Research Catalog

Title

Collection of Victor Gollancz Ltd. correspondence and a contract with Harper & Row related to Gollancz's publication of Vladimir Nabokovs autobiography, "Speak, Memory" (which Harper & Row had published earlier that year in the U.S. as "Conclusive Evidence"); including typed letter, signed, from Vladimir Nabokov, and typed letter, signed from Véra Nabokov; with Gollancz correspondence regarding permission to quote.

Author

Victor Gollancz Ltd.

Publication

London and Ithaca : 1951-1958

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Nabokova, Vera.
• Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977.

Description

[24] leaves; approx. 11 - 35 cm

Subject

• Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977
• Authors and publishers > Great Britain
• Authors and publishers > United States

With (note)

• Memorandum of Agreement between Harper & Row and Victor Gollancz Ltd., typescript, signed, May 3, 1951 (3 leaves), regarding latter’s publication of Speak, Memory, with brown envelope, with typed heading; to which are attached: Thelma [Tros?]cop (Curtis Brown Ltd.) to Sheila Hodges (Victor Gollancz Ltd.), typed letter, signed, June 18, 1951; typed yellow remainder slip, November 1954; Anne to [Dorothy] Horsman, carbon typed note, June 19, 1958 (1 p.), regarding reversion of all rights in Speak, memory to the author.
• Yellow file folder in which Victor Gollancz Ltd. housed Speak Memory correspondence and documents.

Access (note)

• Restricted access

Contents

[Sheila Hodges?] to Vladimir Nabokov, carbon copy typed letter, Mar. 21, [1951] (1 p.), requesting alternative titles to Nabokov’s Speak, Mnemosyne!; [Ruth Gollancz?] to Vladimir Nabokov, carbon copy typed, Ap. 2, 1951 (1 p.), acknowledging Sheila Hodges having forwarded Nabokov’s reply, and asserting her own preference for Speak, Mnemosyne!, but worrying that most circulating libraries readers would be put off by the title, and suggesting Speak, Memory!; [Dorothy Horsman] to H. F. Rubinstein, carbon copy typed note, Mar. 28, 1951 (1 p.), requesting report on libel and copyright issues; H. F. Rubinstein to D[orothy Horsman], typed note signed, Ap. 4, 1951 (1 p.), regarding libel suit possibilities in the autobiography; Véra Nabokov to Ruth Gollancz, typed letter, signed, with autograph additions, Ap. 8, 1951 (1 p.), stating that her husband undertsnads your motives and agrees to simplify the title of his book to ‘Speak, Memory,’ but he wants no exclamation mark [this last phrase in autograph], with additional comments on dust jacket design and typography, and a reference to Harper’s (the U.S. publisher of Conclusive Evidence) sending Gollancz three of her husband’s corrections to the text, and with a requirement that her husband review final proofs; [Sheila Hodges] to Vladimir Nabokov, carbon typed letter, May 7, 1951 (1 p.), requesting names of persons in Britain who might give favorable reviews, and a request that Nabokov leave final proofing to a very experienced member of our editorial staff; Vladimir Nabokov to Sheila Hodges, typed letter, signed, with autograph emendations, May 15, 1951 (1 p.), asking for time to think of potential reviewers in England, and referring to several intelligent reviews of The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, suggesting that the authors of those review be contacted, and insisting on his reviewing final proofs, listing the three text corrections (to which Véra Nabokov had referred in her Ap. 8 letter to Ruth Gollancz); [Sheila Hodges] to Vladimir Nabokov, carbon typed letter, May 31, 1951 ( 1 p.), acknowledging the three corrections and agreeing to comply with Nabokov’s insistence that he receive a copy of the final proofs for review; S.H. [Sheila Hodges] to [Dorothy] Horsman, carbon typed note, May 31, 1951, informing her of agreement to send Nabokov a proof copy and to be prepared for any further corrections which he wants made; Simon Karlinsky (Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literature, UCLA) to Victor Gollancz Ltd., typed letter, signed, Feb. 22, 1978, regarding reference by Nabokov and Edmund Wilson in their correspondence about a bad review by Harold Nicolson of Speak, Memory; Livia Gollancz to Simon Karlinsky, carbon typed letter, mar. 2, 1978, replying that their somewhat depleted review files contain no record of a review by Nicolson; Hugh Casson to Victor Gollancz Ltd., typed note, signed, Sept. 11, 1978 (1 p.), requesting permission to quote from Speak, Memory for a public reading program at the Windsor festival; Frances Wollen (Victor Gollancz Ltd. Rights Dept.) to Craig Pearson (Maharishi International University), typed carbon form letter, Sept. 3, 1986 (1 p.), referring request for permission to quote to Harper & Row; Kate Horden (Victor Gollancz Ltd. Rights Dept.) to Mrs. Law, typed carbon letter, Feb. 23, 1988 (1 p.), requesting permission to quote; Ariane Goodman (Collins Publishers) to Victor Gollancz Ltd., typed letter, signed, June 3, 1988 (1 p.), with photocopy of two pages from Speak, Memory,; Kate Hordern (Victor Gollancz Ltd. Rights Dept.) to Ariane Goodman, carbon typed form letter, June 7, 1988 (1 p.), referring Goodman’s request to harper & Row.

Call Number

Berg Coll+ Cased Nabokov ZA2 V53 1951

OCLC

953040144

Author

Victor Gollancz Ltd.

Title

Collection of Victor Gollancz Ltd. correspondence and a contract with Harper & Row related to Gollancz's publication of Vladimir Nabokovs autobiography, "Speak, Memory" (which Harper & Row had published earlier that year in the U.S. as "Conclusive Evidence"); including typed letter, signed, from Vladimir Nabokov, and typed letter, signed from Véra Nabokov; with Gollancz correspondence regarding permission to quote.

Imprint

London and Ithaca : 1951-1958

With:

Memorandum of Agreement between Harper & Row and Victor Gollancz Ltd., typescript, signed, May 3, 1951 (3 leaves), regarding latter’s publication of Speak, Memory, with brown envelope, with typed heading; to which are attached: Thelma [Tros?]cop (Curtis Brown Ltd.) to Sheila Hodges (Victor Gollancz Ltd.), typed letter, signed, June 18, 1951; typed yellow remainder slip, November 1954; Anne to [Dorothy] Horsman, carbon typed note, June 19, 1958 (1 p.), regarding reversion of all rights in Speak, memory to the author.

Yellow file folder in which Victor Gollancz Ltd. housed Speak Memory correspondence and documents.

Access

Restricted access: request permission in holding division.

Connect to:

Request access to this item in the Berg Collection

Added Author

Nabokova, Vera. Author

Nabokova, Vera. Addressee

Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977. Author

Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977. Addressee

Research Call Number

Berg Coll+ Cased Nabokov ZA2 V53 1951