LETTERS: Gollancz Publishing Files [one box].
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URSULA K. LE GUIN – GOLLANCZ
ARCHIVE
Approx. one half linear foot; ca. 1971-1992.
Files from British publisher Victor Gollancz Limited relating to American author Ursula K. Le Guin and
the publication of fifteen novels, among them Planet of Exile (1966); Rocannons World (1966); the Nebula
and Hugo Awards-winning Lathe of Heaven (1971) and The Dispossessed (1974); Orsinian Tales (1976);
and the Nebula Award-nominated The Word for World is Forest (1976).
Each title is represented with incoming and outgoing correspondence (with a total of nearly fifty items from Le Guin), interoffice memoranda, contracts and agreements, printed matter, and related material. Reader’s reports are present for nine titles.
Several of Le Guin’s letters to John Bush and Joanna Goldsworthy at the Gollancz office in London
include important discussions of the genres of “fantasy,” and “science fiction,” her interpretations of both,
management of readers’ expectations, and how she classifies her own work. She also writes regarding the
publisher designation of “young adult,” how it relates to her writing, and how it might be interpreted
differently in the United States and in Britain. Other letters address illustrations for her work and candidly
weigh in on the nature – seen by Le Guin as “mostly pretty sexist, sensational, and shoddy” – of artwork
within the fantasy genre. The balance of her correspondence handles general business relating to her
British and American publishers – for example, she notifies Bush in 1974 that Harper still has original
artwork for a novel, and in 1978 writes regarding an American publisher’s claim on all English and foreign
rights for a particular title.
Other incoming letters are from literary agents Janet Freer and Virginia Kidd; Hilary Rubinstein, Clarissa
Rushdie, and Anne Abel Smith at A.P. Watt & Son; Nick Austin at Grafton Books; Buz Wyeth at Harper
& Row; Helen Munch at Scribner’s; Jean Karl at Athenaeum; and James Brunsman, an illustrator based in
Oregon. In addition to incoming correspondence are many outgoing carbons from Bush, Goldsworthy, and
Malcolm Edwards at Gollancz, which are often addressed to Le Guin or her American publishers or her
agent. Virginia Kidd’s letters document the management of Le Guin’s career, including her falling out with
Scribner’s while writing The Dispossessed. Kidd writes to Bush at Gollancz, in part: “You are quite right:
The Dispossessed is indeed very close to Ursula’s heart. And it is enormously long. It is my own feeling
that not one word is wasted. Might I say here that the reason we obtained cancellation of contract from
Scribner’s (who have announced it) is because her editor there had accepted the book as written, and Mr.
Scribner informed us that – not for any reason of excellence or lack of it, but arbitrarily – it had to be
shorter. Ursula, as Joanna Goldworthy knows from experience, is perfectly willing to work with an editor
to the end of improving the text….” Other correspondence throughout the files relates to routine matters
including reissues and various rights or permission requests.
Breakdown of Le Guin correspondence
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Thirty-seven typed letters signed, Le Guin to John Bush and others at the Gollancz office;
ca. 1971-92; most one page in length (occasionally two); Le Guins personal stationery, plain
stock, or aerogramme paper
Five autograph letters signed, Le Guin to Bush and others at Gollancz; usually one page
Five autograph postcards signed
Representative examples from Le Guins letters
Lathe of Heaven (1971; UK 1972)
File includes two TLS from Le Guin, along with readers report and signed publishing agreement between
Gollancz and Le Guin, dated July 2, 1971, together with later extension agreement.
Typed letter signed, Ursula K. Le Guin, to John Bush, March 14, 1971; one 7 x 10-inch leaf of Le
Guins personal stationery, recto only. Regarding working with Gollancz. In part, I too a
Print Inquire
