1945-1968. Bishop's first book, North & South won the Houghton Mifflin Poetry Prize Fellowship and was published in 1946. Her second volume, published nine years later and entitled Poems: North & South -- A Cold Spring (which included the first volume in its entirety), won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize. This file begins in 1945 with Bishop's 4-page, hand-written author questionnaire for Houghton Mifflin and a press release announcing the Fellowship and the coming publication of North & South. The bulk of the file is from the 1950s and contains a second author questionnaire (with responses typed by Bishop) from 1955, as well as five typed letters signed by Bishop, plus one typed note signed and a personalized list of 43 people she wished to receive gift copies of her second book. Robert Lowell and Marianne Moore contribute typed letters signed praising Bishop's work, with an additional typed postcard signed from Moore. In her letters (which are predominantly sent from Rio de Janeiro), Bishop is very engaged in the process, offering opinions on marketing, reviewers, jacket blurbs, photos and typography, and also weighs in on having been labeled a "woman" poet: "...I think it is as silly to label a woman's poetry as by a 'woman' as it would be to label a man's by a "man" -- at least in 1955. And some uninformed reviewers, or those rare purchasers, seem to feel disappointed if a 'woman' does not write about unrequited love, etc.!" She does admit to being "extremely pleased" on having learned she had won the Pulitzer Prize, adding, "I hope this will increase the sales -- enough at least to pay off my indebtedness to Houghton Mifflin." For context, there are also more than a dozen retained copies of letters from or to the publisher from various entities; several press releases; lists of potential reviewers; shipping receipts for complimentary copies; and a handful of press clippings. There is also a small stapled file of letters from 1966-68 regarding a possible reprint edition by the University of Chicago Press, when the number of paper copies of Poems in stock had fallen to less than 10. The new edition didn't happen, and this archive ends with the authorization to "melt the text plates and binder dies." (Bishop's Complete Poems was published in 1969, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.) Apart from several instances of edge wear and some age-toning to the pages; the lot is near fine. [#036673] ON HOLD
$15,000