1963-1976. A typed note signed and a typed letter signed by Dickey; an autograph letter signed by Walker Percy and an autograph postcard signed by William Goyen; plus nearly a dozen retained copies of letters, memos, and telegrams from the publisher regarding Dickey's 1970 novel Deliverance, which made the Modern Library's list of top 100 novels of the 20th century and was made into a film in 1972, with a screenplay by Dickey, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. In the 1960s, in the midst of his success as a poet, Dickey began working on Deliverance, his first novel. (The first item here is a Contributors page torn from Poetry magazine, in which he is said to be working on his novel, The Deliverer.) By late 1963, he was in talks with Random House about publication. The two letters from Dickey at this time (1963 and 1964) both have to do with arrangements for meeting. Shortly after, Dickey is given $250 for the option on the novel, and retained letters from the publisher indicate revisions are in process. The paper trail disappears from 1965 until 1969, when Walker Percy pens a letter with advance comments (some good: "a very good adventure story"; some less so: "...unavailing, not foreshadowing what is to come"; and concluding: "It looks like Dickey, a good poet wanted to take off and have a good time with an adventure yarn and maybe make a lot of money on a movie. It probably will." William Goyen's praises were higher (in part): "It has that mysterious inner driving force that true poetry has..." Lastly here, there is a much later (1976) typed postcard signed by Dickey in which he comments on an Al Poulin translation of Rilke, saying that no previous Rilke translator "has been anywhere near the essential Rilke that Poulin has been able to reach." Publisher's notations on some pages; the lot is near fine. Percy's comment was remarkably prescient; and it is interesting to see the novel as a work-in-progress for more than 7 years prior to publication. [#036688] $950