ALLEN GINSBERG (1926-1997)
Autograph Note Signed, 14 lines written in the blank space at end of typed letter to him, with few additional holograph remarks in margins, explaining that he is unable to answer his questions, with a postscript written in upper margin: "Catching up with letters--months delayed, piles 2 feet thick." The letter, from historian Jonathan Ned Katz, concerning an upcoming article he is writing involving Gavin Arthur, Edward Carpenter, and Walt Whitman. 1 page, 4to; Ginsberg's ink address stamp at upper right, horizontal folds. With the original envelope. New York, 8 August 1990. "Arthur told me the story, I asked him to write it out, he gave me I think a typed unsigned page close writ on his idiosyncratic typewriter. I reproduced it in Straight Heart's Delight (Gay Sunshine) exactly as writ. But can't find his paper now, among 200,000 indexed items at Columbia U. Library special collections. Whitman scholar Miller asked for Arthur's original letter 10 years ago, I searched then, no luck. I suppose it'll turn up, hope so."
From the collection of Jonathan Ned Katz.