The Mencken-Fitzgerald Papers: An Annotated Checklist
by James L. W. West III
H. L Mencken and F. Scott Fitzgerald knew each other from 1920, the year of the publication of Fitzgerald’s first novel, until 1940, the year of Fitzgerald’s death. From this friendship, over 100 letters, inscriptions, and other documents survive today. The relationship had a literary side and a personal side. In recent years, the literary aspect has benefited from sound scholarly research and commentary, but the personal aspect has not been adequately or properly investigated[1]. Fortunately, the surviving Mencken-Fitzgerald papers supply a key to the personal side of the association, and are therefore required reading for anyone seriously interested in studying the two men. This checklist will serve as a guide to available materials, and as a prolegomenon for a future edition of these documents[2]. This checklist locates and describes all known and currently available primary materials which have bearing on the Mencken- Fitzgerald relationship[3]. All extant documents—from telegrams and thank-you notes to receipts and Christmas cards—have been catalogued[4]. Communications from Fitzgerald to Mencken’s wife Sara, and from Mencken to Zelda or Scottie Fitzgerald, have been included. Many of these documents are, individually, of minor importance; but studied together in chronological order, they give a revealing picture of the relationship between the two authors.
The entries are annotated, but the correspondence is too full and varied, in tone and content, to be represented adequately by annotation and paraphrase. Until it is possible to publish an edition of these materials, researchers should work with the original documents.
When Mencken’s correspondence files at the New York Public Library were unsealed on 29 January 1971, it became possible for the first time to study all extant Mencken-Fitzgerald correspondence[5]. Prior to 1971, some materials were available: most of Mencken’s letters to Fitzgerald were at Princeton University Library; some of Fitzgerald’s letters and inscriptions to Mencken were at Enoch Pratt Free Library; and three letters from Fitzgerald to Mencken were at the Julia Rogers Library, Goucher College. The bulk of Fitzgerald’s side of the correspondence, however, was on restriction at the NYPL. As a result, only a few letters in the Mencken-Fitzgerald correspondence have been published or quoted from in print. To be exact, of some ninety extant letters, only seventeen have been published in full. Ten others have been quoted from.
There are several types of documents at the NYPL: letters from Fitzgerald to Mencken or to Mencken’s wife; two typescripts of published items by Fitzgerald; holiday cards from the Fitzgeralds to the Menckens; two undated drawings by Zelda Fitzgerald; notes by Mencken about Fitzgerald; letters from other persons to Mencken about the Fitzgeralds; plus an offprint, two newspaper clippings, and some tearsheets of published writings about Fitzgerald. There are also typed copies at the NYPL of some of the original materials at Princeton and Enoch Pratt. Four other typed copies at the NYPL are the only extant copies of documents; no originals appear to survive (items 63, 92, 107, and 109 in the checklist). The typed copies, however, are sometimes inaccurate, and so when an original exists, it is best to work with it[6].
Most of the Princeton materials are letters from Mencken to F. Scott, Zelda, or Scottie Fitzgerald. Four of Fitzgerald’s copies of Mencken’s books are at Princeton[7]; one of these books is inscribed by Mencken to Fitzgerald (item 60). Typed copies of two other inscriptions from Mencken to Fitzgerald are at Princeton on the list “F. Scott Fitzgerald Books Returned to Mrs. Lanahan” (items 12 and 78). Some of the letters at Princeton were originally pasted, by Fitzgerald, into certain of his copies of Mencken’s books. These letters have been removed and placed into the correspondence files of the Fitzgerald Papers.
At Enoch Pratt, one finds Mencken’s copies of five of Fitzgerald’s books, all inscribed to him by Fitzgerald, and letters from Fitzgerald that Mencken pasted into these inscribed copies. The original letters have been removed from the books, and photocopies have been substituted. The originals are still at Enoch Pratt in the file “Letters from Books in the G Collection.” There are six other Fitzgerald documents at Enoch Pratt: four letters and a post card from Fitzgerald to Sara Mencken, and one receipt from Fitzgerald to the Menckens, all pasted into the scrapbook “SARA POWELL HAARDT MENCKEN | Letters, Documents, | and Souvenirs | 1898-1935.” Mencken assembled the scrapbook after his wife’s death.
Goucher College has three notes from Fitzgerald to Mencken on file in a collection of expressions of sympathy sent to Mencken at his wife’s death. Mencken donated these sympathy notes to Goucher along with most of the rest of his wife’s papers.
All of these documents are unrestricted. The only materials in private hands are ten more of Fitzgerald’s copies of Mencken’s books, one telegram from Mencken to Fitzgerald, and one letter from Mencken to Fitzgerald. These materials are the property of Scottie Fitzgerald Smith, Fitzgerald’s daughter[8].
The Mencken-Fitzgerald papers show a sporadic pattern of dating, but the gaps appear to be lapses in the correspondence rather than indications of lost or destroyed documents. The correspondence, in fact, appears to be nearly complete. Relatively heavy years are 1920-22 (twenty-eight items total), 1925 and 1927 (seven items each year), and 1932-35 (thirty-six items total). Correspondence is lighter, with less than five items per year, in 1923, 1926, 1928, 1930-31, and 1936-38. No correspondence or documents appear to survive from 1924, 1929, and 1939-40.
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The literary side of the Mencken-Fitzgerald relationship can be summarized fairly briefly. Fitzgerald, during the first three years of his professional career, was much under Mencken’s spell, and his writings through The Vegetable (1923) clearly show the Mencken influence. With The Great Gatsby in 1925, however, Fitzgerald’s innate romanticism and his increasing attention to form move him away from the Mencken circle. Fitzgerald analyzed his artistic break with Mencken in his 1926 essay “How to Waste Material—A Note on My Generation.”[9] Fitzgerald discussed the “insincere compulsion” among authors of his own generation to “write ‘significantly’ about America,” and he blamed the situation in part on Mencken. Fitzgerald wrote:
What Mencken felt the absence of, what he wanted, and justly, back in 1920, got away from him, got twisted in his hand. Not because the “literary revolution” went beyond him but because his idea had always been ethical rather than aesthetic. In the history of culture no pure aesthetic idea has ever served as an offensive weapon. Mencken’s invective, sharp as Swift’s, made its point by the use of the most forceful prose style now written in English. Immediately, instead of committing himself to an infinite series of pronouncements upon the American novel, he should have modulated his tone to the more urbane, more critical one of his early essay on Dreiser.
