Lincoln, Nebraska 68505
September 17, 1973
You certainly do have good news. I will answer your questions as briefly as possible.
Yes, there was an edition of THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS with a red leather binding. I have a copy but I have never seen another one anywhere. It's a real collector's item.
The combined THREE FRIENDS and HUGH GLASS was originally a school edition, and was widely used for several years. I have often seen a copy of this edition, which was offered to the general public with notes by Dr. Julius T. House. I see that the quoted price is climbing.
The enclosed sheets gives a list of foreign publications of BLACK ELK. In addition to these listed, the book is being translated into French and should be available soon. The translators are a Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Muller, 11108 Wildflower Road, Temple City, California 91780.
My companions on the river voyage were Chester Marshall, 15, turning 16 on the trip, and a photographer, Bill Jacobs. Bill left me at the first railroad, 600 miles downstream from Fort Benton. He couldn't take it. My boy Chet declared that if he couldn't go down any other way, he would go down on skates. The last 1,400 miles were made with Chet. Several years later he was killed by an automobile. Recently relatives of Chet Marshall have erected a monument at his grave in Bancroft. It is a very simple stone, I understand, reading "The Kid" with the usual information about his life given below.
I am much interested in the biography that you have prepared, especially the proposed hardback edition.
We have been reading Dr. Aly's exhaustive biography recently. It is a fine piece of work and I hope it will find a publisher before too long. I don't believe the larger biography will interfere with the sale of the small one.
I enclose a note giving you permission to quote from my correspondance with George Sterling, which is in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.
We have just found my article on George Sterling's death which, according to Florence and others here, is one of the finest things I ever did. Do you want it? If so, why not ask Florence for a copy?
By the way, I have never seen the Serbo-Croation translation. It was, I think, pirated, but I have good reason to believe that the edition was published in Czechosle ovakia.
The enclosed list of books should give you any information you might not have.
John Neihardt
