get the books. I have sent the books to you C. O. D., to the Hotel Bristol at the above address.
Thanks to your offer to look out for first editions of my books and will be glad to have you write me at length any time you choose.2
With best wishes,
Sincerely yours, CWC:OSCorrespondent: Harry J. Warwick (life dates unknown) was a self-professed collector of books by Black authors who approached Chesnutt to get books autographed. He and a friend, Floyd Miller, who has not been further identified, apparently collected books together. It is not known whether their books were eventually donated to an HBCU, as Warwick's first letter to Chesnutt suggested they would be.
1. 129–135 W. 48th St. was originally an extension of the Hotel Bristol at 122–124 W. 49th St. near the Broadway theaters in New York City and became a stand-alone hotel with a large dining hall after 1929, when the original building was torn down. [back]
2. On October 24, 1932, Chesnutt wrote his last two known letters and sent a package with four autographed books (as indicated by his note on Harry J. Warwick's letter of October 17, 1932). By early November, he felt too ill to go to his office and was bedridden; he died on November 15, 1932. His death certificate lists arteriosclerosis and hypertension as causes of death (Helen M. Chesnutt, Charles Waddell Chesnutt: Pioneer of the Color Line [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952], 312; Frances Richardson Keller, An American Crusade: The Life of Charles Waddell Chesnutt [Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1978], 245-249). [back]