But perhaps it was already too late. Already he had begotten a family of hammer and tongs men—insensitive, suspicious of glamour, preoccupied exclusively with the external, the contemptible, the “national” and the drab, whose style was a debasement of his least effective manner and who, like glib children, played continually with his themes in his maternal shadow. These were the men who manufactured enthusiasm when each new mass of raw data was dumped on the literary platform—mistaking incoherence for vitality, chaos for vitality. (p. 263)
Mencken, for his part, liked Fitzgerald’s early writing, but by 1925 Mencken had lost interest in current literature and had turned to social and political commentary, and to research on the successive editions of The American Language. The sort of writing that Fitzgerald was publishing no longer interested Mencken. His well-known review of The Great. Gatsby, in which he praised Fitzgerald’s style but called Jay Gatsby a “clown” and Fitzgerald’s story “in form no more than a glorified anecdote,” is a case in point[10]. The letters and documents listed here—particularly those from 1925 and 1926—confirm this picture of the literary relationship.
Commentary on the personal side of the Mencken-Fitzgerald association has been scant. Fortunately, the extant letters and documents reveal much about the relationship. From 1920 to 1931, the two men were friendly but not close. In the early 20’s, they often met socially. Fitzgerald’s attitude toward Mencken was respectful, even deferential; Mencken was more relaxed and encouraged Fitzgerald to be less formal. The two men exchanged books and commented to each other about authors and literary topics. Fitzgerald suggested publishing schemes and recommended young writers to Mencken. These early letters are witty and humorous; Mencken and Fitzgerald enjoyed amusing each other. From 1925 to 1931, when Fitzgerald was living for the most part in Europe, the letters remain friendly but are not intimate.
The personal side of the association began to develop when Fitzgerald moved to Maryland in 1932. From 1932 to 1935, Mencken and Fitzgerald met fairly frequently, and their personal relationship became closest during these years. Both men had married women from Montgomery, Alabama; Sara Haardt Mencken and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald had known each other since childhood and had Montgomery friends in common. Sara Mencken and Zelda Fitzgerald were talented and charming women, and Mencken and Fitzgerald felt a common bond through their wives. After 1932, though, both men faced possible loss of their wives. Sara Mencken’s health, always fragile, was failing rapidly. Doctors had told Mencken that she had only three years to live when he married her in 1930, and her frequent and serious sicknesses soon made it clear that she had only a short time to live. Sara died in May 1935. Fitzgerald’s marriage was also threatened: beginning in 1930, Zelda suffered repeated mental illness, and by 1932, Fitzgerald was accepting the fact that she would never completely recover.
These personal problems drew Mencken and Fitzgerald together; judging from their correspondence, they felt sympathy for each other. The letters after 1932 are more personal, less humorous. Fitzgerald praised various writers—Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, for instance—and he suggested new publishing ideas to Mencken. Fitzgerald also turned to Mencken for personal help in matters as diverse as the recommendation of a doctor for Zelda and the recommendation of a bootlegger for himself. Mencken’s letters are also more intimate. One senses that he is now writing to a friend, not just to another author. After Sara Mencken’s death in 1935, the correspondence and the friendship lapsed. Mencken rallied from his personal difficulties and continued his work; Fitzgerald recovered from his problems also, but not so completely as Mencken did.
The correspondence reveals that Fitzgerald always had great respect for Mencken. Though the artistic distance between the two widened considerably after 1925, Fitzgerald continued to admire Mencken’s purposeful life and penetrating mind. One also senses that Fitzgerald sometimes felt uncomfortable around the dignified, orderly Mencken. Mencken, from his standpoint, liked Fitzgerald and even allowed himself a measure of intimacy with the younger writer from 1932 to 1935, but Mencken did not approve of Fitzgerald’s irregular personal life—as much as he knew and was able to observe of it.
An index to the progression of the Mencken-Fitzgerald friendship can be found in the modes of salutation and signature which Mencken and Fitzgerald used on their letters to one another. The late Betty Adler, an energetic Mencken scholar who examined thousands of Mencken's letters, provides the key to this feature of the relationship in her introduction to Man of Letters: A census of the correspondence of H. L. Mencken. Miss Alder writes:
The standard signature was “H.L.Mencken,” but as friendship led to greater informality, he used his three initials. Only those considered good friends received letters signed with an M encircled in a ring formed by a continuation of the last stroke. (p. iii)
The first few communications between Mencken and Fitzgerald use the formal Mr. Mencken and Mr. Fitzgerald and are signed F. Scott Fitzgerald and HLMencken or Mencken. But on 7 October 1920, Mencken writes, “Let us, in God’s name, drop honorifics. In any case, mine is not Mr.”[11] Thereafter, Mencken addresses Fitzgerald as Fitz, and Fitzgerald replies Dear Mencken. In the spring of 1922, Fitzgerald changes to Menk or Menck. With a few exceptions, letters continue to be signed with full names through 1926. After 1926, Fitzgerald sometimes uses an abbreviated signature: Scott Fitz— or Scott Fitzg—. Throughout these years, terms of salutation remain Fitz and Menk or Menck. On 23 March 1931, Mencken signs his letter for the first time with the circled M. On 30 January 1932, he addresses Fitzgerald for the first time as Scott, but signs the letter HLMencken. After that date, all of Mencken’s letters begin with Dear Scott, and all but two are signed with the circled M. This progression from formality to friendship is worth noting.
Mencken and Fitzgerald are two of the best letter-writers in American literature; their letters rank among their important literary achievements. Their epistolary styles, however, differ markedly, and consequently their correspondence is a study in contrasts. The surviving letters, in content and physical appearance, point up differences between the two men. Mencken’s letters, usually brief typed messages on half-sheets of his personal stationery, are brusque, direct, and often humorous. Their appearance bespeaks Mencken’s manner. Fitzgerald’s letters, too, reflect his character. Lengthy, rambling, disjointed, and personal, they show Fitzgerald’s relaxed and casual side. Usually handwritten, with many misspellings and messy additions, Fitzgerald’s letters are in decided contrast to Mencken’s neat, pithy messages.
