LETTERS: Jovanovich Publishing Archive.
Publishing File of Lady Violet Bonham Carter
on her Winston Churchill Book
Carter, Lady Violet Bonham. Publishing File of Lady Violet Bonham Carter on Winston Churchill, An Intimate Portrait. 1958-1966.
A collection of letters from Lady Violet Bonham Carter to her editor at Harcourt, Brace and World, William Jovanovich, 1958-1966. All of these letters regard Lady Bonham Carter’s work on preparing her Churchill biography for an American edition (Winston Churchill, An Intimate Portrait, originally published in London by Eyre & Spottiswoode as Winston Churchill as I Knew Him, both editions published in 1965).
Together with related letters from Mark Bonham Carter, her son; Richard Ollard, an editor at Collins Publishers in London; Henry Luce and Ralph Graves at Life magazine; Maurice Temple-Smith at Eyre & Spottiswoode; interoffice memos from various people at Harcourt, Brace, and ca. 70 of Jovanovich's carbon responses.
Letters
Lady Violet Bonham Carter: 45 letters (36 TLS and 9 ALS. One of the ALS includes a typed transcription).
Mark Bonham Carter (Lady Violet's son; editor at Collins Publishers, London): 28 letters (22 TLS and 6 telegrams).
Richard Ollard (at Collins Publishers, London): 11 letters (9 TLS, 2 telegrams).
Henry Luce (Life): 3 TLS.
Ralph Graves (Life): 2 TLS.
Maurice Temple Smith (at Eyre & Spottiswoode): 2 TLS, and one from his secretary, Sylvia Ames.
Harcourt, Brace interoffice memos and carbons (including from Julian Muller, Jim Holsaert, Gertrude Buckman, Mary Margaret McQuillan and William Jovanovich): ca. 20.
Typescript material
Ollard, Richard. Two typed carbons regarding Lady Bonham Carter's book; August 12, 1960 and September 19, 1960. First letter is a 4pp. typescript carbon that begins, “The first thing to be said about this MS is that it succeeds brilliantly in what it sets out to do…”; the second letter includes an accompanying 11pp. typescript carbon with Ollard’s editorial notes and suggested changes for the book.
"Lady Violet Bonham Carter"; mimeograph typescript; 3pp.; December 7, 1960. A "timeline" of her WSC book.
"Chapter XXIV/Corrections"; typed list; 1p. This list accompanied Lady Bonham Carter's March 8, 1961 letter to Jovanovich.
Bonham Carter, Mark. "Winston Churchill As I Knew Him"; typescript carbon announcement to run in the London Guardian (CHECK); half-leaf of paper, recto only. This announcement was sent with Mark Bonham Carter's November 6, 1964 letter to Jovanovich; contains WJ's ink corrections.
Press release for Lady Bonham Carter's book; one leaf of Harcourt, Brace & World letterhead, recto only; January 25, 1965.
Jovanovich, William. Corrected typescript draft for Lady Bonham Carter’s dust-jacket copy; 2pp.; corrected by Jovanovich in black ink.
Printed advertisement for the Eyre & Spottiswoode edition of Lady Bonham Carter's book.
Other letters
TLS Basil Davenport to Jovanovich; February 10, 1965; one half-leaf of Book of the Month Club letterhead, recto only. Regarding Lady Bonham Carter's book.
TLS Axel Rosin to "Gentlemen"; February 15, 1965; one leaf of Book of the Month Club letterhead, recto only. Regarding BoMC's nomination of Lady Bonham Carter's book.
Description
A collection of letters documenting Lady Violet Bonham Carter’s adaptation of her Churchill biography for an American audience. Lady Bonham Carter started working on the manuscript in 1956; she intended to keep the book a secret until Churchill’s death – as stipulated in her publishing contract – but as Churchill’s 90th birthday approached, Bonham Carter suggested publishing it sooner to mark that milestone. As it happened, Churchill died in January 1965, two months after his birthday, so the book’s publication was nonetheless prescient.
Throughout these letters, Lady Bonham Carter’s participation in all aspects of publishing details, and her remarkable attention to detail, are evident. Thi
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