"I am Enclosing Good News from Knopf": January 1955
January of 1955 must have been a joyous month in the Olson household. Finally, after so many years, he was on his way to becoming an author. The first letter below, from Marie Rodell, indicates the good news. The letter from Knopf of which she speaks I have not seen, as Sigurd would have returned it to Rodell. It was not from Alfred Knopf the person, however, but from Philip Vaudrin, who would act as editor of Sigurd's book for Knopf Inc. Sigurd's letter to Rodell, included below, responds to the points that Vaudrin's letter would have addressed. In between those two letters, in the space below and also in time, is Alfred Knopf's personal letter to Sigurd about the manuscript. A scan of this letter is displayed. The final letter is from Rodell to Olson. To see these letters in larger context, read The Making of The Singing Wilderness.
Marie Rodell to Sigurd Olson, January 3, 1955
January 3, 1955
Dear Sig:
I am enclosing some good news from Knopf. When you've had a chance to read the letter, please let me have it back with your comments and decisions. I think I can probably up the amount of the advance if that's important to you. When do you plan to be this way again?
Yours,
Marie F. Rodell
Alfred A. Knopf to Sigurd Olson, January 6, 1955
Sigurd Olson to Marie Rodell, January 7, 1955
Ely, Minnesota
Jan 7, 1954 [sic]
Mrs. Marie F. Rodell
15 East 48th Street
New York 17, NY.
Dear Marie:
What a nice New Year's letter you wrote me and how wonderful to have the matter of a publisher settled at last and a good one. Many thanks for your long suffering patience and your faith in the book. As to the conditions that Alfred Knopf imposes, I am willing to make any changes necessary or to provide any additional materials he needs. We might as well go over his letter point by point.
1. I will get to work on the additional essays he needs to fill out the book. I have about 6 partly done. When I mentioned to you earlier that I could get them ready I envisioned having a week or two to whip them into shape. If there is no great urgency, I will get to work on them and finish them within the next few months. If there is a time factor involved, I'll just have to crawl into a hole somewhere and forget about airplanes and long distance calls and correspondence until they are finished.
2. I will be amenable to editorial changes of a stylistic nature - though I do not quite understand what is meant. Does he want me to make the changes or does he refer to changes his editorial staff might make? No doubt this sort of thing will have to be worked out in conference.
3. I am perfectly willing to change the title and rework the introduction also eliminate all references where they occur in following chapters.
4. As to the type of map locating the general area of the wilderness, I will have to discuss that with Mr. Knopf as there are many kinds of maps on hand. I think this is an excellent idea and will add much to the book itself. It might be that Lee Jaques could do an effective black and white sketch that would be better than a straight reproduction of any existing map.
5. It will be easy to reorganize the text to give it continuity and the idea of doing it along seasonal lines appeals to me very much. In fact when I originally thought of getting these essays together in book form, I had that in mind. This should not be difficult inasmuch as there is a fairly even distribution seasonally right now.
6. As to an artist to do the illustrations, I cannot think of anyone who can compare with the black and white sketches and line drawings of Francis Lee Jaques. What is more, he knows and loves the country I am writing about and has spent a great deal of time back in the wilderness. He has the feel of it and will do an excellent job from the standpoint of interpretation. Some time ago while he and his wife Florence Page Jaques were visiting us we discussed the possibility of a book and at that time, Lee promised to do the sketches whenever I was ready. I shall wait however in approaching him until we have a reaction from Mr. Knopf.
His books Snowshoe Country [and] Canoe Country put out by the University of Minnesota Press will give a good idea of what he can do. Attached I am sending along a few tear sheets of sketches from magazine articles and from the recent report of the Quetico-Superior Committee to President Eisenhower. I shall be glad to forward copies of the two books mentioned in case they cannot be obtained in New York.
Also attached to the sample sketches are two maps of the Quetico-Superior Area which may be of interest to Mr. Knopf and his staff.
7. As to my schedule, I plan on leaving Ely Sunday the 15th, will be in Washington through Tuesday the 18th. Would it be possible to arrange a conference with Mr. Knopf for Wednesday the 19th. If that works out, I'll leave Washington Wednesday morning arrive down town NY about 10:30 and catch a plane for Chicago where I have a speaking engagement Thursday afternoon, either that night or early Thursday. You had better wire me as soon as you know.
You failed to enclose Alfred Knopf's second page but assume from what you said, it had something to do with an advance.
Marie Rodell to Sigurd Olson, January 11, 1955
January 3, 1955
Dear Sig:
I am so sorry that the second page of the Knopf letter was omitted. The letter was not from Alfred Knopf but from Philip Vaudrin, who will be your editor on the project. He is a very nice and very knowledgeable guy (he was the editor at Oxford to whom I sold THE SEA AROUND US) and I feel sure that you will enjoy working with him.
The rest of the letter went on as you suspected to discuss terms: an advance of $500 on delivery of the manuscript against 17 1/2% of the wholesale price on the first 5,000 copies; 21% on the next 5,000 and 23% thereafter. They would like to publish the book sometime this year.
I wired you yesterday that Mr. Knopf and Mr. Vaudrin would be happy to see you on Wednesday, the nineteenth. Philip suggests that you call when you get to New York that morning and arrange with him for the most suitable hour.
Vaudrin knows Jaques' work and was enchanted with the idea that he could do the illustrations for your book.
I am glad this has all worked out this way; I don't think you could be in better hands.
Yours,
Marie F. Rodell
To go back to the table of contents page for items relating to The Singing Wilderness, click here.