Mencken’s most revealing comments about Fitzgerald are probably found in his personal diaries: beginning in 1932, Mencken made entries about Fitzgerald in them. Surviving notes, in Mencken’s hand, indicate which entries deal with Fitzgerald. The diaries, in five volumes, are in the library vault at Enoch Pratt and are sealed until 29 January 1991. They will be among the last of Mencken’s papers to come off restriction. Until 1991, the letters and documents described here are as close as we will come to discovering the true nature of the Mencken-Fitzgerald relationship.
CHECKLIST
For each document noted, I have provided the following information:
1. Date. Many of the original documents are undated or partially dated. Editorially supplied dates, or portions of dates, are given within square brackets.
2. Nature of the document: ALS, TLS, ANS, TNS, TN, TS. The only unusual term is “ALS—Inscription,” used for a book in which Fitzgerald has written a letter, in the form of an inscription, to Mencken.
3. Pencil or ink, and color of pencil or ink, if the document is holograph.
4. Identification of sender and recipient.
5. Number of pages.
6. If the document is inscribed or typed on imprinted stationery or letterhead, I have so indicated—e.g., “On Smart Set letterhead." If no indication of special stationery appears in the entry, then the original is on unimprinted paper.
7. Location. The following LC library-symbols are used:
NN—The New York Public Library, Manuscripts Division.
NjP—Firestone Library, Princeton University.
MdBE—Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore.
MdBG—Julia Rogers Library, Goucher College, Towson, Maryland.
ICarbS—Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
If a typed copy of any document is on file at the NYPL, that fact is recorded—e.g., “NjP (original), NN (typed copy).”
8. Indication of whether the document is pasted into a book or scrapbook; the book or scrapbook is identified and located.
9. Indication of whether the document is unpublished, or has been published or quoted from in print. A specific page citation for the printed text is given.
10. For inscriptions and items of correspondence, annotations which suggest the contents of each document are given. The occasional brief quotations are taken from already-published letters or inscriptions.
Letters, inscriptions, or documents have been published, wholly or in part, and with many overlappings and misquotations, in these books and articles: The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, ed. Andrew Turnbull (New York: Scribner's, 1963), pp. 480-482, 486, 510-511; Letters of H. L. Mencken, ed. Guy J. Forgue, pp. 194-195, 229, 279, 291, 345, 375- 376, 390-391; Sklar, F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Last Laocoon, pp. 33, 67, 85, 202-203, 207, 298; Joseph V. Ridgely, “Mencken, Fitzgerald, and Tender is the Night” Menckeniana, no. 3 (Fall 1962), 4-5; Homer Brown and Eric Solomon, “F and H. L. Mencken,” Fitzgerald Newsletter (Washington, D.C.: Microcard, 1969), pp. 155-156; Turnbull, Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner’s, 1962), p. 123; Arthur Mizener, The Far Side of Paradise, rev. ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965), p. 150; Matthew J. Bruccoli, The Composition of “Tender is the Night” (Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1963), pp. 129-130; Carl Bode, Mencken (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1969), p. 185; Mayfield, The Constant Circle, pp. 36, 40-42, 88, 96, 205, 208; Mayfield, Exiles from Paradise, p. 213; Anon., “Six Letters to the Menckens,” Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 1970, pp. 102-104. The only work published so far on the correspondence at the NYPL is a brief note by Robert Emmet Long, “The Fitzgerald-Mencken Correspondence,” Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 1971, pp. 319-321. Mencken’s 16 April [1925] letter to Fitzgerald (item 33) is facsimiled in the Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 1973, p. 149. In the checklist that follows, I have identified which letters are printed in which publications.
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1. 3 June 1919, TLS, Smart Set editors (Mencken and George Jean Nathan) to Fitzgerald, 1 p., NjP, pasted into the only Fitzgerald scrapbook now at Princeton, unpublished.
Acceptance letter for Fitzgerald’s short story “Babes in the Woods,” Smart Set, 60 (September 1919), 67-71. The editors ask permission to make a cut in Fitzgerald’s story.
2. 20 Mar. 1920, Inscription (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, on the front free endpaper of Mencken’s copy of This Side of Paradise, MdBE (original), NN (typed copy), quoted from in Sklar, p. 33; Bode, p. 185; The Constant Circle, p. 36; and Ridgely, p. 4.
Fitzgerald explains that he inserted Mencken's name into the text of This Side of Paradise (224.22 of the first edition) in the final proof. Fitzgerald indicates that since writing This Side of Paradise, he has become a Mencken admirer.
3. [Early Sept. 1920], ALS—Inscription (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, on the front free endpaper of Mencken's copy of Flappers and Philosophers, MdBE (original), NN (typed copy), quoted from in Sklar, pp. 67 and 85; and Brown and Solomon, p. 155.
Fitzgerald classifies the stories in Flappers and Philosophers into three groups: “Worth reading.” “Amusing,” and “Trash.”
4. 4 Sept. [1920], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, quoted from in The Constant Circle, p. 40.
Mencken, in a humorous note, thanks Fitzgerald for the inscribed copy of Flappers and Philosophers. Mention of William Lyon Phelps.
5. 6 Sept. 1920, ALS (black pencil), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, quoted from, but mis-dated, in Long. p. 319.
Fan letter from Fitzgerald: he considers Mencken and James Branch Cabell “at the head and front of American letters.”
6. 9 Sept. 1920, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Smart Set stationery, NjP, published in Letters of H. L. Mencken, pp. 194- 195; quoted from in Sklar, p. 85; Scott Fitzgerald, p. 123; and The Constant Circle, pp. 40 and 42.
Mencken pokes fun at Nathan and William Lyon Phelps. Mention of James Gibbons Huneker, an author and critic much admired by Mencken.
7. 22 Sept. [1920], TLS, Mencken to Zelda Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Amusing letter about Nathan and Tanaka, the Fitzgeralds' Japanese house-boy at Westport, Connecticut.
8. [Early Oct. 1920], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 2 pp., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald proposes publication of a multi-volume collected edition of the writings of Frank Norris, with introductions for each volume by noted literary figures. Fitzgerald asks for Mencken’s support.
9. 7 Oct. [1920], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken's personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), published, but mis-dated, in Letters of H. L. Mencken, p. 229; quoted from in The Constant Circle, p. 41.
Mencken responds favorably to the Norris scheme, but points out possible copyright difficulties.
10. 30 Dec. 1920, ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald sends Mencken a carbon TS of “The Baltimore Anti-Christ,” his review of Mencken’s Prejudices: Second Series. Fitzgerald criticizes Floyd Dell’s novel Moon-Calf (Knopf, 1920).
