Ralph T. Hale to Charles W. Chesnutt, 8 August 1919
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Western Union Code
Cable Address: Granary, Boston
SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY1
Incorporated
Publishers
41 Mt. Vernon Street
BOSTON
Office of the Editor
August 8, 1919
My dear Mr. Chesnutt:--
We do not dare to make the venture with AUNT HAGAR'S CHILDREN.2 It is after all dialect, and we feel very dubious about its success in book form.
I wish to thank you cordially for remembering us with the manuscript, which I regretfully send back to you today.
Sincerely yours, Ralph T. Hale Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt 1105Williamson Building Cleveland, Ohio. H:FCorrespondent: Ralph Tracy Hale (1880–1951) seems to have worked as an editor for Small, Maynard & Company in the 1910s; he also co-authored a book on a recent arctic exploration published by the company in 1916.
1. Small, Maynard & Company was the publisher of Chesnutt's biography of Frederick Douglass (1899). Following the departure of co-founder Herbert Small (1869–1903) in 1900, the company was purchased by the Massachusetts financier and publisher Norman H. White (1871–1951) in 1907. By 1927, the company filed for bankrupcy, and White was found guilty of grand larceny in connection with the company's failure. [back]
2. Aunt Hagar's Children appears to have been a novel or a collection of dialect stories that Chesnutt possibly submitted only to Small, Maynard & Company; there is no manuscript, and the reference in this letter is the only known trace of the work. [back]
