Ford Madox Ford Letters

This collection of correspondence consists chiefly of letters from English author Ford Madox Ford to his literary agent, James B. Pinker. The letters discuss Ford's writings, especially his novels, and include his frequent requests for advances. Although the bulk of the letters in the collection are addressed to Pinker (303 letters), there are also four pieces of correspondence with Macmillan Publishing Company vice president Harold Strong Latham, as well as some other correspondents. In the early part of the correspondence, there are a few references to Joseph Conrad.

The letters date from 1901 to 1931, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1901 to 1910. In general, the correspondence relates almost entirely to Ford's writing and the publication of his novels, and includes progress reports, discussion of sale negotiations and terms of contracts, frequent requests for advances, and the sending of manuscripts, correcting of proofs, etc. There is very little regarding Ford's personal life. The collection also includes one piece of ephemera, a printed one-page list of one-act plays by J.J. Bell, May 1930 (housed at the end of Box 4).

Items consist of:

Some of the letters are in Ford's handwriting, but many are written or typewritten by a secretary and signed by Ford. Most of the letters for 1901-1915 are undated.

A few quotations from the letters (as well as some from items not in the collection) were published by Paul Alexander Bartlett in the Saturday Review of Literature, August 2, 1941, pp. 3, 4, 14.