11. TS (black carbon) of Fitzgerald’s “The Baltimore Anti-Christ,” 4 pp., NN, published in The Bookman, 53 (March 1921), 79-81. The last paragraph of this carbon TS does not appear in the published text.
12. [Late 1920 or early 1921], Inscription, Mencken to Fitzgerald, in Fitzgerald’s copy of Prejudices: Second Series. Not examined; a transcription is at Princeton. Unpublished.
Brief, humorous inscription.
13. [Early Jan. 1921], ALS (black ink), Mencken to Fitzgerald, 2 pp., on Smart Set stationery, NjP, quoted from in The Constant Circle, p. 42.
Mencken responds favorably to “The Baltimore Anti-Christ.”
14. 5 Jan. 1920 [actually 1921], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald, who has misinterpreted Mencken's response in item 13, apologizes for his review and for his comments in item 10. Fitzgerald asks Mencken to lunch with him so that they can discuss an important matter.
15. 6 Jan. 1921, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Smart Set stationery; NjP (original and carbon of typed copy), NN (typed copy), originally pasted into Fitzgerald’s copy of In Defense of Women, unpublished.
Mencken declines the luncheon engagement since he will not be in New York on either of the two days suggested by Fitzgerald. Mencken asks Fitzgerald to write him in Baltimore about the matter he wishes to discuss. Mencken assures Fitzgerald that he was pleased by “The Baltimore Anti-Christ.”
16. 2 Feb. 1920 [actually 1921], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald sends Mencken, under separate cover, the MS of a novel by John Biggs, Jr., a Princeton friend and, twenty years later, one of the executors of Fitzgerald’s will. Fitzgerald asks Mencken’s help in finding Biggs a publisher. Biggs’ novel is the important matter to which Fitzgerald referred in item 14. Fitzgerald mentions just having read Cather’s My Antonia.
17. 4 Feb. [1921], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), originally pasted into Fitzgerald’s copy of A Book of Burlesques, unpublished.
Mencken acknowledges receipt of item 16 and promises to read Biggs’ MS when it arrives.
18. [Feb. 1921], ANS (black ink), Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Smart Set stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Mencken informs Fitzgerald that he has given Biggs’ MS to Alfred A. Knopf.
19. 16 Mar. 1921, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, originally pasted into Fitzgerald's copy of The American Credo, unpublished.
Knopf will not publish Biggs' novel; Mencken suggests sending it to Charles Hanson Towne, a scout for Putnam’s. Towne had formerly edited The Smart Set. Mencken compliments Biggs’ novel and assures Fitzgerald that it will find a publisher.
20. [22 Mar. 1921], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 2 pp. (single sheet folded once), NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald thanks Mencken for his efforts to get Biggs’ novel into print.
21. 15 Sept. [1921?], TNS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Brief note poking fun at George Jean Nathan.
22. [c. 26 Oct. 1921], Telegram, Mencken to the Fitzgeralds. This telegram is in Zelda Fitzgerald’s scrapbook. Quoted from in Mizener, p. 150.
Fitzgerald’s daughter had just been born; Mencken suggests that the Fitzgeralds “NAME HER CHARLOTTE AFTER CHARLES EVANS HUGHES.”
23. [Late Oct. or early Nov. 1921], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald asks Mencken to suggest good current reading material.
24. 10 Nov. [1921], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Mencken suggests that Fitzgerald read the Memoirs of William Hickey (Knopf, 1921). Mencken includes joking references on the care of infants, along with some gibes at Nathan.
25. 22 Dec. 1921, TLS, S. A. Goldes (actually Mencken and Nathan) to the Fitzgeralds, 1 p., on Smart Set stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Spoof letter, ostensibly from a secretary at The Smart Set, thanking the Fitzgeralds for their Christmas card, but informing them that Mencken and Nathan are imprisoned at Sing Sing on morals charges.
26. TS (black carbon) of Fitzgerald’s “The Far-Seeing Skeptics,” 2 pp., NN, published in The Smart Set, 67 (February 1922), 48.
27. [Late Apr. or early May 1922], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald thanks Mencken for his review of The Beautiful and Damned, in The Smart Set, 67 (April 1922), 140-141. Fitzgerald tells Mencken that he has sold the movie rights of The Beautiful and Damned. Fitzgerald compliments Mencken on his recently-published article “Maryland: Apex of Normalcy,” Nation, 114 (3 May 1922), 517-519.
28. [Sept. 1922?] Inscription (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, on the front free endpaper of Mencken’s copy of Tales of the Jazz Age, MdBE (original), NN (typed copy), quoted from in Bode, p. 185.
Fitzgerald mentions that five of the stories in Tales first appeared in The Smart Set.
29. [Apr. or May 1923], ALS—Inscription (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, on the front free endpaper of Mencken’s copy of Thomas Boyd’s Through the Wheat (Scribner’s, 1923), MdBE (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Boyd, editor of the book page for the St. Paul Daily News, was a friend and something of a protege of Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald helped Boyd place Through the Wheat with Scribner’s. Fitzgerald recommends the book highly to Mencken.
30. 18 May [1923], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Mencken thanks Fitzgerald for sending Through the Wheat. Humorous references to Nathan.
31. Mar. 1924 [actually 1925], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Alfred A. Knopf and Mencken, 1 p., MdBE (original and photocopy), NN (typed copy), originally pasted into Mencken’s copy of Flappers and Philosophers, unpublished.
Fitzgerald suggests a publishing idea to Knopf and Mencken— a collection of essays from The American Mercury on the national government.
32. [Early Apr. 1925], ALS—Inscription (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., pasted to the front free endpaper of Mencken’s copy of The Great Gatsby. When Gatsby was published, Fitzgerald was in Europe, and so was unable to inscribe copies of his novel. He therefore wrote inscriptions on slips of paper which were pasted into copies and sent to recipients. This is one such copy. MdBE (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Fitzgerald recommends Gatsby to Mencken and asks for his opinion of the novel.
33. 16 Apr. [1925], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken's personal stationery. The original is in Fitzgerald’s scrapbook of memorabilia about The Great Gatsby. Facsimiled in the Fitzgerald /Hemingway Annual 1973, p. 149.
Mencken praises Gatsby—with reservations about the “basic story” of the book.
