Frank H. Baer to Charles W. Chesnutt, 31 August 1922
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The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce
Founded in 1848
Aug. 31st. 1922
My dear Chesnutt
How are you coming along with the valentine book?1 If it is to appear in February, the Publication Committee will soon have to get busy on the mechanical part of the work,2 and if as Clark3 says the illustrations are to be made in France there will be considerable time required for the negotiations.4
Yours very sincerely Frank H. BaerJN
This sounds like maybe a Rowfant pub. Want to check R. Bibliography? [illegible]See 1923 Yearbook, p. 80
L. G.[?]5
Correspondent: 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). Like Chesnutt, he was a member of the Rowfant Club. An avid book collector, he was known for his collection of over two thousand 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.
1. Chesnutt's joint book project with Frank H. Baer (1863–1940), an 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 another book collector and member of the club, publisher Arthur H. Clark (1868–1951). It is not known why and when the project was abandoned; no correspondence after May 1923 refers to it, although the book is still mentioned as forthcoming in the club's Year Book for 1923 (Cleveland: Rowfant, 1924), 80–81. The project is also mentioned in the club's printed invitation to an event featuring a speech given by Chesnutt and a display from Baer's collection on February 14, 1924. About ninety 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]
2. The Cleveland-based Rowfant Club was founded in 1892 as an elite organization for book collectors. 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 about two hundred 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. 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 intended to publish, before the project was abandoned. [back]
4. See also the inquiry from Arthur H Clark of August 22, 1922, about their valentines' book project, which may have prompted Chesnutt to reply to both collaborators on the same day, September 1, 1922. [back]
5. This unidentified archivist's note points to a Publication Committee report in the Rowfant Club Year Book for 1923 (Cleveland: Rowfant, 1924), 80-81, which mentions Baer's and Chesnutt's work as being in progress. [back]
