Archive of 16 Harper Lee Letters With Mockingbird Content "Bauman's rare book biz has sold a 1st Edition of Guess What for $23,000" to Poet Laureate Ralph Hammond

"Your friendship has been one of the great blessings of my life." – Harper Lee to Ralph Hammond

This sweet and poignant archive of correspondence and related materials includes 16 letters, notes, and cards by Nelle Harper Lee to Ralph C. Hammond, as well as 23 letters from Hammond to Lee. The two had worked together on the University of Alabama student newspaper and magazine immediately after World War II. Their correspondence is particularly rich from 2000 to 2008.

HARPER LEE. Autograph Letters Signed. Archive of Correspondence with Ralph C. Hammond, 1962-2010, Monroeville, Alabama; New York City; Arab, Alabama. 39 letters, approximately 60 pp. Most include envelopes. Housed in protective sleeves in three-ring binder; very good.

Highlights
Lee to Hammond, May 4, 1962
"You can never know what your telegram meant to me. Your love and kindness came at a time I needed them most."

Hammond to Lee, April 6, 1974
"On Tuesday I spoke to a joint meeting of two sections of the Arab High School's enriched English classes, on the subject of Harper Lee!"
"Would love to see you, but it must have been 18 years since I was through Monroeville. If I ever come thru, I'll stop for a 'Howdy do', and trust that you'll do the same if you come thru Arab."

Hammond to Lee, September 29, 2000
"This is just a long belated note to send you greetings, and, in a way I guess, to say goodbye, for at my age—84½--one cannot count on tomorrows. Yes, this is to send you a special thanks for being who you are—a writer who has bought world acclaim to our home of Alabama. What a triumph for all of us! For many times I have proudly said to folks, 'Nelle Lee was a school mate of mine at the University of Alabama!' That's one of my few claims to fame."
"Nelle, I'm so proud to have known you—and proud of the universal attention your 'Mockingbird' has brought to you! What a treasure!"
"My dear wife of 40 years died 8 years ago. I have 2 fine sons that give me unending joy."

Lee to Hammond, February 3, 2001
"A belated THANK YOU, old friend, for your great letter! You may find this hard to believe, but it's true: I stay months behind wrestling with my mail, most of it from school children, but 99.90% of all of it from people wanting something. I put aside personal letters for a time when I can get my brain together and try to be myself, on paper, at least."
"Answering mail is not all my life, however—the rest of it is spent Driving Miss Alice, who, at almost 90, is not even considering retiring, but who is severely handicapped by complications from a cochlear implant that resulted in her balance being destroyed. Alice will not be intimidated by mere physical disaster—she goes 20 miles an hour on her walker, and her crystal-clear mind is always at work."
Alice Lee (1911-2014) was an attorney, housemate, and gatekeeper for her sister Nelle Harper Lee. She practiced law until she was 100 and died at a nursing home in Monroeville, Alabama.

Lee to Hammond, November 16, 2001
"If you say you are 86, you lie. It was only a couple of years ago that we were full of get-up-&-go, with all before us. Where my g.u.&g. went I don't know, but it departed and the last 2 years have been sedentary indeed. And especially when in Alabama—if you walk as far as the Post Office people think you're doing it on doctor's orders. They still don't know what 'going for a walk' means."

Lee to Hammond, October 13, 2003
"Bauman's rare book biz has sold a 1st Edition of Guess What for $23,000. That's the highest I've seen it so far. I wonder if people know how many of the 35th Anniversary I've autographed!? It wouldn't bring $.85 if they did. Rare? I should say not."
Bauman Rare Books of Philadelphia offered a signed first-edition of Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird for $23,000.

Hammond to Lee, December 19, 2003
"How I would cherish mightily if the 2 of us could spend a day together talking about old times. I'm now on a walker, and almost past going—arthritis is being very cruel to me. But I'm determined not to feel sorry for myself as I make the most of each new day."