34. 4 May 1925, ALS (purple ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 2 pp. MdBE (original and photocopy), NN (typed copy), originally pasted into Mencken’s copy of Flappers and Philosophers, published in The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, pp. 480-481; quoted from in Sklar, pp. 202-203; The Constant Circle, p. 96; and Bode, p. 185.
Fitzgerald thanks Mencken for his comments on Gatsby. Fitzgerald goes on to note certain defects in Gatsby, and then comments on many other writers and books, and on the progress of his own career.
35. [May 1925], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., MdBE (original and photocopy), NN (typed copy), originally pasted into Mencken’s copy of Tales of the Jazz Age, published in The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 486; quoted from in Sklar, p. 207.
Fitzgerald thanks Mencken for reviewing Gatsby and notes how heavily Mencken’s review influenced the American reception of the book. Mention of Pound and Hemingway.
36. 26 May [1925], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on American Mercury stationery, NjP, published in Letters of H. L. Mencken, p. 279; quoted from in The Constant Circle, p. 88.
Mencken mentions his coming involvement in the Scopes “monkey” trial; he invites Fitzgerald to prepare an article on novel-writing for The American Mercury.
37. [June 1925], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., MdBE (original and photocopy), NN (typed copy), originally pasted into Mencken’s copy of This Side of Paradise, published in The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 482.
Fitzgerald agrees to do the article on novel-writing, and adds comments about recently-published fiction and drama.
38. [Late March 1926], ALS (blue ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald recommends a boarding school, apparently for the son of an acquaintance of Mencken. Fitzgerald notes that he was unable to do the article on novel-writing. He mentions his essay “How to Waste Material—A Note on my Generation,’’ which he had offered first to The American Mercury. Fitzgerald asks to see Mencken on social and leisurely terms when he returns to the United States.
39. 8 Apr. 1926, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on American Mercury stationery, NjP, published in Letters of H. L. Mencken, p. 291.
Mencken explains why he rejected “How to Waste Material” —it discussed Mencken himself at length, and so was not suitable for The American Mercury. Mencken agrees to meet with Fitzgerald when he returns. Mencken tells of his arrest in Boston for selling a copy of the allegedly obscene April 1926 issue of the Mercury to the Rev. J. Franklin Chase.
40. [Early Mar. 1927], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald lets Mencken know that he is in Washington, D.C., for a visit, and suggests that they lunch together. Mention of Aileen Pringle, a Hollywood actress with whom Mencken was friendly from 1926 to 1930.
41. 15 Mar. [1927], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Mencken invites Fitzgerald and Zelda to lunch, and mentions that he will bring along Sara Haardt.
42. [20 Mar. 1927], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., on stationery of the Hotel Roosevelt in Washington, D.C., NN, unpublished.
Thank-you note for the luncheon.
43. [Apr. 1927], ALS (blue-black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., MdBE (original and photocopy), NN (typed copy), originally pasted into Mencken’s copy of The Great Gatsby, unpublished.
Fitzgerald, now living at “Ellerslie,” an estate near Wilmington, Delaware, invites Mencken to pay him a visit.
44. 19 Apr. 1927, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Mencken, behind in his work, declines the invitation to visit “Ellerslie.”
45. [c. 17 Sept. 1927], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., on stationery imprinted “ ELLERSLIE’ | edgemoor, Delaware,” NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald sends Mencken an item for the “Americana” section of The American Mercury, and he invites Mencken to a party.
46. [Oct. 1927?], ALS—Inscription (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, on the front free endpaper of Mencken’s copy of Hemingway’s Men Without Women (Scribner’s, 1927), MdBE (original), NN (typed copy), quoted from in Brown and Solomon, p. 156.
Fitzgerald urges Mencken to read the Hemingway stories in this volume—particularly “The Killers,” “A Pursuit Race,” and “Now I Lay Me.”
47. 20 Apr. 1928, TLS, Maxwell Perkins to Sara Haardt, 2 pp. (single sheet folded once), on Scribner’s stationery, MdBE, pasted in the scrapbook “Letters, Documents, and Souvenirs,” unpublished.
Perkins, on Fitzgerald’s recommendation, asks to see the MS of Sara Haardt’s first novel.
48. [6 Nov. 1928?], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Sara Haardt, 1 p., MdBE, pasted in the scrapbook “Letters, Documents, and Souvenirs,” unpublished.
Jocular get-well note.
49. 18 Oct. 1930, ALS (blue ink), the Fitzgeralds to the Menckens (in Fitzgerald's hand), 1 p., MdBE, pasted in the scrapbook “Letters, Documents, and Souvenirs,” published in “Six Letters,” p. 102.
The Fitzgeralds congratulate the Menckens on their marriage.
50. 15 Feb. 1931, Telegram, Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald asks Mencken to recommend a doctor at Johns Hopkins for Zelda.
51. 4 Mar. [1931], ALS (blue ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald thanks Mencken for recommending a doctor. Mention of Zelda’s difficulties and of Sara Mencken’s sickness.
52. 23 Mar. 1931, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken's personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Response to item 51: Mencken sends good wishes to Zelda and mentions Sara’s illness.
53. 25 Jan. 1932, TLS, Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., on the stationery of the Don Ce-Sar Beach Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida, NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald sends Mencken an item for “Americana” (see the following entry).
54. TS (black ribbon) of Virginia Browder’s “Death in the Provinces,” 1 p., NN, attached to item 53.
A humorous listing of causes of death in the state of Alabama. Fitzgerald sent the item to Mencken for publication in the “Americana” section of The American Mercury.
55. 30 Jan. 1932, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Mencken thanks Fitzgerald for the “Americana” item and promises to print it as soon as possible. Mencken sends good wishes to Zelda and comments on a recuperative trip he and Sara have recently made to the West Indies.
56. [Apr. or May 1932], ALS (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p„ on stationery of the Hotel Rennert in Baltimore, NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald informs Mencken that he is in Baltimore and that Zelda is at Johns Hopkins. Fitzgerald asks Mencken to recommend a good bootlegger.
57a-d. Four Autograph Notes by Mencken (black pencil), 4 pp., NN, unpublished.
These notes, pencilled by Mencken on slips of paper, indicate that he has made entries about Fitzgerald in his diary for the dates 27 April 1932, 18 March 1933, 12 June 1934, and 15 April 1935. These notes were apparently made by Mencken at different times after April 1935. Two of the slips bear more than one date, and three of the four dates appear on more than one slip. Hence, the notes do not properly fit into the sequence of documents listed here. Therefore, each time that Mencken made a diary entry, I have so indicated in the checklist.
