ID: 8970  -  Marina Camboni  -  Macerata Type: Text Format: Medium: Letter Extent: Identifier: Source: Bryher. Letter. H.D. Papers. Mss 24, box 3. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Title: [Bryher to H.D., On Life and Letters, 1935] Subtitle: Alternative: Agents: Creator: Bryher (Winifred Ellerman) Role: Author Name: Bryher (Winifred Ellerman) Created: 1935 Date: in/on: 1935 Language: English Rights: Relation: References Qualifier: Letters to H. D. of April 13 and 17, 1935 Coverage: Place: Villa Kenvin, Switzerland Time: 1935 Description: Subjects: Places Subjects: Places Subjects: Displacement Subjects: Exchanges Subjects: Exchanges Subjects: Definitions of Culture Subjects: Cultural Practices Subjects: Wo/Men Subjects: Wo/Men Subjects: Wo/Men Subjects: Wo/Men Subjects: Places Subjects: Internationalism/Transnationalism Subjects: Places Subjects: Wo/Men Subjects: Wo/Men Keywords: Life and Letters To-day Keywords: Switzerland Keywords: culture Keywords: Bryher (Winifred Ellerman) Keywords: H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) Keywords: money Keywords: magazines Keywords: Bryher (Winifred Ellerman) Keywords: H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) Keywords: Herring, Robert Keywords: Townshend, Petrie Keywords: magazines Keywords: magazines Keywords: Transition Keywords: Gide, André Keywords: Silone, Ignazio Query Subject+Keyword: (Places, Life and Letters To-day) Query Subject+Keyword: (Places, Switzerland) Query Subject+Keyword: (Displacement, culture) Query Subject+Keyword: (Exchanges, Bryher (Winifred Ellerman)) Query Subject+Keyword: (Exchanges, H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)) Query Subject+Keyword: (Definitions of Culture, money) Query Subject+Keyword: (Cultural Practices, magazines) Query Subject+Keyword: (Wo/Men, Bryher (Winifred Ellerman)) Query Subject+Keyword: (Wo/Men, H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)) Query Subject+Keyword: (Wo/Men, Herring, Robert) Query Subject+Keyword: (Wo/Men, Townshend, Petrie) Query Subject+Keyword: (Places, magazines) Query Subject+Keyword: (Internationalism/Transnationalism, magazines) Query Subject+Keyword: (Places, Transition) Query Subject+Keyword: (Wo/Men, Gide, André) Query Subject+Keyword: (Wo/Men, Silone, Ignazio) Comment: These two letters Bryher wrote to H.D. tell about her acquisition of Life and Letters and her role as connector. In April 1935 Bryher, who was then living in Kenwin, detailed in her letters to H. D. the steps that led to her acquisition of Life and Letters. In these letters we also find an outline of the role she created for herself. These letters are now in the H. D. Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,YaleUniversity, Mss 24, Box 3. The whole process was initiated by a telegram from Theodora Petrie Townshend of which Bryher writes in her long and excited letter of April 13 from Kenwin. Her longtime friend and former schoolmate had asked Bryher whether she would be interested in buying Life and Letters for £1,500. Bryher wired her back and requested that she secure an option for one week. She was seriously considering the offer. The paper was well established. It could be a vehicle for her own and her friends’ writings. She was not interested in editing it personally because she was too busy, but she would hire somebody to do 'the hackwork' while she took charge of contacting contributors and collecting the manuscripts. She had just come back from New York where she could have easily put two volumes together. Bryher must have decided almost immediately to buy the paper, for she did not let much time pass before she contacted Robert Herring and offered him the job of editor. She felt she could rely on him. She also asked Petrie Townshend to be the paper’s business manager. Theodora was not interested in the offer and expressed her wish to be an editor instead. In her letter of April 17, Bryher related to H. D. how she had clearly explained to Herring that she was to have general control but did not want to appear officially as the paper's editor. She also included a list of proposed contributors. She counted on the Oxford people Theodora knew and the Fleet Street acquaintances of Herring, but she decided she would do the liaison work abroad and procure the manuscripts. By May the thing was settled, and Bryher worked during the summer to solicit contributions. André Gide and Ignazio Silone were on her list. On September 3, 1935, Bryher informed H. D. that at a party everybody talked of Life and Letters To-day and that the journal is defined as 'Transition on a saner basis'.