Hammond to Lee, February 9, 2004
"And how was it socializing with Sarah Soames? What a surprise it was to me that Suwanee could get her over here to speak to such an important occasion! Reading about her brought back some war-time memories. During the Battle of the Bulge I was up on the Northern Front, working out of Charlerois, Belgium where I'd drive to and from to file my wire-recorded news items (The tape had not then been discovered.) One of my new-found friends there was Randy Stout of Washington, D.C., and on several week-end times he had 'socialized' with Sarah Churchill who was in the Women's Military Corps of England and on duty there in some artillery unit in Bulge. I never did get to meet her, but Randy spoke most highly of her."
"Then another Churchill item. During my 18 months in England before Normandy, the Red Cross at London's Piccadilly Square, invited Major Randolph Churchill to speak to a group of soldiers. I was among them and got a story from him after the session ended. And I even got an autograph from him, and I still have it!"
"And now you have met Sarah, and I have met Randolph! What a little world both of us have touched—especially YOU!"
On January 27, 2004, the University of the South at Suwanee, Tennessee, awarded Lady Mary Soames (1922-2014), English author and youngest daughter of Winston Churchill, and Nelle Harper Lee honorary doctorates. Randolph Churchill (1911-1968) was the only son of Winston Churchill and a journalist and writer. Hammond erroneously refers to Sarah Soames rather than Mary Soames here. Sarah Churchill (1914-1968), another of Winston Churchill's daughters, was an actress and dancer.

Lee to Hammond, December 3, 2004
"Thanks ever so much for the NYTimes piece on Truman. I thought it the wisest & most accurate article I've yet seen. There will be no end of hoo-hah with 2 movies coming out about him. In my old age I must yet again be prepared to duck."
"By the way, if somebody contacts you & says he's doing my biography, don't give 5 seconds. Among other things, he wants to prove that I'm an alcoholic & a Lesbian, and the reason I made Atticus Finch a widower was that I wanted to kill my mother! A wide berth is what you should give this one."
"Health report: fine except for Arthur (biographers please note: I sleep with him every night & live with him every day) and my failing eyesight, neither of which will kill me, just make me sometimes wish for the sweet hereafter."
Capote, a biographical drama starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote, based on Gerald Clarke's 1998 biography, appeared in September 2005, and Infamous, a drama starring Toby Jones as Capote, based on George Plimpton's 1997 book, appeared in October 2006. Catherine Keener portrayed Harper Lee in the former and Sandra Bullock portrayed her in the latter film.

Hammond to Lee, December 6, 2004
"Some writer is out to do a book on you—Honey, you don't have to tell me not to talk with him or her. I will not even let them come inside my house. Two writers have asked me about doing a book on me, and I told them nothing doing."

Hammond to Lee, April 15, 2005
"My dear Nelle, you and I have both [been] blessed in so many ways during our lifetimes! When we were happy younguns at 'Bama, who would ever have thought that we'd both in time have a Doctor's degree—you with half a dozen or more! So cherish every moment of every day, and thank God for every new sunrise in which we both can be joyful! I trust dear Alice is still going to the office every day—being a lawyer!"

Hammond to Lee, December 5, 2005
"This is to bring you up to date on my physical condition... My trouble all came from a car wreck I was a victim of 16 years ago[.] I got a broken hip, fractured skull, broken nose, and banged up all over. To repair my wounds my surgeon told me, after these many years, that it would take three operations, each six weeks apart, to remove the screws and steel plate my immediate answer to him was, 'Don't say anymore. I'd never live through those three operations, for at 90 years old I could never take it!'"

Lee to Hammond, December 22, 2005
"I read your letter with growing alarm until I began to understand the wisdom of it. While I can't agree with your decision—in means that I could lose you sooner—I certainly respect it. You made it with a clear head and a guilt-free heart. Of course, I shall never stop missing you, but I shall take comfort in looking back over more than 50 years of loving friendship and loyalty, of a life invested, not spent: you have made a difference in this world, something so very few people can even think about doing. You can lie down to pleasant dreams because the world is better for your having spent 90 years in it: You have lived your beliefs, you have done good to everyone who crossed your threshold. When all's said & done, that's what counts. Your friendship has been one of the great blessings of my life."
"I won't be far behind you, old pal! It's quite possible that I'll be going in another direction so don't be surprised if I don't show up."

Hammond to Lee, December 27, 2005
"I have read and reread your recent letter over and over again. And it is with a grievous heart that as time passes, and I feel the oncoming touch of darkening death coming closer and closer, I'm deeply grieved that you may be going 'in a different direction' as your letter indicated. I trust that these, my poems, will show you the pathway to a Heavenly Home where the two of our souls can rendzevous together into endless Eternity! Regardless of the outcome, I shall, to my last breath, praise you and your 'Mockingbird' book, for showing the pattern of honor and justice to reading millions across God's wondrous world!"

Lee to Hammond, December 29, 2005
"I was joking about possibly not joining you, for I believe that if one lives a Christian life to the best of his ability, he should have no worries. This I've tried to do, in my life & in my work. I don't speculate much about the hereafter—I agree with Alice, who once said to me, 'If you take care of the here and now, the hereafter will take care of itself.'"
"It will break my heart to say goodbye to you—you are one of the very few close friends I ever had—but I do understand that it won't be for long, and that we will have a joyous reunion (Remember I'll be 80 next year if I make it!) in eternity."