57a. 27 April 1932, Diary Entry by Mencken. See item 57.
58. [Early July 1932], ALS (blue-black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald submits his story “Crazy Sunday” to The American Mercury, and comments on the past history of the story.
59. 14 July [1932], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken's personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Mencken accepts “Crazy Sunday”; the story was published in The American Mercury, 27 (October 1932), 209-220. Mencken offers to discuss the fee for the story when the Menckens dine with the Fitzgeralds. The dinner engagement had been set for 17 July 1932 at Fitzgerald's then-current residence, "La Paix,” a house on the property of the Turnbull family, near Baltimore.
60. 17 July 1932, Inscription (black ink), Mencken to Fitzgerald, on the front free endpaper of Fitzgerald’s copy of The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, NjP, unpublished.
Mencken inscribed the book while at “La Paix” for dinner. Mencken comments that he has not opened a copy of this book in eleven years.
61. [18 July 1932], Autograph post card (blue ink), Fitzgerald to Sara Haardt Mencken, 1 p., MdBE, pasted in the scrapbook “Letters, Documents, and Souvenirs,” unpublished.
Fitzgerald chides Sara Mencken for inscribing the wrong copy of her novel The Making of a Lady, and expresses his pleasure over the dinner the previous evening.
62. [July 1932], ALS (blue ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald suggests a book idea to Mencken—a listing of Representatives and Senators with commentary on their political leanings.
63. 27 July 1932, Letter (typed copy), Mencken to Scottie Fitzgerald, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Mencken sends stamps for Scottie Fitzgerald’s collection.
64. [Late July 1932], ANS (black pencil), Fitzgerald to Mencken,
1 p., NN, glued to item 62, unpublished.
Fitzgerald asks for extra galley proofs of "Crazy Sunday.”
65. 29 July 1932, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Mencken thanks Fitzgerald for sending a revised version of "Crazy Sunday” and promises to send Fitzgerald extra galley proofs. Mencken comments on Fitzgerald’s book idea (see item 62).
66. 12 Sept. 1932, TLS, Mencken to Scottie Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), published, as a letter to Fitzgerald, in Letters of H. L. Mencken, P. 345.
Mencken comments on a poem which Scottie Fitzgerald sent him, and promises to send her more stamps.
57b. 18 Mar. 1933, Diary Entry by Mencken. See item 57.
67. 23 Aug. 1933, TLS, Fitzgerald to Sara Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald asks Sara not to discuss his hopes to serialize Tender is the Night in Scribner’s Magazine. Fitzgerald thanks Sara for an evening he and Zelda had recently spent with the Menckens.
68. 5 Oct. 1933, TLS, Fitzgerald to Sara Mencken, 1 p., MdBE, pasted in the scrapbook “Letters, Documents, and Souvenirs,” published in “Six Letters,” pp. 102-103.
Fitzgerald apologizes for his behavior and his drinking during a recent visit to the Mencken apartment.
69. [1933?], ADS (blue-black ink), Fitzgerald (for Zelda Fitzgerald) to the Menckens, 1 p., MdBE, pasted in the scrapbook “Letters, Documents, and Souvenirs,” published in “Six Letters,” p. 103; quoted from in The Constant Circle, p. 205.
Receipt for $1.00, paid by the Menckens to Fitzgerald for two of Zelda Fitzgerald’s paintings. This document may be a receipt for items 112 and 113.
70. 28 Jan. [1934], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Brief note from Mencken in which he inquires about the progress of Tender is the Night.
71. [Early Apr. 1934], ANS—Inscription (black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, on the front free endpaper of Mencken’s copy of Tender is the Night, MdBE (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Fitzgerald welcomes Mencken back to Baltimore; the Menckens had recently returned from a Mediterranean cruise.
72. 14 Apr. 1934. TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Mencken thanks Fitzgerald for Tender is the Night and promises to read it soon. Mencken invites Fitzgerald to visit him at his apartment.
73. 23 Apr. 1934, TLS, Fitzgerald to Mencken, 2 pp., MdBE (original and photocopy), NN (typed copy), originally pasted into Mencken’s copy of Tender is the Night, published in The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, pp. 510-511; quoted from in Sklar, p. 298; Ridgely, pp. 4-5; and Bruccoli, pp. 129-130.
Fitzgerald breaks an engagement with Mencken. Fitzgerald goes on to explain his intentions concerning the structure of Tender is the Night, and complains about the critical reception of the novel.
74. 26 Apr. 1934, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 2 pp., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), published in Letters of H. L. Mencken, pp. 375-376; quoted from in The Constant Circle, pp. 205 and 208; and in Exiles from Paradise, p. 212.
Mencken invites Fitzgerald over for “a session.” Mencken consoles Fitzgerald about the reception of Tender and criticizes book reviewing in America. Mencken comments on the reception of his own recently-published book Treatise on Right and Wrong.
57c. 12 June 1934, Diary Entry by Mencken. See item 57.
75. [Dec. 1934], Christmas card (drawing by Zelda Fitzgerald), the Fitzgeralds to the Menckens, NN, unreproduced.
Silver and green screen painting on gray paper, the whole pasted to green paper; abstract design.
76. 27 Dec. 1934, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken's personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Mencken thanks the Fitzgeralds for their Christmas card and mentions the fact that Sara’s mother died over the holidays.
77. 31 Dec. 1934, TLS, Fitzgerald to Sara Mencken, 1 p., MdBE, pasted in the scrapbook “Letters, Documents, and Souvenirs,” unpublished.
Fitzgerald sends condolences to Sara Mencken and her brother John Haardt over the death of their mother.
78. [1934?] Inscription, Mencken to Fitzgerald, in Fitzgerald's copy of Treatise on Right and Wrong. Not examined; a transcription is at Princeton. Unpublished.
Brief inscription offering best wishes.
57d. 15 Apr. 1935, Diary Entry by Mencken. See item 57.
79. 29 Apr. 1935, TLS, Fitzgerald to Mencken, 2 pp., NN, quoted from in Long, pp. 320-321.
Fitzgerald sends a Gertrude Stein book to Mencken—probably Three Lives (Modern Library, 1933). Personal comments about Mencken’s current state of mind.
80. 3 May [1935], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Mencken thanks Fitzgerald for the Gertrude Stein book and promises to read it soon. Brief comments on Zelda’s and Sara’s illnesses.
