Arthur H. Clark to Charles W. Chesnutt, 22 August 1922
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The Arthur H. Clark Company
Publishers and Booksellers 4027-37 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland
Aug. 22, 1922.
Charles W. Chesnutt, Esq.,
9719 Lamont Ave., N.E.,
C I T Y.
My dear Mr. Chesnutt:
How is the Baer1 Valentine volume coming along? Do you think this will be ready for publication during the next club year?2 I am rather anxious to get this series started,3 as I think it will be one of great interest to the club members.4
Yours respectfully, Arthur H. Clark.Correspondent: Arthur H. Clark (1868–1951) was a White publisher who was originally from England and had worked for several publishing companies before coming to Cleveland in the 1890s. Initially he worked as a specialist in rare books for Cleveland publisher Burrows Brothers, but then founded his own bookstore and publishing house, Arthur H. Clark Company, specializing in Americana and the history of the Western United States. Clark was an avid book collector and a member of the Rowfant Club, like Chesnutt and Frank H. Baer (1863–1940), whose joint book on valentines he was going to publish before the project was abandoned.
1. Frank House Baer (1863–1940) was a White Clevelander. He was an agent for the Nickel Plate Road (New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad) railway company and then served on the Chamber of Commerce as transportation commissioner (1918–1937). An avid book collector, he was, like Chesnutt, a member of the Rowfant Club, and locally known for his collection of over 2,000 valentines written between 1720 and 1870. Portions were exhibited locally (and sometimes nationally) from the late 1890s into the 1920s. A joint book project with Chesnutt on the collection was apparently launched in 1922 but abandoned after 1924. [back]
2. The Cleveland-based Rowfant Club was an elite organization for book collectors founded it 1892 (it still exists today). In 1895, it moved into a club house on 766 (today, 3028) Prospect Avenue. The club's Publication Committee organized the occasional publication of high-quality collectible books (in 1966, the club published a reprint of Chesnutt's 1904 short story "Baxter's Procrustes", a gentle satire on book collectors and their clubs). Membership was by tradition limited to ca. 200 members, by invitation only, and costly. Chesnutt became a member in 1910, after being prevented in 1902 from receiving an invitation because he was Black. He attended regularly and between 1910 and 1924 gave nine lectures at the club, the last on the history of valentines. [back]
3. Chesnutt's joint book project with Frank H. Baer (1863–1940), a collectors' edition of Baer's collection of valentines, with commentary and transcriptions, was likely begun in 1922. The Rowfant Club was interested in publishing the book, working with local publisher Arthur H. Clark (1868–1951), another book collector and member of the club. It is not known why and when the project was abandoned; no correspondence after May 1923 refers to it, although the forthcoming book is still mentioned in the club's Year Book for 1923 (Cleveland: Rowfant, 1924), pp. 80-81, and in its printed invitation to a speech by Chesnutt on valentines on February 14, 1924, which included a display of material from Baer's collection. About 90 pages of notes, including copies of valentine poems and portions of commentary on the history of valentine cards and gifts are in the Charles Waddell Chesnutt Papers at the Western Reserve Historical Society. [back]
4. See also the inquiry by Frank H. Baer (1863–1940) from August 31, 1922 about their joint valentines book project, which may have prompted Chesnutt to reply to both collaborators on the same day, September 1, 1922. [back]
