Charles W. Chesnutt to Walter M. Hill, 28 October 1922
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October 28, 1922.
Mr. Walter M. Hill,
22 East Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill.
Dear Sir:
Please send me, if you still have it, No. 1098 in your catalogue 96, for October, 1922, "Shakespeare's Insomnia, and the causes thereof," by Franklin H. Head, for which I enclose my check for fifty cents.1 Since your catalogue says nothing about express charges or postage, I presume the catalogue price includes such cost.2
Yours very truly, CWC/FL 1106 Williamson Building, Cleveland, Ohio.Correspondent: Walter Martin Hill (1868–1952) was a well-known Chicago bookseller who specialized in rare books and collectibles, and occasionally made headlines for purchasing rare manuscripts or early print editions, mostly in British literature. Originally from the United Kingdom, Hill opened his bookstore in Chicago in 1899; it existed into the late 1940s.
1. Franklin Harvey Head (1832–1914) was a White Chicago-based banker and businessman with a background in law who wrote a number of essays, some of which were published as books. One of the most well known was the scholarly parody Shakespeare's Insomnia and the Causes Thereof (Chicago: S.A. Maxwell and Company, 1886; also reprinted by Houghton Mifflin Company), which drew on imaginary letters written to Shakespeare by his contemporaries. Chesnutt likely ordered the book because the Rowfant Club, of which he was a member, was in the process of preparing a limited 2-volume edition of Head's essays, published under the title Untrodden Fields in History and Literature, and Other Essays (Cleveland: The Rowfant Club, 1923), edited by club member George Brooks Shepard (1864–1930). [back]
2. Walter M. Hill irregularly published descriptive catalogues of the books available through his bookstore, about 150 across nearly 50 years, with varying emphases. The 54-page catalogue No. 96 for October 1922 was entitled Catalogue of Useful Books for General Reading Also Suitable for Libraries; Franklin Head's book is listed under "Shakespeare" on p. 43. [back]