81. 16 May 1935, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Mencken apologizes for not reading the Stein stories yet and comments on his current difficulties in preparing the 4th revised edition of The American Language (Knopf, 1936).
82. 23 May 1935, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 3 pp., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), published in Letters of H. L. Mencken, pp. 390-391.
Mencken comments, largely unfavorably, on the Stein book. He mentions Carl Van Vechten and Sherwood Anderson, and remarks on Sara Mencken’s continued illness. Mencken invites Fitzgerald to come by for a “sitting.”
83. 25 May 1935, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Mencken sends Fitzgerald an unfavorable article on Gertrude Stein’s writings. Mention of Eugene Jolas, former editor of the little magazine transition.
84. [Late May 1935], ALS (blue-black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 2 pp. (single sheet folded once), on the stationery of the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N. C., MdBG, published in “Six Letters,” p. 103.
Fitzgerald sends condolences over Sara Mencken’s illness. Comments on Gertrude Stein; mention of Nathan and author Jim Tully.
85. 30 May 1935, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Mencken tells Fitzgerald that Sara is seriously ill and is not expected to recover.
86. [1 June 1935], ANS (blue-black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., on the stationery of the Grove Park Inn, MdBG, published in “Six Letters,” p. 104.
Fitzgerald sends condolences over Sara’s approaching death.
87. [c. 3 June 1935], ANS (blue-black ink), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., on the stationery of the Grove Park Inn, MdBG, published in “Six Letters,” p. 104.
Sympathy note at Sara’s death.
88. 7 June 1935, TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, NjP (original), NN (typed copy), unpublished.
Mencken thanks Fitzgerald for his two notes (items 86 and 87), and invites Fitzgerald for a visit when he returns to Baltimore. Good wishes for Zelda’s recovery.
89. [c. 6 Aug. 1935?] ALS (black pencil), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 3 pp., NN, quoted from in Long, p. 320.
Personal letter about their mutual difficulties and their friendship. In a postscript, Fitzgerald discusses George Jean Nathan.
90. [29 June 1936], Autograph post card (black pencil), Fitzgerald to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Fitzgerald compliments Mencken on the recently-published 4th revised edition of The American Language.
91. [c. 28 Mar. 1937], Easter card (drawing by Zelda Fitzgerald), the Fitzgeralds to Mencken, 1 p. (folded twice), NN, unreproduced.
Pink, white, and red on white paper; abstract design.
92. 31 Mar. 1937, Letter (typed copy), Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Thanks for the Easter card. Mencken comments on his own health and state of mind.
93. 1 July 1937, TN by Mencken about Fitzgerald, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Mencken notes, with skepticism, Fitzgerald's attempts to stop drinking. Comment about Zelda’s mental illness.
94. [Dec. 1937], Christmas card (drawing by Zelda Fitzgerald), the Fitzgeralds to Mencken, NN, unreproduced.
Green and black on silver paper; figures of a branch and leaves.
95. 4 Jan. [1938?], TLS, Mencken to Fitzgerald, 1 p., on American Mercury stationery, NjP, unpublished.
Humorous note to Fitzgerald inquiring about his present status and inviting him to contribute to The American Mercury. Mencken sends hopes for Zelda’s recovery.
Fitzgerald went to Hollywood as a scriptwriter in June 1937; Mencken, as always, remained in Baltimore. There appears to be no extant correspondence between the two after 1938. Fitzgerald died in Hollywood on 21 December 1940. Mencken kept up his interest in Fitzgerald, however, as is evidenced by the material listed below, which survives in Mencken’s correspondence files at the NYPL. Mencken lived until 1956, but he suffered a severe stroke in November 1948 which impaired his ability to read and speak. Two items in the following list are post- 1948; Mencken was, one must assume, unable to read them, and so it is likely that someone else added these items to his files.
96. 14 Mar. 1941, ALS about Fitzgerald (blue ink), Frank Scully to Mencken, 1 p., on Scully’s personal stationery, NN, unpublished.
Scully sends Mencken a copy of his essay on Fitzgerald, “Death of a Genius.” See next item.
97. Tearsheets: Frank Scully, “Death of a Genius,” The Clipper (Hollywood), March 1941, pp. 24-26.
Essay on Fitzgerald; includes comments on seeing Fitzgerald’s remains at a Hollywood funeral parlor.
98. [1943?], TN about Fitzgerald by Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Mencken notes that there is a chapter on Fitzgerald in Scully’s Rogues’ Gallery (Hollywood: Murray and Gee, 1943). The chapter is a reworking of Scully’s Clipper essay.
99. Tearsheets: Malcolm Cowley, “Third Act and Epilogue,” New Yorker, 21 (30 June 1945), 53-58. Review of The Crack-Up.
100. Tearsheets: Charles Jackson, “F. Scott Fitzgerald—From the Heart,” Saturday Review of Literature, 27 (14 July 1945), 9-10. Review of The Crack-Up.
101. Offprint: J. Donald Adams, “F. Scott Fitzgerald,” The American Mercury, 61 (September 1945), 373—77. Review of The Crack-Up.
102. 23 July 1946, Inscription, Edmund Wilson to Mencken, in Mencken’s copy of The Crack-Up, ed. Wilson, MdBE, unpublished.
Wilson recalls the twenties and the Smart Set.
103. 26 Apr. 1947, TLS about Fitzgerald, Henry Dan Piper to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Piper writes that he is working on a critical biography of Fitzgerald and asks to interview Mencken.
104. 28 Apr. 1947, TLS, Mencken to Henry Dan Piper, 1 p., on Mencken’s personal stationery, ICarbS, unpublished.
Mencken writes that he will be glad to talk with Piper, though he doubts whether he will be able to supply much information. Mencken notes that the criticism published to date on Fitzgerald's writing has not been particularly good.
105. 13 Mar. 1948, Letter, Mencken to Minnie M. Sayre (Zelda Fitzgerald’s mother), 1 p., NjP (Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Papers), unpublished.
On restriction and therefore not examined. Probably a sympathy note at Zelda Fitzgerald’s death.
106. 25 Mar. 1948, ALS (blue ink), Minnie M. Sayre to Mencken, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Acknowledgment of Mencken’s sympathy note,
107. 26 Mar. 1948, Letter (typed copy), Mencken to Scottie Fitzgerald Lanahan, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Sympathy note.
