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Individual Series View, Merton's Correspondence with:

Giroux, Robert, 1914-2008


Series 11, Miscellaneous Correspondence


Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence
Dates of materials: 194-1993
Volume: 733 item(s); 889 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Although this correspondence mainly deals with publishing concerns, there are also some personal messages, especially concerning news about other Columbia University friends. This file also contains correspondence with: Frank Abbott, Yolanda Bettencour

Biography

Robert Giroux was one of Merton's friends from his Columbia University days. While Giroux was with Harcourt, Brace publishers, he reviewed and rejected some of Merton's early novels. After seeing The Seven Storey Mountain, he decided to take a ch

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Please click here for general restrictions concerning Merton's correspondence.

Related Information and Links

See also "Bettencourt, Yolanda", "Gillet, Ignace", "Laughlin, James", "Maritain, Jacques" and "Stone, Naomi Burton" files. Much of the correspondence between Merton and Giroux is published in

Series List

Series NumberSeries NameTotal Records
1 Thomas Merton and Robert Giroux Correspondence 541
2 Frank Abbott Correspondence Regarding a Biography of Merton (Not published) 10
3 Naomi Burton Stone, Curtis Brown, General Correspondence with Robert Giroux 29
4 Naomi Burton Stone and Dom James Fox Correspondence with Robert Giroux Primarily Regarding The Sign of Jonas 28
5 Jacques Maritain Correspondence with Robert Giroux (Copies in French and English translation) regarding The Sign of Jonas 3
6 Foreign Rights to Merton's Books: Disputed Questions, The New Man and Thoughts in Solitude 24
7 Foreign Rights to Merton's Books after His Death 32
8 Thomas McDonnell Correspondence with Robert Giroux Regarding A Thomas Merton Reader 11
9 Correspondence Relating to Prayer as Worship and Experience 17
10 Internal Memo's to Robert Giroux and Giroux's Notes 10
11 Miscellaneous Correspondence 28

