Logan Pearsall Smith letter to "Philip" and autograph sonnet to "C.R.S."

An 1896 letter to “Philip” and a 1905 sonnet to “C.R.S.” by American essayist and critic Logan Pearsall Smith.

Smith probably wrote his letter to “Philip” on January 3, 1896, but employed diction (“thou”) and a date (“1796”) to match the age of the paper. The letter is handwritten in what appears to be iron gall ink on laid paper with a “GF” watermark. Smith hoped the letter’s recipient liked the “old paper,” saying that he “found a lot of it in a shop here [in Venice], and now hate[d] to write on anything else.” He wrote that he would have sent “a lovely Xmas present of golden vellum and rich old Venetian water papers,” but “Philip” had not answered his previous invitation. Smith also discussed reviews of his latest work, which he noted here mostly positive, apart from the “Chronicle.”

The sonnet is addressed to “C.R.S.” and dated January 1905. In the poem, Smith describes his “quiet house,” which “stands aloof within a magic dream.” However, he tells the recipient that “sweeter music fills my citadel,/When you are here, far sweeter than its own.” Smith probably addressed this sonnet to Christopher Stone.