Lot 933

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Description:

933. LOTOS CLUB ARCHIVE A wonderful archive of material from The Lotos Club, one of the oldest literary clubs in the United States. It was founded on March 15, 1870, by a group of young writers, journalists and critics. Samuel L. Clemens, an early member (1873), called Lotos Ace of Clubs". Had you visited Lotos a century ago, you would have rubbed shoulders with journalists, scholars, musicians, painters and sculptors, art collectors, historians, novelists and college presidents, just as you do today. Decade after decade of Lotos history is filled with magnificent entertaining, sharp-witted oratory, grand food, concerts, art shows, evenings with presidents and mayors, literary roundtables and lavish State Dinners. The selection of the name The Lotos Club was to convey idea of rest and harmony". The spelling of Lotos comes from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, The Lotos Eaters, two lines of which were selected as the motto of the Club: "In the afternoon they came unto a land In which it seemed always afternoon". The endless afternoon setting provided the ideal atmosphere to indulge in creative and stimulating thought and conversation. Whitelaw Reid, editor of The New York Tribune, was elected the Club's president in 1872. The Club moved to 149 Fifth Avenue at Twenty-first Street, the first home owned by the Club. It then moved to 110 West 57th Street in 1909 with financial backing from Andrew Carnegie. This lot comprises approximately 165 T.L.S.'s and A.L.S.'s (all dated 1905), addressed to George H. Daniels, then Secretary of the Lotos Club, replying to invitations to club dinners given in honor of various members (including Woodrow Wilson). Included are: WOODROW WILSON, T.L.S. as President of Princeton University, 1p, 8vo., in part: "...I very much appreciate the honor the Club is doing me and am extremely sorry that I cannot at once accept one of the dates you offer..."; one T.L.S. by GROVER CLEVELAND as Trustee of Princeton University, 1p, 4to., in part: "I desire to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your invitation, on behalf of the Lotos Club, to attend the dinner complimentary to Honorable Joseph H. Choate...I regret to say that other engagements positively forbid my acceptance..."; one T.L.S. by WILLIAM TAFT as Secretary of War, 1p, 8vo., on War Department letterhead declining due to "official business in Washington" and mentioning his need to "leave for the Philippine Islands".; one T.L.S. by ROBERT T. LINCOLN; two T.L.S. by ANDREW CARNEGIE; an A.L.S. by CHARLES FAIRBANKS (Theodore Roosevelt's VP ); two T.L.S. by J. P. MORGAN; a T.L.S. by AUGUSTUS SAINT GAUDENS; two L.S. by Union General HORACE PORTER; three T.L.S. by ELIHU ROOT; one T.L.S. by Sec. of State P.C. KNOX; one T.L.S. by Sec. Of War CHARLES BONAPARTE; one T.L.S. by Senator CHAUNCEY DEPEW; two A.L.S. by Mark Twain's secretary declining invitations. With an additional 150+ letters from Cabinet members, newspaper and university presidents, authors, bankers and industrialists as well as typed guest lists and printed invitations. Many tipped to period folders. Overall very good. A fine grouping of one of America's foremost social clubs, worthy of viewing. $3,000 - 4,000

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November 28, 2007 11:00 AM EST
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