108. 3 Apr. [1948], ALS (blue ink), Scottie Fitzgerald Lanahan to Mencken, 3 pp. (single sheet folded once), NN, unpublished.
Response to item 107.
109. 8 Apr. 1948, Letter (typed copy), Mencken to Scottie Fitzgerald Lanahan, 1 p., NN, unpublished.
Response to item 108.
110. Clipping: James H. Bready, “Jazz. Age Papers Recall Fitzgerald's Ebb Here,” Baltimore Evening Sun, 4 December 1950, p. 42. Notice of the acquisition of Fitzgerald's papers by Princeton; discussion of Fitzgerald’s years in Baltimore.
111. Clipping: James H. Bready, “Tales of the Fitzgerald Age: Schulberg Explains Revival,” Baltimore Evening Sun, 29 March 1951, p. 30. Interview with Budd Schulberg about Fitzgerald.
Undated Items:
112. Titled drawing by Zelda Fitzgerald, n.d., NN, unreproduced. Black and white on pink; figure of a woman and flowers.
113. Untitled drawing by Zelda Fitzgerald, n.d., NN, unreproduced. Black pencil and white chalk on black paper; figures of a column and leaves
Acknowledgments: I am grateful to the following persons for assistance and information: Mr. Paul R. Rugen, Keeper of Manuscripts, and Ms. Jean R. McNiece, First Assistant, at the NYPL; Mr. Alexander Clark, Curator of Manuscripts, and his former assistant Mrs. Wanda Randall, Princeton University Library; Mr. Richard Hart, formerly Chairman of the Humanities Department, and Miss Kathryn Dean, Assistant Head of that department, Enoch Pratt Free Library; Ms. Sarah D. Jones, Librarian at the Julia Rogers Library, Goucher; Mr. David V. Koch, Rare Books Librarian at the Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale; Professor Henry Dan Piper, Department of English, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. I also wish to thank the many other librarians, too numerous to mention here, who went to the considerable trouble of examining their collections of Mencken and Fitzgerald papers in search of items for this checklist. I am grateful to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for travel grants which enabled me to visit New York, Princeton, and Baltimore.
Notes
[1] The best discussion of the literary relationship is found in Robert Sklar’s F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Last Laocoon (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1967). Also see James E. Miller, Jr., F. Scott Fitzgerald: His Art and His Technique (New York: N.Y.U. Press, 1964). The personal side of the relationship has not, in any scholarly sense, been investigated at all. The only significant published accounts are unreliable reminiscences by two authors: Charles Angoff, H. L. Mencken: A Portrait from Memory (New York: Barnes, 1956), pp. 96-99; Sara Mayfield, The Constant Circle: H. L. Mencken and His Friends (New York: Delacorte, 1968), passim; and Mayfield, Exiles from Paradise: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald (Delacorte, 1971), passim.
[2] Because of copyright considerations, publication of an edition of Mencken-Fitzgerald papers is not presently possible.
[3] The “currently available" qualification refers to Mencken's diaries, which are sealed until 1991. See the last paragraph of this introduction.
[4] The only other attempt to catalogue the Mencken-Fitzgerald papers was made by the late Betty Adler in Man of Letters: A census of the correspondence of H. L. Mencken (Baltimore: Enoch Pratt Free Library, 1969), p. 55. Miss Adler conducted her census before the unsealing of the NYPL files. Man of Letters is general in scope and treatment; the Fitzgerald entry, for instance, takes up only six lines. Even with these limitations, Miss Adler located forty-two of the documents included in the present checklist. As a precaution, I have also conducted a census in search of additional Mencken-Fitzgerald documents. Queries were sent to all libraries which hold correspondence by either Mencken or Fitzgerald. No new correspondence between the two was discovered. Heretofore unknown Mencken-Fitzgerald documents were, however, found at Princeton and Enoch Pratt.
[5] At his death, all of Mencken’s correspondence with twentieth-century authors was placed at the NYPL, where it was to remain sealed until 1971. For details about other portions of Mencken’s surviving correspondence, see Miss Adler’s introduction to Man of Letters.
[6] These typed copies are of three kinds: (1) copies of Mencken letters transcribed by Mencken’s secretary, Mrs. Rosalind C. Lohrfinck, from her post-1932 stenographic notebooks; (2) copies of Mencken letters typed for Mr. Julian P. Boyd, of Princeton University Library, from originals at Princeton; and (3) copies of Fitzgerald letters and inscriptions presumably typed by Mrs. Lohrfinck or by the Enoch Pratt staff from original materials, and donated to the NYPL. For further information, see Miss Adler’s introduction to Man of Letters, pp. iv and vi.
[7] At his death, Fitzgerald owned fourteen Mencken books (all but the first published by Knopf). Four of these books are at Princeton: The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (Boston: Luce, 1913); Pistols for Two (1917); The American Credo (1920); and Prejudices: Third Series (1922). Fitzgerald contributed to The American Credo, and he marked the items he had contributed in his personal copy; sec James L. W. West III, "F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Contributions to The American Credo," Princeton University Library Chronicle, XXXIV (Autumn 1972), 153-58. There are no markings by Fitzgerald in the other three books at Princeton. The remaining ten books were originally at Princeton but have been returned to Fitzgerald’s daughter. These ten volumes are A Booh of Prefaces, 2nd rev. ed. (1918); In Defense of Women (1918); Prejudices: First Series (1919); Heliogabalus (1920); Prejudices: Second Series (1920); A Book of Burlesques, 2nd ed. (1920); Prejudices: Fourth Series (1924); Menckeniana: A Schimpflexikon (1928); Treatise on the Gods, first ed. (1930); and Treatise on Right and Wrong (1934).
[8] The telegram and the letter are, respectively, in Zelda Fitzgerald’s scrapbook and in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby scrapbook. Fitzgerald kept scrapbooks of clippings and letters for each of his books, and so it is possible that other Mencken letters are in these scrapbooks. I have not examined any of the materials in Mrs. Smith’s possession.
[9] The Bookman, 63 (May 1926), 262-265.
[10] Mencken first reviewed The Great Gatsby in the Baltimore Evening Sun, 2 May 1925
[11] Letters of H. L. Mencken, cd. Guy J. Forgue (Knopf, 1961), p. 229.
Published in The Princeton University Library Chronicle magazine (Volume XXXVIII, Autumn 1976, Number I).