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Correspondence from Philip Kaplan to Mrs. Brewer
August 9th, 1958
Dear Mrs. Brewer:
Mr. Lund [Robert Lund] has been kind enough to send me copies of the Crowley [and James Branch Cabell] letters you gave him and for which I thank you. I am always looking for Crowley material so these letters do have my interest.
I am not a Cabell fan but thru the years I met people who were part of his circle. In the middle Twenties I met Don Breganzer and got to know him pretty well. His "Map of Poictesme" (I hope I spelled it right) appealed to me and we had long discussions but I was converted to Cabell. Years later I was shocked to hear of his suicide.
In the early Thirties I corresponded with Donald Corley and we almost published mss. that belonged to Klinefelter. It was called a "Catalogue of Imaginary Books" and he also thought of calling it "The Library of Cockaigne" with a listing of about fifty of Cabell's books.
Then in 1955 I bought the library of Montgomery Evans a playboy who died tragically. In the lot were diaries and a great many letters from various authors. There were many Cabell books but I did not get these. Evans got to know Cabell thru Hunter Stagg who was then a co-editor on the Reviewer and on the board of directors was Margaret Freeman. Evans and Stagg made their first European together in 1923 and Stagg wrote a great many letters to Evans in the years that followed.
Stagg spent a great deal of time with the Cabells and any important writer who came to Richmond always met the Cabells thru his efforts. I have over 100 of these letters filled with local gossip and while they are not all about Cabell they are still interesting because Stagg could write when he wanted to.
I don't know if Stagg is still alive, if he is these letters would do him no good. But if there is someone in Richmond who would like to use this information for some good literary purpose I would be very happy to let them have the letters providing of course if Stagg is out of the picture. It would be interesting to get your comments on what to do with these letters.
Do you have a copy of the Crowley letter written to Cabell from Cefalu in 1923? It's three pages long and quite interesting, if you do not have it I will be happy to make you a copy.
Sincerely,
Philip Kaplan
Dear Bob [Robert Lund]:
I have just sent this letter off, I hope Mrs. Breuer [sic] can make something out of the Stagg letters.
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