[Archive of Almost Thirty Manuscript and Typed Letters Sent to Bookseller and Later Book Thief, Charles Romm from a Variety of Notable Contemporary Authors or Their Representatives]

[Various locations, 1930. Very good.. Twenty-nine letters, signed, totaling thirty-six pages, all with original transmittal envelopes. Original mailing folds, general overall wear, and typical signs of age. Altogether a nice group. An entertaining archive of manuscript and typed letters sent to one of the more infamous figures in the history of New York City bookselling, Charles Romm. Most of the letters were sent in 1919, but came to Romm as late as 1930 from twenty separate authors or their representatives (who occasionally wrote more than once). The letters were written to Romm in response to his requests for signed books and other autograph material. Romm's correspondents include Charmian London (Mrs. Jack London), Vincent Starrett, George Washington Cable, William Lyon Phelps, and other literary figures of the early-20th century. Charles Romm (1883-1937) was born in Russia but became a successful bookseller during the heyday of Book Row in Manhattan. Romm's career was bookended by two notable events -- the high-profile auction of his own collection in 1921 and then his imprisonment in Sing Sing a decade later after being convicted as the leader of a gang of thieves that plundered thousands of rare books and manuscripts from libraries and learned institutions. Most of the items stolen by Romm and his co-conspirators were never recovered.

The present collection of letters stand testament to Romm's energy and persistence in seeking signed items. Many of the correspondents obliged by signing books Romm had sent, agreeing to send signed photos, responding to Romm's various requests for additional information, and so forth. In 1919, Mrs. Jack London replied only in general terms to Romm's inquiry about first editions (which she was seeking out, as well, for her own reasons), but in 1924 she writes that she was willing to sell to Romm some original Jack London manuscripts. On occasion Romm aimed too high, however. Clara Barrus, companion and biographer of John Burroughs, said he would not copy out missing pages of a manuscript "for love or money." Henry Van Dyke's secretary tells Romm that his request to sign forty books was excessive but that he would sign a few. While Romm was apparently not above subterfuge, some letters make clear that the sender knew him to be a bookseller, and even in one case asks Romm for a return favor. Vincent Starrett, writing on the stationery of The Wave literary magazine in 1923, mentions his forthcoming biography of Ambrose Bierce and asked to use Bierce letters from a limited edition previously published by Romm himself. Other letters range from the routine (a collector seeking Willa Cather's rare first book) to the light-hearted (a suggestion by artist Ralph Barton that giving up a certain book would be akin to Lee surrendering his sword).

The letters to Romm are variously addressed to him at his bookshop on Fourth Avenue and to his nearby home in lower Manhattan. Taken together, they suggest Romm at times presented himself as a fan or collector, rather than as a bookseller in his mid-'30s when the earliest letters were written. A handful of them were sent to Romm care of the Students Literary Circle or the Modern Literary Club, both apparently fictitious and calculated to flatter Romm's correspondents. The present letters also allow for the study of the movement of rare items to and through Romm, as some of these items were then sold in Romm's 1921 auction at the American Art Association in New York City. A notable 1919 letter from "Sy" discusses strategy to obtain signed books via mail from Theodore Dreiser but cautioned that Dreiser would "smell a rat" if Romm called in person. Sy writes, in part: "I believe [Dreiser] will outdo himself in the matter if inscriptions, as I placed my plea well and intriguingly. I have also levelled my shafts at a few others and as the results come home I will send them to you." The letter is signed in type with his shortened first name only, but his identity was revealed in Lot 45 of the Romm catalogue: "Inscribed to Symon Goldstein by Theodore Dreiser." Goldstein was a fellow rare book dealer who later changed his name to Symond Gould; he remained active in the book trade, but also pioneered art house cinema and became nationally known as the founder and two-time presidential nominee of the American Vegetarian Party.

A unique collection of personal correspondence which provides an illuminating look at Romm's methodology in the years before he turned to theft and was exposed as a bibliokleptomaniac. Romm is deal with in some detail in Travis McDade's seminal study Thieves of Book Row, in which Romm is described as "built like a bulldog" with "the face and temperament of Al Capone." A full list of Romm's correspondents in the present collection is available upon request.
The present collection of letters stand testament to Romm's energy and persistence in seeking signed items. Many of the correspondents obliged by signing books Romm had sent, agreeing to send signed photos, XXX, and so forth. In 1919, Mrs. Jack London replied only in general terms to Romm's inquiry about first editions (which she was seeking out, as well, for her own reasons), but in 1924 she writes that she was willing to sell to Romm some original Jack London manuscripts. On occasion Romm aimed too high, however. Clara Barrus, companion and biographer of John Burroughs, said he would not copy out missing pages of a manuscript "for love or money." Henry Van Dyke's secretary tells Romm that his request to sign forty books was excessive but that he would sign a few. While Romm was apparently not above subterfuge, some letters make clear that the sender knew him to be a bookseller, and even in one case asks Romm for a return favor. Vincent Starrett, writing on the stationery of The Wave literary magazine in 1923, mentions his forthcoming biography of Ambrose Bierce and asked to use Bierce letters from a limited edition previously published by Romm himself. Other letters range from the routine (a collector seeking Willa Cather's rare first book) to the light-hearted (a suggestion by artist Ralph Barton that giving up a certain book would be akin to Lee surrendering his sword).

The letters to Romm are variously addressed to him at his bookshop on Fourth Avenue and to his nearby home in lower Manhattan. Taken together, they suggest Romm at times presented himself as a fan or collector, rather than as a bookseller in his mid-'30s when the earliest letters were written. A handful of them were sent to Romm care of the Students Literary Circle or the Modern Literary Club, both apparently fictitious and calculated to flatter Romm's correspondents. The present letters also allow for the study of the movement of rare items to and through Romm, as some of these items were then sold in Romm's 1921 auction at the American Art Association in New York City. A notable 1919 letter from "Sy" discusses strategy to obtain signed books via mail from Theodore Dreiser but cautioned that Dreiser would "smell a rat" if Romm called in person. Sy writes, in part: "I believe [Dreiser] will outdo himself in the matter if inscriptions, as I placed my plea well and intriguingly. I have also levelled my shafts at a few others and as the results come home I will send them to you." The letter is signed in type with his shortened first name only, but his identity was revealed in Lot 45 of the Romm catalogue: "Inscribed to Symon Goldstein by Theodore Dreiser." Goldstein was a fellow rare book dealer who later changed his name to Symond Gould; he remained active in the book trade, but also pioneered art house cinema and became nationally known as the founder and two-time presidential nominee of the American Vegetarian Party.

A unique collection of personal correspondence which provides an illuminating look at Romm's methodology in the years before he turned to theft and was exposed as a bibliokleptomaniac. Romm is deal with in some detail in Travis McDade's seminal study Thieves of Book Row, in which Romm is described as "built like a bulldog" with "the face and temperament of Al Capone." A full list of Romm's correspondents in the present collection is available upon request.