Lighten up

So it's finals week here at Wofford and basically everyone is in an end-of-term frenzy. So this week I've decided to lighten things up and briefly meander away from the style and content of a normal post.

This time: no footnotes, no accidents of fate, no bravado, no political maneuvering -- this item speaks for itself.

It's a letter from young Jim Bruton from North Plainfield, N.J. He writes in his young man's handwriting to author Thornton Wilder:
                                                                                                                Feb 18  '74

Dear Mr. Wilder,

My hobby is collecting the autographs of great writers. Naturally I would like to add your signature to my collection. Would you please send it to me on the enclosed first day cover? Many thanks.

Sincerely,
Jim Bruton
N. Plainfield, NJ

P.S. I'm just starting your new book - congratulations on it being a success.

You can see in the image of the letter that someone, perhaps Jim himself, has annotated this side of the letter in red crayon with the word "OVER."

So, let's turn it over. Check it out:

Yeah, that's right. It says:

I don't sign such things - especially not when authors I don't know have signed it first
Don't Trouble me
TW

You can't make this stuff up.

Now, I should say that the provenance of this letter is unclear, meaning, basically, we don't know where it came from, i.e. Jim Bruton or Thornton Wilder. The first day cover -- the philatelic collectible mentioned in Jim's letter -- is not with this item. So did TW send this note back to young Jim in order to crush his dreams and hamper his stamp collecting? Why? Documentary evidence (assuming the red crayon annotation was the last thing written on the document) would suggest that TW did in fact reply to Jim in this way. But what about the postal cover? Did Wilder keep Jim's collectible for himself? Judging by this note, it kind of seems within the realm of possibility.

Thanks for reading. Back to business in the next post.

Comments

[Allyn Steele]

What exactly is a first day cover? Why would it be significant as a piece of memorabilia?

Fun post, Luke.

Allyn

[Luke Meagher]

Ah, yes. A first day cover is an envelope with a postal stamp on it that was issued the first day that stamp was available. They are usually also hand-stamped by the issuer with the date and an annotation indicating that it was the first day of issue. They are sought-after items among stamp collectors.

[sara]

very interesting. what a sock in the face!

[BS]

"Our Town?" More like "Not Your Town, Punk"

BTW, I refuse to sign this post.