Container List

Series#DateFrom/ToFirst LinesPub ✓Notes
 y/m/dMerton Scan ✉ 
Series 11 #1.
«All Series«		 1948/08/13 TL[c]  from Waugh, Evelyn / to Merton Thank you for your letter of August 2nd. As I wrote to your publishers I greatly admired your book [from author Evelyn Waugh to Merton] «detailed view»
Series 11 #2.
«All Series«		 1950/04/28 TL[c] to Lax, Robert A visit to Olean sounds attractive and I may take you up on it later. One of the many unexpected [to poet Robert Lax, a mutual friend of Merton and Giroux and fellow Columbia University alumnus] «detailed view»
Series 11 #3.
«All Series«		 1950/04/no? TLS from Lax, Robert Thanks for the good letter and for your last-minute dispatches before you left: Tom's pictures and [from poet Robert Lax, a mutual friend of Merton and Giroux and fellow Columbia University alumnus] «detailed view»
Series 11 #4.
«All Series«		 1953/05/no? other   THE SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN [-] Pre-pub: 20,847 [-] 1948 Oct. 8 252 [-] 15 1,490 ✓ [weekly sales figures for The Seven Storey Mountain and The Sign of Jonas] «detailed view»
Series 11 #5.
«All Series«		 1954/10/02 TLS from Hilary, Fr. One of our new counter books, containing Christmas Cards for this year and previous years has been ✓ [from Fr. M. Hilary, O.C.S.O. of Gethsemani Abbey] «detailed view»
Series 11 #6.
«All Series«		 1954/10/08 TL[c] to Hilary, Fr. Many thanks for your letter of October 2nd and the sample Christmas cards. Would you send me two ✓ [to Fr. M. Hilary, O.C.S.O. of Gethsemani Abbey] «detailed view»
Series 11 #7.
«All Series«		 1955/01/17 TLS[x]  from Merton to Frank Dell'Isola Thank you very much for Thought and for the bibliography. A great deal of the items were ✓ [note on verso quoting Fr. Irenaeus Herscher, O.F.M., Librarian at St. Bonaventure University in New York: "We have here the original mss. from which was written The Seven Storey Mountain, i.e. his journal covering the years 1939 thru 1941 when he left here to enter the Trappists."] «detailed view»
Series 11 #8.
«All Series«		 1955/02/05 TL[c]  from Fox, James / to Frank Dell'Isola We received your letter of January 2, and also the winter copy of Thought with the bibliography ✓ [from Dom James Fox of Gethsemani Abbey, to Frank Dell'Isola, compiler of an early bibliography of Merton's writings] «detailed view»
Series 11 #9.
«All Series«		 1955/02/11 TL[c]  from Merton to Frank Dell'Isola Many thanks for your letter, for the offprint of the bibliography, and for the sheets of corrections ✓ [from Merton to Frank Dell'Isola, compiler of an early bibliography of Merton's writings] «detailed view»
Series 11 #10.
«All Series«		 1955/04/04 (#01) TL[c] to Spaeth, Eloise The copy of NO MAN IS AN ISLAND by Thomas Merton was by way of a swan song. I resigned ✓ [to Eloise Spaeth, a patroness of the arts in New York City who helped Merton in a propose, though eventually not published, book on sacred art, Art and Worship - Giroux writes concerning his move to Farrar, Straus from Harcourt, Brace, and with condolences for the illness of Eloise's husband, Otto Spaeth] «detailed view»
Series 11 #11.
«All Series«		 1955/04/04 (#02) HLS from Spaeth, Eloise Thank you so much for the Merton book. Since Otto's illness I have been doing a great deal ✓ [from Eloise Spaeth, a patroness of the arts in New York City who helped Merton in a propose, though eventually not published, book on sacred art, Art and Worship - letter undated but after 1955/04/04 letter from Giroux] «detailed view»
Series 11 #12.
«All Series«		 1958/10/29 TLS  from Merton to Aleksei Surkov I am writing this letter to you today as a sincere friend of literature wherever it may be found, ✓ [from Merton to Aleksei Surkov of the Soviet Writers' Union in Moscow - Merton writes to Surkov concerning the expulsion of Boris Pasternak from the Soviet Writers' Union for his negative portrayal of the brutality of the Soviet regime in its early years in the book Dr. Zhivago] «detailed view»
Series 11 #13.
«All Series«		 1959/07/13 other   Merton [-] SELECTED ESSAYS (?) [-] 1. Review by Thomas Merton of THE WORLD'S BODY by John ✓ [list of 11 essays by Merton for possible inclusion in a book of selected essays - lists the name of Anne Brooks Murray of Farrar, Straus and Cudahy] «detailed view»
Series 11 #14.
«All Series«		 1959/07/31 TL[c]  from Murray, Anne Brooks / to The Commonweal Would you please send me a copy of the Commonweal for March 31, 1950? I enclose 52ยข ✓ «detailed view»
Series 11 #15.
«All Series«		 1960/03/01 TLS  from Jovanovich, William / to Roger Straus Recently Naomi Burton raised the question again of a Thomas Merton Reader. ✓ [from William Jovanovich, President of Harcourt, Brace, to Roger W. Straus, President of Farrar, Straus and Cudahy] «detailed view»
Series 11 #16.
«All Series«		 1960/03/07 TL[c]  from Straus, Roger / to William Jovanovich I would like nothing better than to collaborate with Harcourt, Brace on the Merton "Reader" ✓ [from Roger W. Straus, President of Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, to William Jovanovich, President of Harcourt, Brace] «detailed view»
Series 11 #17.
«All Series«		 1960/03/18 TLS  from Jovanovich, William / to Roger Straus Your point about a woman editing and introducing a book of monastic writings is one I appreciate, ✓ [from William Jovanovich, President of Harcourt, Brace, to Roger W. Straus, President of Farrar, Straus and Cudahy] «detailed view»
Series 11 #18.
«All Series«		 1961/05/03 (#02) TLS from Burns, T. F. I hear from Thomas Merton that you have a new manuscript of his called THE NEW MAN. Can you give ✓ [from T. F. Burns of Hollis and Carter of London] «detailed view»
Series 11 #19.
«All Series«		 1962/10/16 TLS from Burns, T. F. I see that the idea of the Merton Reader has gone through, despite all our efforts. ✓ [from T. F. Burns of Hollis and Carter of London] «detailed view»
Series 11 #20.
«All Series«		 1962/10/19 (#02) TL[c] to Burns, T. F. I appreciate your checking in with us on THE MERTON READER. Father Louis was determined to publish ✓ [to T. F. Burns of Hollis and Carter of London] «detailed view»
Series 11 #21.
«All Series«		 1962/10/22 TLS from Burns, T. F. Many thanks for writing so promptly about THE MERTON READER. It certainly seems to me a bit of ✓ [from T. F. Burns of Hollis and Carter of London] «detailed view»
Series 11 #22.
«All Series«		 1968/12/23 telegram[x] to Laughlin, James MEMORIAL MASS FOR THOMAS MERTON MONDAY DECEMBER THIRTIETH AT ELEVEN ST PATRICK'S [see also "Laughlin, James" file, Series 2] «detailed view»
Series 11 #23.
«All Series«		 1968/12/31 (#01) TLS[x]  from Ford, John J. / to James Laughlin Sorry to be late in answering your letter of December 24, but I have had a rather extended bout [from John J. Ford, attorney who had worked on Merton's will in Louisville, Kentucky, to James Laughlin, Co-Trustee of the Merton Legacy Trust and publisher from New Directions] «detailed view»
Series 11 #24.
«All Series«		 1968/12/31 (#02) other[x]   LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT [-] I, THOMAS JAMES MERTON, in religious life known as Father [copy of Merton's will, signed on 1967/11/14, and sent by John Ford to James Laughlin] «detailed view»
Series 11 #25.
«All Series«		 1969/01/03 TL[x] from Laughlin, James Many thanks for your telegrams, which has been forwarded to me out in Utah, where I'm having a bit «detailed view»
Series 11 #26.
«All Series«		 1993/11/19 TLS from Pennoyer, Robert Having delayed writing, I am now able to report the extraordinary outpouring of gratitude [letter of thanks regarding a speech Giroux gave to the Mrs Giles Whiting Foundation from Robert M. Pennoyer, President and a trustee of the Foundation] «detailed view»
Series 11 #27.
«All Series«		 2006/08/08 (#10) other   Correspondence between William Jovanovich and Roger Straus. [-] William Jovanovich [list of letters donated in this series] «detailed view»
Series 11 #28.
«All Series«		 2006/08/08 (#11) other   Correspondence between Tom Burns and Robert Giroux. Tom Burns to Giroux. 5/3/61. [list of letters donated in this series] «detailed view»

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