Hammond to Lee, January 3, 2006
"I wept with great unending joy when I read your recent letter! Never has any letter received in the lifetime of my almost 90 years, brought me such unending joy of heart! I read it over and over—each reading with more tears! What a great edition to the 'sweetness' of long life—your letter brought me! Indeed, our Friendship will continue in the Great Beyond of Angelic Eternity—God willing!"

Hammond to Lee, November 30, 2006
"Do you ever intend to write an auto-bio about yourself? You should! The reading world needs to hear it all from you!"

Hammond to Lee, March 24, 2007
"It has been November 3, 2006 since I have heard from you! And I'm worried as to how you are! I've just been reading through our letters to and from each other, and it's been like a real visitation between us both. I'm enclosing herewith a stamped envelope to hold a one sentence line to let me know how you are!"
Lee had a debilitating stroke in June 2007 at her apartment in New York City, followed by months of rehabilitation.

Hammond to Lee, October 31, 2007
"It was a great joy to talk with you recently and to learn that you will be soon going to Washington to receive the METAL [MEDAL] OF FREEDOM. What a honor. And I know that this must have come as a signal surprise to you."
On November 5, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Harper Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a civilian by a president.

February 28, 2008
Hammond to Lee, February 28, 2008
"Since I have not heard from you in some time, I got out your earlier letters to me and have been reading them. They bring back great joy!"

Lee to Hammond, July 28, 2008
"Beloved friend: The roses are spectacular, and I was moved to tears by your generosity. You are truly a beautiful person and I love you."
"I am also aware of the fact that I have a devoted friend who is still on his feet & in his right mind—that mind and heart are two of the blessings of my life!"

Lee to Hammond, July 17, 2010

"Thank you more for your beautiful words. Were you ever Alabama's poet laureate? You should have been—you beat Sydney Lanier all hollow! I've had a stroke & it's difficult for me to write but I DO LOVE YOU!"
Fewer than five months later, Hammond died in Arab, Alabama, on December 10, 2010.

Additional Materials
- October 1946 issue of Rammer Jammer magazine, with Editor Nelle Lee Harper, and Ralph Hammond listed among the "Editorial and Art" staff. Includes a notice of and excerpts from Hammond's first book, My GI Aching Back, and a one-act play by Lee, entitled "Now Is the Time for All Good Men…"
- Clippings from The Huntsville Times, October 30, 2007, and The Birmingham News, October 30, 2007, about plans for Lee to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- Cover of Spring 2008 Alabama Alumni Magazine and page with story about Lee's receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Nelle Harper Lee (1926-2016) was a novelist best known for her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the winner of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Born in Alabama, Lee was a relative of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Her childhood friends included novelist Truman Capote (1924-1984) who visited her hometown in summers from 1928 to 1934. She studied at Huntington College and the University of Alabama but left one semester before graduating. She moved to New York City in 1949 and held a number of jobs while writing in her spare time. In 1957, she delivered a manuscript entitled "Go Set a Watchman" to J. B. Lippincott, where editor Tay Hohoff was impressed but worked with Lee to revise the manuscript into what became To Kill a Mockingbird. As the manuscript went into publication in 1959, Lee accompanied Truman Capote to Kansas to help him with research for what became his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. Later, she helped with the adaptation of her novel into the 1962 Academy Award-winning screenplay by Horton Foote. The resulting movie garnered Gregory Peck an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch. For the rest of her life, Lee granted almost no requests for interviews or public appearances, preferring a private life in New York City and later her childhood home of Monroeville, Alabama.

Ralph C. Hammond (1916-2010) was born in Alabama and attended Snead Junior College. He spent his junior year of 1940-1941 at Berea College in Kentucky, before being drafted into the U.S. Army. He served as a war correspondent in Europe during World War II. After the war, he finished college at the University of Alabama, where he worked on the Crimson White newspaper and the Rammer Jammer magazine with fellow student Nelle Harper Lee. After graduating with a degree in political science in 1946, he published his first book, My GI Aching Back, about his war experiences. He also served as press secretary and speechwriter for Governor James E. Folsom Sr. (1908-1987), the populist governor of Alabama from 1947 to 1951 and from 1955 to 1959. After marrying in 1954, Hammond settled in Arab, Alabama, where he served two terms as the town's mayor (1963-1969). From the 1980s to 2000s, he published fifteen books of poetry. He served as the seventh Poet Laureate of Alabama, from 1992 to 1995, and as president of the Alabama State Poetry Society.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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